The Dream Channel: Tools of Living

By Joseph L. Stefani

The pursuit of happiness!
We have different perceptions of what that means among ourselves, and
within ourselves as we experience myriad events (joyous or otherwise)
such as - activities, relationships, activities, learning, challenges, contentions,
problems. Whether we automatically think of it or not, each of those events
contributes (positively or negatively) to our mental, physical, psychological
and spiritual development; for being happy is good, but being happy as we
develop is satisfyingly sublime.

This book, The Dream Channel is designed to itemize and explain various
aspects of the twenty-four Tools of Living we all have in common, yet that we, as individuals, are constantly treating subjectively in agreement with our differing (sometimes unstable) needs, desires, emotions, and values.
The Supreme Being has loaned us these tools, and, through His gift of
dreams, urges us to utilize these taken-for granted tools so as to allow
us the mental, physical, psychological, and spiritual development
of sublime happiness.
Here are 12 of the 24 primary tools, including examples of the
associated auxiliary tools s that are utilized in dreams:
Resources book, vehicle, money
Space interior and exterior
Senses sound, taste, touch, smell
Illumination light, darkness, color
Order clean, repair, tailor, reproduce
Motion walk, ride, drive, fly, fall
Vegetation soil, dust, lawn
Climate heat, cold, thunder
Communication thought, speech, gestures
Intimacy sexual activity, pregnancy, marriage
Anatomy people, hand, face, infant, health
Garment wearing apparel, nakedness

Yes, these tools (over 160) are used in dreams; dramas meant for one individual only private and personal dramas. Specifically, each dream molds and relates to matters of your
life in harmony with your temperament, your intelligence, your
frames of mind, your dispositions, your affections, your traits,
your lifestyle, your foibles, your habits, your peculiarities, your
tendencies - as well as to the same elements of others with whom
you come in contact , or by whom you are affe

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 11, 2008
• ISBN: 9781469101415

Joseph L. Stefani

Born in Windsor, Ontario, the author graduated with an Education/ English Degree from Wayne State in Detroit. Within months, he was conscripted to serve two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict. Subsequently, he moved to the Twin Cities area and, with help from Above, found a fitting and rewarding thirty-one year tenure with Univac (Unisys). He is now retired. In the mid-seventies, he became fascinated with the study and and daily-life application of the important messages with which we are endowed - dreams. He became attracted to the writings of John A. Sanford and books about Edgar Cayce; conversely, he was unimpressed and indifferent to the many authors offering a “one-word equals one-meaning” dream dictionary. This work is designed to itemize and explain numerous aspects of the elements that affect our daily living. Individually and collectively, we are moved to thoughtfully embrace these tools of living. We should be continuously awed that our Divine Genius has loaned us these tools; we should be unchangeably grateful that God and his (our) mentors utilize these taken-for- granted tools that allow us mental, physical, and spiritual freedom of development; we should rejoice that God (whether we care to realize or not) encourages, dissuades, corrects, directs, and otherwise assists our bodies, minds, and souls via the dramas we call dreams.

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Revised 2009

Copyright © 2009 by Joseph L. Stefani.

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Contents

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS A DREAM DRAMA?

WHOSE DREAM DRAMA IS IT ?

WHY DO WE REMEMBER DREAMS ?

WHEN DO WE START ?

WHERE DO WE START ?

HOW DO WE APPROACH THE DRAMA ?

RECALLING DREAM DRAMAS

USING THE DREAM TOOLS

PRIMARY DREAM TOOLS

THE DREAM CHANNEL

CLARIFICATIONS

FOREWORD

This work is designed to itemize and explain myriad and varied aspects of the elements that affect our daily living. Individually and collectively, we are moved to thoughtfully embrace these tools of living. We should be continuously awed that our Divine Genius has loaned us these tools; we should be unchangeably grateful that God and his (our) mentors utilize these taken-for-granted tools so as to allow us mental, physical, and spiritual freedom of development; we should rejoice that God (whether we care to realize or not) encourages, dissuades, corrects, directs, and otherwise assists our bodies, minds, and souls by means of the blessings we call dreams.

I express appreciation to my family—Jo Ann, Angela, Joseph C., Julie, John, Alan—who have been sharing my long-time interest in translating the sleeping events we call dreams into make-sense, fulfilling messages of the spirit.

I give notable gratitude to my wife, Jo Ann, not only for encouragement, but for unlimited tolerance and patience over several years during which I spent uncountable hours typing at the computer keyboard.

I value the thoughtfulness provided by John and Zena, who generously contributed ideas and procedures related to the contents and to printing and publishing.

Above all, I thank the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Virgin Mary, and… My Mentor.

INTRODUCTION

THE DREAM CHANNEL is designed to itemize and explain the 24 primary tools, including their 186 plus auxiliary tools, that apply to the examination, analysis, translation, and counsel of dreams.

The dream tools guide you through the process of understanding your dream dramas, and offer the resources needed for the reading, pondering, and praying so as to understand and eagerly accept the satisfying, productive directions of the dreams’ messages. (See Sections C. and T. starting on pages 29 and 57 respectively)

Everyone dreams.

If your response to this 2-word sentence is,

But I know that ! . . . . then I say, Good.

If your response is,

"Probably . . . . but I seldom remember dreams, then I say, That’s O.K."—whether we remember or not, dreaming has a vital, significant impact on the WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY of your life.

If your response is, I don’t dream much, if at all.; then I say,

1) You may not be paying attention to dreams because you may not believe or have faith in them;

2) You may not be receiving the proper amount of continuous sleep in any one period of time. Most dreams in adults begin to occur after the first two hours of deep sleep (R.E.M.) which varies with age—

— childhood, more R.E.M. sleep (likely, fewer dreams);

— senior years, less R.E.M. sleep (likely, more dreams).

Cont… .

3) Your physical system is adversely affected by illness—heart disease, blood pressure, and diabetes.

4) You may be under the influence of medication or alcohol or an illegal substance.

Reasons 3) and 4) may account for dreams in which there are things and events that are jumbled, chaotic, nonsensical, incoherent, malformed, deranged, aimless, or confused. In such cases, the dream represents the influence that the illness or the drugs have on one’s mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

We should be continuously awed that our Divine Genius has loaned us these Tools of Living to comprehend and use dreams to improve our well-being as we live on this earth.

We are to be unchangeably grateful that the Supreme Being and His (our) mentors utilize these take-for-granted daily bread tools to allow us mental, physical, and spiritual freedom of development.

We ought to rejoice that (whether we care to realize it or not), God encourages, dissuades, corrects, directs (and otherwise assists our bodies, minds, and souls) via the tools provided to our consciousness—the gifts of learning, knowledge, experience, will, and faith.

WHAT IS A DREAM DRAMA?

The objective of this book is to provide the tools to guide you through the process of understanding your dream dramas, and offer the resources needed to understand and eagerly accept the satisfying, productive directions of the dreams’ messages.

It is not my intention to make converts out of dream non-believers; nor is the intention to delve into laboratory and non-laboratory studies classifying when and how often we dream; nor is it to restate biological and psychological manifestations that occur immediately after a dream (there are a multitude of good authors on that subject); nor will you be exposed to space-consuming examples of dreams as told to authors, friends, clients, etc.;

A dream is the language of Divine Reality—the Truth—dramatized in ways we on earth perceive with our senses, think with our minds, and emotionalize with our feelings.

Dreams are relevant to events and conditions that are relatively fresh in our conscious memories as well as those that reside in our subconscious, long ago set aside, ignored, or forgotten.

But the Lord said, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. And again, My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.

But, why ?, you might ask, Has He not given us will, and strength, and intelligence, and emotion, and feelings, all the attributes of humankind ? What more do we need or expect ? In this book, there are many of the objectives our dream Mentors encourage and move us to achieve:

Cont… .

* to assist… to give support… to encourage… to advance;

* to advise in favor of… to advise against… to counsel…

* to advocate… . ; to remind… to arouse attention…

* to activate preparation… . ; to inform… to alert…

* to forewarn… .; to instruct… to correct… to admonish;

* to stabilize a feeling or emotion or attitude;

* to overcome an obstacle… to help find a way… to help succeed;

* to improve… to regenerate… to enhance… to cure;

* to assure… to approve… to commend;

* to accelerate activity… to decelerate activity.

Length of Dreams—

Dream length varies. A dream may be as short as 2 seconds, or as long as a similar drama takes in consciousness, perhaps a few minutes.

A dream can be 1 to 3 seconds long—just enough to dream being in the presence of a known or unknown person or thing, a dream of a telephone or doorbell ringing, a dream that says that you are looking at a clock and, possibly, late for an appointment.

A dream can be lengthy, with many details, colors, motions, conversation, emotions, and desires. People with descriptive dreams are usually not only very good at being able to write or relate them in intimate detail, but to narrate the sequence of scenes accurately from beginning to end. It is likely that a very detailed dream occurs to one who is absorbed in a conscious event in which there is enjoyment in, or an occupation with, or training in, and activity that requires detail—designer, artist, planner, dressmaker, and the like.

Nevertheless, each dream molds and relates to matters of your life in harmony with your temperament, your intelligence, your frames of mind, your dispositions, your affections, your spirit, your lifestyle, your traits, your foibles, your habits, your peculiarities, your tendencies—as well as to the same elements of others with whom you come in contact, or by whom you are affected in conscious living.

Cont… .

Cameo Dreams—

Although most dreams occur after the first four or five hours of sleep in a relatively quiet and dark environment, they (especially short ones) may occur just about anytime during a brief nap during which your senses are (to some extent) ‘tuned out’ to minor or moderate background sound, smell, and even touch. I call these cameo dreams—in which there is a brief dramatic appearance just long enough to catch your attention—

— a person, a face, an object, a sound, a touch,

— a smell, a scene, a word or phrase.

Regardless of the brevity of cameo dreams, they are as important to translate as the more detailed or complex dramas. Simply, a cameo dream has no frills attached and comes right to the point. You should be convinced that you are able to analyze and get the message with whatever few details are given you.

Lucid Dreams—

The mental and physical events and activities that we see and experience in typical dreams are literally real to us—completely disconnected from the nature and goings-on of the surroundings in which we are sleeping, i.e., sounds, motions, conversation, climate, senses. The evidence of this is that most often, our sleeping ‘consciousness’ does not sense what actually occurs—the sound of a phone ringing, or a person walking or talking in the same room, or the feel or hearing a breeze through an open window, or the smell from a leaky gas stove, or at times, a whimpering child in an adjacent room. However, in the typical dream state, what we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, is ‘very real’; so real that while we are ‘within’ the dream, we react as if we were consciously living the experience.

On the other hand, a lucid dream is, simply, dreaming while ‘consciously’ aware that you are dreaming. If during the dream, you are aware that you are dreaming, you are, during that period of time, experiencing a lucid dream.

Cont… .

There are groups of people that meet for the purpose of promoting the examination of lucid dreaming as well as exploring the reasons for and process involved in inducing lucid dreams. As I understand it, there are two primary reasons:

1. It provides the lucid dream devotee the sense of having a unique gift of awareness akin to an out-of-body experience. As such, the disciple is fulfilled in the knowledge that he/she is able to enter and travel into what may be called the astral plane.

2. In what is called the higher level of lucid dreaming, dreamers strive to arrive at the point of being able to stage and direct the dream’s events, thoughts, motions, and emotions; thus, the illusion of self-diversion and fantasy in creating one’s own dreams.

In so doing, the dreamer is likely to change the purpose and the effect of the authentic dream, which was designed, constructed, and dramatized, not for entertainment or ego satisfaction, but to benefit and improve the dreamer’s mental, physical, and spiritual existence.

In my opinion, the deliberate practice of dream lucidity—

— depreciates or ignores the meaning of an authentic dream;

— interferes and tends to abort the authentic dream; and

— diverts dreaming into a capricious and unreliable activity, likely to the disapproval of the dream Maker. But be assured, out of love, He will not forget you Furthermore, He evaluates and answers prayers.

WHOSE DREAM DRAMA IS IT ?

Dreams literally alert us not to ignore these valuable messages; moreover they urge us to shed our cloaks of inattention, apathy, indifference, absentmindedness, and instead; they move us to do all we can to consistently develop and apply our God-given resources (aptitudes and abilities) toward 1) understanding, 2) discovering, and 3) reacting positively to dreams.

So, who does all this ? I will start by asking you:

Considering the mental restraints of the human intellect, who else can experience your dream drama as well as you ?

—Answer: NO ONE… . BUT YOU.

Considering the restrictions of the spoken and written language, who else can describe your dream as well as you ?

—Answer: NO ONE… . BUT YOU.

Considering the variables of human perception, who else can experience the impressions, the feelings, and the emotions of your dream as well as you ?

—Answer: NO ONE… . BUT YOU.

YOU, then, are the one that is best INFORMED, best PREPARED and best PRIMED to explore and arrive at the one and only true, meaningful, and satisfying message that the dream contains and is there for you to realize, to manage, and to react.

Consider yourself deputized.

Your dream is just that… your dream . . . and belongs to no one else. It is improbable that someone else will have exactly the same dream as yours. Although a dream can be repeated over a period of time, it is not likely to manifest itself in exactly the same way, detail by detail, as the times before.

Cont… .

I repeat… your dream is your dream . . . . a private and personal drama. Whether or not you choose (for whatever reason), to tell your dream to someone else is your business. But, if you do convey it to a trustworthy relative or friend, or a Doctor of This or That, be quite wary of even the most well-intentioned response or interpretive offering. Others hear or read of you describing pictures (though not all of the pictures), and events (though not all of the events), and actions (though not all of the actions), and the colors (though not all of the coloring), and feelings (though not all of the feelings).

WHY DO WE REMEMBER DREAMS ?

Only you (the dreamer) are capable of answering the fourteen questions (and perhaps others) accurately and in sufficient detail. (Listed on pages 24 (B-8.2) and 25 (B-8.3). You may be quick to respond:

But I can’t be expected to remember everything I’ve thought about, or did, or am intending to think about or do. Besides, if I did, how can I ever tie a conscious event to this puzzling, sometimes bizarre, nocturnal drama we call a dream ?

But, you see, one’s (sometimes convenient) lack of memory recall (not to mention ego) could be the barrier(s) to assigning a conscious event or theme to the dream, could it not ?

Let you not forget—your Mentor transmits God’s Reality to us in such dramatization that the dreamer’s alleged ‘lack of memory’ and/or ‘ego’ is only not a barrier, but proves to be negligible in your understanding of the message. To believe that the dream-maker is bound by the human intellectual or physical frailties is to think that God is not all-wise and all-knowing.

In fact, I have many times experienced a dream, the impression and effect of which caused me to, literally, ignore to do, or say, or think something that I had previously planned (probably a bit indecisively or indiscreetly). You see, the dream had, in fact, done its job even if I had spent only a brief period of time and effort examining and evaluating its content. God is good.

Cont… .

We have intellect. Human intellect has strengths, weaknesses and is subject to desires, emotions, and sensitivities. Therefore:—

without the benefits of extraordinary psychic ability, I, then, have no other option but to compare the activity and effect of dream reality to specific intellectual and emotional characteristics and energies of conscious reality; unless, by reason of the will God also gave me, I choose not to do so !

A dream is a drama, which takes place during sleep; but it is not fiction. Its components are just as real to us (particularly during the drama itself) as are the components of our conscious life.

True, after the dream ends, and conscious existence takes over, we tend to set the dream on the back burner such that we may (selectively) ‘forget’ some details. Nevertheless, by its very existence and the grace of God, the dream has done at least part of its job by introducing itself.

WHEN DO WE START ?

A dream can be short or long, pleasant or unpleasant. With few exceptions, upon awakening from sleep, a dream first appears baffling and unsolvable.

The perplexing drama, in which we find ourselves unavoidably involved, will likely promote a lingering insecurity, then discomfort, then avoidance, then sadly, neglect and disregard, unless, of course, you address it and resolve it to a satisfying explanation.

In the pace and technology of our fashionable, contemporary society, we have been conditioned to want it now. We tend to be impatient—anxious about not being able to possess and learn at the touch of Enter; impulsive at not being able to control climate; animated at not being able to have good food prepared sooner; restless at not getting ‘there’ faster, sooner, or quicker; critical when a conflict is not settled within a few days or weeks and; restless at not knowing what a dream means the moment we awaken, i.e., before our senses tell us to take our time, and before our good judgment wisely advises us to remember, read, ponder, and pray.

But, whether we admit it or not and when (in a state of being at least partially awake) we begin trying to figure out what the dream means the moment the dream ends—we succeed.

The Dream Maker does not give you more information than you can digest or handle. He knows exactly what day, time, and how to present you with these Dramas of Truth; he knows your day and night alertness and fatigue; he knows your distracting day and night aches and pains; he knows your day and night medications that may be affecting your thought processes; he knows your day and night moods and emotions; he knows your faith; he knows the truth.

WHERE DO WE START ?

Dreams are designed and constructed by God and Assistants to—

— help you find, understand, and implement the TRUTH about your

— inclinations, intentions, expectations, reasoning, and judgments

— related to our conscious thoughts, words, actions, emotions, and spirituality, and to—

— start, compliment, encourage, adjust, correct, discourage, reprimand, or terminate a conscious activity or issue that requires truth and direction directing you to a beneficial and satisfying result.

Perhaps the first question you ask, between the time the dream and the moment you awaken enough to remember the details, is:

What on earth is this dream talking about? which simply means—

— (a) what is it trying to get me to understand ? and,

— (b) to what daily-life event is it referring ?

Here are many of the objectives your dream Mentor seeks to have you achieve (repeated from Page 12, Sect-B-3.2):

* to assist… to give support… to encourage… to advance;

* to advise in favor of… to advise against… to counsel…

* to advocate… . ; to remind… to arouse attention…

* to activate preparation… . ; to inform… to alert…

* to forewarn… . ; to instruct… to correct… to admonish;

* to stabilize a feeling or emotion or attitude;

* to overcome an obstacle… to help find a way… to help succeed;

* to improve… to regenerate… to enhance… to cure;

* to assure… to approve… to commend;

* to accelerate activity… . to decelerate activity.

Cont… .

After reading, pondering, and praying about the pertinent tools and elements of this book,

the above Question (a)—Pg 20—will gradually become easier to reveal and understand (usually with delight—complimentary or critical) with drama-after-drama practice, commitment, and determination.

Refer to the book’s tools—especially the tools the most popular and typically understood tools used by your Dream-Maker, such as:

Activity 175.0, Air 300.0, Association 226.0, Change 176.0, Light 113.0, Darkness 115.0, Structure 57.0, Intimacy 104.0, Order 146.0, People 217.0, Motion 174.0, Senses 267.0, Space 68.0, Vegetation 81.0, Work 213.0, and others of your choosing that you will learn to start with when considering each drama.

The above Question (b)—Pg 20—on the other hand, is a bit harder to clarify.

Understand that, each of us has within, a set of subjective set of ingrown, deep-rooted factors—facts, opinions, fantasies, perceptions, ideas, biases, perceptions, and wants—that are apt to get in the way of finding the dream’s specific, truthful, subject or issue.

During the course of the search for the event or issue that the dream is addressing, you must set your mind so as to avoid pre-selecting the issue that you would prefer to have the dream address; instead, you must seek to ‘look through or beyond’ those favored, transparent daily issues and, instead, target a fundamental topic about which you should be concerned; perhaps those to which you (and others) have (or should have) devoted serious thought and discussion within the last day or two, or, within the past few days or so.

Cont… .

In essence, most dreams empower you to daily examination and evaluation of your wants, feelings, emotions, sensations, opinions, conduct, decisions, evaluations, and duties; each of which may be shared with one or more relatives or associates.

When you approach a dream with that in mind, you will find it much easier to target the daily-life event to which the dream is referring. Look at the book’s tools—especially the tools the most popular and commonly understood tools used by your Dream-Maker.

REMEMBER: it is your dream—it belongs to you alone, it is designed, staged, and dramatized for you alone; it is meant for your intelligence and perceptions. Other people, or beings, are ‘staged’ in your dream to assist you—in becoming aware, in observing, in analyzing, in solving, in correcting, in improving, in achieving—in leading you to the Aha! I’ve got it! consent to the message.

HOW DO WE APPROACH THE DRAMA ?

A dream comprises of one or more conscious-life events—short, long, or mini-series—related to conditions or circumstances that have been, are, or might be.

One dream may contain two, three, or more events that, although connected, often seem disorganized and unrelated, and as such, seem even more puzzling; but they, in fact, are connected to form a message.

Be assured that your Dream Mentor has wisely chosen the script and movements of the dream—whether of long duration, or a succession of mini-dramas—to awaken your intellect, feelings, emotions and to teach and prompt you to add to make a change, or correct your thoughts, behavior, and activities.

To the majority of us who are willing and eager to resolve dreams, there seems to be an uneasy entrance in determining the theme or daily-life subject of the dream. We anxiously ask,

— Just what is this dream about, anyway ?

— "What did I (not) think about, or am (not) thinking about, or plan on (not) thinking about, that could generate this dream ?’

— How might I have (not) behaved, or am (not) behaving, or intend to (not) behave that arouses my Mentor’s attention ?

— What have I (not) done, or am (not) doing, or plan to (not) do, that this dream refers to ?

— "How did I (not) feel, or am(not) feeling, or intend to (not) feel, that draws out my Mentor’s interest ?

The following pages list common conscious life thinking, conditions, or events (either before or after the dream occurs) that the message can very well be dealing with:

Cont… .

1. the ‘forgotten’ (past) event which one has intentionally or