WE OFTEN FIND ourselves settling for a life that we really don't like - a life that doesn't even come close to our dreams or our potential. One of my clients, a forty-seven-year-old woman to whom I will refer as Natalie, had a dream about reconnecting with what I like to think of as the "inner rebel," that essential, "dangerous," nonconformist ingredient in human nature that has the power to unlock the prisons we put ourselves in. Natalie found herself mired in a life of empty routine, chained to a series of cantankerous jobs in retailing that relentlessly chewed up her time, leaving her exhausted and drained at the end of the day:

I'm taking a bath, feeling very exposed. My husband says "I have a wonderful surprise." It's some man who has written a book about how dreams heal. The only thing the man is afraid of is that after his illness there won't be a driving force big enough to propel him onward. Then I notice the book, a small, six-by-six inch, has a picture of Gandhi on the front. I think, it has taken me forty-seven years to find out what the dream of Gandhi that I had years ago meant when he said to "follow him."

In her mid-twenties, Natalie had a powerful dream of Gandhi, the Indian political leader and social activist whose nonviolent protests eventually forced the British to leave, enabling India to once again govern themselves. She had always admired Gandhi's rebellious nature and his refusal to accept subservience, slavery, and humiliation under British domination of Indian life.

Now Natalie's second dream about Gandhi's enigmatic suggestion, "Follow me," slid under her life like molten magma, like a second chance to do something meaningful with her life. For her, Gandhi represented a deeply significant part of her authentic nature, a fiery, rebellious spirit, that she had locked up in the basement, pushed out of her life and her awareness for over twenty years. No wonder Natalie now complained of "inflammatory" problems with her health - heat in her joints, repressed anger, fire burning deep in her psyche that screamed for expression, for an outlet.

And just who was Gandhi? An important question. You can be assured that her dream chose Gandhi for a specific reason. Gandhi advocated "home rule" and self-sufficiency for the Indian people. Now "Gandhi" finally made sense. Her dream wants her to throw off the iron yoke of foreign tyranny; it wants her to expel those self-restrictive ideas and self-imposed rules that had invaded her life, erected barricades and guard stations everywhere. The dream wants her to be the ruler of her kingdom, and it wants her to live through her Authentic Self.

Natalie realized that she now had to find a way to express this vital aspect of her authentic nature. She began to explore creative ways to give her inner Gandhi outer expression. She began to use her long dormant artistic ability to create fabric art with a social message for women, to address through art, her anger about how women are treated around the world. She began to release her creative fire into her life and her "inflammatory" condition mysteriously slipped into remission. Her doctor commented, "You're very lucky." Her dream had given her a priceless gift.

For Natalie, Gandhi symbolized the re-awakening of an indispensable aspect of her essential nature, and her dreams, like a wise old woman, tell her she must make room for her Gandhi nature in her waking life - she must "follow" this invaluable facet of her True Self. And, this all happens just in time, for the dream contains a warning: "...the man is afraid... that after his illness there won't be a driving force big enough to propel him onward." Indeed, I have found that our dreams often tell us that we are in a state of "illness" when we are living someone else's life, following the herd, conforming to the soul-killing dark side of society's "shoulds" and "should nots."

Exploring the Dream
When a dream presents you with a current or historical hero/heroine who is empowering and inspiring...

• Imagine being that person and ask: "What is my life like?", "What is my job?"
• Find out all you can about that person. Read a biography or autobiography about that individual.
• Search your waking life and your own psyche for attitudes, ideas, and characteristics that fit the dream character.
• Eliminate those ideas and attitudes representing self-defeating, outside influences, particularly those ideas and rules, like the British Empire in the above dream, that attempt to govern and destroy the heroine.
• Develop a plan to create space in your life for the qualities the person represents.
• Find a way to place these qualities in the world. Start now!

James Joyce once observed, "We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love." Our dreams put tremendous energy into showing us who and what does not belong to us. Such dreams are like master sculptors, removing everything from the marble that is not the authentic individual. When we understand and work with this powerful dream dynamic, our authentic, original nature gradually emerges from the depths. Before we can leave the "ordinary world," that "exhausting" world we have settled for, we need to understand who we are not.

© John D. Goldhammer, Ph. D., 2006

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Goldhammer Ph. D., is a psychotherapist, dream researcher, and author of three books. This article is adapted from his most recent book, Radical Dreaming: Use Your Dreams to Change Your Life (Kensington Publishing / Citadel Press). He lives in Seattle, Washington.

You may visit John's website at www.radicaldreaming.com, or email him at jgoldhammer@mindspring.com.