Step 3 is to play the If It Were My Dream game. Anyone present during the telling of the dream gets to play. If you are commenting on someone else’s dream, you can do no wrong as long as you follow the simple rule of prefacing your opinions and associations by saying, “If it were my dream…” You are not allowed to interpret another person’s dream. You are going to pretend that her dream is your dream and talk about whatever comes to mind when you play that role, which might range from dreams of your own with a similar theme to your feelings about spiders and the one you found spinning a web over your bed.
Step 4 is to get the dreamer to come up with an action plan, by which I mean a specific and practical way to honor the dream. Sometimes even veteran dreamers are clueless when asked for an action plan. So in a Lightning Dreamwork session, we are all poised to make suggestions about how to move beyond talking to walking a dream.
On the way to an action plan, we ask the dreamer to come up with what Mark Twain called a “snapper,” a personal catchphrase that captures the essence of the dream and the insights that have come through in discussion. This is a neat way to retain a message, and it orients us toward doing something about it.
Come up with the right snapper, and it may lead you to the right snap decision.
I’m a Real Fox
Here’s an example of Lightning Dreamwork as informal everyday practice. A neighbor who works in state government stopped me on the street when I was walking my dog. John wanted to know if it would be okay for him to share a dream with me. I invited him to meet me at my house when my dog had done his business. Twenty minutes later, he told me the following dream:
I have taken on the role of a very important man. I have to find something of tremendous importance. I can’t get to it until the earth opens, and I am hurled into a kind of primal experience of earth changes over millions of years. I watch mountains rise and fall, and oceans grow and recede. I am in the magma of the living planet.
I find what I’m seeking. It’s doesn’t look like all that much. It’s an animal skull, not that big.
Then I’m back in the house as the important man. People jump to follow my orders. I tell them I know where exactly to dig. I point to the spot in the yard. They start digging, but their tools are no good. I tell them to go get better tools to do the job right.
I asked John the essential first question: How did you feel when you woke up? He said he didn’t want to leave the dream. He was having such a good time. He felt powerful and on track.
While running the reality check, he said he didn’t feel very powerful at work. His boss was unpredictable, and he sometimes felt vulnerable. He wanted to know how he could embody the sense of power he found in the dream.
I told him that — if it were my dream — I might think it was coaching me to take on a more important role in my work. He allowed that this was a distinct possibility. I remarked that I’d draw from the dream the practical counsel that I might need to bring other people along. The big thing that struck me was how, in the dream, my neighbor felt closely connected to primal energy, to earth changes — and I added that I would want, in whatever I chose to do, to bring that energy and connectedness to bear in my life.
He vigorously agreed. “That’s what I want to do. I feel I need that connection to feed my soul.”
I was intrigued by the animal skull. What kind of animal was it? “Maybe a dog or fox.”
I got goose bumps, because when he was recounting the dream I had had the distinct impression of a fox. I talked about the fox as a shamanic ally in the oldest shamanic traditions of Europe, and about the nature of the fox as an animal legendary for its cunning, required to know when to hunt and when to hide — renowned, of course, as a trickster.
John teared up. He explained that he had recently done his turn-ofthe-year personal reading of the I Ching. He had cast the last hexagram, named “Before Completion.” The judgment evokes the need for extreme caution, to act as a wily old fox on thin ice, not as a young fox that might fall through the cracks.
I suggested that, in any future work dramas, I would pause to ask, “What would the wily old fox do?” before adopting any course of action.
He grinned when he came up with a bumper sticker that he could use, “I’m a real fox.” He said he would honor his dream and keep in touch with its energy by putting a small figure of a fox on his bureaucrat’s desk.
The conversation juiced both of us. Everyday dreamwork is soul food for everyone involved.
Playing the Lightning Dreamwork Game
Step One: Tell the Dream
1. Choose who will tell a dream first.
2. Encourage the dreamer to tell the dream as clearly and simply as possible, without personal background or analysis.
3. Ask the dreamer to give the dream a title.
Step Two: Ask Three Essential Questions
The partner (or lead partner, if working in a group) now asks the dreamer three basic questions.
1. What did you feel when you woke up?
2. The reality check question, which has two critical aspects:
• Do you recognize any of the people or situations of the dream in waking life?
• Could any part of this dream be played out in waking life in the future?
3. What would you like to know about this dream?
Step Three: Play the “If It Were My Dream” Game
The partner now says to the dreamer: “If it were my dream, I would think about such and such.” You can say anything you like, as long as you say it politely! You may find that your own dreams or life memories come to mind in the presence of another person’s dream, and these may be your way of understanding some part of the other’s experience. You can mention those personal memories by saying, “If it were my dream, I would think about my other dreams of a house that has a mystery in the basement (or an extra story).”
Step Four: Honor the Dream
Dreams require action! The vital last part of the process requires the partner to ask the dreamer:
• What action will you take to honor this dream?
Try to guide the dreamer toward specific action. If the dreamer does not know what to do, the partner should suggest possible actions he would take if it were his dream. Some suggestions:
• Write a bumper sticker or “snapper,” a personal catchphrase that captures the message of the dream and orients you toward forward movement.
• Go back inside the dream through the dream reentry technique (see chapter 5).
• Research names, locales, and other significant details from the dream.
• Keep the dream in mind as a travel advisory or a rehearsal for future developments.
• Share the dream with someone else who may need its guidance.
• Write/paint/create to honor the dream.
• Make a dream talisman.
Walking a Dream
Janice likes to walk dreams as you or I might walk the dog. Sometimes she walks her own dreams. As a very