Can dreams change our lives? 

Bob Hoss © 2016

One hundred inspiring dream stories

The great luminary Carl Jung taught us that a natural guiding tendency is at work in our dreams; a journey of inner growth and transformation, becoming who we are meant to be, whereby a wider and more mature personality emerges.  IASD has received over a hundred inspiring stories of these transformative or life changing dreams, which our subject matter experts are compiling into a book: Dreams That Change Our Lives. Here are a few examples.

Dreams and healing

Dreams appear to be part of a natural healing process which brings about inner transformation whether we understand them, or even recall them.  This young woman had just been fired from her job, for a second time.  This drove her into a deep depression and an attitude that, “I have no future; it is all over for good.”  At that point she had the following life-altering dream:

“I dreamed a building fell on me and I was crushed under the rubble.  All went dark and I stopped breathing. I knew I was dead and it was all over, there was no future.  Then I became another person in the dream who was strong and determined, and dug my body out of the rubble.  Suddenly I came back to life and realized that I could go on.   

It was not until months later that she reflected on and reported the dream – but it was apparent that a change had occurred within the dream itself.  Subsequent to the dream she set out to start her own company. Today she runs three.

The journey within

Jung observed that transformation is often symbolized by a going within and re-emergence (a symbolic death and rebirth) or a “great tree” whose powerful involuntary growth fulfils its own unique pattern.  The journey of one dreamer began with her “going within,” a descent down a torch lit stone stairway where Carl Jung, sitting on a throne carved with serpent heads, sent her on an 18 month journey that guided her through a process of six changes. At the core of her transformation was embracing, rather than rejecting, herself for who she had become and building on that understanding to become a happier and stronger person.  At the end of this phase of her journey she “emerged” with the following dream:

I am walking on a path. There is a row of six young trees planted to the left. I see an old tree in the distance [who she had become] with the sun glowing behind it. To the right I notice another beautiful tree in the distance covered with flowers [where she was going].

The power within
Dreams reveal an inner wisdom and strength that can help us overcome extreme adversity and depression:

I was a teen, sent to live in a boarding school. I felt banished, imprisoned and deeply depressed. At one point I had a dream of an immensely huge sun, which rose over and covered the whole horizon and could see that its fire left it with great power. In spite of its overwhelming size and strength it was not frightening, but very reassuring. I woke up in a very uplifted mood, and the depression was gone. I was deeply impressed by this extremely powerful dream and realized that an incredible source of strength and meaning can be found in me!

Life-saving dreams
Sometimes dreams can even save our lives:

My three sons and I were to meet my friend at our usual car-pool meeting place. But that morning she phoned me and told me to meet around the next corner instead of our usual place. While we were meeting around the corner a small airplane crashed where we would have been. As we drove by the wreck I asked: “How did you know?” She answered, “I dreamed it. I didn’t tell you it was a dream. You might have thought I was silly to react to a dream.” “Thank God you did!” I exclaimed.

Dreams provide answers
At times dreams emerge from a deeper spiritual dimension. This dreamer was torn over leaving her home and parents, going off by herself into the unknown, to another continent to take a position with the Peace Corps. She prayed for a dream to help her with her “heart-wrenching” decision.

I had a dream that night that a man in a poet’s blouse with wavy shoulder-length blond hair approaches me and says, “I’ve heard that you’ve been looking for a friend.” I ask him his name. He answers “Gabriel.” I turn to him and say, “You know, that name means ‘Child of God’.” With a healing smile he answers, “I know.” He tells me we will take a journey into the night – at that we disappear at an incredible speed into a velvety blackness. I awake suffused in the angelic presence – with the clear message: “If you go into the unknown, God’s “Messenger Angel”, the Holy Spirit will guide, protect, and empower you. Fear not!”

She had her answer.

To learn more about the IASD Dreams that Change our Lives book project, click here >>>