This neglect has shown up in my dreams in many forms: dying and forgotten fish, forgotten rooms or even forgotten wings of a home, moving back into the house where I had an art studio, etc. While my waking mind was focused on being a mother, wife and Dream Analyst, my dreaming mind was begging me to remember this other part of me that I essentially, abandoned.  I made vain attempts here and there to get back into my art by fooling around in photoshop, doing a color pencil drawing, etc. but I had yet to pick up a paint brush.

Thankfully one of my childhood friends, Kimberly Dawn, a fantastic folk artist, posts her new art pieces on Facebook… practically on a daily basis. I mean this woman paints like there is no tomorrow! Gah! I would get so jealous, but in a good way. Kimberly’s posts, along with my dreams, were motivation, gentle nudges that I finally succumbed to! I bought myself some oils, brushes and artist boards and decided to get to work, or rather get back to overdue work!

I’ve been wanting to paint a series based on our most common dreams: drowning, falling, flying, etc. but after I thought about it I decided I needed to break the ice so I decided to paint Marilyn Monroe my favorite subject to draw, paint and doodle over the years. Her face is easy for me. I know every angle and curve. If I could paint her with success then I would know I was back! So I began. And then I had a dream…

I was in a house that was not mine but I knew my way around it. I walked into a bedroom and I found my mother sitting on a bed holding my baby daughter, which I don’t really have in waking life. I had been gone so long, months it seemed, and I was worried my baby would not remember me. I took her from my mother and held her. She looked up at me, smiled and cooed at me. She remembered!!

My baby represented my art that I had been away from for so long. I was VERY worried that I would be so rusty I would not be happy and lose patience but just as the baby remembered me, so did my artist self. Marilyn was turning out beautifully and my dream was giving me approval. Whenever someone smiles at you in a dream, you can almost always connect it to self approval in your waking life, btw.  🙂

As you can see, my neglected baby is still alive, healthy and even thriving!! I am back and my inner dreaming mind is pleased. My mother in the dream represents the part of me that needs to continue to give birth to new paintings and ideas as well my ability to nurture and care for this part of me. I need to remember to continue to be a good mother to my art. I can’t allow myself to neglect it again. If I do, I have no doubt the dream police will be after me, inundating me with bad dreams. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “A well spent day brings happy sleep.”

Want this painting hanging in your home? She’s for sale! If you’re interested, or know someone who is, go here to purchase a print.

Sweet dreams!!

The post A dream, a baby and Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Lauri Loewenberg | Dream Expert.

Since it’s Mother’s Day, it seemed fitting to blog about what it means when we dream of Mom. Below is an excerpt from the people chapter of my latest book

According to my research, our mothers – whether she is still with us on this earth or not – show up in our dreams an average of once a week! The mother figure is the central most important figure to just about every human on this planet. Mother nurtures and cares for us, comforts us, disciplines us, loves us unconditionally, forgives us and knows what is best. Mother teaches us how to wash behind our ears, how to eat right, how to treat a cold, and how to nurse a wound. Once we leave the nest, we take this nurturing know-how with us and continue to apply it to ourselves and to the ones we love. We also, from time to time, find ourselves in need of the comfort only a mother can provide. When we are sick, when we are faced with difficulties, when life brings us to our knees we – if only on the inside – want our mommies. This nurturing know-how and this need for comfort then shows up in our dreams in the form of our very own mother or mother figure! Basically, Mom in a dream is the manifestation of all that you would typically associate with the word mother: comfort, nurturing know-how, paternal discipline, even fertility.

I always have this dream of me and my mother fighting, but it’s not just verbal fighting it’s physical fighting. We get along pretty well and fight sometimes, but when I have this dream it seems to be when we are on good terms. – Carol 28

Lauri: Most likely, these dreams aren’t about your mother at all but rather about YOUR role as mom. Is there anything you are beating yourself up about? Anything you are feeling guilty about as far as the way you are mothering your child or children? You may find you get this dream whenever you have an inner conflict about how to discipline your child or when you feel you aren’t being the best Mom that you can be. Your dream is showing you what you are doing to yourself. Stop beating yourself up.

Carol replies: As far as my being a mother I do feel like I don’t do enough. The thing is that I hardly spend any time with my kids due to work, and going to school to study nursing, so I leave early and get home late and that is what I beat myself up about. This makes sense.

Carol’s dream was showing her herself in the form of her own mother in order to help her realize that she was being too hard on herself. She would never be so harsh with her own mother, so why is she being so harsh with her children’s mother?

If you are a mom, like Carol, then your mother dreams are most likely commenting on your role as Mom. Any negative element to the dream is likely a reflection of your own frustrations with motherhood. If you are not yet a mom but are trying or hoping to be, you’re going to be dreaming of your own mother… well, a mother load! If you are a man, Mom most likely represents your ability to take good care of yourself or those around you.

In the people chapter of Dream On It, Unlock Your Dreams Change Your Life. you will also learn how to decipher Father, Unknown Men and Women, Baby, Child, Celebrities, Boss, Doctor, Police and Classmate when they appear in your dreams. Get your autographed copy today and save 10% when you put “dream” in the coupon code at checkout!

“Simply the best dream book out there! This is a life changing book! Extremely well written, practical, serious, easy to read and with wells of real wisdom. Not a usual self-help book, but it sure will help you change your life. Outstanding!” – Margareta Hagglund editor of M Magazine
Want to read Dream on It right now? It’s available on Nook and Kindle!

The post When You Dream of Mom… appeared first on Lauri Loewenberg | Dream Expert.