Dream Telepathy
by Julia Melges-Brenner. Copyright Sabrina Scott, Inc. All rights reserved. Written for and originally published in Kajama.

Dear Julia:

A few nights ago, I had a dream that my husband went to answer the phone, tripped on the dog, fell down and hurt himself. His sister was at the house for some reason, and he told her that he felt something break and needed to go to the hospital, but he insisted on going to the one where he grew up, which is in St. Louis. (We live in Colorado now.) I woke up just after having this dream. I went to the kitchen to get some coffee and started to tell my husband about it, but I could tell that something was wrong. He then told me that his sister had called and that his mother had fallen and broken her hip, and that he was going to make travel arrangements to go see her in St. Louis! When I told him about my dream, we were both amazed. What happened here?

Margo

Dear Margo:

I love your question because I've had a number of similar dreams myself. One time, I dreamed that there were ants by the sliding glass door in my kitchen. I woke up from this dream and went downstairs and told my husband about it. His jaw dropped as he explained that about fifteen minutes before (at the same time I was dreaming), he had discovered ants by the sliding glass door.

Another time, I dreamed that I was at the beach with all of my family, and when it was time to leave, I couldn't find my husband. I looked and looked for him, and finally he came limping along. He explained that he had been (drunkenly) singing on a ledge and had fallen off and broken his ankle. When I awoke, I went downstairs and told my husband about this dream, and he replied that he had just been watching a television news story about how Steven Tyler of Aerosmith had fallen off the stage while singing and broken his ankle!

As you can see in these two examples, telepathic dream experiences don't always have great meaning or value. When we dream of what others are doing as they are doing it, such as my husband finding the ants or watching that story on the news, it's sort of like overhearing a conversation because you are close by: you just happen to be picking it up with your psychic senses instead of your physical senses. Examining telepathic dreams also illuminates the truth that not every dream carries an important message, so trying to interpret some dreams can be pointless.

Though the above dreams seem pretty meaningless, dream telepathy usually occurs during important life events, or at least during times when someone we love is in emotional distress. By way of a more common example, last week I dreamed that I was back in college and I was totally unprepared for a final exam. I was in my first class of the day, and I was thinking that I should just skip that class so I could get to my exam on time and focus entirely on that. I couldn't remember how to get to the next class, however, so I started to get really stressed. I was awakened from this dream by my teenage daughter, who was in tears. She explained that she had a final exam in second hour that morning, and she felt she should skip first hour so she could study more because she felt unprepared!

Next we have the first time I experienced dream telepathy, which was also the most interesting. When my son Nick was a toddler, I had a very vivid, distressing dream that I was a Middle Eastern woman on a makeshift boat with a bunch of other Middle Eastern people, whom I knew to be my family. I was holding my baby, whom I knew to be my son, Nick. It was storming, there were huge waves all around us, and the boat was sinking. Everyone else had jumped in the water, but I refused to jump because I was sure it would mean my baby's death. Everyone was yelling at me to jump but I wouldn't do it. I was awakened from this dream by my two-year-old son calling me. When I stumbled groggily into his room and went to the side of his crib, he fixed me with a solemn look and said, "Go in the water, Momma. It's okay. Go in the water." Given my different identity in this dream and the fact that Nick was also in it, I believe that this was about a past life we shared together.

There are several factors that come into play in telepathy. First, the stronger our bond to someone, the more likely we are to telepathically pick up on what's going on with them. There are many, many stories about mothers who telepathically sensed that their child was in danger or distress. The research that has been done into dream telepathy and telepathy in general also supports the idea that the stronger the bond emotional bond between people, the more likely they are to have a telepathic connection. Feeling loving and caring toward someone facilitates telepathy, while feeling upset or angry diminishes such connections.

As I mentioned above, researchers have also found that telepathic dreams and other experiences tend to happen more frequently during significant life events, which is a pattern that strongly emerges in anecdotes about telepathic experiences. You have a strong loving bond with your husband, and he was probably distressed when he got that call about his mom, so the conditions were ideal for you to telepathically pick up on what was happening with him.

Also, our subconscious minds are aware of way more than our conscious minds are, and when we're sleeping, our subconscious minds take over. Most people are thus more like to receive psychic impressions in dreams than when they are awake. (Someone who is "psychic" has dream-like visions when they are awake, though they tend to be in an altered state of consciousness like a trance or day dream when receiving such impressions.)

This brings us to the final key factor in the development of these sorts of experiences. People who are psychic or extraordinarily adept at working with their dreams and their subconscious minds are more likely to have telepathic dreams and to remember them upon waking up. For example, I often have dreams about what others in my family are going through, but they can't say the same.

As an interesting experiment, you can try to send other people specific dreams. Given the factors listed above, this works best with people you are close to who are good at remembering their dreams. When your loved one is asleep, go into a meditative state and project thoughts and images into his or her mind. It's helpful if you do this early in the morning, for that's when we spend the most time dreaming. We also tend to remember the last dreams we had before waking up.

You can even use this technique to improve key relationships. When the other person is sleeping, have a mental conversation with their higher self and ask them to help you create harmony or other positive changes. Imagine this conversation as vividly as possible. The next time you see them, they may be remarkably warm and friendly or have an interesting dream about you to report!

I believe that dream telepathy happens far more often than we realize. If I hadn't remembered my dream about my husband breaking his ankle, or I hadn't thought to tell him about it, or he hadn't realized that he had been watching something like that on TV, we would never have known my dream was telepathic. In my experience, the more we talk about our dreams with the people we're close to, the more interesting experiences come to light!

- Julia



For the latest column, check out this week's edition of Kajama.

MuseNet Home Page

MuseNet Readings Information Page

MuseNet Library

email me