What Do Dreams Mean...And
What’s that Monkey Doing in Here?

I'm going to discuss with you why the question, What Do Dreams Mean?, is one life question that's important for you to ask.

For me, I recognized when I was a teenager, 40 years ago, that my dreams were a reflection of my daily life. And it always seemed to me that my dreams were an effort by my mind to sort out my daily life.

I knew this instinctively, before I had ever read or heard anything about analyzing the question, what do dreams mean.

What do dreams mean?

That's the first benefit to dreams. If you pay attention to your dreams, you will begin to be more aware of yourself in your daily life. This is extremely valuable to you when you start to see this and  understand what do dreams mean.

So now I would like to take you through a powerful dream I had last night. We can examine at the end of it why paying attention to dreams matters.

A child was crying...

The dream begins with me climbing out of bed. It's pitch black and I begin to walk into a living room. I'm heading toward the sound of a small child who's crying in the kitchen.

I realize two things. First, this is not my house. I have no idea where I'm going or what I might run into in the darkness.

Second, in real life, I always keep a small flashlight next to my bed for when I get up in the middle of the night. You should too.

The reason is, turning on a small flashlight instead of a bright light will not suppress the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.

That way, after you go to the bathroom or whatever, when you get back in bed, melatonin levels will still be high, and you'll be able to fall asleep again faster.

Anyway, back to what do dreams mean

I say, “Darn it, I forgot the flashlight.” Just then, a man takes my elbow and says, “Here, let me guide you through the darkness.”

He takes me into the kitchen and I see a young boy, four years old, sitting at the kitchen table. He's whimpering. He's also wearing bright red.

My guide says to me, “Why are you in Georgia?” which is the state I live in, but wasn't born in. I say, “Because of The Child.” The man says slowly, “Ah, yes, The Child.”

This makes no sense in real life because I don't have a child. Yet, there is something of great importance about this Child.

I say to the man, “Why are you in Georgia?” He says, “I was born here, in the uppermost corner of Burnett County.” In real life, I've never heard of Burnett and have no idea if it even exists.

The man then says to me, “You should go there.”

Next thing I know, in my dream, I'm driving a couple of hours towards Burnett and end up in the quaintest little town you've ever seen.

White picket fences. Red, white, and blue banners hanging from the railings of the small brick and wood shops in the town square.

This town was also cleaner than any town I'd ever seen. It was impossible to be that clean.

Yet it was. Straight out of a Hollywood movie set.

As I'm walking about town, I smell this wonderful food wafting in the air. I've got to eat!

I walk into a cafe, which was more like a large saloon from the old American West.

It was bright, with light streaming through the large glass windows facing the street. Round wooden tables and chairs everywhere.

Here's where it starts to really get interesting...

I look over at the bar. It's 30 feet long, solid mahogany. And sitting at the bar is...a monkey!

I'm thinking to myself, “Wow, that has got to be a health code violation.”

I have a delicious meal and walk into the restroom to wash my hands. As I look into the mirror, I notice that someone has used masking tape to put a small piece of paper on the mirror.

I read the message.

It says...

You're getting closer

“What an odd message for someone to leave,” I say to myself.

I walk out of the saloon and begin to saunter on down a sidewalk made of old weathered uneven boards.

Up ahead I see a man standing in front of his shop with what I'm guessing is an advertising flyer in his hand. It's odd though because as people walk by him, he does not give anyone the flyer.

I can see he's looking at me. Waiting.

As I begin to walk past him, he reaches out with his left hand and hands me the flyer. He then raises his right arm, level with his shoulder, and points with his index finger down the street.

I look to where he's pointing and the sidewalk seems to go on forever with no end in sight.

The man whispers to me, “You're getting closer.”

And I wake up.

Dream Tip

“To dream of a monkey, denotes that deceitful people will flatter you to advance their own interests.”

From the classic dream book, 10,000 Dreams Interpreted.

What's going on here?

I hope by sharing this dream story with you you can see how the question, What Do Dreams Mean, takes on a big importance.

The first thing I hope you notice is that to capture this dream, I had to write it down. If you explore the question what do dreams mean...and write down your dreams...it forces you to be a writer.

Yes, YOU can write! Maybe you won't be Stephen King but who cares.

Capture your dreams by keeping a journal closeby.

So keep a journal and write down your dreams when you wake up. You won't capture them all, but you'll get better as time goes by.

Also, try to figure out for yourself "what do dreams mean." Don't completely rely on the dream experts to tell you what it all means.

To get you started on figuring out the meanings of dreams, get a copy of the ebook, 10,000 Dreams Interpreted by subscribing to my online newsletter, Sleep Chat. 

Here's what else you get by writing down your dreams. 

Notice some of the detail I remembered. I was dreaming in color. Remember how The Child was wearing red? Who is The Child?

And what is a monkey doing at a bar in the cleanest town in America?

Writing down these details stimulates your mind. It forces you to work those brain cells. I believe this helps your memory during the day.

What else have we learned here?

Keeping track of your dreams makes you explore your life. To ask questions.

For example, I had a guide in this dream. Who is this guide? Was it the real me trying to help myself? Was it some unknown life force?

And what am I getting closer to? To me, this is the Big Theme of the dream.

All through this dream, I had a positive feeling. A sense of goodness.

So by remembering and writing this dream down, I believe my mind is telling me to press on. To not give up. To go out and accomplish those things on my Life To Do List—my wish list.

Like the person digging for gold, I am perhaps one shovelful of dirt away from the Mother Lode.

More thoughts on what do dreams mean

What does my dream mean? Here's a challenging answer.



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