Ian Wallace - The Top 100 Dreams: The Dreams That We All Have and What They Really Mean

Ian Wallace, 2011

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual wellbeing. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-84850-328-1 in print
ISBN 978-1-84850-572-8 in epub format
ISBN 978-1-84850-571-1 in Mobipocket format

To Mum and Dad for their continuing love and inspiration

Ever since I was a small child, I have been utterly fascinated by dreams. One of my earliest memories is having a dream about a steam train hurtling through the Scottish countryside. I was startled by the dream and, woken by my noisy commotion, my Dad came to comfort me and get me back to sleep. The next day, he took me down to stand on a bridge over the railway line and, as he held my hand, I marvelled at my dreams turning into reality, as they thundered past on the tracks below. My dad was a coal miner not a psychologist, but had an instinctive understanding of unseen patterns, and how to delve more deeply into the rich seams of possibilities.

The encouragement and guidance of my parents set me on the track to exploring my dreams and what their stories might mean. The more I studied my dreams, the more intrigued I became by the dreams of other people. Rather than just forensically deconstructing their dreams, I became fascinated by the dreamers who were actually doing the dreaming. Since those early explorations, I have had the great fortune to work with many thousands of dreamers and I would like to wholeheartedly thank them all for sharing their dreams with me.

In particular, I would like to thank those dreamers who have helped me to realize some of my dreams.

To Rhona, Colin, Matthew, Daniel and Thomas for all their love and support as I dreamt up this book and for their help in turning the dream into a reality.

To Neal Slessor for his courage and persistence in realizing his dreams and for being a true friend who is always there for me, no matter where he is in the world.

To Aileen Gibb for her constant encouragement and inspiration, and her fabulous work in connecting so many people with their own inspired futures.

To Keith Massie for sharing his journey of visionary leadership and knowing how to use a spanner to turn his dreams into the nuts and bolts of reality.

To Noel Tyl for being such a gifted psychologist and performer, and teaching me that, in order to understand the mysterious, we must first explore the mysteries of our own stories.

To Mike Powell for gracing the airwaves with his empathetic charm and opening up a different audience of dreamers for me.

To Chris Evans for his openness and generosity in inviting me to perform on his show, Helen Thomas and Suzie Dietrich for organizing it, and for all the new dream connections that have been catalysed.

Finally, to Steve Wright for being such a welcoming and enthusiastic host and bringing a wider awareness to millions of listeners every day. A big thank you also to Louise Hulland at the BBC for connecting me with Steve.

As you read these words, one third of the worlds population is asleep and by the time they awaken, they will have collectively dreamt more than ten billion dreams. The individual dreamers will perhaps have experienced their dreams as apparently random occurrences that seem to be uniquely bizarre. The vast majority of these dreams, however, will also have followed some of the familiar themes and patterns that we all experience when we dream. These dream patterns have been emerging for tens of thousands of years and form the basis for our most enduring stories and beliefs in waking life.

I have analysed more than 100,000 dreams in my 30-year career as a dream psychologist and, during that time, I have become aware that there are about 100 of these universal dream patterns that appear over and over again. Dreamers from all over the world, regardless of country or culture, report these patterns with remarkable consistency. From Russian policemen to Japanese chefs, Norwegian bikers to Venezuelan nurses, Indian dancers to Angolan oil workers, everyone, everywhere in the world, experiences these same fundamental dream patterns. These universal themes arent just quirks of the dreaming process; they are deeper reflections of the dreamers who are actually creating the dreams.

Although we may tend to think of our dreams as being random occurrences that we have no influence over, the reverse is actually true. Dreams dont happen to us, we happen to dreams. When we dream, we effortlessly generate entire worlds, from the twinkling stars in distant constellations to the fingerprints on a lovers hand. We construct these natural patterns in our dreams because they reflect the essential nature of our waking lives. Beneath the busy bustle of our daily activities, we are trying to become more deeply aware of the true purpose and the real meaning of our lives.

The universal patterns that we create in our dreams echo this deeper search but paradoxically, it can be easy to believe that dreams are meaningless and serve no real purpose. Although our dreams may seem completely nonsensical, the key to understanding our dream language isnt just in being able to identify individual symbols but also in being able to comprehend the deeper dream patterns that we create. A solitary symbol can often seem inconsequential but it can speak volumes when woven into the richer themes of our dream stories. When we step back and look at our fundamental dream patterns, we start to see the bigger picture, both in our dreams and in our waking lives.

The 100 dreams described in this book explain the most common dream patterns that we all experience, and reveal the messages these dreams are really telling us. These patterns will be instantly recognizable to the great majority of you and provide an immediate appreciation of the individual dream meaning and message. Rather than having to identify specific symbols and then try to connect them, you can take the universal meaning of a particular dream pattern and apply it to your individual circumstances. The psychological and cultural background is also given for each individual dream pattern, and actions are suggested to help you make the most of your dream experiences.

Your dreams reflect the fundamental patterns of your waking life and, although your nightly dreams and your daily life may seem to have no connection, the word dream also means your waking hopes and aspirations, as well as your night-time adventures. Even though the intentional pursuit of your waking dreams and the natural creation of your nocturnal dreams may seem to be entirely separate, they are both primarily driven by a deeper level of self-awareness that we all possess. This more elemental understanding of yourself is a natural human quality and is known as your unconscious awareness.