Dreamscapes Podcasts - Dreamscapes Episode 129: Habits for Miracles

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” ― C.S. Lewis https://www.habits4miracles.com/books

Greetings friends and welcome back to another episode of Dreamscapes. This is going to be a cat-heavy episode because she just will not stop. Baby Girl needs love this morning. That's fine. Today we have our guest, Rahul Sharma, from Virginia, USA. He is a master of organizational development with 20 years experience in corporate America. His latest book, Habits for Miracles at Habits, the number four, miracles.com slash books. Link in the description below.

We're going to get right back to him in two seconds. Would you kindly like, share, subscribe. I have cats to feed. Always need more volunteer dreamers. 16 currently available works of historical dream literature, the most recent book 16, Dreams in their meanings by Horace G. Hutchinson lovingly, reproduced and recreated by yours truly,

your friendly neighborhood dream wizard. All this and more at Benjamin the Dreamwizard.com. And you can also support the stream by going to Benjamin the Dreamwizard. Dot locals.com. I prefer to get my donations there, etc, a little subscription to, hey, send me a dollar. I'll take it, I'll take it.

And that's enough about me. That's the shilling back to our friend, uh, Rahul Sharma. Thank you for being here today. Thank you. Thank you, Benjamin, for having me here. I'm excited for our conversation. Absolutely. And we actually got started like right off the bat because you're, um, just, just the title.

And that's how you know you got something with a title, I think, um, inspired me to think, you know, that's, that's how life works. And that goes back to ancient Greece and, you know, Eastern philosophies as well, that says, you know, you cultivate virtue as a matter of habit. You cultivate the skills, abilities to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. Or it's, you know, it's a log or, you know, a raft full of gold floating down the river. And if you don't have the ability to grab it, it's just going to pass you by. So I wanted to stop there just with my initial inspiration and let you talk more about how you can. conceive it. Yeah, so I see that in today's world where we are struggling with many, many different

things at the same time, whether it is the pandemic, whether it is the recession, whether it is the chaos at home. And when we have so much of negativity going around us, it is so important for us to have positivity in us, positivity around us. Because I firmly believe it is that positivity that allow us to have positive thoughts, which in turn allow us to have positive action, and which leads to a very positive and happier life. So, miracles, some people believe in miracles, some people don't believe. For me, my take is, miracle do happens. If you want to make it happen, it will happen.

Definitely. And that goes along with, I mean, first, very often in conversations like this, we've got to define what do you really mean? And some people conceive of miracles as supernatural, as outside the realm of the possible. so they dismiss it. They go, oh, it's a fantasy category with miracles. I think of it as, you know, Carl Jung might say something about like synchronicity is a miracle. The idea of the right place and the right time, something that exists beyond us in terms of we cannot, by human will, structure the universe to make certain opportunities happen.

When they do, you're there, you're ready for it, and you successfully take advantage of it. In my opinion, that is like the definition of a miracle. And you can say it was handed to you by God, the universe. You can say the universe is indifferent and the stars aligned, however you can see it. But it is that idea of making yourself ready to take advantage of an opportunity, which, as you say, requires the positivity inside to say, I'm going to develop my skills because an opportunity is probably coming. The pessimistic side says nothing's ever going to get better. therefore why bother developing myself because I'll never have an opportunity to use it. But I think the more we're, the more we are ready, the more opportunities we find.

I don't know if you found that to be true. Absolutely. Absolutely. And since you went on the definition of miracle, for me, it is overcoming our limiting beliefs. It is a miracle for me. Yeah. or doing something that I have never done is kind of miracle for me. So I agree that sometimes people might feel or think that miracle is that supernatural.

So in my book, I'm not talking about anything about supernatural. I'm talking about everything that isn't over control. And talking about opportunity, I have seen in my corporate life many times people, employees, they feel that the opportunity will come to them. Opportunity, because there is a very common saying that opportunity will knock your door. I have a different perspective to it. Yes, opportunity might knock to your door, but more often, it is you who have to step out of your comfort zone and grab that opportunity. It is not that all the time it will come to you.

So friends, my listeners, don't just wait for the opportunity to come to your lap. Go out, get out of your comfort zone, and embrace that opportunity. Yeah, definitely. And there's a, I would say there's two sides to opportunity. Like you say, there are those that literally fall in your lap. And I couldn't predict this. And that's its own kind of miracle. There's also the actively seeking opportunity, which is probably the more common form in terms of,

And it isn't, I don't know, I'm trying to parse it out a bit because in my mind, I don't think you can create opportunities ultimately, even though you can. But it's, but it's something else that I'm expressing poorly. But, but definitely if you never leave your comfort zone, if you never go seeking opportunities, you will not find them. So it's definitely, you know, it's very unlikely that just sitting at home waiting, to say, you know, your dating life, Mr. Wright or whatever is going to knock on my door. He doesn't know you exist. He doesn't know where to find you. You got to put yourself out there. and do something in public, engage with the world in order to make these connections happen.

I think that's probably more like what you're speaking to. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm just laughing because last night I was just chatting with my son. And he was telling me that, dad, your book is done. Then why are you still busy? And I was telling him that son, it is fairly easy to write a book versus promoting and marketing a book. That's a different all game altogether. So as you rightly mentioned about, you need to step out.

So for writing a book, if people don't know about it, how will they will take the advantage of what all is in that book? So I agree. Yeah, definitely. No, I know about that. I mean, I've got these 16, now currently working on book 17, works of historical literature where I'm taking. So what does it mean to be a wizard for me?

It's been a while since I've talked about this. You know, it's the archetype of the, you know, wise elder in a sense. You got a bit of the long hair and the beard because that's kind of the thing. Maybe you're old. You walk with a cane and now we've got this and you wear the robes and whatnot. I've got the beard and the hair. I'm not doing the robes. I'm not going that far.

Not now. Maybe somebody I'll get a hat. But, you know, the idea is you got to walk the path. Number one, you got to do the work. And so what am I doing? I'm doing my own master class in dreams and dreaming. I'm reading everything that's ever been written by some of the smartest people that ever talked about the subject and working my way up to, say, modern research with a little more,

little less philosophy and a little more scientific method. So I'm getting there. And once I've conquered that material, that's when I probably arrived. But that is, I forgot my train of thought, this is cat, you're driving me crazy, girl. I keep petting her and trying to wipe, wipe the hair off me. Uh, it was a point to that. What did you say before? I was rambling. I'm sorry. I was talking about the opportunity that, or I were talking about that. book marketing. And you mentioned about your 70th book is coming. That's right.

That's right. And, you know, they're not flying off the shelves because you got to put them out there. And there's a lot of them. There's a wide range of books for different tastes of different peoples. And, you know, I'm recreating these in modern versions. But still, you got to let people know, hey, I have books. There's people I've known for over a year on another Discord channel. And they're like, wait a minute, you do YouTube and you have books?

What? I'm like, you've known me for a year. How do you not read my bio? I guess I don't talk about it much. That's the problem. Get it. Yeah, put yourself out there and talk about it.

And it's also good. I mean, doing these interviews is not just an advertisement. It's also an educational opportunity to say, why is this book relevant? What does it do for people? And how does it inform their perspective in a way that benefits them? And that's,

I love that opportunity to talk to people about how they've taken their insight and brought it to share. And it's the perfect win-win in my estimation. It's like, I get a book sale. I get to express myself and you get useful information that hopefully will make your life better. I think that's a miracle in itself. Every time a win-win situation happens in both people benefit, that's a miracle in my book.

Yeah. Correct. I agree. I agree. And then when we talk to people, it's very important that we talk from perspective that how is going to benefit them. many a times it's always people are so selfish that they just think about themselves first and I'm saying I'm not saying that it is not right to be selfish yes it is but again at what level when you are in giving phase let's say if you are in a coaching role if you are

a pastor or if you are a priest your focus has to be how the other is going to benefit versus looking at how you will get benefit. I think I'm a firm believer that if you are a giver, if you keep giving, God is watching. Yeah. And God will do so many things that will come just to you. You don't have to have different thoughts. How will I benefit?

You will get the benefit as long as you are doing the good deeds. Absolutely. Yeah. This is a great topic too because a lot of people think there are what am I trying to say? They think it's a black and white issue of altruism versus selfishness. And those are two polar extremes. I do it only for other people to the detriment of myself or only for me to the detriment of others.

And that's, I'm trying to meet in the middle with that win-win type of situation. But there's a political tradition coming out of certain schools of American thought, objectivism, libertarianism that says self-interest is not bad. We are all creatures that need to pursue our own self-interest. We need food and shelter. And we need to secure those things for ourselves. And there is nothing wrong with that. It is a necessity of life itself.

Then there's the next level stuff of, I need to pursue for my own self-interest relationships with others. Aha. Now we have a problem because they have their own self-interest. How do we blend the two so that neither one of us has taken advantage of the other? So the evolution of that thought has come to the principle or the theory of enlightened self-interest. You don't just pursue. your goals to the detriment of others. You have to do it in a way that is good for you and good for them

and good for you and them over time and good for everyone around you in society so that it doesn't collapse under the weight of, you know, game theory type of shenanigans. And that's a big, I mean, I think that's where a tremendous amount of, of the self-help books goes, like, how do I be myself, pursue my self-interest in a way that is good for me and good for other, like I said. And I think this is one of those two is like, self-improvement, not for a selfish reason, but also for a selfish reason, also for the reason of making yourself better to take advantage of opportunities. I think too many people feel guilty about doing things for themselves, taking time for themselves, self-improvement, as if it were

pointless, as if it had no universal benefit. I think it does. So I've said a lot. I'm going to stop there, let you chime in. No, I guess. Yes, we need to secure things for us, no doubt about it. It's very, very important because I believe that if we are not secure, if we are not self-sufficient, we may not be able to provide help. So like if you see in the airlines, you know, they tell you that wear your mask first, that oxygen mask. Yes. And then help others. Yes.

So we need to take care of us before we can take care of. care of others. Yeah. And I use the analogy, say, from a purely physical body mechanic standpoint, there is someone on the ground. They wish to rise up. You wish to help them up. If you are balanced precariously on one leg, if you are out of balance, if you do not have a strong stance yourself, you cannot use the proper physical leverage to lift someone else up. So you've got to take care of yourself. You can't self-sacrifice to the point where you are less capable. of helping others. That's, I think, the balance of that golden mean. I'm always looking for that. The balance of the yin-yang, proper proportion. That's, uh, well, I came up with the saying

the other day that dazzled me. I impressed myself, you know, it's a, um, proper proportion is practical perfection. Just, I love that. I love that. I don't know. Just throwing it out there. And there's a lot of ways to understand that. And I can over explain it, but, uh, that's, yeah, it just struck me. And it maybe I'm easily impressed with my. myself. No one's good right. No, I think what you are saying is making sense because in the, as you rightly mentioned about the real balance of wheel, right? If one part is heavy, one side is heavy, it will have an impact on the other side. Yeah. So as a human being, we need to ensure that how we are balancing. If you give too much of time to one side,

set of people, let's say if you spend too much of time with kids, don't give time to your partner. It could be a challenge. If you give too much time to partner, no time to kids or less time to kids, it would be a problem. So I think, yes, a proper proportion is important. I agree. Yeah. Well, very cool. Thank you.

It's always nice to share these things and people don't go, uh, or it's not smart at all, but people go, I get it. I see that. I like the way you said. That makes me happy a little bit. And, you know, that's one of those things we're like, wait a win. I make myself happy by, I think I feel pretty clever. And then another person says, that makes a lot of sense. That's pretty cool. Like, oh, I'm having a moment. I'm having feels.

You should get the copyright of that statement, my friend. Maybe I should put it on a t-shirt or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I've said it now. Copyright Benjamin the Dream Wizard, 2023. Well, okay, so you have a hard out and I want to give you, you know, I don't want to shortchange you on the dream dream interpretation experience. Are you ready to jump into that? Yes, yes. All right, good deal. Let me make a little note here. Time stands.

Benjamin the Dream Wizard wants to help you pierce the veil of night and shine the light of understanding upon the mystery of dreams. Every episode of his dreamscapes program features real dreamers gifted with rare insight into their nocturnal visions. New Dreamscape's episodes appear

every week on YouTube, Rumble, Odyssey, and other video hosting platforms, as well as free audiobooks, highlighting the psychological principles which inform our dream experience and much, much more. To join the Wizard as a guest, reach out across more than a dozen social media platforms, and through the contact page at Benjamin the Dream Wizard.com, where you will also find the Wizard's growing catalog of historical dream literature, available on Amazon, featuring the wisdom and wonder of exploration into the world of dreams over the past 2,000 years. That's Benjamin the Dream Wizard on YouTube and at Benjamin the Dream Wizard.com. We're going to use some compressed air to make the kitty go away because I got to write.

Sorry, Boo-boo. If you have cats and they will not stay off a keyboard or out in front of your, they want to lay on your pen while you're writing, you get a little can of compressed air and just, you know, it doesn't hurt them, they just don't like it in the face. Okay, so my usual process, step one, shut up and listen. There's good advice for most people in most circumstances. You're going to just tell me the dream, and then I'll write it down, and we'll go through it and see what we can make sense of.

So I'm ready when you are. Sure. So this is the dream that I would say I get pretty often, when I say pretty often, maybe once in three months. And in this dream, I am interacting with, people all whom I have interacted in all walks of life which is my schooling my college my jobs in my life in India my life in here in US and now the I have interacted with them but these people they had not interacted among themselves

and in my dream I am with all these people together and next day when I woke up I wonder that okay how this happened why they have never met each other it's I'm the only common point in all those people and we are having a discussion we are having a good time and I wonder that okay how this happened oh it's it's good to see all my my friends my colleagues you know in those rooms It is a very positive conversation that we have. But one thing that doesn't probably make sense to me,

that okay, how they are all coming together, they have not interacted with them, which each other, and in just one room they are sitting, or maybe we have gone for a restaurant, or we are having a discussion, we are having a meetup at some friend's place. So that is one thing that really comes to me, and I have no

reason to identify that why is happening. Okay, good deal, good deal. That is good enough. Yeah, that gives... So, reoccurring dreams, very common experience, a lot of people have. My broadstrokes theory on that

is certain iconic representations of a particular kind of thought or a concept gets crystallized, into a pattern or a visual display and we return to it every so often because it is unresolved. It's kind of my current working theory. And then what tends to happen is if in our discussion of it, we get some understanding of what that pattern is, why it keeps coming back in terms of what element is unresolved. Sometimes that makes those dreams stop completely.

Or the nature of the dream continues, but now it moves on to a new phase. It says that question, that moment when you're like, this doesn't make sense to me. Okay, now it makes sense. And you get to see the next part of the dreams. Like there's something more waiting for some people in these experiences. So what I also do with reoccurring dreams is that very often people want to tell me the long arc of the pattern over multiple dreams. And that's fine.

We can we can do that. But I need a maybe the most recent instance of that type of dream. And we kind of go from the specific to the. pattern itself. And it kind of makes more sense looking at a discrete instance and then putting that in context of the whole. Do you have a kind of a sharper image of one of those dreams that you had recently? Yeah. So, as I mentioned that I meet with people from whom I have interacted in different path of life. So the recent is about I have colleagues with whom I'm currently working. I have colleagues with whom I have worked in the past.

I have my friends whom I have interacted during my MBA, during my master's here in States, and friends from my early high school. So, and we are just having a very general, I'm not, I do not recollect the discussion topics. But what I recollect is, it's, they're interacting. So we all are in one place. So as I told you earlier, that these folks do not know each other,

but what I'm seeing is, okay, they are connected, they are talking to each other. I am also there. And then I wonder that, okay, hey, this person does not know him or her. Why are they are together? And what is making me think that, okay, everyone is together? So those thoughts, is it maybe those people are. near dear to me I don't know that could be the reason that okay or there is a

calling for me to make them connected or make a common circle of friends because I have friends in different pockets so I have friends at work I have friends from my high school so they are all in different pockets and I and I interact with them on individual basis or specific group basis I have never done where all all my friends are together. So they are different. Okay. Well, there's two things from your description I wanted to ask about.

Number one, you, at the very end of it, you said, and I don't know how we are all together. It doesn't make sense to me. Is that a reflective thought after you woke up, or is that actually in the dream you're feeling this puzzlement? How did all these people get into the same room? It's a reflected thought. Reflective thought.

Gotcha, gotcha, got you. So in the dream, it actually, that never occurs. to you. It seems perfectly natural. Of course they're all here. No, no. Okay. Good deal. And that's very, very common in dreams as well, too. We have these, uh, we look back out and we go, why, how, how would that happen? Why would, why would I think that or why would that not puzzle me? It seems such a strange thing. It's very, and this is a known dream phenomenon too where, you know, of course I'm flying to the moon and a rocket. Why wouldn't I? And then you wake up and you go, wow, that would never happen. I'm not an astronaut. I get sick on car rides and on the train. I can't, I can never be an astronaut. That's

So unlike me. But in this one, yeah, yeah, it's a very similar, very similar circumstance. So in this most, oh, I also wanted to, the second one, I also wanted to ask, what, when did, whoa, I lost you. Hello. I don't know what just happened. It's okay. It's okay. Technical difficulties.

That's why I edit. No, no worries. Let's cut this out. Maybe I'll leave it in. He came back real fast. It happens. People get to see. These, these videos I do.

basically I just hit record and then I stop recording and then I add a little music and graphic to the beginning and then and I just release them. I don't do a lot of production on them. I don't zoom in on you or me. Let's leave it all up on screen. Sometimes the technical difficulties are kind of fun. People see behind the scene. So because it was so short, I might not even care to take it out. Real life happens. We roll with it. My question I was trying to ask was, when did these dreams start for you. What's the earliest instance of this kind of dream you can remember? You mean to ask when the first time I got this dream? Yeah, the first time this type of dream, the first time you can remember having had one.

How old were you, how many years ago, that kind of thing? Honestly, I do not remember exactly, but I know it's been coming from in these four or five years. Okay. Do you remember what phase of your life? if you were in at that point in terms of were you changing jobs or taking on new responsibilities did you have life changes you moved to a new house you had another kid you know things like that i i don't recollect that uh fair enough but it's not changing jobs i've been with the phone for last 19 years it's not job changing uh house changing probably but i don't think because we the house that i

been living from last five years. My kids have been born before that. We're happily married, so I don't see any issues there. Work-wise, yes, probably from a work perspective, new projects, challenges at work. Yes, those things are pretty common probably in the corporate world. But I do not recollect if any of those work-related issues

or personal issues. Maybe I can now start keeping that in mind that, okay, what phase of life I am in if I'm getting that dream again, yeah. Yeah, and a lot of these things, so, you know, where people go, where do dreams come from? And they can come from pure, wishful thinking, like a daydreaming fantasy. It just happens when we're asleep. Sometimes we explore what ifs or we give ourselves pleasant experiences

because it's just fun to have them flying dreams. and dreams of being wealthy and powerful. Why not? But very often, even most often, dreams are inspired by what we're going through in the waking world and usually something recent. And especially when it brings back a recurrent dream, it's because that general topic has come back into our mind because the real life pattern has repeated. Therefore, the dream pattern comes in to say, hey, this is happening again.

take a look at this because you still, for whatever reason, feel like you don't understand it or grasp it fully in that regard. So, and it's okay to say, you know, sometimes I rattle a lot of doorknobs. I say, what was going on in your life? You know, I can't remember. Hey, fair enough. You don't remember. Now, sometimes people say, oh, my God, wait a minute. That's when I graduated or that's when I got married or that's when I had a kid or that's.

So I was going to ask, actually, is Habits for Miracles? Is that your second book? Yes, this second book. Four or five years ago, were you published? seeing the first book. No, no, no. Actually, no, but my first book was just, you know, a year ago, actually. Probably not a year ago, six months ago. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. So it's not uncommon that we don't know actually the origin of these things. Sometimes it's nice. It's nice if it just brings back an old memory like, oh my God, that's when this started and we get a clue to the

pattern. But it, so this may actually be a pattern that, what am I trying to say? Sometimes, real life events inspire specific dream patterns, which then repeat going forward. That's one way. Another thing is it's not a life event itself. It's the moment of realization that a pattern exists that we're trying to get a grip on. And it's not related to anything. Who knows why what inspires our thoughts. But then you get an inspired thought about a pattern. It comes into your dreams. Like, I need to keep thinking about this. And then because you haven't resolved it, every time you see that pattern in the waking world, you're like, hey, this is, this is that pattern and your dreaming, dreaming mind says, let's look at it again. Let's see what happens here. Let's see what,

what this really is. So that's, that's what I'm leaning out with this. I think we're going to get there. Uh, eventually, this is, you know, speaking of miracles, me being able to offer suggestions that get, that people feel are relevant, useful and inspire understanding. I think that's a miracle. And I never know if it's going to happen. We can get completely, fortunately for me, it's happened maybe twice in 130 episodes. But we could get to the end of this and both of us are going, yeah, still no clue. Hey, we tried. I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

But I have that feeling every time I start one of these, I got nothing. None of these answers are in me. I'm not talking to God or hearing spirits. You know, I'm just a partner offering perspective, you know, that kind of thing. Okay. So in this most recent instance that you can kind of recall, what is the general setting of, say, the room you're in or the space? the physical environment.

Are you indoors outdoors? Are you in a restaurant? Are you in an auditorium, like a teaching seminar, a movie theater, airport? It is indoors. It is indoors. It is inside a house. I do not recollect whose house it was, but it is inside a house. Large space.

And people are just sitting. and chatting, just like you have a home get-together, how people come and then talk. So it's just very similar environment. Yeah. Okay. Then, and that's, so we start identifying these discrete elements. You did not set it in an airport. You did not set it in an auditorium as if you were all there to hear a lecture or they were all there to hear you. It is a very familiar, personal, it's a home. This is where, this is close to home. This is where people, people live. This is a very much a social setting and it's large. Sometimes that dreams have a logic of their own. It could be the space felt the space was smaller, but it didn't feel cramped. It was a

tiny house and they all fit. That's its own kind of unique thing. But this was naturally we go logically, but you need a large house for this many people. Bam, your mind shows you a large house. That just makes sense. Not actually a relevant factor necessarily. You mentioned something earlier that people were in different pockets. And I didn't know if you were saying, of course, the people in your real life are in these discrete pockets of people you knew here and there,

but were they also in different pockets at the house? Were your high school friends all talking to each other and your work friends all talk? Or were they actually mingling with each other? High school friends talking to now work colleagues. I do not recollect them talking in pockets. But at the same time, I mean, I don't either remember that they're talking together.

No, actually, there's nothing that is coming to my mind. That's fine. Yeah, yeah. Again, rattling doorknobs. The reason I ask is because those would have separate connotations to them. It's probably relevant that you would mention that your friends are separated into pockets in the real world, because they are over time and from different, um, different spheres. But in the dream, you didn't show yourself that.

You just showed the, the element of, of mingling and being brought to. So, so you didn't just, you didn't distinctly have that same experience. And the idea that it was missing from, from a, um, recognizable element is its own kind of, kind of understanding. Um, again, I don't have an answer for, well, you know, what does that mean? But just recognizing these things. is me talking out loud and saying, look at this. What is that? Sometimes that percolates in the background and people get some ideas that come up later. So never worry. You got to have an answer

right off the back. Any features of the house stand out to you. When you think about it, you're like, oh, okay, it was a house. And they're just sitting mingling. I mean, do you see elements of, there's a kitchen table? There's a couch. There's a fireplace. The house was very distinctly painted blue. Anything like that? Not the color, but the sitting arrangement is very similar to a living room of a house or the couches, the table, television. Okay, gotcha. And again, the place you chose to put everyone, like I had a gal, and we did a dream, and the dream took place in the kitchen. And it was relevant why? Why in the kitchen?

What does the kitchen mean to you? So this is the living room. This is the social space. is where when you invite friends over, you all come together and you, you know, you didn't separate yourself off in the bedroom while everyone is talking in another room because you felt uncomfortable. You're there with them. You don't remember any specific conversations. So, so there's no memory of words exchanged. But the feeling, the feeling of being in that space, how did, Did you register any emotional content of you at that moment observing what's happening?

It was a good feeling. It was the feeling that you are connected with all your friends because this is one thing. It has happened where the connection has, though there is technologies there, you are connected under technology. I'm more in-person kind of a person. So that was a feeling that, okay, the in-person meeting is happening. So it was a feel-good factor, I would say. Yeah.

And that's a fantastic thing to highlight, too, because you could very well have had the visual image or experiencing your dream of, I'm sitting on the computer. And it's a Zoom meeting. And all my friends are there, but not in person. That's its own kind of thing. This is, so it's very much related to what you value. You do that value in-person connection. That has a distinct feel and meaning to it.

And you have accomplished that. And there's, we were talking about a wheel earlier and the idea of a hub and the spokes, but how it's all one wheel. However, we parse it. And you, in this sense, are the hub. And they're irradiating out are these different groups of friends that are then bounded by the wheel structure. itself. No, you didn't have any of this imagery in your dream, but this is what pops into my mind

of, and it is a very much a dream about being the locus of connection for all these different people and that they are brought together. You're not sitting alone in your house, wishing your friends were there and thinking about all these people who are absent. You have succeeded in bringing them together. So there's probably an element of wish fulfillment. I mean, for, Freud would say along those lines of you're showing yourself an ideal that you would hope to attain, but the fact that you are showing it to yourself being something else as well. What am I trying to say that this is an ideal outcome you think possible if approached or enacted in a specific way? And I think that's all I want to.

say about that for the moment. Do you remember where you appeared first in the dream? You were sitting on the couch with people. You were standing near a doorway. You were standing and talking. Standing and talking in what part of the room

in terms of, you know, by the couch, by the fireplace. Any strong impression of that? It was around the couch where friends are sitting. Okay. Did you recognize any specific friends as the person nearest to you on the couch standing by your side? No.

Other than knowing that everyone was someone you knew from the greater sphere of people you've interacted with, do you have any impressions that specific people were there, whether you saw them or not? So, yes. So those specific people were the ones who, with whom I was closely connected when in that particular walk of my life, where that is a high school.

So the people with whom I used to interact a lot, those were the people in the room. So they were not like strangers. They were all those friends where we had well connected, like-minded, well-wishers of each other. So all of those people who are spreading positivity to each other. Yeah, yeah.

And there's a, I want to be careful here, too, because you don't have specific people's permission to say their names or how you knew them. But I'm looking for the idea of, you know, that the people that stood out to me, and you did mention generally the idea of the high school friends, but you knew that other people were also there from different aspects of your life, different interactions.

So, yeah, the idea that that would come to my, mind is the people that were closest to. And do you know some of these high school friends still? I mean, you've maintained that connection. Yes. Yes. Okay. That is its own unique type of experience as well, because you can feel very close to people you've only known for a couple of weeks. You know, you get to know them. You're like, wow, this person's great. They really love me. I love them. And we've bonded over specific things. And that's great. And there's nothing wrong with that. And that can be its own powerful thing. But there's also, these are people I've known. over a long time. There's a, there's a magic to that durability of a relationship that has its own

unique meaning. It's like, I met you, I love you, you're great. We have a strong connection, but I haven't known you for 20 years like this guy, you know, this guy, he's been around forever, and we're still friends. And there's a lot of ways people drift apart and relationships break down and people diverge over their needs or they, they change as people and they're just no longer interested in being friends, but to keep those connections. So there's a, there's a value in the dream to saying the people that stand out to you are the people you've had the closest connection to for the longest time that there's a there's some some element of valuing that durability of a relationship seeing it for something unique i want to stop there and just if you have any thoughts

no i think i'm a big believer of relationships so i'm a relationship builder as an individual and so the people with whom I connect once they are with me for life. So that could be one of the, so one interpretation that comes to my mind, that it is a calling for me to have that maybe a group get together where all my friends are together. So that is the closest I can think of when I look back and think of. okay, why this is happening? So maybe it is a call for me to have them together. We just, just before pandemic, we had our 25th anniversary of my high school.

So where we met people whom we could not meet in last 25 years because everyone went through different places. And so that was a good way for me to meet with all the folks who you know, known for like 25 years. That was one memory about get-together. So maybe, and it didn't happen just almost like 2019, I guess, this year before pandemic. So maybe pose that, the thought process of, you know, having get-together. I don't know.

I'm just thinking. Yeah, that's good. Throw it all out there. Yeah, and it's not wrong necessarily. I think that's definitely a part of it. And there's a way we can, okay, what I cannot do my wizardry is not the talking to spirits, see in the future kind. Cause and effect, yes, that's part of, you know, crystal gazing, whatnot, but, but not actual magic. So I couldn't tell you if this

dream was literally prophetic, but we can make some dreams a self-fulfilling prophecy. You go, I realize that's something I really want. Therefore, I am actually going to do it. And it maybe doesn't come true in exactly the same form. But you do get as many as friends as possible in the same place all at once. And it's as beautiful as it felt in the dream. And you're like, this is it. This is what I wanted. So it could be aspirational. In that sense, This could be literally a nocturnal vision that is also your hopes and dreams kind of dreams. I think there's, what I'm what I'm seeing from my perspective, a particular angle on it is. I'm trying to encapsulate this.

So you have a genuine desire. You are in touch with what you really want. You really want to build a connection. You really value connection. You value long-term connection. And you want more than that to bring all of these. You want to make all these people connected to each. other as well. And so you've brought them all together. Again, that's, I think that's why that

wheel type of thing popped into my head is as indicative of this kind of dream. It's like with me at the center, I can run these spokes of connection out to make the wheel of this a whole thing where they're all connected to each other as well. So my thought would be, and if, you know, and time will tell it if the dream changes or whatnot or if it comes back in a different form or you stop having it. every time a problem of how to accomplish better connection becomes acute. So you have an experience where connection fails or there's an opportunity for connection and you're trying to make the most of it. This type of dream might come back saying remember your goal.

Remember the ideal outcome and you're showing that to yourself. And the difference between these dreams, if they change slightly over time, should speak to the unique nature of the problem you're facing at that time of your life, at that moment. So we're a little bit short on time, but what I typically do is now start, we start looking at other dreams and how they are each uniquely slightly different from each other. And very often that speaks to, well, this time I was looking at the problem of establishing durable connection in this particular type of scenario. Next dream scenario slightly different. different same goal same problem how do I best facilitate durable connections over time

yeah that's kind of my broad strokes what I'm kind of seeing as as the purpose of the dream and what it's why it might be coming back to you I don't know what do you think so earlier when you asked me about do you remember what phase of life you were going through when you were getting the dream. So what's coming to my mind right now is next time when I'm getting a dream, I will, that is something I'm going to document. That is number one. And number two, as you rightly said, that it could be something that, we need to make that happen, make, make that get together happen. And that may be pretty much it or a phase of life. So I think that has merit to it of what you are saying that, okay,

There is some struggle at work or there is some struggle in the family or something which is making that dream of positive people come to me so that maybe I'm looking for more positively. I'm just thinking out loud. For sure. Yeah. And it can also be that idea of, you know, if you ever feel a lack of connection for whatever reason. You know, you tried to make a connection and it failed. Or life circumstances. have interrupted a connection that you would have preferred to be stronger or more durable.

These dreams can come back to say aspirationally or wish fulfillment style, it's okay. This is still possible. This is still something you value and sometimes we comfort ourselves with positive thinking. And this could be an expression of that. One thing I asked you, I asked you when the first dream happened, but I didn't ask you when the most recent dream happened if there was any life. circumstances going on that you can think of that might have inspired it now that we kind of have an idea of the elements and why they might be shown you might why you might show them to yourself

in this way i think maybe close to three to four months ago okay and i know last six to eight months have been little crazy uh doing full-time work plus writing plus uh kids and so So it's a little chaotic, but yes, I'm enjoying all the chaoticness right now, is loving it, but sometimes it does take a toll on you. No, it's true. And those are very often are options with chaos. You can either enjoy it or suffer from it. It's like, there's a funny quote.

It's like, I don't suffer from mental illness. I enjoy it. Okay? Why not? If you're going to have to go through an unpleasant experience, I look for the silver lining or find a way to be okay with it. because the alternative is just to suffer for no reason and to be completely miserable when you don't have to. Yeah. That's kind of where I'm at on that.

So yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, so I think we've gotten some, if you agree, and some understanding of what the imagery means to you, why this type of dream experience would occur. And the broad strokes on what might inspire. it or make it necessary, either from a, you know, a pleasant experience just to make yourself happy of like, remember, connections still possible. Look at all these friends you have. Or aspirational, maybe I want this to happen.

You've been showing this to myself saying, you know, I've thought about this for a long time, bringing all my friends together. I think part of, part of this is also, and it all relates to you, what you think is important, your personal life, your personal experiences, your personal values. That's why I don't think the dream book interpretations are very useful. in my estimation, you know, no offense anybody, but it's got to mean something to you. That's why you had this experience and not some, some different experience or the same experience happening to somebody else. I think it's also what you're doing in your life in general is

these building connections and relationships and the purpose of, of the book as well is to connect yourself to other people to say, here's a piece of me that I think could be useful to you. And now if you take what's in my head and you put. it in your head and it makes your life better. Now I'm connected to you too. I may never meet you, but we, we have this metaphysical and I think very real connection in that sense, you know, sharing ideas. You now have literal physical brain pattern changes.

A new idea has occurred, a new useful tool. And I did that. And I can just feel good about it, you know. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I agree to the way you have described it. It has some meaning.

then just keeping me wondering, okay, why it is happening. And now I will be a little bit mindful of the phase of life and I'm getting that dream. Yeah, definitely. I think if people pay attention, like especially with recurring dreams, now that you know the, well, my theory, which I think is correct. But now you can pay attention the next time it comes back on. What is going on?

Why? Why now? Because it is, you know, if there's every three months, yeah, sure, you three to five, six, ten, and then nothing for a while and then comes back. Um, there's going to be something that made it necessary to reconsider that idea. And it's, it's generally, yeah, related to our hopes and hopes or fears. I'm worried this won't happen or I want this to happen. Um, and then you'll, and then you'll know.

And so I would love to hear back from you. You know, you're in the Discord server. You can always just say, hey, I had the dream again. Here's what was happening. And we can verify or disprove our current theory. This is all really just the scientific method applied to apply to the kind of metaphysical, mysterious mystery of dreams. Absolutely.

I would love to get back to you and share the next steps. Good deal. Okay. And I know you got to get out of here and go pick up your kids and not going to keep you late for that. So we'll wrap it up if you feel good if you don't have any further questions. Yeah, I'm good. Thank you.

All right. Good deal. So once again, I'll say this has been our friend Rahul Sharma from Virginia, USA. He is a master of organizational development with 20 years experience in corporate America, his latest book, Habits for Miracles, and that's at Habits, the number four miracles.com slash books. Link in the description below. For my part, would you kindly like, share, subscribe, tell your friends, I have my own 16 works of historical dream literature for sale most recent dreams in their meanings by Horace G. Hutchinson, lovingly reproduced by yours truly.

And you get all this and more at Benjamin the Dreamwizard.com. And the last thing to say is just, Rahul, thank you for being here. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you. Thank you, Benjamin, for having me. And thank you for what you do. This is something very unique. A lot of people struggle with all the dreams that they get,

and they have no clue, just by going on Googling and trying to find out. But I think I like your thought process that it cannot be very broader. It has to be specific to you, the meaning of that dream. And thank you for this community service. I really appreciate it. Very cool.

why thank you for being here and everybody out there thanks for listening yep