Tag Archives: transformation

Car, Car Collison, Personal Growth, Water

The Symbolic Meaning of Water and Cars in Dreams: My Personal Journey and Insights

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Some people ask me when did I first start doing dream interpretation. The short answer is that I started learning the approach that I now use in 2009 when I shared a dream with Richard Hastings, founder of Dreams for Peace. But the longer answer is that I had a powerful dream when I was 7, about my parents driving a car into water, and that was the very beginning of my profound relationship with dreams and dreaming.

Interestingly, the three significant dreams that mark my dreaming journey all relate to cars and water. To me, this indicates that my lifelong journey has been about healing relationships in my own personal life but also when I work with others.

So the first dream was when I was 7 and I dreamed that my parents, and the parents of my best friend, were driving on a bridge that then split apart and the car plunged into the water and they all died.

The next significant dream was when I was 22. I dreamed a white car hit a moose. The moose shook it off and went into the woods. The car wasn’t drivable. In the morning, in real life, when I woke up and looked out the window I saw a white car in my driveway with damage to it’s front end. Later while I was eating breakfast, a woman knocked on the door. She told me she hit a moose last night and needed to park the car in my driveway because it wasn’t drivable.

The last powerful recurring dream I had was when I was 32. I was regularly dreaming about my house being flooded. Some of those dreams included trying to drive away in the flooded roads or trying to escape before getting caught in the flood.

WATER & CARS IN DREAMS

Water and cars are common symbols that can appear in dreams and hold important meanings for most people. Both of these symbols can represent different aspects of life, and understanding their significance can provide valuable insights into the subconscious mind.

Water is one of the most commonly reported symbols in dreams, and it can represent a variety of things depending on the context in which it appears. Generally, water is seen as a symbol of the emotions, relationships and the flow of life. In dreams, water can take on many forms, such as rivers, oceans, lakes, or even rain. The meaning of water in a dream can vary depending on its characteristics, such as the color, temperature, and clarity.

One common way that water appears in dreams is as a tidal wave or flood. These dreams can be overwhelming and frightening, as it indicates a feeling of being swept away by their emotions or circumstances in their waking life. A dream of being caught in a flood or tidal wave can represent a sense of being out of control or overwhelmed by life’s challenges. It can also suggest that the dreamer needs to let go of their resistance and go with the flow of life.

This was certainly true for me. The water dreams in my childhood and in my 30s represented the ending of marital relationships which had a huge impact on me. When I got married, I expected it to last a lifetime. When it was clear it wasn’t going to last, I truly felt devastated. That strong emotion was showing up in my dreams as floods.

Moving on to cars, they are often seen as symbols of the self, the journey of life, or how the dreamer gets from Point A to Point B. Cars can represent the dreamer’s sense of control and direction in their waking life. In dreams, cars can appear in various forms, such as driving a car, being a passenger, or even witnessing a car accident.

Dreams of driving a car can indicate the dreamer’s level of control over their life’s direction. If the dreamer is driving confidently, it suggests they are in control of their life and moving forward with a sense of purpose. However, if the dreamer is struggling to control the car or feeling lost, it can suggest a lack of direction or a sense of being stuck in their waking life.

Being a passenger in a car can represent the dreamer’s relationship with others in their waking life. If the dreamer is sitting in the passenger seat of a car, it can suggest they are allowing someone else to take control of their life or that they need to trust others more. If the dreamer is in the back seat of a car, it can indicate a sense of feeling overlooked or powerless in their relationships.

Lastly, witnessing a car accident in a dream can represent a sense of chaos or disruption in the dreamer’s life. It can also suggest a fear of losing control or being involved in a harmful situation.

In conclusion, water and cars are two powerful symbols that can appear in dreams and hold important meanings for me. Water can represent the emotions and the flow of life, while cars can symbolize the self and the journey of life. When these three powerful dreams showed up in my life they were impossible to ignore and as I sought to understand them, I was led down the path in life to where I am now, interpreting dreams online and helping people in their personal growth & transformation.

If you would like to read more about how to use the messages in your dreams to change your life, check out my new EBOOK “Unlocking the Power of Your Dreams”. You can use the CODE: dreamz0 to download the book for free today.

Personal Growth

The Process of Personal Transformation

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Personal transformation can be a difficult journey, especially for those who have experienced trauma. Trauma can have a lasting impact on a person’s life, affecting their emotions, relationships, and overall wellbeing. However, with the right support and resources, it is possible to overcome trauma and achieve personal transformation.

For traumatized individuals, personal transformation often begins with acknowledging and accepting the trauma they have experienced. This can be a painful and challenging process, but it is a crucial step in moving forward. It involves confronting difficult emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness, and allowing oneself to feel and process these emotions in a healthy way.

From there, personal transformation can involve learning new coping mechanisms and building resilience. This can include seeking therapy or counseling, joining support groups, or engaging in activities that promote mental and physical wellbeing, such as exercise or meditation.

In addition to seeking support and resources, personal transformation often involves a shift in mindset. Traumatized individuals may have negative self-talk or limiting beliefs that hold them back. By challenging these beliefs and replacing them with positive affirmations, individuals can build self-confidence and a sense of empowerment.

Personal transformation is not a linear process, and setbacks are common. It is important for individuals to be patient and compassionate with themselves and to celebrate small victories along the way. With time and dedication, personal transformation is possible for anyone, no matter their past experiences.

In conclusion, personal transformation is a difficult but rewarding journey for traumatized individuals. It involves acknowledging and accepting past trauma, seeking support and resources, building resilience and coping mechanisms, and shifting mindset. By taking these steps, individuals can overcome trauma and achieve personal growth and fulfillment.

Jail/Prison, Personal Growth

Dreams From the Box – Exploring Transformation With Jail Metaphors

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hallway with window
Photo by Jimmy Chan on Pexels.com

Nov. 26, 2018

The reason I like to explore transformation using the metaphor of jail is because when strong negative emotions are operating within us, they can imprison us within walls of fear, anger, jealousy, sadness, etc. I like to think of the ego as being exactly like a prison wall, trapping the True Self within seemingly impenetrable cement walls, high spiky fences and cold steel bars. The reason jail is such a good metaphor for ego is because when someone sets out to develop new capacities within them Self or to strengthen their skills, then it is as though they are setting out to demolish the inner walls of fear. Every time we wake up to a new truth about our self or about others or about life, it is as though we are operating a wrecking ball & bulldozing our way out of the inner jail which contains us.

Everyone can have the “feeling” of being in a jail. When we work at a job which we don’t like, it can feel like we are prisoners within our own workplace. When we live in a neighourhood which doesn’t bring us joy, this can feel like being jailed. When people are living in poverty or have very limited financial means, it can feel as though they are prisoners – wanting to do more with their life but having no way to get there. When a woman lives with a man who is abusing her, physically or emotionally, this can be like a jail. When a man works hard for a steady and strong income, but his wife takes his money and spends it frivolously, this can be like living in a jail. What I am trying to demonstrate here is that regular day-to-day life can “feel” like jail when there is an abuse of power in the environment, whether at home or at work.

When I hear dreams from prisoners, often times I find that before they were in jail physically, they were already “feeling” like they were in jail metaphorically. They wanted things for themselves and their families but couldn’t see how to get them and they couldn’t see how to change the feeling of being trapped so they tried lots of ways to try to get what they wanted, in the hopes they would no longer feel trapped, but sometimes the things they did hurt others and the outcome was that they were arrested and wound up in jail. Now there are two challenges ~ the inner condition of feeling jailed which all humans can experience, and the outer condition of living in a physical jail.

What I tell the inmates who call me to share their dreams & nightmares is that they have very little control over the conditions around them but they have ALL the control when it comes to their inner condition. When they can identify a huge challenge, fear, or issue that’s coming up in a dream and we can work through it until it’s no longer an issue, then it is like being released from an inner prison and it is so freeing. This is the same approach which works for everyone, but for the inmates it’s all the more powerful because they face a real-life jail every day.

When we do the transformation work on our inner Self then we begin to see changes in our outer world. When we first think of our metaphoric jail and free our Selves from it then we can find an abundance of opportunities in our environments which weren’t available to us before. This is an incredibly empowering process which can truly change everything.

Becoming Authority Over Own Self, Creating A New Life, Creating a New Self, Healing With Dreamwork, Personal Growth, TraumaWork

16 Principles of Dreamwork/Changework with Jail Metaphors

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A prisoner shared a dream about being in a house looking for his wife and he found her in a bedroom sleeping with another man. This dream brings to mind some key principles of the Dreamwork/Changework process.

  1. A house in a dream is a metaphor for the Self.
  2. Human beings have a Higher part of themselves and a lower part, characterized by positive virtues & qualities which uplift themselves and others or negative fears & behaviours which hurt themselves or others.
  3. Dreams reveal unconscious fears which are controlling the individual.
  4. If fears have been allowed to unconsciously develop for the lifetime of an individual then they may become imprisoned within their own “lower self.”
  5. When an individual is imprisoned within their own lower nature (caged in with fears, anxieties, jealousies, rages, etc) they may be hurting themselves and/or others often.
  6. Individuals imprisoned in their own fears can be living inside of a jail OR living in their own house. All human beings everywhere deal with this fundamental truth of human experience.
  7. When someone identifies their unconscious issues (fears & anxieties for example) and learns new skills they can cut themselves free from the fear and then live more fully in their Positive Self.
  8. When someone identifies their anxieties and learns to repeat their gifts & talents more regularly they free themselves from the images which box them in and they can live in their Positive Self more fully.
  9. When someone in jail dreams of a house and the dream is positive then the dream is giving a message about how the prisoner can move forward practicing their strengths to face what is happening in their lives and to change things for the better.
  10. When someone in jail dreams of a house and the dream is negative then the dream is giving a message about how the prisoner can let go of the old and flip the negatives to positives.
  11. When someone who has never gone to jail dreams of being in jail it means they need to get the message that they are imprisoning themselves in negative memories, thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They need to do some serious work to break free from the negative past.
  12. The positive parts of dreams reveal positive qualities, traits, skills & talents in the dreamer. These positive qualities can be used to solve the negatives.
  13. Whenever a dream comes with a lot of fear or negatives in it, like what some people might call nightmares, the solution is to become friends with the fear, notice it, become aware of it, embrace it.
  14. When we can embrace our deepest fears and use our strongest qualities to face the fears then, in time, with daily practice, the fear can be nearly entirely eliminated.
  15. The inner transformation always happens in the pattern – There are inherited, learned and innate qualities and they develop in order (described in section ??)
  16. When an individual is growing new skills & capacities, healing from past trauma, and moving forward towards their goals, ambitions, and bright future the process affects them first, then their family, then their community.

COMING SOON: A New Dreamwork Book “Dreams From the Box ~ Exploring Transformation With Jail Metaphors”

To support this on-going initiative with inmates please contact rperrydreamwork@gmail.com

19-Day Program Exercises, Becoming Authority Over Own Self, Creating A New Life, Developing New Qualities With Dreamwork, Dreamwork With Prisoners, Personal Growth

Dreams From The Box ~ How a Dream About Being Helpful Transformed a Prisoner and his Range

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DREAMS FROM THE BOX – Update – The four prisoners who are sending dreams for the book were on the same range. One of them had a dream about helping others and I encouraged him to keep developing this quality even in jail. Then he understood the message of the dream and with a lot of enthusiasm he said to the others, “Hey guys! We can make this range different! It doesn’t have to be like the other ones. We can be safe here in this one. We can help each other. We get to choose how we want it to be!” And he did lots of things to help others. They agreed and for a time they were living in a feeling of safety which none of them had experienced on the other ranges.

He said to me, “my personality is that I like helping other people so I just keep helping and the guys are getting it. They get it. And this place is different now.”

Then a new guy was transferred to the range and he was only remembering the old way that things are in jail on the other ranges, so when he saw this range was different he wasn’t willing to change. Then he and two other guys ganged up on the dreamer who was envisioning a positive future for this range. They beat him so bad he had to be removed from the range and is in segregation with ice packs and medication.

When I talked to him next I was afraid maybe he would have become hostile and disappointed but my fears weren’t justified.

He said to me, “When I got here in segregation I just thought to myself, ‘well, there must be something for me to learn here. Maybe I’ll see something out the window here that I couldn’t see from the other range or maybe there’s a guard or nurse here who I need to help. I can just think of it as a vacation from the non-sense in jail.”

He’s in a smaller cell now, and he is only allowed out EVERY OTHER DAY for 20 minutes to go to the yard and to have a shower and then back to segregation. Kind-hearted guards who see he doesn’t belong there and feel bad for him are sending books under the door for him to read, one of them is a Bible-study type book. His food is delivered to the door three times a day. He can use the phone for 20 minutes 3 times a day to call out. No TV. No radio. Nothing.

He told me, “There’s no reason that the guy would have come after me except that I am a nice guy and I was trying to create a new environment on that range so that no one had to fight anyone. He didn’t like that and he’s a 6 foot black guy whose used his muscles to get his own way in here so it’s all he knows. I’m not angry. I don’t blame him. I get it.”

It seems the guards saw the attack and have removed the threats from the range but our dreamer friend, who is First Nations & black mix, doesn’t know if he’ll be sent back to that old range or another one. But now he knows that where ever he is he can be helpful and that changes everything for the better even on the inside of a prison.

He’s excited about the dreamwork book which is nearly ready for publishing now. Three of this guy’s dreams are featured in the book. What an amazing story he has to tell and he’s excited about sharing it!