Common Dreams and How to Decode Them with Kelly Sullivan Walden

Summary

Podcast Summary

Next Level Soul Podcast with Alex Ferrari

Episode: Common Dreams and How to Decode Them with Kelly Sullivan Walden
Date: April 13, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, host Alex Ferrari welcomes dream expert and author Kelly Sullivan Walden to discuss the mysterious world of dreams—their significance, language, interpretation, and how they can serve as gateways to personal transformation. Drawing from both her clinical background and spiritual perspective, Kelly unpacks why dreams matter, how to decode common themes (including shared and sexual dreams), and offers listeners actionable tools to better remember and interpret their own nightly visions. The conversation is practical, humorous, deeply spiritual, and packed with memorable moments and insightful anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kelly's Journey to Dream Interpretation

• Kelly’s Origin Story (04:44-07:00):
  • Kelly describes an organic journey into dreamwork, recounting her childhood experiences of “tandem dreaming” with her sister. She became a certified clinical hypnotherapist, realizing dreams are the language of the subconscious, which is believed to compose 88% of our mind’s power.
  • Quote: “I like to say I’m here to awaken the world to the power of dreams... I think it would be a better world... if we were all dreaming and paying attention to dreams.” — Kelly (06:35)

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2. Why Dreams Speak in Metaphor

• Dreams as Nonlinear Wisdom (07:29-08:54):

  • Unlike waking life’s logic, dreams operate in fluid, nonlinear symbols. Kelly likens this to the multiverse in "Everything Everywhere All At Once," reflecting the interconnectedness and multidimensionality experienced in dreams.

• Interpreting Dream Symbols (09:15-14:14):

  • Alex and Kelly unpack why a crashing airplane isn’t usually a literal warning. Instead, it represents urgency, opportunity, or transformation in waking life. Emotional tone matters: fear in a dream reflects urgency, but the absence of fear points to a deeper, often positive message.
  • Notable Segment: Alex’s story of a looming plane crash dream leading to the rapid growth of his show.
  • Quote: “Dreams speak a much more intelligent, efficient, elegant language than our one by one, one word at a time language.” — Kelly (08:39)

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3. How to Decode and Engage With Your Dreams

• Metaphors & Intuition (17:42-20:11):

  • Dreams require us to step outside logic and trust intuition; metaphors are “carrots” encouraging us to expand consciousness.
  • Emotional tone is always the key: “The energy of the dream is the key to how to interpret the dream.” — Kelly (32:41)

• Production Value & Celebrity Symbols (20:11-24:23):

  • Alex jokes about “asking his dream guides for better production values.”
  • Celebrities in dreams act like highlighters—“pay attention to this dream!”—and represent amplified aspects of the self.

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4. Dreams as Spiritual Communication

• Loved Ones, Spirit Guides, and Spiritual Messaging (24:23-30:26):

  • Loved ones or guides appear in dreams to reassure and comfort, bypassing rational thought to deliver profound healing.
  • Quote: “One little moment with your grandma on the other side could give you that much soul medicine.” — Kelly (30:30)

• Examples:

  • Kelly shares a dream upon her dog’s death, transforming personal grief into profound spiritual peace (27:20-29:19).
  • Alex recalls a dream visit from his grandmother during a crisis.

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5. Remembering and Recording Dreams

• Why We Forget Dreams (34:12-37:32):
  • Dream recall is a neurological transition: the subconscious passes the baton to the conscious mind, which quickly erases non-linear memories.
  • Tips: On waking, don’t move—contemplate the dream, reinforce the feeling, jot it down immediately.

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6. Shared (Tandem) and Lucid Dreams

• Tandem Dreaming (37:32-39:42):

  • Shared dreams point to deeply connected relationships and expanded psychic possibilities.
  • Quote: “If you end up in the same dream at the same time, it’s, you know, you’re on the same wavelength and there’s no end to what’s possible.” — Kelly (38:18)

• Lucid Dreaming Anecdote (54:36-55:34):

  • Alex recounts realizing he could control a dream as a child, resulting in a humorous and empowering outcome.

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7. Nightmares, Trauma, and Dream “Therapy”

• Purpose of Nightmares (56:33-61:10):
  • Nightmares often process traumas or rehearse worst-case scenarios, helping us survive and heal.
  • Dreams attempt to “vent” stuck energy and teach us survival strategies.
  • Tool Highlight: Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT): In waking life, reimagine the nightmare with a positive, empowered outcome to resolve repetitive distress.
  • Quote: “You can’t heal what you can’t feel and then work it through...” — Kelly (59:13)

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8. Sexual Dreams

• Understanding Sexual Dreams (45:13-47:40):
  • Sexual union in dreams symbolizes joining/acceptance of disowned aspects of the self.
  • Always interpret through both literal and metaphorical lenses.
  • Quote: “Whoever you’re having sex with in the dream…is often about self-love…it’s about the part of ourselves that you are bonding with...” — Kelly (46:10)

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9. Premonitions and Recurring Dreams

• Premonitions & Dream Patterns (49:34-52:13):

  • Recognize personal “signposts” or recurring dream elements as possible premonitory tools.
  • Repetitive dreams suggest unresolved issues or guidance about the future.
  • Example: Kelly’s client whose recurrent “Franciscan monk” dream was a warning of undetected cancer.

• Recurring Themes (52:13-53:16):

  • If stuck in a dream loop, ask “What do I need to learn?”—once the lesson is kno, the dream often changes.
  • Old homes or flooding often reference unresolved childhood issues.

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10. Decoding Dreams: The JETSET Formula

• Practical Step-by-Step (64:25-69:17):
  • J: Just the Facts – Write down the dream as remembered; no embellishment.
  • E: Emotion – Note all feelings present in the dream.
  • T: Title — Give the dream a headline (e.g., “The Valley of the Jumbo Jet”).
  • S: Standout Symbols – Identify primary symbols and what they mean to you.
  • E: Enlighten – How is this dream trying to awaken, heal, or teach you?
  • T: Take it to the Streets – Apply insights in waking life through specific action.
  • Quote: “Every remembered dream requires some form of action in our waking world.” — Kelly (69:05)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Don’t take your dreams lying down. Even the…fingers as sausages. There’s meaning in all of them.” — Kelly (07:54)
• On metaphors: “Dreams aren’t trying to torture us; they’re not. They’re trying to help us figure out the best survival strategy.” — Kelly (54:59)
• “In dream language, celebrities equal ‘pay attention to this dream.’” — Kelly (23:11)
• “One moment with your grandma…could give you that much soul medicine.” — Kelly (30:30)
• On nightmares: “Our nightmares are really trying to open our inner Pandora’s box and let some of those negative thoughts, negative beliefs…out so that they can go away.” — Kelly (57:20)
• “If we acclimate to the level of the intelligence of our dreams, we become more intelligent as a result, more intuitive.” — Kelly (19:25)
• “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. What if everything in life…is all conspiring on behalf of our great awakening?” — Kelly (76:05)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 04:44 — Kelly’s journey into dreamwork and hypnotherapy
• 07:29 — Why and how to take dreams seriously; the language of metaphor
• 09:15 — Real-world example: Alex’s crashing plane dream
• 17:42 — Why do dreams use metaphors and not give direct advice?
• 20:11 — “Production value,” spirit guides, and celebrities in dreams
• 24:23 — Dreams as spiritual communication (departed loved ones, guides, avatars)
• 34:12 — Why is it hard to remember dreams? Practical recall tips
• 37:32 — Tandem/shared dreams: psychic connection and implications
• 45:13 — Sexual dreams: meaning and self-acceptance
• 49:34 — Dream premonitions and recurring dream patterns
• 56:33 — The role and benefit of nightmares; Imagery Rehearsal Therapy
• 64:25 — JETSET formula: a step-by-step guide to dream decoding
• 69:39 — Kelly’s view on living a good life and life lessons from dreams
• 74:58 — Where to find Kelly’s books, resources, and retreats
• 76:05 — Kelly’s final takeaway: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”

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Tone, Style, and Atmosphere

The episode is warm, lively, and accessible, with Alex providing humor and relatability and Kelly blending practical advice, scientific grounding, and mystical wisdom. Both use engaging personal stories and keep the discussion jargon-free, empowering listeners to explore their inner worlds without intimidation.

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Takeaways & Actions for Listeners

• Everyone can learn to interpret their own dreams—start by recording them upon waking.
• Pay particular attention to feelings, standout symbols, and recurring dream motifs.
• Nightmares are opportunities for healing and growth; don’t fear them—work with them.
• Use the JETSET formula for dream interpretation.
• Apply dream insights into daily life for greater self-awareness and transformation.
• Everything—crisis included—can be a gateway to awakening.

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For more resources, Kelly’s books, or to join her retreats, visit Kelly Sullivan Walden’s website or I Had The Strangest Dream.

Transcript

[A]

This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea after the Big Game. Like most people, I kept thinking about the commercials and there was one that stayed with me. It was from the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. And it wasn't loud or flashy. It showed a Jewish kid being targeted at school and another student who chose not to ignore it. As someone who was Jewish, that moment felt very real to me. Not dramatic, just familiar. And what struck me was how clearly it showed that hate doesn't always announce itself, but the impact is still huge. If you saw the Blue Square spot during the Big Game, it's worth it thinking about. And if you want to show support, sharing the Blue Square is one small way to do that.

[B]

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[C]

welcome to next Level Soul. The place where we deep dive into the mysteries of existence, uncover hidden layers of consciousness, and explore the journey of the soul. I'm your host Alex Ferrari and every week we sit down with the world's leading spiritual teachers, mystics, scientists and truth seekers to illuminate the path towards awakening. Here we ask questions that truly matter. Why are we here? Where are we going? And how do we elevate our lives, our purpose and our consciousness to the Next level? This is a space for transformation, a space for expansion. A space to remember who you really are. So take a deep breath, open your mind and prepare to step into your Next Level Soul. Now if you're ready to take your spiritual journey to The Next Level. Explore Next Level Soul tv. Our streaming platform filled with exclusive movies, docs, original shows, transformative series, guided meditations, channeling sessions, audiobooks, and deep spiritual teachings you won't find anywhere else. New content drops every week, helping you expand your consciousness and live from your highest potential. Start your journey today at Next LevelSoul TV. The views, opinions and statements expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or positions of Next Level Soul, its host, or any of the companies they represent. Now let's dive in to today's episode. I like to welcome to the show Kelly Sullivan Walden. How you doing, Kelly?

[A]

I'm doing good. After all the technological snafus, I'm so happy to be with you.

[C]

I appreciate that. You know what I. Every time I have really technical issues with a guest on their end, it's usually the greatest conversations afterwards, you know, because you have to work harder for the conversations.

[A]

Yeah, it's like, I really want to be with him. Ain't a mountain high enough? I'm going to make it.

[C]

Well, thank you so much. Of course, of course. Thank you so much for coming on the show. We're here to talk about your new book, A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste. And also this other work that you do with the dreams, this other little stuff that you do.

[A]

Yeah, but you know, dreams have always

[C]

been fascinating to me because as I've walked my spiritual path, dreams of become a little bit more. I pay more attention to them. They become a little bit more important in my life. Where as before, they were just kind of like oddities in my life. Like, oh, I wonder what that was. Isn't that was. But I never really paid much attention to it. So before we dive into the dreamscape, if you will, how did you discover your ability to be able to decode dreams and get into this line of work? Because generally speaking, this is not a four year degree.

[A]

No, not typically. Although now these days I've got. I've got students and, and clients that are pursuing this as a career. And I think that's a. That's a sign of the times. I think that's a. It's a really good thing. It. It all has been very organic and the. I would say it's a result of me letting go and having a lot of surrender. I've always been good with dreams. Really. I mean, they just seem to speak to me. I had a. When I was growing up, my younger sister Shannon and I had a lot of shared dreaming called tandem dreaming, where we would end up in the same place at the same time in the same dreamscapes. And anyway, I think that was something to just kind of set me on my path to have me pay extra attention to them. But I became a certified clinical hypnotherapist about 25 years ago and that set me on the path of paying attention to dreams professionally. Because the hypnosis deals with the subconscious mind and dreams are the language of the subconscious. And the subconscious mind, according to the American hypnosis association, is 88% of our mind's power versus our logical conscious mind, which is at best 12%. So I, I started to notice that dreams are, even though they are a little wacky and a little strange and sometimes hard to decode, once we do understand what they're saying, it's mind blowing. The wisdom and the intelligence and it feels like it's an accelerator. So it's become a passion of mine. Inspire people. I like to say I'm here to awaken the world to the power of dreams. So I think it would be a better world, we'd live in a more peaceful Yogananda. Ish. I see Yogananda over your shoulder over there. I think a world that, that he would, he would like to see a more calm, peaceful, kind world if we were all dreaming and paying attention to dreams.

[C]

So. So my next question is, should we take them seriously? Because so many people, just like I said earlier, you know, that was kind of a wacky thing. Oh, I had fingers as hot dogs in that great movie that just came out that has that sequence, everything everywhere, all at once. Which is a fantastic. Nominated for an Oscar. That is, that's the multiverse and that's. The whole damn thing is a dreamscape, to be honest with you. It's amazing film.

[A]

Exactly, exactly. But kind of now that you bring that up, I mean, it's the. The world of that. That movie is like what happens in dreams where we get to. We step outside of our linear reality that is kind of got a stair step vibe to it that is like one plus one equals two. And everything is sort of rational and makes sense. And then we go to sleep and dream and everything flips upside down and everything's out of order. And we are connected to the multiverse and we're always connected to it. But in dreams we're more. We have that. That's the water we swim in where our multiple selves, past, present and future all collide. And we recognize that all humanity lives in us. The villain, the victor, the Mother Teresa, the All of the, all of the many parts of ourselves, they're all there. So I think that we should, we, like I like to say, don't take your dreams lying down. Even the, even the fingers as sausages. There's. There's meaning in all of them. Dreams speak a much more intelligent, efficient, elegant language than our one by one, one word at a time language. Right.

[C]

Because it works in metaphor and.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Which is my next question. Why for God. Why, for God's sake do the, you know, why is the, the airplane crash doesn't really mean the airplane crash. It means like, you gotta hurry up and do something like these kind of like things because like, you know, I was, I do. I decode my own dream sometimes. And I speak to, oh, spiritual.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I speak to some spiritual advisors who kind of help me along sometimes. And I'll never forget this. I was, it was about this show. I, I was sitting at the edge of like the valley of Los Angeles and I could see the entire city on the, on the landscape. And then this giant jumbo, you know, 747 flies over me, turns around, crashes into the city and is heading towards me. And then I wake up and by the way, I was getting on a plane in three days. So I was like, oh, knowing that I wasn't going to be. I knew at that point enough that I'm like, it's not about the plane crash. I know, I'm not gonna, it's not warning me about the plane crash. I didn't worry about that. But for my, for my own decoding and from my spiritual advisors decoding, they said, you have to hurry up. There's an urgency to what you have to do. And that is to launch this show. That's what we got out of it.

[A]

Interesting. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Okay, well, I'd love to hear your thoughts. My dream. Yeah. Okay. Well, there's. We always want things to take off. We always want things to launch. And in dream language, up tends to symbolize success and things are going well. Things are looking up for you. If we're ever feeling sad, we say, well, look up. Look on the sunny side. Look. And when a crash happens, that's kind of what we don't want in the language of dreams, that. But, but really it's. It could also mean like, why did the airplane crash? Was it. Maybe the break down was, was like a prepper. Like, I believe everything and everyone is an aspect of ourselves. In the dream, it's all us. So what part of my inner. What part of me is that airplane that, that crashed. It might have been maybe, maybe an aspect like of, of a previous dream that crashed. Like sometimes there's the breakdown that precedes the breakthrough. And maybe it didn't take off because I was, I had too much baggage packed that was on that plane. So I would think about, I mean I. All roads lead to our freedom and our ability to fly. We want to be able to fly. And if that particular plane, I mean I want to know some more of the surrounding circumstances.

[C]

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

[B]

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[C]

And now back to the show circumstances.

[A]

But it might have been sometimes the thing that we think is supposed to go where it's supposed to go doesn't so that we can actually launch into the thing that we're supposed to.

[C]

The landscape was like almost like a miniature Los Angeles and then the plane was this oversized monster. It's like so it was like almost a train set of Los Angeles and this plane turned around and landed and kind of crashed. Not crashed, but landed and was hurling towards me on the ground. But from my understanding it was if, if I don't jump on this path there you are going to lose this opportunity.

[A]

Oh.

[C]

And I was afraid and I was afraid of launching the show because it

[A]

was such an option so big.

[C]

Well, it was just a thing that I just didn't know. I was always afraid of launching the show because I was afraid of coming out of the spiritual closet.

[A]

Whoa. It feels like the, a lot like the, the belly of the whale stage of the hero's journey and, and how the. The whale will swallow us up like that. Those dreams will either help us to take off or they will, we will implode and it won't go well. I mean a lot of, I would say in some way sickness or illness is a result of not launching and not taking those opportunities and letting them fester and letting them stay inside. So I love this that it was actually coming after you so in some way, I've never heard of this exact dream. I've heard of a lot of dreams thousands of times, and there's a lot of creatures that chase after us. But it's. I don't think I've ever heard about a plane coming after someone.

[C]

But I wasn't scared. I was. There's no fear. There was no fear whatsoever in the dream. So that's why I knew by the. By the feeling that I had during the dream that I was like, I'm not to be afraid of this. It is a warning. This is something to go. You've got to get on this path. This doorway is going to close if you don't do it kind of vibe.

[A]

Right. Very cool. And it's going to come after you. It feels like this is a new Jonah and the Whale kind of a story. It's like the airplane. If you're not going get jump on the plane, that the plane's gonna come over and you're gonna have to jump on. Like your dreams are gonna have to happen.

[C]

Yeah, it was going. I was like, oh, you're not gonna. I'm gonna come back and pick you up kind of vibe. So it was really. It was a really.

[A]

I love this.

[C]

A really interesting thing. And then fast forward. This happened almost two years ago, but it's one of these dreams I don't forget because of what's happened with my show and how.

[A]

What's happened with your show. So what's happened as a result?

[C]

Well, it's exploded in a way that I can't even understand. And it's, you know, we're growing at such a rapid pace now that. Wow, it doesn't even make any sense. So. So it's just really interesting. It's just a really interesting thing. And I was very fearful of it and then took time, launched it, pulled back because I was afraid. And then I finally gave in and when I let go and just said, I'm all in, that's when things started to happen. A few, like probably six months later is when it started to kick up. And then it really. Only for the last five months or so, it hockey sticked in a way

[A]

that I can't it hockey stick?

[C]

Oh, yeah, no question. I mean, we went from a hundred thousand downloads to millions a month.

[A]

What?

[C]

Yeah, it was pretty. It's insane. So that's what this dream. So that dream was kind of a catalyst for all of this.

[A]

I love it and I love. There's so many people. When I do shows, the people that have the real, like the best shows. It seems like there was a dream that kind of kicked their butt into at least a gar. For the Aware show. She had this aware train that kept like choo choo chewing through her, through her bedroom, through her mind. And she had to jump on the train. And it was. So there's something about this momentum and that other people are going to get on and benefit from as well. It's a big vessel. It was huge. There's a big vessel.

[C]

It made Los Angeles look like little Tonka toys. Like little. Like little Legos. That's how big of a. In the valley of this giant. And if you know the LA Valley.

[A]

Of course I do. I look, I live in la, right?

[C]

I lived in Langa. I was in Burbank for many, many years. Thirteen years I lived in la. So, like, when you're at the Hollywood sign and you're just looking over on the mountaintop and you're looking over the valley, that's kind of the vibe. And it was. But the city was so little. Like, if you're at the observatory and you see the valley, that's where it was. But they were so small in the tree and the plane was monstrous. But anyway, I don't want to keep going down this. I don't want to keep going because everyone listening, okay, we heard the dream, Alex.

[A]

This move we got, we got it. You're successful. Awesome.

[C]

So. So my question is, and it's a question I get asked a bunch of regards to dreams, is why does it have to be a metaphor? Why can't they just come out and say, do this or this is going to happen? Like, it's always spoken in metaphors and images. And rarely does dialogue come into dreams. I do have dreams with dialogue in it. When they do say words, sometimes it's on the nose. Very rarely. But most of the times it's just part of the show.

[A]

Right, exactly. And some. Yeah, sometimes we do get those very spot on. I think that's when the dreams get frustrated with us. They're like, okay, I'm going to spell it out to you because clearly you're not picking up what I'm throwing.

[C]

You're too dense.

[A]

But, you know, okay, so that Einstein quote, that we can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

[C]

Correct.

[A]

So we could say that the mind, the part of our mind that creates all the problems, is the logical, linear, denser perspective. And the part of us that does connect with the solutions is the. The broader mind. So our dreams the metaphors, those symbols that we get, they, we access when we, in order to understand them, we have to think in a non linear way. We have to, we kind of have to go on the ride of where our dreams want to take us and then we have a eureka moment. So anytime you've ever had an aha moment where like all of a sudden you get that great insight, that great awareness, that synchronistic thing, you were not in an ordinary rational state of mind when that happened. So I think the decoding of those symbols, in order to do it, in order to sync up to that vibration, we have to elevate, we have to become attuned to that more symbolic thinking part of ourselves. That is where all the solutions reside. So it's kind of like I remember somebody saying once about kids with, with Asperger's or with. Not, not just add, but with like learning disorders. They speak in a regular. It's like they're. If we could attune to them, we'd actually understand everything they're trying to tell us. And it's like dreams, if we acclimate to the level of the intelligence of our dreams, we become more intelligent as a result, more intuitive. In fact, there was all kinds of research at Harvard about this that said if you do pay attention to dreams and learn to understand them, we become naturally more intuitive, we become better problem solvers, we become better navigators of our lives. So it's kind of like they're dangling a carrot. And if we catch up to the carrot, then we realize, oh wait, there's no problem here. Oh, all the answers are right here, you know.

[C]

You know, you want to hear something funny sometimes because I love my dreams and I, I dream often and, and I come from the film industry, so I've been directing and things for many years. And when I, you know, a lot of times, because of my director's eye, my dreams can be very high production value

[A]

without breaking the bank. You've got it right.

[C]

Exactly. So when certain, sometimes certain dreams are. When I say high production value for people who don't know what that means, it, it says it looks very well produced. And sometimes I get, and I get frustrated sometimes because I'm like, man, I couldn't get that dream, guys. It just wasn't the production value. Kind of sucked on that last one. So I'll. When I go to sleep, I'll make an intention. I go, guys, if you want to get a message to me. And I say, guys, meaning my spirit guides, my, the other side, whoever's trying to send me the message. I go, you're going to need to up the game a bit and you, and you need to bring the production value so I can clearly see what you're trying to do because the last one was a little muddy. It was one room. You need to take up a game a bit. And those are the nights that I wake up, have these beautifully produced like movie stars are in it and, and you know, big sets and all this stuff. And I would like to, I would love to hear your thoughts on like people like movie stars and yes, people like that. From my understanding that gets thrown into a dream for you to pay attention because. Is that right?

[A]

Yeah, I think so. I mean everybody and everyone and everything in the dream is an aspect of us. And so that means anybody can show up and it's and it represents a part of us. But the difference between let's say like an ordinary villain versus a celebrity villain, it's kind of like adding technicolor to that dream. It's like adding a highlighter pen saying pay attention to this. So the celebrity aspect just turns up the dial a little bit higher.

[C]

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

[B]

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[C]

And now back to the show.

[A]

And it tends to make the stakes a bit higher for us as well. And we do tend to pay attention.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[A]

I think some it's like in the in dream language celebrities equal pay attention to that dream. And also I would say as a kind of a subtext our if, if our subconscious mind had an agenda it would be for us to wake up, for us to become attuned to who we truly are beyond just the mundane reality. And another way of looking at like that, looking at that is for us to take off, for us to fly and for us to step into the light of who we're here to be. And in other words, the celebrity version of each of us, each of us are born to shine whether we're going to be on a film set or a television set in our lives or not. But we're all here to step into the light that is ours to step into. So in some way, a celebrity and a dream is kind of like helping us to acclimate to stepping into whatever that role is, the role of a lifetime that we're meant to play, whether it be as a mother, whether it be as a baker or candlestick maker or whatever that is like, step into that role and shine.

[C]

Now, let me ask you, when you say subconscious mind, do you ever go down the spiritual side of. Of dreams and. And what that means in regards to your relatives or like I mentioned earlier, spirit guides or angels or you loved ones, whoever you want to say in that. Spit in that space. That is a conversation, talking from the other side. Because again, to my understanding is when the other side does want to send a message, they. Our minds, our experiences are basically like an open hard drive or open book where they go, oh, he's gonna get what makes sense to me. Won't make sense to you because it's very customized. So, like, let's say Yogananda shows up in my dream. That means something to me because I identify with Yogananda as opposed to you. That might be Frida in the background. Hey, how'd you know if she shows up, she means more to you than she does to me in my scope. So it's a very customizable thing. And they use things that you might even seen that day or that week or a movie, like an Avatar scene, if you just watched Avatar or something like that, to get your attention for the message.

[A]

Is that fair dream, by the way? Yes, yes. Avatar came from James Cameron's dream, by the way. Did you know that?

[C]

Oh, I'm very familiar with Jim's work. And not only that, but Terminator as well. The. The original. The original skeleton, the ectoskeleton that is the Terminator, was in a feverish dream. He had a high 105 degree temperature in Italy.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

While he was trying to. After he got fired from his first movie, Parama Piranha, to the spawning. Oh, and he was trying. And he had. He was sick in Rome and he had a dream for the Terminator and then he wrote the Terminator quickly after that. So that was a dream. Yeah, Jim and I speak like I know him, but Mr. Cameron uses his dreams.

[A]

JC.

[C]

JC as we like to call him when we go out to drink. He. He uses his dreams a lot and so does Spielberg. So a lot of the the bigger filmmakers and creators, they really pay attention to their dreams.

[A]

Yeah, Dream works.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

But to answer your question about the spiritual side of dreaming, it' it's so incredible. And I love that you brought up departed loved ones and that I think, again, if the agenda of the subconscious mind is for us to wake up and to drop our fear and to step more boldly into our soul, our spirit, having having a departed loved one come into our dream and us to have. Having some kind of a communion with them, some sense of they survived death and we're still in touch with them, we still love each other. That. That has survived death. Oh, my God. There's almost nothing greater to awaken us to our spirituality than to have grandma or dad or mom or our pet show up in our dream and give us that look or give us a hug. There's nothing more healing for the heart than those kind of dreams and the portals that they can open up for us. Just having one of those dreams. I mean, the. The night I read this is one of the chapters in my book. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. I call it Cosmic Lola. The night that my dog Lola was passing away, it was so heart wrenching. She was really old and she had outlived her. She wasn't supposed to live as long as she did. So we had a lot of borrowed time, but it's still, it's never, it's never enough. And the night that she was dying, I had this dream that she unzipped her dog suit and became the cosmic sky. And I was like, oh, she was never really a dog the whole time. She was the cosmos in this tiny little Chihuahua body. Oh my God. And it was, and it was like she was like, yep, that's who I really am. So that so helped me be have more peace on that day. That was so brutal to have to say goodbye to her. But to have that little dream, like, everybody could say, oh, she's on the other side of the rainbow bridge. She loves you, she's with you. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. But the fact that I had this very personal dream with her in it imprinted me and it was undeniable. And I grabbed onto that and I still do. When I think about her, it's like, wait, she's not dead. That's not how I want to remember her. But she's the cosmic sky. Okay, she's good. I miss her. But I have her now to think about and other loved ones as well that have come to me in dreams. How about you? Have you?

[C]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, there was. A few years ago, I had a very stressful situation. I was in. Whatever reason, my grandma showed up in a dream, and I was in bed in a dream, and she just kind of was patting me on the back and kind of stroking my back, kind of like, it's okay. And I don't dream with my grandmother very often. You know, I don't even remember other dreams with her. But she just out of the blue showed up. And when I kind of just spoke to again to my spiritual advisors about it, and they. They said she was just there to kind of say, it's going to be okay. It's just. It was a moment of love. That's all that was. It was no message to it. She just wanted to let you know it's gonna. It's gonna be okay. Because you saw all of the stress and trauma I was going through during that moment, and she was just there to kind of like, it's okay. It's okay. It's gonna be okay. It was such a. It was just such a lovely, reassuring dream. Dreams have such a powerful ability to transform negative things into pot, like, to give you support when you need it. I've noticed, at least in my life.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, that just in the way you just talked about that. I can see and feel this sort of portal that opened in you, in your heart, just in that place of reassurance that all the books, all the spiritual masters on this level, as great as they are, couldn't necessarily give you that. And that's why I think dreams are so elegant, because they. One little moment with your grandma on the other side could give you that much soul medicine.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Isn't it incredible? It's.

[C]

It's. It's remarkable. It truly, truly is remarkable. The power of dreams. And as you start to delve deeper into dreams and decoding the dreams, because decoding is an art form. There's no question about it. It is not easy. I mean, not like that. That plane thing. If I would have been another person, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm not getting on that. I'm not getting on that flight in three days because I'm gonna crash. Like, it's in that. And using that analogy, knowing that I was going to be on a plane in three days was also an interesting choice too, because it could have been misinterpreted. But it's something to also pay attention to because I was. I'm gonna definitely pay attention to a crashing plane if I'm getting on a plane in three days.

[A]

So it's interesting, but I think what you did was exactly the right thing, which was to pay attention to the feeling tone in your dream. There wasn't fear involved and you weren't on that plane. Right.

[C]

I was watching.

[A]

So there's. Right. So it doesn't mean that, you know, sometimes these things happen, but there's this shamanic belief that everything happens first in a dream. And so the fact that you were able to see it, it was from afar, it felt, it did feel to you. You're the best interpreter of your own dreams. You could have a thousand people like me give you their feedback, but you're the one that has your own intuition as the litmus test of what is this dream trying to give me. So I really love where your dream went. We have to follow, I mean our feelings are, the energy of the dream is the key to how to, quote, unquote, interpret the dream. What does the dream feel like and what in waking reality feels like that or similar to that. So that's where we pay attention. It's kind of like draw a circle around that and then step inside of that instead of getting too lost in our mind.

[C]

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

[B]

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[C]

And now back to the show.

[A]

I mean, it might seem like dream work is an intellectual activity, but it isn't. It's very much about the body and your, and your senses and your intuition. Our mind can come on board at the very end to kind of connect a few dots, but not until the end.

[C]

Sausage fingers, not intellectual. Sausage fingers, not hot dog fingers, not intellectual.

[A]

It's to say, were they smoking before they had that dream?

[C]

Yeah, so. So let me ask you then, why is it so hard to remember dreams? That's another thing that happens is, yeah, there's certain dreams like that that just are so in technicolor that you're going to remember them afterwards. But I actively, if I remember a dream I actively try, if I wake up to try to kind of like reinforce it. Reinforce it, Reinforce it just enough to. When I get out of bed, okay, I'm still thinking about. I still think. And I'll lose maybe the beginning of it at the end of it, but the core of the middle I still remember. And then I'll write it down and then it's gone. It's gone. And very few things that I could hold on to. So why is that?

[A]

The. It's like I used to run track when I was in high school and when I would run the relay races. So there's kind of like this passing of baton. So when we go to sleep, our conscious mind is exhausted from hours of, of overuse. So the conscious mind hands the baton over to the subconscious mind. And this is where it's kind of like the freaks come out at night. The, the. Anything that's been suppressed by day, any emotions, any. I don't want to think about that. And that. It's like all those things that didn't get handled go into sort of this crazy room, like at. What was that? Midnight at the museum or at night at the museum? Yeah, so all of these. This part of ourselves that I think about the back of the head, like the limbic brain is what picks up that baton and it says, now it's our time, now it's our chance. And it's the non linear part of the mind that is doing the thinking, doing the processing. And by the time we wake up in the morning, we switch back over to the prefrontal cortex that thinks in a very orderly, organized way. If we wake up too quickly, the logical brain will either take a look at the dream we were having and say, well, that just doesn't make sense, let's get rid of it. Or it's like in the distance between that more primal part of the mind and the prefrontal cortex, that newer brain, the distance it takes for us to travel there is like within just a couple minutes. And we'll lose the dream if we, if we wake up too quickly. So this is why I tell people, stay like, do exactly what you were doing. Think about that last little snippet of the dream that you were just having. Contemplate it several times before you move a muscle and then write it down immediately because it will be gone. I mean, it's like switching channels on a radio. If there's some song that you'd never heard before. It's kind of subtle. You're like, oh, what are those pretty lyrics Then if you turn it to a punk rock station, it's like, wait, wait, wait, wait. I can't remember that. Wait a minute. Ah, it's gone. And then you try to dial back in to find it. So the. The practice is to just write immediately upon awakening. Don't get out of bed, don't move a muscle until you've got some sense of the last bit of the dream you had. And then write it down or record it on your phone or draw a picture of it or tell somebody. But I always say, don't do that because you might get in the way of your partner, husband or wife or whatever from them being able to remember their dream. If you talk your dream out loud to them, but write it down at the very least.

[C]

So what happens when two people have the same dream at the same time, similar place that you mentioned that earlier, that's happened to me where I've had, you know, I'll call somebody and they're like, man, I had this dream. They're, like, shot up. I was there. I was there, and I didn't know what was going on is the same place I was. What does that mean usually?

[A]

Oh, God. Well, it's very special. And I've. And I grew up with those. That's why I got so deeply into dreams, because of the tandem dreaming I was having with my sister and still do every once in a while. At the very least, it means that you're psychically attuned, you're psychically connected, and that you should pay attention to what was happening in that dream. Consider that there's extra highlighter pen saying, what was that? Don't forget that dream. So there's just extra arrows pointing toward that. And I mean, my sister. I'll just speak from personal experience. We're very, very deeply, soulfully connected, psychically attuned. If you end up in the same dream at the same time, it's, you know, you're on the same wavelength and there's no end to what's possible there. I mean, we talk about lucid dreaming where you're aware that you're dreaming when you're dreaming. But if you can have a partner in crime, partner and shine. Oh, my Lord. I mean, this is like the Beginnings of the 2.0 of consciousness and the places that we can explore together. And it's so vast. I mean, we're just as smart as we all think we are. As many books as we've read and as many cool meditations as we've had, we're just in the 0.001% of exploring what's possible. So these kind of dreams point toward what else we are capable of as humans. We're not just here to suffer and pay bills and struggle, struggle, struggle until we die. We're here to do some of that stuff. And our dreams are part of the. Part. It's like going into the consciousness gym to help us work some of these muscles so that we can carry some of that consciousness over into this. This reality.

[C]

Now, is there divine intervention in our dreams? Have you experienced that or seen that?

[A]

I think so. I think that. I mean. I mean, it depends on what you think of as that. But I think that we have free will. That's my. Yeah, that's my mythology that we do. I know some people that are very smart that say the opposite, but we control everything.

[C]

Yeah, we control everything, obviously.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. I believe in free will, However, I think that sometimes, I mean, like, I've had very strong voices, like a. A voice. A very paternal voice. I think it's my grandpa Solomon. I'm. But that comes in and just says, like, yo, yo, yo, knock that off. Have I taught you nothing? Go over here instead. Like, whoa. And so it feels like divine intervention. Shaking me by the heels. No, Kelly, like, way off track. Go over here. So I do think sometimes our angels, our guides, our higher beings that love us, will sometimes, because the veil is so thin and we're a sitting duck. We're kind of. We're just. We can't. We can't run and hide like we can in our ordinary conscious mind. We can't bob and weave and. And duck away from that wisdom. In dreams, we're a bit more susceptible to being able to receive all of that. So I think that's the perfect place for our spirit guides to bust in. To bust a move, as they say.

[C]

As they say.

[A]

Have you had that experience of divine intervention in a dream?

[C]

The conversation or the. The definition of divine intervention is it varies from person to person. So I think that there have been dreams that have definitely moved me in a certain direction, but I found much more divine intervention in my meditations, which is a dream. Like, almost sometimes a dream.

[A]

Like, it's on the spectrum.

[C]

It's definitely on the. You know, I'm. I mean, you can actually go deeper in meditation than you can in the dream alpha channel in the alpha waves in your brain. To my understanding, that's stronger. Like, I'm talking about monks who've been meditating for 30 years can go into gamma. That's Far beyond, you know, just normal alpha waves and REM sleep that we're. We're in. So there is. I found in my meditations, I have a very deep meditation practice that I've had that kind of stuff happen in my meditations more so than in my dreams. I'm not. Maybe I think I'm more trained in meditation than I am in dreams to get that kind of information. And I found that in meditations, it's a little bit more straightforward. It's the meditation. There's not as much metaphor when it's usually.

[A]

It's usually because your conscious mind is still present the whole time.

[C]

To a certain extent, yes. It's. You should be. But if you go so deep that you don't even. I've go so deep that I don't even know where I am when I come back out. I'm like, how long. How long have I been out? How long have I been. I've been out in this other place. So meditations, you can't do that for, like, sometimes I've gotta go an hour. And I'm like, oh. And I think it's 10 minutes. But when I look at the clock, like, oh, wow, it's been under an hour and a half, two hours. So those are the best meditations, by the way.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

But a lot of the things that we do when we're dreaming on a physiology in the. In the physical body can be done in the deep meditation state as well. The repair systems, the relaxation, all that stuff as well. Because I don't sleep in the hours. I sleep five hours a night, six hours a night. And I spoke to a Harvard professor who told me you're one of those people. But your meditation covers. But your meditation covers a lot of the stuff that you might be missing. And there are people, there's two groups, one that can function on five or six hours of sleep comfortably, and people who need nine or 10 hours of sleep to function. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

[A]

Right, Right. Well, God, good for you. That's kind of the best of both worlds to get that. To have those few hours sleep, but then have those deep meditations to do all that repair work. Well, and it's all consciousness. It's all in the consciousness gym. Whether you do it by med. I mean, meditation is for people that want to be better dreamers and have better dreams. Meditating is. Meditating is good for so many things. I mean, it's just. It's just not going to hurt you, right? Just so many benefits.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Little pain, Right, Right.

[C]

And you're right, my meta, My dreams have become much more vivid, much more interesting. After meditating for as many years as I have, considering where I was before and to where I am now. Now there's one section of dreams that I think we all have at one point or another and it's something that we don't talk about very often. But I'd love to hear your thoughts. Sexual dreams, those are always, those are always fun. I, I quite enjoy them. You know, they're just, but they're, they're dreams, they're dreams that come in sometimes with your partner, sometimes not with your partner, sometimes with the celebrity, sometimes not with a celebrity. It's, it's just all over the place. What in your opinion do they mean, generally speaking, when there's, you know, if you have a good feeling, obviously, I mean, if it's a negative feeling, it's a different thing. But, but in a good feeling sexual dream, that every one of us have it at one point or another in our lives.

[A]

Absolutely. And it's, it's, it's awesome. And I would say that like, okay, first of all, it's just awesome. So what's the purpose and what does it mean? Yeah, I would say one aspect of it. Like again, I always like the, the end goal is awakening. The end goal is for us to be fully like to have heaven on earth. And so sexuality is one path to get there. I mean there's a whole tantric path to be able to allow sex to take us there. And so sex in a dream can be incredibly liberating. And we feel better. We're just, we're just a better version of ourselves when we wake up, whether we remember the dream or not. But then as a metaphor from the perspective that everyone and everything in the dream is an aspect of us. Sex is a metaphor for joining, for, for deep, deep connection. So whoever you're having sex with in the dream or having, being sexual with in a dream is often about self love. It's about like the part of ourselves that, so it could be, you know, if you ask yourself, you know, three adjectives to describe the person that you were having the sexual dream about. Describe that them that in, in three words and then consider that that's the part of yourself that you are bonding with, that you're joining with. And it's often you can look at it from that perspective and notice how these dreams are helping us to be better. I mean, I know this one woman I remember, I mean, teeny little things, super like frail, tiny. And she had a sexual dream about an ex boyfriend. I said, we'll describe him in three adjectives. She said, strong, capable, no one's gonna mess with him. And I said, so is there any part of you in your life right now where you could use some of that energy? So. Oh my God. Yeah, I'm in the middle of moving. I've feeling so lost and so scared and so alone. So having this dream, she's reconnecting with this part of her that has her back, that has her strength. So that's one way to be able to look at it. The celebrity that's also bringing into an intimate place within you, your inner celebrity, the part of you that shines. But also just ask what those three qualities are. Do you have anyone you want to talk about?

[C]

No, no, no, I haven't. I haven't had one in quite some time.

[A]

I like to tell people that it's the ultimate hall pass, these dreams, because you don't. Nobody gets in trouble because it's all an aspect of you. So if you tell me, sweetheart, the best is when.

[C]

When like a wife has a dream about you sleeping with someone else and then they get wake up in the morning and they're angry with you and

[A]

they're like, oh God, what do you, what do you.

[C]

I didn't do anything.

[A]

I shared. I did my friend with somebody on Tick Tock where there's this woman and man, and she's so mad at him and she's like, you better apologize. He's like, I'm so sorry that in your dream I am flirting with your friend. And she's like, huh,

[C]

that's the definition of insanity. That's the definition of insanity. That's the definition.

[A]

Exactly. But it does happen. And we do. They feel so real that we do act out on our partner, but we have to look at ourselves. I mean, every once in a while these dreams are telling us about something going on. I mean, it happened to me once in a, in a relationship years and years ago. I kept having dreams about the guy I was with being with another woman. And it kept coming up and it started to become more detailed and more specific. And finally he broke down and admitted that it was true, that it was. That it happened exactly as I had seen it. So that, that's kind of the exception to the rule, I would say. But it's worth, for every dream, it's worth doing the reality check and just saying, could this happen? Might that have happened. Is there any reality to this dream? And then if there seems to be nothing that checks out on the physical plane, then consider that it's all a metaphor.

[C]

Well, that brings me to my next question then. Premonitions. That's a premonition. How can you decode premonitions inside of dreams?

[A]

Oh, well, it's tricky because you never know if it's a premonition until things play out to confirm it. But if we pay attention to dreams over time, we start to notice patterns in ourselves. Some of us even based on the cycle of the moon, some of us have during a full moon, we'll tend to have more precognitive dreams or there's certain characters that show up recurringly. In a precognitive dream, I always talk about my friend, Kathleen o' Keeffe Cannabis. She has this very odd Franciscan monk that shows up in her dream whenever she's got a health challenge that needs to be addressed. And she's a three time breast cancer survivor even. And she and the monk in her dream saved her life because he kept showing up and kind of giving her the message that she needed to have her breast examined. She was like, I already got it examined. I already did a biopsy. All these things. It was like, nope, go back. And turned out she had stage four cancer that none of the machines were picking up. So whenever that monk shows up, she knows, okay, great, I got to go to the doctor. Got to get checked out. So some people have a recurring dream where they're back at school or they're in a movie theater. And you know that that's the scenario that tends to be where your precognitive dreams show up. So it's important for all of us to just pay attention to some of the themes that show up regularly or what's happening when we do have those precognitive dreams and see if so that we can start to chart that we might be able to know their precognitive before we have to wait for things to play out.

[C]

Yeah, I've never had the same dream twice or even the same theme of dreams twice. I don't, at least I don't remember it. So it's not a thing like theater or, you know, the plane keeps crashing or things like that. There's none of that, not at least that I can remember. And I've been studying them pretty intensely for the last seven, eight years. So it doesn't seem like it for me. But from what you're saying is if you do have like you said with that, that ex. Ex boyfriend keeps getting again. It keeps coming up again and again and it starts getting more and more detailed, like they're focusing it in on you, putting more light on this. The production value starts to go up. It's something that you really need to start paying attention to. If even if you do it twice, it's something. It's a rarity. Is that it's a rare.

[A]

I. Well, so there's a couple different ways of looking at recurring dreams, even just recurring themes in our lives as well. So one way of looking at it is that we're in a loop. And until we get the message, we don't get to graduate from that loop like Groundhog Day. So like Bill Murray, it's like once we get the message, then we're able to switch gears. So if we're tired of the same old dream scene or dreamscape or something, same people and same thing happening, then ask yourself, what do I need to do? What. What am I not getting? What do I need to learn from this? What do I need? How do I need to change? The other way of looking at it, though, is that most of us have certain recurring characters and certain recurring, like a playlist of places, people, things that tend to show up. Like, we tend to all have a place where we. Like a home that we used to live in that will show up to let us know that we're dealing with issues from childhood or we often will have. So do you have any of those?

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had my old house that I used to live in, flooding. You know, flooding coming from the ceiling and me trying to clean it up. And we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. And I was like, what is that going on this year, this years ago? But I was like, what does that mean? But it. But again, from. From decoding it, it was something. There was stuff that in the past that I will be dealing with. And if I don't deal with it, it's going to overtake me, which was kind of the flooding waters. Again, didn't have a negative feel in it when it was happening. They don't Rarely have. Have scary dreams, which we'll get to in a second or screen that I feel threatened. I haven't had those since I was a kid. You know, my favorite dream I remember, I'll never forget. It's my favorite dream when I was a kid was. And it was a lucid dream. It was a kid. I was probably in sixth grade or something like that. And I was in my little apartment and someone knocks on the door. I open the door and there's this giant man in a trench coat where I don't see his face. And then for whatever reason, I said to myself, hey, this is my dream and I control my dreams for whatever reason. So I was conscious of the dream.

[A]

So then, oh, that's brilliant.

[C]

You know what? I'm gonna kick him in the balls. So I went to kick him in the balls and he blocked it. And I said, I'm out. And I just woke up. I was like, I'm done. That was, that was the one punch I was gonna throw. I'm out. And that was it. I have no idea what that dreams meant. It was, I mean, it was when I was sixth grade. So there might have been stuff I was going through at that time in my life, but it was such a

[A]

funny discovering in some way if it were my dream, discovering where my power is, like, if, like, what's my strategy? Because often we'll have a challenging dream during transition times in our lives or times when we're feeling powerless. We'll experiment with, do I, do I fight back or do I get good at running? How do I survive? Our, our nightmares aren't just. They're not just trying to like torture us. They're trying to help us figure out the best survival strategy by getting it maybe wrong a few times in the dream until we figure out what we're going to do if, if the situation plays out.

[C]

So, yeah, so nightmares, because nightmares is a bit. Is a big deal with a lot of people because some people are tortured literally night after night with nightmares. They're like, to the point where some people are afraid to go to sleep, sleep because of these nightmares that are so vivid and so terrifying to them. What, you know, and it could be, from my understanding, it could be traumas, it could be pains on unconscious stuff that they just never dealt with from childhood or anything. What is your explanation of nightmares specifically and how to do we deal with them? How do we kind of process them? You know, these are, these are dreams that not only are scary because I've had scary dreams, but I don't feel fear. And then there's scary dreams like, like the, the crash, the plane crash. It. That's a scary dream. A giant plane is coming towards you. But I felt no, but I felt no fear. But then there are scary dreams that you're terrified in it. So what, what, what do you suggest?

[A]

Oh, there's so Many different things. But then I'd say the nutshell is one way to look at nightmares is that they are venting dreams. They're. And processing dreams. There was a study done a few years ago that showed that it's part of our survival strategy as, as a, as a part of a species that has survived millennia. 1. I mean, so many other species have died out and yet ours has survived for a long, long time. And a reason for that is our ability to dream and process and work through difficult, scary life challenging situations before they actually happen. So one way to look at nightmares is that it is like a rehearsal for the worst case scenario. So that should that ever happen, we're prepared. It's like we've already had the drill so that if the worst thing happens, we're like, okay, don't go there, grab that, do that, talk to that person so that we're better survivors. Another perspective is that they're venting dreams. They're helping us to get out of our system energy that's gotten locked in. There's a lot of research these days on somatic therapy and what happens in the body when we experience trauma. One of the stories in my book in a Crisis is the terrible thing to Waste. I talk about. It's in the chapter called the Right to Bite. I get attacked by two bull mastiffs. They're like on both sides of me. And one of them's like. And I had worked with a trauma therapist years before who taught me how in real life how to get the trauma out of the body and by shaking. Anyway, that's a whole other story. But when trauma happens, typically we tighten up. We clench and the, and all of that emotion crystallizes and goes inside our body. Our dreams are helping us to unpack that help to get it out so that it doesn't toxify inside us, so that it doesn't coagulate and become bigger and take us out. So our nightmares are really trying to kind of open our inner Pandora's box and let some of those negative thoughts, negative beliefs, limited ideas out so that they can go away. The only problem is that sometimes we loop them back in, we recycle them, as opposed to just letting them have their, have their dupe. So my strategy for working with nightmares so that they can do what they're intended to do, which is bring up what's here because you can't heal what you can't feel and then work it it through, figure out a new strategy and then let it go so that you Come back. If we get to go the full cycle, then we actually feel incredibly empowered and, and victorious as a result of going through that. So what I like to do with people, if anybody is listening and they're. And they have a recurring nightmare, what you can do. And this is, this is going to seem like a very simple thing, but there is tons of research that backs up the validity of this. And I was doing it for years before I found out they were doing it at Harvard. And this is just, it's a really powerful tool. And it's called imagery Rehearsal Therapy, irt. And it's where you, in your waking state, you call to mind a nightmare. And ideally, as you're doing that, you also call in some angels or some reserves, some kind of superpower, so that you're not just re. Traumatizing yourself, but you imagine yourself going through that nightmare, but doing something differently. So, for example, the making that big airplane get to the size of like a little model plane, and you're the giant and you're like, what do you want to tell me? Little airplane or big scary monster? Darth Vader. You shrink it to the size of a pea, or you put him in jail and then you're able to talk to him outside the prison bar so he can't hurt you. But you're able to interview Darth Vader and say, why are you trying to kill me? Or what kind of gift are you trying to give me? So you resolve the dream using your imagination. And often in the process of doing that, you resolve, you help the dream do what it was trying to do in the first place, and then you won't have to have that recurring dream anymore. And it will have fleshed that out of your system so that you can be the 2.0 version of yourself on the other side of that.

[C]

That's the fantastic way of looking at nightmares because it is a problem for a lot of people. So hopefully that helps some people listen.

[A]

Absolutely, absolutely. It's something that I love to do. I teach it in my dream work, practitioner training. People come to my training because they want to learn how to do it for other people. But they end up going, wow, just to be able to learn how to do this for myself. It's, I mean, it's a simple thing. It doesn't take that much to. To do it.

[C]

That's fantastic. Now, out of all the dreams you've listened, you've heard over the years, what's the craziest one

[A]

about this guy? I'm sitting on the edge of The Valley. Oh, wait a minute. That was you. That was you.

[C]

Is there one that stood out to you? Like, wow, that's interesting.

[A]

There's so many. Oh, man, let me see. I. I might just have to. God, there's some. This isn't the most bizarre by any means. Oh, man, there's so many.

[C]

They're all flying back into your head right now.

[A]

They're all like, I'm being overloaded. They're. This, this is not going to be the most crazy dream, but this is just one that came to me from a client a few days ago about this construction zone and all this stuff going on and under construction and this, this woman walking by in a bridal gown. Help me, help me. And normally he would be so inclined to be the hero to help her, but he's like, no, no. And like he sends her away and she's like, jerk. And meanwhile he goes in to help these burly guys that are. That are like un. Excavating this, this big building or something. He's like, what the heck? Why would I just say no to the damsel in distress and try to help? Anyway, what we were able to uncover from that is that he's needing to not be in a relationship right now. And of course because he's needing his own time to deal with the foundation of his own life. To tend to that. That doesn't look sexy. But it's like. To deal with his own foundation.

[C]

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. Help.

[A]

He's having to really set boundaries with relationships that are tempting and seductive, but it's not helping him with the foundation of his spiritual life. And so he's having to. So there's. There was that. Which I thought was.

[C]

That's awesome. That's a. That's a beautiful one. That's a really beautiful one. Now, I was waiting for the hot dog's finger story.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Oh, God. As soon as we. As soon as we're done with this, I'm going to be like, alex, drinks. Hey, let's do a part two.

[C]

I just had this dream.

[A]

I've got so many.

[C]

So are there any tips that you can give the audience on how to decode their own dreams?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So in fact, if people sign up on my website, I have. It will be available. I don't know if this goes out right away, but the next day. Oh, well, fabulous. By the time this comes out, I have this jet set formula and a lot of people and it's not in one of my books yet. I have other, other formulas that are in my, in my book. In my book, it's all in your dreams. I have a. What I use is the saddle formula, but the jet set formula is the kind of. The newer one and it's what people are really digging and it's about jets, so go figure. It's because everything in dreams is about helping us to figure out how to. To take flight. So using that as a, as an acronym. J, E, T S, E, T. The J stands for just the facts, ma'. Am. That means just write down your dream as you remember it. Don't embellish it, don't second guess it, don't judge it. Just write down like, take dictation. Just the facts, ma'.

[C]

Am.

[A]

The E is for the emotion. Pay attention to the different feeling energies. Like, like with yours, it's surprising. I would think you would be terrified, but you're like, no, it was fine, it was cool. So pay attention to the emotion or feeling in the dreams. It's the E. The T is for give your dreams a title. First thing that comes to you. For example, what would you say is the title of that. That jumbo jet coming after you?

[C]

I would probably call it the Jumbo Jet. You know, Valley. The Valley.

[A]

Jumbo Jet, Yeah, the Valley of the Jumbo Jet. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, so. And sometimes there's a subtitle, so see, if there's. There's that. And then the second S is for the standout symbols. So for you, it was the, the big jet and it was the Valley and all those lights kind of looking small compared to that jumbo to those primary symbols and what those mean to you. So kind of dissect, dissect what is like, what is a jumbo jet out? Something that is supposed to carry me up. It's supposed to, you know, what is the Valley? What is the Valley to you? Like in a word or two?

[C]

At that time, I think I was still living in Los Angeles. So it was something that was, it was home. It was, it was a. It was a home place. But it was, but it was to be, if you want to go deep in it, that, yeah, smaller version of LA means that the less significant it is in my life and that this jumbo jet was more significant in my life, which is extremely true because I left la. So that was, that was. If you want to get philosophical about it, that makes sense that it was so small. Vast, Right? Small. And this jumbo jet was, you know, 500 times its regular size. And that was the thing that was going to be the next stage in my. You can only decode this. Now, looking back, there's no way I could have decoded this as this detailed at the time. But because of what the. The jet represented and what was going on and it was coming towards me and all this kind of stuff, that's how I look at it, at least.

[A]

Oh, my God. And I. And the fact that, I mean, I realized that there was this size differential, but I didn't realize it was that extreme. So that is such an important element. It's like the spiritual jet is so much bigger, more important than the Hollywood career and significant then, like as big as Hollywood can seem. It's kind of like a little tinker to way like, oh, that's cute.

[C]

And that's. And that's kind of exactly what's happened with me in the show that this show is the jumbo jet, where my other shows that were in the filmmaking space are basically the LA miniature size.

[A]

That is amazing. And it also just feels like the ratio of material to spiritual and the spirituality becoming much more important.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Much more significant. So this is. That's important. And then the next E. You'll like this word. It's for enlighten. How do you think this dream is trying to enlighten you? If every dream, right, is trying to help us to become more healed, more whole, more awake, how is. So in other words, what was that? So you already got the message of that, how this dream was trying to enlighten you. And then the T, the final T is for take it to the streets. This is where the jumbo jet comes in for a landing. And this is where you actually do something in your physical reality. Like in your case, you. You took the steps to actually start this show.

[C]

Right.

[A]

So there I. I believe every remembered dream requires some form of action in our waking world. So that's how we kind of close the loop. That is.

[C]

That is fascinating. I've had such a ball talking to you, Kelly. It has been. We. I mean, you could talk. I mean, dreams are endless. In this con would be endless because we could just keep talking and talking and talking about different dreams and all that kind of stuff. But I'm going to ask you a few questions, ask all my guests. What is your definition of living a good life?

[A]

My definition of living a good life? I have so many ways I could answer that, but in this moment, I'll just say the, this, this new book that I've written, the Crisis is A terrible thing to waste is this. It's kind of the. I've done what I thought was that I. Something I would never do, which is take my heartbreaks and my, my pain stories that I've swept under the rug, put in the closet and taken them out, polish them off and really look at them. Like kind of take them out of being lodged in my body and, and look at them and, and look at what I've learned from these things and how they've taught me something. So living a good life isn't just about looking at the bright side. It is. Carl Jung says something like enlightenment isn't just about contemplating figures of light. It's also about making the darkness light, shining light in the darkness. So. So I've done a lot of that alchemy work in this new book. And I feel as a result of that, I feel more free talking to you. I don't have any part of me that's afraid you're going to ask me some gotcha question that I'm not going to be like, what do you mean? Because it's happened. It happened to me a few years. That's part of what prompted me to write this book. If somebody is going to poke and prod at my past, I don't want to walk around feeling like I'm afraid of anything. I want to be. I want to own. There's. The first story I put in this book is called Amor Fati. And it's. It's a saying from the Stoics. And it means love your fate. In other words, love your life exactly as it is and exactly as it isn't. And all the things that worked, all the things that didn't work, all the heartbreaks, all the great wonderful things. Things. That's what to love. So in order to have a good life, in order to up level our lives and live on the next level, I think we need to just own all of it, the light and the dark. And know that it's all a gift.

[C]

Beautiful answer, my dear. What is your definition of God?

[A]

My definition of God? The feeling I have when I say the word and when I think of it is this. You know, of course there's the good orderly direction, but I feel and sense it is so much more than that. Feels like it's this source that when I am consciously plugged into it, I imagine there being like this cosmic umbilical, umbilical cord that I can plug into and I'm connected to the motherboard. I'm connected to all of life. And all of the good and all of the love. And I am intrinsically safe and held and loved. I don't have to be defensive or protective or try to grab anything from anybody. When I'm connected to this source, I am right where I'm supposed to be. And I am guided and I. And I am my best self when I am connected to that. And it is always available, always at hand, like this constant waterfall that never, ever, ever, ever stops. I am the one that sometimes steps out of it and says, I got this one. I don't need your help. I'm good. And then I run back, no, no, no, I'm not good. Come back. Please help. So God is grace. God is the love intelligence that governs the universe.

[C]

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show.

[A]

When I'm in the midst of that flow, no matter what's going on around me, I'm good. I'm at peace.

[C]

And what is the ultimate purpose of life?

[A]

The ultimate purpose of life, As I said earlier, I believe the ultimate purpose of our dreams, but also life is to. Is to wake up. I had a death experience. One of. It's one of the chapters in my book that talk about when I die and it came back. But when on the other side, I got talk about having an awakened moment, being present to the vast love, the vast indescribable beauty. I think we all have glimpses of that, whether in dreams or meditation or in love or whatever. And I think we're meant to embody that and ground that and. And have that be here on earth.

[C]

Fantastic answer. And where can people find out more about you and pick up your new book? A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

[A]

Thank you, Alex. Everything is on my website, Kelly Sullivan walden.com and if that's too hard to spell, you can go to I Had the Strangest Dream Dot com. It's the name of my first book, I Had the Strangest Dream. And that still will take you to Kelly Sullivan Walden. And there's all kinds of goodies over there. And you can get the book wherever books are sold. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, local bookshops and people can come with me to Costa Rica if they want. I'm doing a big, beautiful luxury retreat that will be all about. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. We'll be doing dream work, yoga, breath work. There will be lots of mud and exfoliation, internal and external waterfalls and volcanoes.

[C]

All the sorts of good stuff. I got it.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[C]

And do you have any final words for our audience

[A]

besides that? I have had so much fun with you, Alex, and I just so. I so get why the jumbo jet of your show is taken off.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

You've got such a great vibe, and I love how grounded you are and also how tapped into the vastness of what we're doing here. You're on that. Oh, so my words. Well, I'll borrow it from the title of my book. A crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste. What if. What if everything in life, whether it be those things that are so exciting and the things that are challenging, what if it's all conspiring on behalf of our. Our great awakening? Our. I mean, what if everything. There's not one single thing. Not on our side, not one single person, not one single circumstance. What if it is all a big conspiracy to get us to wake up to how loved. How loved we are.

[C]

Right? Kelly, thank you so much for being on the show and for the work that you're doing to help awaken and put to sleep many people around the world.

[A]

Thank you. You are Next Level. No wonder my computer had to go through with the whole thing in order for me to match your vibe. Thank you so much, Alex. You are amazing. Thank you. So I'm so glad you hopped on that plane taking all of us with you.

[C]

Thank you. Thank you for spending this sacred time with us today. If you feel called to explore this conversation further, you'll find the show notes for this episode at next levelsoul.com forward/218. And if your soul is craving an even deeper journey, step into Next Level Soul tv, our streaming sanctuary for spiritual films, documentaries, original shows, guided meditations, channeling sessions, audiobooks, and transformative teachings. It's a space created to support your awakening, your healing, and your return to the truth of who you really are. Begin your journey at nextlevelsol tv. Until next time. Keep expanding, keep seeking, and keep walking your path towards the next level of your soul.