Subconscious Travels

June 12th, 2009 → by Erica Johansson

23


954919 54240183 Subconscious Travels

So far, I’ve experienced some pretty scary things. I’ve been nearly attacked by a poisonous snake in the jungle, shot (in my leg; three times), bitten by a shark (in my back, luckily managed to kick/scare him away), and stabbed (in my stomach; almost fainted). I have jumped from a bridge into a crocodile-infested river in Australia, fought with hostile Indians, and fled from men who were hired to kill me (they didn’t succeed).

I’ve also done some really awesome things: climbed mountains, been in love, skateboarded like a pro, breakdanced, motorcycled, swum in the ocean, been pregnant, sung on stage in front of hundreds of people, admired beautiful prêt-a-porter creations at a fashion show, flown like a bird, heard someone I like sing in a foreign language, ridden a helicopter over the skyscrapers in New York, had lunch with a famous chef in his apartment in London, worked as a doctor, and recorded the heart rate on a newborn baby.

I’ve strolled along Sydney Harbour, traveled with a pick-up truck through Mongolia and Russia, walked through Bangkok, cruised a ship to Santorini, skied the slopes in Austria, toured Venice, enjoyed the heat in Sahara, relaxed in Bora Bora, stayed at a friend’s place in Agoura Hills, L.A, taken a trip to Miami, lived in Portland, and tried to find my way in Mexico City’s metro.

I’ve hung out with Scarlett Johansson, acted in a movie with Lindsay Lohan, talked to Robert de Niro, and had the pleasure to meet Al Pacino. I have seen Bob Marley, spoken to my dead grandfather, traveled in a space ship, and visited the past (and possibly the future).

In my dreams, that is. While asleep.

During difficult and challenging times, my dreams have reflected my struggle, pain and frustration. When I’ve felt balanced, at ease and at peace, my dreams have mirrored that mindset and brought me joy and bliss. I’m slowly but surely moving towards my goal to eliminate nightmares and only dream about happy things. I don’t think I can escape my bizarre dreams, though. Recently I joked about whether I would ever hear from a certain guy again if I told him about all the strange things I dream at night. I do have weird dreams pretty often, but I think we all do. And even those dreams that don’t seem to make any sense at all may be there to tell us something. But in some cases they are simply — just like any other dream — a result of information we have accumulated during the day.

Write a dream diary

From the age of five and onwards, I’ve more or less always remembered my dreams and once I started writing about them they eventually became clearer and more intense.

If you’re not already doing it, consider writing a dream diary. After you wake up in the morning, write about what you remember. In case you don’t remember anything, make something up. Pretend. If you only recall a few seconds or minutes of a dream, write that down and continue with the story as you see fit. In this way, you’ll fool your brain to believe that you did remember your dreams and eventually (this can take days, weeks, or even months) you’ll remember them for real.

When you learn to interpret your dreams they can help you realize whether something is missing from your life, what to focus more on, even where you should travel next, and what your deepest hopes and desires are. Look at your dreams as messages from yourself to yourself.

Sometimes they appear to compensate for imbalances that exist in your waking life. If you have recurring dreams, that means you didn’t properly understood or confronted the message. Nightmares can help you identify your fears. If you hear music in a dream, it often has a strong message since these dreams are quite rare. Driving a car symbolises the way in which you “drive” through life. Food dreams (I’ve had a few of those; usually involving chocolate) can represent greedy behavior or feelings of inattention in your life. Rainbows stand for hope, healing and new beginnings, bridges mean change and progression, and strong colors indicate a turning point in one’s life.

If you want to learn how to interpret your dreams, just Google ‘interpret dreams’ and you’ll receive thousands of results. And, like I wrote before, understanding all dreams is not easy. I’ve seen beings that were half-human and half-animals, humans that transformed into animals in a split-second, and in one of the dreams that made the least sense I had climbed up a tree somewhere in Uganda and sat on a twig chatting with a gorilla and his son.

Anyway, regardless of what you dream about, you do travel subconsciously. And your dreams can help you in your daily life as soon as you learn how to interpret them.

Possibly related posts:

  1. Winning the Game of Life
  2. A Dream About Hanoi
  3. Dreams Involving Travel
  4. The World’s Best Beaches
  5. Imaginary Lives in Faraway Places