Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

All About Dreams – A Martha Jette Column

April 24, 2007

Martha Jette, friend and author will now be taking over the dreams column formerly presented by Parthena Black of Bella Online.  Many of you know Martha and will agree that her columns are always fresh and exciting.  Martha explains the unexplainable with style and grace.

Dreams can reinforce newly learned skills

Scientists are learning that the human brain is capable of doing some things during sleep that it doesn’t seem capable of doing while awake. If you are learning something new, you often dream about it during sleep. I remember many nights in high school when I dreamed that I was typing and typing my little heart out. Well, my typing got better and better, and I do believe my dreams really helped.

Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston taught volunteers how to perform a particular task and their ability to perform was measured at the time as well as later the same day. Other volunteers were allowed to sleep for at least 6 hours between the training and testing, and their scores shot up by 15 percent. Stickgold was particularly surprised to find that participants continued to increase their scores over the next two or three days without further practice.

"It's clear that a night of sleep changes the form of memories so you can perform tasks faster and more accurately," he said.

So before you have to take that math or driving test, sleep on it for a couple of nights and you’ll likely perform much better.

This week’s dream symbols focus on health and what various ailments that you dream about may actually mean in your life.

a)      Breathing difficulty: This may indicate suppressed expression or a general state of anxiety about work, a relationship or event.

b)      Chickenpox/measles: These may be memories of childhood expressing a need for love and comfort.

c)      Rashes: These are generally a psychosomatic disorder and may express your inability to step forward with confidence.

d)      Limp: This may be a warning that your struggle toward success may not be worth it.

e)      Flesh wounds: In general, this type of dream suggests fear of sexual aggression.

f)       Blindness: If you dream that you are blind, you may be reluctant to face certain realities.

g)      Scars: These represent painful memories or traumatic experiences. Perhaps it’s time to examine those more deeply.

h)      Broken bones: These reveal our insecurities, such as having a thick cast on one’s leg, which suggests a reluctance to face up to a particular problem that may be holding you back.

i)        Headache: This type of dream suggests the need to resolve an issue in your relationship that has been nagging at you.

j)        Needle: If you are injected with a needle for a vaccination, you should protect yourself from unwanted attention. If it’s an anesthetic, you may be trying to cover up your own emotional pain.

k)     Hospital: To dream you are in a hospital indicates a desire to hand over control of some aspects of your life.

l)        Operation: Undergoing an operation in a dream signals your inability to dispense with old attitudes, prejudices and ideas that are holding you back.

m)    Medicine: If a doctor is giving you medicine, it suggests that you rely on others to prescribe solutions to your problems.

n)      Weight loss: This indicates that the demands of family or friends may be far too hard on you.

o)      Weight gain: This dream suggests that you have an excessive need for approval and instant gratification.

Source: 1001 Dreams by Jack Altman

Martha Jette

marthajette@yahoo.com

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Martha Jette, Editor & Author

Please take the time to visit my site!

http://www.freewebs.com/paranormalbooks

P.S. - If you take my advice only 1 time this year, take
it now... I just picked up $397 package at no cost! You
need to see this right away:

http://www.intensivegiveaway.com/thank-you.php?id=3813

Martha Jette, Editor & Author

Please take the time to visit my site!

http://www.freewebs.com/paranormalbooks