I Had The Strangest Dream
by Kelly Sullivan Walden
Published by Warner Books
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
Subtitled: The Dreamer's Dictionary for the 21st Century
My husband stormed out of the bedroom at three this morning. I wasn't surprised; he'd been complaining about me turning on the light several times a night to decipher the meanings of my dreams. My defense was that I was working; I had to write a review of Kelly Sullivan Walden's I Had The Strangest Dream...The Dreamer's Dictionary for the 21st Century.
Walden has updated the classic dream interpretations and added new categories appropriate for the 21st century. Interpretations for things like Blackberry's, website, email, blingbling, blogs, and other things that have become part of everyday life. "The good news: there is more than one way to interpret a dream. The bad news: there is more than one way to interpret a dream."
However, Walden provides help on what to make of the subconscious' foray into a person's deepest fears, joys, anxieties, etc. She provides a six-step guide to dream interpretation and eight dream categories. It's a lot of work to figure out what your subconscious wants to tell you, but it's fun. However, I have serious doubts about whether I'm interpreting my dream correctly, especially when it's so multi-layered.
For example, when I flipped on the light at 3 a.m., when hubby went snarling to the couch, I was standing on a Dust-Bowl type lot, pointing out where the railroad tracks used to be, where the highway used to be, where the grass used to grow. Up ahead is a small bowl-like indentation covered in snow. I think the key is the bowl, but since the book talks about fullness or emptiness, but I don't know. Then there's the desert-like atmosphere and the snow, which mean different things. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me I'm confused.
I Had The Strangest Dream...The Dreamer's Dictionary for the 21st Century is fun to play with. Warning though. Don't read the section on Joe's Precognitive Dream before sleep. I had a disturbing dream about someone drilling holes in my legs.
Armchair Interviews: If you like to understand your dreams better, check out this book--just not at 3 a.m.