Prime Time Replay:


Dr. Gayle Delaney
on Living Your Dreams



MsgId: *brainstorms(8)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:00:13 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

Welcome to Brainstorms. I'm your host, Dr. Keith Harary, and I'm delighted to welcome our in-studio guest, leading dream expert Dr. Gayle Delaney. Dr. Delaney is the bestselling author of LIVING YOUR DREAMS, BREAKTHROUGH DREAMING, and SENSUAL DREAMING, and is also the creator of the innovative DREAM KIT published by Harper Collins. (For simplicity, we'll identify ourselves with our initials: KH for Keith Harary and GD for Dr. Gayle Delaney.)

By way of introduction, let me say that over the years I have had an opportunity to interview and work with many leading experts on various aspects of dreaming. I can honestly say that I've never encountered anyone more knowledgeable about dreams and dream interpretation than tonight's guest. Dr. Delaney has devoted her entire career to studying dreams, and helping individuals and the general public better understand this area. Welcome to Brainstorms, Gayle.

MsgId: *brainstorms(9)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:01:04 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Thank you. It's wonderful to be working with you again, Keith.
MsgId: *brainstorms(10)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:02:23 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: Let me open by asking a provocative question. What is your response to those who claim that dreams really do not harbor any hidden meaning? A number of psychiatrists and physiologists are making this claim.
MsgId: *brainstorms(11)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:03:49 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Allan Hobson, M.D., at Harvard is probably the foremost spokesperson for this point of view. My argument is that we shouldn't let a focus on physiology blind us to the experience of meaning in dreaming. For example, while Hobson and others have made exciting discoveries about physiological triggers for dreaming in the brain, they are unable to explain how certain stimulations of the brain cells result in any particular dream image. They often call these images "random images" but as just about anyone knows who has kept a dream journal, many of our dream images reflect how we really feel about what is going on in our lives. I think we need to incorporate new physiological data into our dream theories while resisting unscientific leaps -- such as saying that dreams have no meaning.
MsgId: *brainstorms(14)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:09:15 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: I know that you are someone who has always resisted the idea of standardized interpretation of dream symbols that are the same for everyone. But, on the other hand, you have also described common dream images and themes. How do you reconcile the fact that wide numbers of people share common dream themes and images with the fact that all people are different?
MsgId: *brainstorms(15)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:10:42 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: As human beings on the Planet Earth, we share many common experiences, fears, hopes, and wishes. Apparently, many human beings find it convenient to use an image of joyous flight to express a sense of freedom. One of my clients at the Dream Center, dreamt that she was taking off for flight in her backyard. But she was unable to get any higher than about six feet. She looked down and noticed that her husband was hanging on to her ankle and wouldn't let go! This was a personal twist on a common dream that expressed the dreamer's feeling that her husband who in waking life did not want her to go to night school and begin a career was rather limiting her freedom of flight.

So dreams such as falling, being late for a bus, being naked in public, taking an exam and being unprepared for it, are all dreams that express feelings almost every human will have at some point in life. It's up to the dreamer to ask him or herself "why did I have this common dream on a particular night and not another, and how have I personalized it to reflect the circumstances of my current life?"

MsgId: *brainstorms(18)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:15:45 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: Do the kinds of symbols that people commonly use in their dreams tend to change over time? For example -- we must have seen some big changes since the days of the horse and buggy!
MsgId: *brainstorms(19)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:17:16 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Certainly today people are dreaming about automobiles and airplanes, whereas in Renaissance times, in the 1500's, only Leonardo Da Vinci was dreaming of flying machines! Common dream images also transform over time as a reflection of changes in technology and history. For example, Soviet Russians used to represent -- for most Americans -- images of heartless control and relentless Big Brother intrusion into private lives and the violation of individual rights. Thus, the Soviet Russians often symbolized a dreamer's overly controling mother, father, boss, or that part of the dreamer's own personality that was overcontrolling. This has changed with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Russians now often symbolize some aspect of the dreamer's personality or someone in the dreamer's life who used to be overcontrolling but is now trying to reform and allow for greater individual liberty.

In the last few years, a number of my students have interpreted Russians as parts of themselves, or someone in their lives, who is out of control of formerly repressed negative forces (the Russian Mafia) and who is struggling often with inadequate resources to create a productive life. These interpretations come from the dreamers and reflect their perceptions of the figures in their dreams. Interestingly enough, the image of Nazis in a dream seems to have remained remarkably unchanged -- most dreamers interpret their Nazis as representing unredeemably negative, evil, and vicious aspects of their own personality or of people or forces in their lives.

MsgId: *brainstorms(23)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:27:12 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: How do you come to these interpretations? I understand that you have originated a method called the "dream interview" to interpret dreams. Is this a method that anyone can use to understand their own dreams?
MsgId: *brainstorms(24)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:29:41 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: For two decades, I have been teaching professionals and amateurs how to interpret dreams using the interview method and sometimes the professionals have the most difficulty learning it! This is because the method sets up an interview situation between dreamer and interpreter. The interpreter is instructed not to make interpretations but to ask simple, yet organized questions to get the dreamer to describe the major dream images and then relate them as he or she sees fit to their own current life situation.

For example, the dream interviewer asks the dreamer to pretend that the interviewer comes from another planet and has never heard of the dream image before. The interviewer might ask, "so you dreamt about Bill Clinton. Who is Bill and what is he like?" This way the dreamer is not predjudiced by the interpreter's opinions or thoughts and is free to discover what he or she really thinks about Bill. The interviewer without adding any of his or her own words then feeds back that description and asks if there is any part of the dreamer's own personality or anyone in the dreamer's life, which this description matches. Thus, the dreamer finds his or her own meaning without being intruded upon by theoretical or personal predjudices on the interviewer's part. One can conduct a dream interview alone by playing both roles -- one at a time.

MsgId: *brainstorms(27)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:35:46 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: A number of our OMNI readers have posted questions on our Dream Forum asking about recurrent dream images. One dreamt about not having make-up on in public. Another about being unprepared for an exam, and also -- at other times -- about being followed by a scary person. I'd like to know what you think about such dreams, and also your thoughts about dreams that repeat themselves over many months or years.
MsgId: *brainstorms(29)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:39:45 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Recurring dreams are expressions of situations that recur in our lives and they come exactly at the times when these situations resurface. While I can't say anything definitively about any dream without talking to the dreamer, common dreams like the ones you just mentioned tend to have similar meanings. So let's talk about those. The dream of being caught without make-up in public -- of it left the dreamer feeling embarrassed -- is probably a version of the ever-popular "naked in public" dream, which we have all had at one time or another! Usually, if the dreamer asks herself "how did I feel in the dream about having no make-up on or being naked?" she will respond that she felt embarrassed and overexposed in a public context.

Next, the dreamer should ask herself "how did the feeling in my dream of being embarrassed or overexposed highlight what I really felt sometime in my life the day before the dream?" In the examination dream, usually the feeling of being entirely unprepared and very anxious about it predominates. It is a common dream in people who live fast track, high pressure, deadline-oriented lives. It usually reflects a dreamer's feeling of being unprepared emotionally or professionally in his or her current life.

On the other hand, dreams of being chased by a scary figure -- while extremely common -- are usually much more complicated. The dreamer must first describe as well as possible the nature of the scary figure -- its personality and intent. The pursuer may turn out to represent an aspect of the dreamer's personality from which he or she is running away (their own aggression or sexuality, for example) or this figure could represent someone or some force that is very threatening to the well being of the dreamer, such as an abusive father, spouse, or work situation. Sometimes the aggressor is an expression of the fear of the dreamer rather than of the "reality" of a given situation.

MsgId: *brainstorms(32)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:48:03 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: One of our readers described a recurrent dream of being chased through a darkened field by a combine (a corn harvesting machine). The wheel swept up the dreamer and cut off the dreamer's limbs. The dreamer said it wasn't frightening, just gruesome. What do you think?
MsgId: *brainstorms(33)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:50:58 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Piece of cake! Just kidding. I would need to be able to interview the dreamer to give any reasonable idea of interpreting this dream, but these are the questions I would ask (you will see why only a fool would venture an interpretation without consulting the dreamer): First, we would need to have the dreamer describe a combine to us, as if we had never heard of such a thing before. She may have a personal history of living on a farm and think of it as powerful machine that her frightening father drove. On the other hand, she may think of it as a machine that revolutionized farming, harvested crops, and fed many more people in the world. The interpretation would turn entirely on her description of a combine. Whatever force that image represents in her life is highly destructive to her. She sees herself as a passive victim who is incapable, at this moment, of defending herself from losing her limbs -- without which physical and metaphorically speaking psychological life would be extraordinarily difficult.
MsgId: *brainstorms(35)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:53:56 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: In which of your six books is your intepretation method best described?
MsgId: *brainstorms(36)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:55:32 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Breakthrough Dreaming: How to Tap the Power of Your 24 Hour Mind is the most complete teaching manual on the dream interview method, and The Dream Kit provides tools, such as cards with specific questions and an audio tape and workbook to facilitate learning to use the method.
MsgId: *brainstorms(37)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:56:10 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: Are you working on any other books at the moment?
MsgId: *brainstorms(38)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:57:05 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Yes. In the Spring of '97, Harper Collins will publish In Your Dreams, a new kind of dream dictionary.
MsgId: *brainstorms(39)
Date: Fri Oct 18 22:58:13 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: But Gayle -- you've been tellling people for years to throw away their dream dictionaries! How can you possibly be putting out a dream dictionary yourself?
MsgId: *brainstorms(40)
Date: Fri Oct 18 23:01:31 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: Most people buy only one book on dreams in their lifetime and that is almost always one of those silly, superstitious dream dictionaries with fixed meanings than can't possibly be true for all people. I have decided to carry out a guerilla warfare operation in that market. I understand that most people want to go right to the dream image they are curious about dictionary-style. In my book, once they do that, instead of finding a single meaning, or a far-fetched interpretation, they will find a description of the many variations on common themes, and the many possible interpretation of common symbols, and most importantly a list of questions tailored to help the dreamer find his or her own meaning.
MsgId: *brainstorms(41)
Date: Fri Oct 18 23:02:43 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: Well -- we're out of time for this week's Brainstorms show. Thank you, Dr. Gayle Delaney, for a fascinating interview. I know that many of our viewers out there would love to have you return at some point in the future.
MsgId: *brainstorms(42)
Date: Fri Oct 18 23:03:18 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

GD: It's a date! As long as next time is as much fun as this time!
MsgId: *brainstorms(43)
Date: Fri Oct 18 23:06:06 EDT 1996
From: Dr._Keith_Harary_and_Dr._Gayle_Delaney At: 206.80.164.34

KH: Let me also mention that those who are interested in studying with Dr. Delaney, either by phone or in person, may contact her at the Delaney and Flowers Dream Center in San Francisco. Phone: (415) 587-3424. We also carry a number of Dr. Delaney's books in our Omni Internet bookstore. I'm your host, Dr. Keith Harary, please join us again next week for another fascinating exploration into current thinking and research about the mind, the brain and human behavior. Good night for Brainstorms.


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