Ep #154: The Power of Dream Analysis

“Dreams are the guiding words of the soul. Why should I henceforth not love my dreams and not make their riddling images into objects of my daily consideration?” Carl Jung.

As an artist, as a creative entrepreneur and as a coach I have learned to develop a deep trust in my unconscious, in my intuition, in maybe you would call it my subconscious in order to inform and guide me. I also believe in using the power of our imagination, our deep Creativity as tools for transformation. I do believe as Jung wrote that dreams are the guiding words of the soul. Jung saw dreams as an aspect of us, our psyche’s attempt to communicate things to us that perhaps don’t fit into our typical way of thinking, in analytical thinking or an expected habituated way of thinking.

Also, Jung also saw dreams as a way to develop the personality, a process that he called individuation. In this episode I am giving you an overview of what dream analysis can do for you. It can increase your creativity, reduce burnout, soothe stress and your central nervous system. All things that are very important to me and to my clients. This is not only theory conjecture, but I have experienced this profoundly in my own life and had so many clients with similar experiences.

So, I’m excited to introduce this topic to you because as well this is just plain fun, which is also why it increases your creativity, reduces burnout and soothes your central nervous system. I mean just listen to this other quote from Edgar Cayce about dream analysis. Tonight’s dreams are the answers to tomorrow’s questions. I just think that’s so good. So, if you are ready to explore how understanding your dreams can change your life then you are going to have so much fun with today’s episode.

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You are listening to The Art School Podcast; a show for artists and creatives who want to become the next greatest version of themselves. Learn how to cultivate an extraordinary way of being and take the mystery out of making money, and the struggle out of making art. Here is your host, master certified life coach, artist, and former lawyer, Leah Badertscher.

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Art School Podcast. I am sending you beautiful autumn vibes from Michigan. It’s also a great time of year, I feel like to offer a class on dream analysis, which is what we are doing again through The Art School. It’s included for all of my current art schoolers. And it’s also open for Ollacart enrolment for all of you art schoolers at large who are part of our community in this larger listening audience.

So, we offer this two part masterclass which is taught by our illustrious and ever so brilliant, and I would say quite mystical, Betsy Pearson, and it went over so incredibly well, that’s an understatement, last year, that I wanted to bring it back this time around also for selfish reasons because it waters the depths of my soul. I know for me anyway being somebody with a foot in both worlds, in this realm of creativity, and intuition, and spirituality, and the arts and then also having this other foot in a world where I am running a business.

And for me, coaching it belongs in both of those spaces. I rely heavily on my intuition in coaching. And I also lean heavily into my analytical skillset. And the process of running a business and then also just managing day-to-day things as we all do as humans can sometimes make me feel like I’m a little too left leaning. It’s a little heavy on that analytical rigid thought forms side. And I feel like the sort of stultification, or stagnation, or parched crispy dried up feeling on my creative side, I go to do my creative work. And I feel maybe a bit clichéd or I’m saying the same things over and over.

And I’m not having those experiences, those spine tingling, hair rising and on your scalp in the back of your neck kind of experiences, or your heart beating faster when you’ve struck some goldmine of inspiration or insight that feels like it came from a greater place than you.

When I haven’t had enough of that kind of creative fun, dream analysis is a tool, dreaming intentionally using active imagination is absolutely something in my repertoire. And it’s why I wanted to include it also and offer it for my art school community. It offers such a balm and it’s so curative, including in ways that maybe are not clear how they directly impact.

I know when I did this work myself last year, I had the experience where I had had a terrifying nightmare, just terrifying. I even hesitated almost bringing it to Betsy. But I knew, I just had the feeling that there was something in this for me. And it also happened around the time that she was leading the dream analysis class for the art school.

And oh my God, what a gift that was. It went from being this incredibly terrifying dream that I was almost afraid to speak aloud to me realizing what a profound gift it was, not only in the message that it conveyed. But I literally felt that through exploring the dream and coming into contact with it in a deeper way, staying with the messages, and the figures, and the energy in my dream longer. Something else shifted in me that cannot be explained logically or understood by the rational mind, but it was a true visceral and energetic shift.

And I experienced openings in so many other areas of my life that again with my logical mind I can’t connect the dots and say it was because of this dream and then the dream analysis that this happened. It makes no sense to my lawyer brain. But a part of me just knows it was unlocking the message in that dream that unlocked all of these other things for you. And that this was something that Jung held deeply, that there are many conflicts present in our dream which will get our attention as nightmares. And there is also curative properties within our dreams.

He wrote, the dream is specifically the utterance of the unconscious, just as the psyche has a diurnal side which we call consciousness. So also, it has a nocturnal side, the unconscious psychic activity which we apprehend as dreamlike fantasy. So, I shared my own personal story with what one dream analysis did for me. And there are several, several stories like this from our past art schoolers. But I wanted to just give you an overview of what dream analysis can do for you generally speaking which is profound and at the same time it does not hold a match.

These words that I will offer you, they are compelling. And when you do this work yourself, I will say they don’t hold a match to what the personal experience can be. So, dream analysis can increase your creativity. It can be used as a practice to enrich, deepen and support your creative process. It can help generate the kind of original creative energy that fuels your own interest in and passion for your work. It can be a catalyst for creative insights and breakthroughs, I want to highlight that and put it in all caps, BREAKTHROUGHS.

And also generate profound material for your work via symbols, motifs, themes and narratives that come from that nocturnal aspect of your unconscious. I will say that’s something I do too in my own artwork and fuse it with my own inner work is working with the symbols, or motifs, or figures, or energies that I have encountered in my dreams and then work them into my paintings, work them into my creative writing and letting there be that back and forth communication between what Jung referred to as the nocturnal side of our psyche and that diurnal, our waking side.

Dream analysis can also reduce burnout, mitigate the effects of burnout, I would say also help prevent it. So, if you have found your place, ever found yourself in a place of your work where you are a little burned out or just straight up dry and crispy, I know I have. Turning to this work is the equivalent of giving your soul a long drink from a cool, deep inner well. I would not be surprised if you find yourself saying as I did, and others did as well when we took Betsy’s class. “This is exactly what I was craving but didn’t know, I couldn’t name it. This is exactly what I needed.”

Also relatedly, dream analysis can soothe stress and your central nervous system. And this is one of the reasons I am so grateful to have Betsy’s brilliance, and crackerjack coaching, and mentorship, and mind, and heart and spirit on the job here. Because not only is she brilliant when it comes to the dream analysis, she also cares deeply, I know it’s part of her core mission and philosophy to help others soothe their central nervous system. And the way she manages to do this is truly an art.

So, the world increasing fast rate of change and the amount of uncertainty that we all experience combine in a way that can result in the ultimate stress cocktail for our relatively slow to develop human nervous system. But it doesn’t have to feel like that. We humans also have everything we need to take those same raw ingredients and make things that are calming, stimulating and healthy, creative things. And dream analysis is just one way to do that.

A question that often comes up when we are presenting the dream analysis as a creative tool is that someone will say, “But what if something feels too scary?” And to that we always say, “Trust yourself, trust your instincts.” And it’s another reason that I am so grateful to have Betsy leading this because she is again a master at creating a safe place. And also, will reiterate over, and over again that you never have to venture anywhere that feels unsafe. And that you can also learn to create safety for yourself.

Unlocking things in the unconsciousness and the fear of that being dangerous, the prospect of that being dangerous was something that was on Jung’s mind as well. Because he actually came into dream analysis as a way to deal with his own inner turmoil. You might already know that Freud, Sigmund Freud was a mentor and a father figure to him. And when they had a professional split, Jung suffered a tremendous psychological upheaval which lasted 20 years.

Jung then through his own self-analysis came to the conclusion that even our darkest dreams, because he uses this as a way to heal himself and create reconciliation within himself. He came to the conclusion that even our most frightening, terrifying darkest dreams contain an imagery that shows us our internal conflicts, shows us what’s happening within us. And not only the turmoil and not only the conflict in the darkness, but it also points to their cure.

One writer and psychoanalyst, her name is Joan, I’m going to get her last name wrong, I always do, Chodorow, Joan Chodorow. She talks about how Jung experimented with ways to restore, heal, return his emotional equilibrium to a good baseline by dialoguing with these fantasy and dream images as if they existed in the everyday world. And so, she wrote that Jung made the conscious decision to drop down into the depth. He landed on his feet and began to explore the strange inner landscape where he met the first of a long series of inner figures.

These fantasies seemed to personify his fears and other powerful emotions. Over time, he realized that when he managed to translate his emotions into images, he was inwardly calmed and reassured. He came to see that his task was to find the images that are concealed in the emotions. So, this brings up another reason this approach to dream analysis resonates with me deeply.

When it talks about his experience of finding the images these are really the metaphors, the wisdom that are concealed in the emotions. Because one of the other skillsets, practices that I believe belongs in every creative human’s repertoire, and it is definitely something that we teach and practice in The Art School is the ability to be with emotions and process emotions. That does not mean execute emotions, abandon them, mitigate them and get rid of them like a problem.

It’s a completely different orientation. And it mirrors so much of what when I read about his work and his approach to dream analysis, the work that we do with emotions and the work he is doing with dream analysis. And the work that Betsy does, the way she approaches it, to me there is a lot of overlap and similarities. That at first blush many dreams, many emotions appear so intense and perhaps even dangerous as to crush you or consume you.

But there are ways of encountering them where you can then tap into that power and tap into that wisdom that they offer. And not be subdued by it, not fear it, not repress it, not reject it. But instead receive the power and wisdom from them. Relatedly I wanted to also share a couple of paragraphs from Jung’s book, Memories, Dreams and Reflections which my copy is falling apart. It’s so dogeared. But it speaks to this point of how to encounter dreams and perhaps there is something instructive in these following paragraphs.

It will help you navigate not only your dreams, not your fantasies and what they have to reveal to you or about you. But also, any kind of large emotion or experience in your life.

This particular book of his, Memories, Dreams, Reflections was written closer towards the end of his life. And also details how he used some things, some encounters with his own dreams or inner life that were quite intense, or even frightening. And how he used these encounters with his own psyche to form some of his most enduring theories about conscious, and unconscious wisdom, and states, and so much of that that has been handed down to us now.

So, I thought it also speaks to the potential for dream work to lend itself to a deepening and to an expansion of your own creative work. He wrote, “I did my best not to lose my head, but to find some way to understand these strange things. I stood helpless before an alien world; everything in it seemed difficult and incomprehensible. But there was a demonic strength in me, and from the beginning there was no doubt in my mind that I must find the meaning of what I was experiencing in these fantasies.

“I was frequently so wrought up that I had to do certain yoga exercises in order to hold my emotions in check. But since it was my purpose to know what was going on within myself, I would do these exercises only until I had calmed myself enough to resume my work with the unconscious. As soon as I had the feeling that I was myself again, I abandoned this restraint upon the emotions and allowed the images and inner voices to speak afresh.

To the extent that I managed to translate the emotions into images, that is to say, to find the images that were concealed in the emotions, I was inwardly calmed and reassured. Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them. As a result of my experiment, I learned how helpful it can be, from a therapeutic point of view, to find the particular images which lie behind emotions.”

That’s the end of the quotation. I will tell you, when I reread this part of the book, I’ve had the book for several years, long before I started The Art School, maybe even before I started coaching. When I read this my eyes just got wider and wider, opened up wider. And again, I experienced that tingling feeling. And now that I’ve reread it since having all this coaching experience, doing my own work, doing this work with clients in The Art School, it is so underlined, and highlighted, and starred.

Because when I read his words after doing this work with others, it is of course obvious that it plays out so much of what he’s talking about. And I just wanted to highlight some of these things, that so many people will say, for instance, “It’s hard not to lose your head when you’re standing in front of this alien world, and everything seems difficult and incomprehensible.” But there is also this feeling that I want to find the meaning in this place. That’s an experience that so many of my clients articulate.

And then to his point about doing certain yoga exercises in order to hold the emotions in check for a time. So, this reminds me of the work we do with safe emotional container, which is another podcast, I give you an introduction to safe emotional container. And a shout out to my friend, Christie Inge for teaching me this. That’s another podcast episode and it is another practice and tool that we use in The Art School.

And it’s about creating a sense of safety and an ability to move into intense places. But also, not so intense that you feel like it does violence to you. That you create some sort of inner crisis. So, there is a way to go about this. And also, he mentions specifically yoga exercises, using your body. This is not work that you do just in your head. My entire approach to creativity is not simply a cerebral one. It is a holistic one. And that is very pragmatic.

I am holistic about how I approach my business and making money. And I think it’s foolish and cutting off a good chunk of the strengths and the resources available to us to not harness all of our resources. Including our ability to use our body, and movement, and in breath, and things like yoga, and mind body connection to help us regulate, to help us process. Whether we are building a business, whether we are delving into our inner world, whether we’re creating art, or raising a family.

So, I find that very telling that he talks about, he goes to a certain extent. But when it gets to be too much he doesn’t just keep pushing and keep going. He uses yoga which it’s a mindful, mind body connection also uses breath. And then he goes on to say, but because it was his purpose to know what was going on with himself, he would do the exercises until he had calmed himself. And then he goes on to talk about what I’m going to summarize as the analysis part, managing to translate the emotions into images.

And talks about then being inwardly calmed and reassured, which speaks to the experience I have had myself witnessed in clients. I know Betsy has had and that I spoke to in the beginning about how it soothes stress and calms your central nervous system. And he also talks about – I mean does not mince his words when he says, “Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.”

Yeah, by the way, but instead as a result of his experiment he learned how helpful it can be from a therapeutic point of view to find the images which lie behind the emotions. So, what does that mean? For example, in my nightmare, it turned into ever so wise and gift of a dream that I did with Betsy last year that I still think about on the regular. I could hardly access the images in the dream, much less the images within the images, and a meaning within those images for the sheer feeling of terror that accompanied the dream.

But creating a safe space, also breathing, and this is something Betsy is adept at too. She also has the benefit of having taught yoga herself and practiced for many, many years. Is moving the body into a state where you can be with this kind of intense emotion or experience. And then move into it in a different way. It’s another place where I find there is an overlap with the work that we do around emotions is that again never asking anyone to go further than feels safe or comfortable for them.

And for sure if it feels like a situation that is best explored and a circumstance where there is a medical professional, I highly not only advise that, strongly encourage and recommend that you do that. Give that to yourself. You don’t have to do this alone. And there are so many brilliant and gifted medical professionals who can guide you through this process and knows so much about, for instance, trauma, and the brain. And are really well suited to help you through this.

If you know for you it’s not about triggering or activating an old trauma or something you can’t handle, if it feels overly heavy to you or unsafe. Then absolutely it is your responsibility to say, “No, I am not going to touch this. Or I’m only going to open this and venture this way when I’m under the care of a medical professional.” On the other hand, if that is not you, if you’re like, “Oh my gosh, this just sounds so intriguing, this sounds like so much fun.” And you are ready to dive in and ready to explore how it can enrich your creativity, enhance so many aspects.

I mean for me included too, I will say enhances my bottom line because if I am not having fun, I’ve noticed I am not making money. And tapping into this other realm of creativity, this deeper realm, this mysterious place, this place where my true nature is speaking to me, that makes me come alive. Doing this kind of work with other creative people, exponentially so. And when I am in that kind of high vibing energy with people who are delving into dreams, and are also brilliant, and ready to stay with themselves through the emotions and have such active imaginations already.

It is illuminating. It feels enlightening. It is just so much damn fun that I can’t believe I get paid to do it. And I have so many, so many ideas for my own creative work and my coaching. And I’m in that place where I’m like, “Why wouldn’t I do this more?” Which then as you would suspect, really helps your bottom line when you’re loving what you’re doing and you’re having so much fun and you just want to learn more and do more. It’s a pretty good way to make a lot more money.

And you don’t have to be a coach or an artist in order to harness this kind of fun creative energy and this aspect of yourself, this aspect of your psyche, this way of activating a deeper imagination that astounds you. And still delivers discoveries up to you where you thought you had yourself figured out. You thought you had the world figured out. And then boom, doors open to you and there are worlds within worlds that you have just scratched the surface of exploring.

Marie Louise von Franz who was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar who worked closely with Jung was known for her psychological interpretations of fairytales and alchemical manuscripts. She had this to say about dream analysis. “Every understood dream is like a slight electric shock and a higher consciousness.” That is so good, let’s say it again. Every understood dream is like a slight electric shock and a higher consciousness. That is my idea of fun. And that I will also say is an apt description of what understanding your dreams feels like.

It is so much fun when you have that epiphany experience yourself. It is also so much fun to watch the unfolding, the dawning of realization that leads to the epiphany in someone else. I can’t say why it is. It is just innately so much fun. I think maybe because it’s not every day, maybe we could let it be every day, that we allow ourselves that kind of new understanding or insight. Or that we have that surprising of a revelation that there is a wisdom within us. And then that comes through it. Then it opens your mind.

If that was within me, and I was about ready to dismiss it as either a silly insignificant dream which some people have done, and they have been blown away even by what the shortest and seemingly silliest of dreams revealed. Or whether it is something that at first blush was a nightmare.

But to instead of have it be this profound epiphany, for me it excites me endlessly about what else is within us? Particularly since I am in this field of change work, and transformation, and particularly within that field, serving creatives and artists. Because just when you’re thinking, oh gosh, I’m bored by my own work, I’m bored by the other work I see in the world. What exciting is there? Why did I ever get into this in the first place?

This is like plugging yourself back into the light socket of super voltage being charged, excited, ready to go about the endless creativity, the epic jungles, wild jungles of imagination that live within all of us. Or maybe they’re not in us. Maybe it’s just something we tap into. Either way dreaming and dream analysis is one way to access that. And that voltage flows into every aspect of your life.

One of my theories. One of the ways that I imagine this is the way it is, is because that when we are dreaming, that part of our brain that usually applies and enforces very strict rules about reality is offline. It’s sleeping. And therefore, the full force of who we are and what we know that we don’t allow when we’re living within strict paradigms and strict rules, in our awaking day, that can all come through and be accessed. And intentionally accessed when you’re dreaming which is something we’re going to talk about in The Coach with Me.

Leading up to that too, here is another thing that I love about dreams. And Jung had also said that dreams are anticipatory. He wrote that dreams may be forward looking and anticipatory which takes me back to that quote that I shared with you in the beginning of the episode from Edgar Cayce that tonight’s dreams are the answers to tomorrow’s questions. I have had this happen on so many occasions, including when I keep a dream journal. I won’t go too far down that rabbit hole but will say that I use my dream journal too as an art journal.

And that many of the motifs that I have just jotted down in my dream journal, later when I was painting, without intending to I would find that motif showing up again in a painting. Or when I was sitting with a painting, including times, I can think of specific instances where I had commissions and I was feeling stuck or blocked. And then I thought about the client. I thought about who it was for. And I wasn’t getting anything. And then just to walk away from it and just to, again, access a different part of me and put myself more in a flow state.

I’d go and look at those journals and from dreams that I had even before the painting was commissioned, before the client had reached out. I saw the motifs, the symbols that were meant to be in this particular painting. The meaning, it was clear to me, these symbols or motifs that I could not make sense of were right there as if a part of me had known ahead of time that this is what I would need. That it would fit perfectly within these paintings.

Now, I cannot explain that other than just to say it really worked. And those clients were really happy with those paintings. And I could not have thought my way analytically there. So that is just one of my own personal anecdotal experiences. But now I want you to be able to have your own deep, enriching, enlightening fun experiences yourself. So, this brings to me to the part of the podcast where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in and really work with me, coach with me.

So, I want to invite you to do a dream analysis. After I share this basic five step outline for how to analyze your dream, I’m also going to share just an overview of the outline that we’ll be using for Betsy’s masterclass on dream analysis, which will be taking place October 28^th at 1:00pm Eastern. And the second call will be November 11^th at 1:00pm Eastern. We would love to have you. And the link to register will be in the show notes. And you can also always email us support@leachcb.com with any questions.

So, for now let me give you the five steps of dream analysis. This is according to Robert Johnson’s book, Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. He follows a Jungian framework. So first you want to write down the dream in detail. And trust that you have all the information you need. Don’t worry that you’ve forgotten something. Just write down what you have. That will be what is most significant for you. As you write you may discover that you remember more and more.

This happens to me every single time. Sometimes I have just a thread, a whisper, like a vapor of the dream. And I start to write that down, even the general feeling. And then it’s like the floodgates open and I have written four pages. So, one, write the dream in detail.

Two, you make associations. So how is this frog in your dream like what in your everyday life? And then you do that for every element in your dream. You parse out every element.

Step three, you connect dream images to what’s happening for you internally. How is this frog like what I am experiencing in my inner life, my emotional life and my mind, my fears, my hopes, my dreams, my imagination, what I’m thinking about?

Step four, you interpret the dream. So that’s a pretty broad order for a single step. But again, this is something that you practice. And the more you do it the more adept you will get at drawing connections. This is also something that’s so fun to do with other people because having someone that you’re speaking your interpretation to, I have found, and I have seen other people have this experience so many times. You’re led to more and more knowings, and insights, and understandings when you’re interpreting your dream to someone else.

Five, do a ritual to make the dream concrete. And this is something else that I love about Jung, that it was not about just doing the work cerebrally but then integrating it using the body to complete the circle. And so, a ritual can be as simple as lighting a candle and thanking the dream for its wisdom. It can be as simple as going outside and planting a seed. Whatever occurs to you is the right thing to do. Just use your body and do something in the physical world. For those of you that are like, “That sounds weird”, don’t knock it until you try it.

And then again, too much we live in this world that is wholly in our heads. And as creatives it can feel that we get unmoored sometimes, not just creatives. But also, I know plenty of professionals who are in their heads at their keyboards all day. And we forget that there is this very human, earthy, made of clay aspect of us that wants to connect things to our actual physical world. So, something that is symbolic of that and actually requires that your hands meeting something else in the physical world and being symbolic of this dream.

So again, that can be as simple as lighting a candle. As I’m speaking to you, I realize that one way that I do that is by incorporating a lot of symbols into my art. That’s another way of using my hands and engaging in the physical world that completes that circle.

So now to talk about Betsy’s class. What I just offered to you is not what you will experience in Betsy’s class. And it’s one of the reasons again I’m so grateful to have her. Because the thought of introducing you to dream work in a podcast episode was both exciting and overwhelming until I realized this is a podcast, not an encyclopedia cast, Leah. And so, I’m also just really delighted that we have this opportunity to dive deeper. And really the depths are endless when you consider how vast we all are as individuals.

So, in Betsy’s first class you’ll learn a step by step dream analysis method based on the one developed by Carl Jung. And Betsy has also worked with two teachers who teased out his work in slightly different ways. Rae Marie McReynolds, PhD, and Martha Beck, PhD. Betsy has combined all of those methods together into her own method that is easy to learn and a delight to practice. And that is so true. It is so easy and so delightful.

In the first class, Betsy teaches you this method by having you do your own dream analysis in real time. This ensures that you will not just sit there and sit back and take in information and never do anything. You will want to be participating in real time. It is fun and revelatory. So, all you need is a notebook dedicated to your dreams. And you don’t have to share this dream with anyone. So don’t worry about that. That said, we’ll also end the class with an opportunity for someone to volunteer so that we can all do one dream analysis together.

And for sure, we have many enthusiastic people ready to volunteer with juicy, amazing, off the hook dreams.

Class two, November 11^th, and if I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now, these classes will also be available on replay. And you’ll be able to keep them and rewatch them whenever you want for however long you want. So, in the second class we’ll debug any questions you have about the basic dream analysis method plus you’ll learn a second method, the one directly described and favored by Jung himself. It’s a little looser and more abstract. And we promise to also make it very assessable and practical.

Both calls will be recorded and emailed to you as I mentioned, for reference, which means that you can sign up even if you can’t make the calls live and in person. And as a bonus we’ll also email you a dream analysis worksheet. So, if you want you can print it out and make yourself a dream book. But mostly it’s intended to be a one sheet reference you can look back on any time for crystal clear instruction.

And I know after last year’s masterclass, the two part series, I had people email me afterwards and said that they had formed their own dream analysis groups after this class, both with people in the class. But also, just had gone out into their own friend groups, colleague groups even, and based on the work that they learned in the two classes, just started to do this for their own life and for fun. Because as I said, something else really enriching and I think mutually nourishing.

And also, personally the revelations that can come when you are activating this aspect of your mind and trying to deliver it, communicate it to another person. That can be really profound. And also again, so worth doing even by yourself. I do the majority, the vast majority, 90% of my dream analysis work by myself. I love an awesome session with someone like Betsy for instance, or with a friend. But sometimes, most times, time just doesn’t allow for that.

And it’s really a great way too if you feel that the warmup work you do to keep yourself creative, whether you do morning pages or other kinds of journaling, or art journaling. I find when I have dreams to access and have been doing this work, that again there is a new wildness and a natural freshness and energy to the work that I’m doing that keeps me really excited and engaged. And feels like I’m less trying to think my way through my creative process and more just allowing a flow.

So again, with this Coach with Me, don’t just listen to this episode. I mean if a creative genius and thought leader, revolutionary thinker and teacher like Carl Jung valued dreams, not only to – I mean one book written about him and his dream work was titled How Carl Jung Salvaged His Soul. So, there is that. And if it worked for him, consider what it could do for your life personally, creatively, professionally. I’ll share again the words from him that I shared at the beginning.

Dreams are the guiding words of the soul. Why should I henceforth not love my dreams and not make their riddling images into objects of my daily consideration? I do hope this episode has been inspiring and instructive for you so that you are able to listen to your dreams, listen to the guiding words of your soul. And allow them to change your life in the most profound, mysterious and profoundly fun of ways.

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. I have heard from so many of you since I announced my other moonshot goal of wanting to reach more than a million downloads with this podcast. And I want to thank you so much for your shares and asking any of you who haven’t heard me ask yet or just haven’t gotten around to it yet, let this be the week. I would love your help. If every person listening shared this podcast with just five or 10 of their friends, I will easily smash that goal, maybe even before the year is out.

So, it’s just one more way where I’m trying to walk my own talk and ask for help and not pretend that this all is riding on me but instead to allow in the abundance of support and the gift that is this listening audience. So, thank you all for being there. And thank you to everyone who has already shown the amazing support that you have. If you want to connect too, another thing that I have enjoyed is connecting with more and more of you over on Instagram. My handle is @leahcb1.

And a great reason to connect with me there is I have been doing so many more IGTVs. So, I will hop off a live Art School call and then deliver one of the best insights or takeaways that I think that was from that day. Maybe it’s not the best word to use, the best. But I guess what speaks to me as being something that someone else most needs to hear that day. That question, what might someone need to hear today has also been what’s driving my commitments to the newsletter.

I am doubling down on my newsletter writing and approach every time with my laptop with what might someone need to hear today? And some ideas I have some days it might be a really corny joke. You never know who needs to hear that. Or it might be again some wisdom distilled and pulled directly from an Art School session or a coaching session. It could be the inspiration that you didn’t know you were looking for. So, if you’re not yet on my email list, you can do so by going to my website www.leahcb.com.

And if you are interested in taking this material deeper you will also want to be on my email list because that’s where you will hear the latest about any openings I have for private coaching. I do now, I have opened some single sessions for private coaching in the months of October, November, December of this year only. So, a handful of spots for coaching on a month to month basis where you can engage for one session or three sessions.

And so, you can learn more about that by going to my website www.leahcb.com. Or you can email us support@leahcb.com. Also, on that newsletter is where you will be the first to hear about any upcoming Art School events, whether they be upcoming classes, including free calls and trainings, or for instance, the launch of the next round of the mastermind.

Here is the quote that I wanted to share with you in closing today from Khalil Gibran, trust in dreams for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. And as I was preparing this episode and canvassing all of the information I could share with you, in today’s particular episode I needed to narrow my scope.

So, I went lighter on what so many artists, and sages, and mystics throughout the ages have said about dreams and that is that we move into this space where there is no separation between us and the other worlds. That it’s where we can or are maybe not separate from the eternal as he wrote again, trust in dreams for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. So, I wanted to leave you with that, the gate is there, the invitation is to pass through.

I hope you all have a dreamy week. I’m excited to meet many more of you in real life come the dream analysis masterclass at the end of the month and for all of you though I will look forward to seeing you, speaking with you, being with you next time.