tags: timing of dreams, how to deal with psychic dreams, help with dreams, predictive dreams, prophetic dreams,

This is part 2 of handling predictive dreams of a more negative or frightening tone. If you haven’t done so, I highly recommend reading the first part before reading this. Recall that we had two parts to our exploration of the predictive dream: 1) WHAT will happen, and 2. WHEN will it happen…

2. When will this dream happen in real life?

Do you want the two most common mistakes when assessing the timing of when a dream event will become reality?

1. “It’s going to happen right now!”

2. “Oh, it’ll never happen.”

The normal timing between my wife’s prolific dreams and the resulting real event is fairly congruent with the level of concern. For example, the drunk-driver / car-wreck dream was the biggest manifested dream event in this family, and that time between dream and event was probably close to about 14 hours. She also dreamed about the key events in the Arkansas nuclear event (particularly the person’s identity, surviving family members as well as symbolically indicating the day that the event would happen…Easter). This timing between dream and event was slightly longer, but still no more than two days. Another dream she had instructed her to get the herb yarrow almost two days before our daughter developed a fever (we didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out that yarrow is “one of the best herbs for fever.”

Other trivial things in her dreams do sometimes appear very quickly, but mostly they take about a week, month, or even more to manifest. Here’s the big lesson for all precognitive dreamers: KEEP A DREAM JOURNAL! We’ll get back to that later and all the reasons why, but first let’s back up and explain some of what might be going on with precognitive timing.

Myth: “Dreams are non-linear.”

Many dream writers/bloggers explain that our seemingly random, artsy, nonsensical dreams are not of this dimension, some proclaiming, “outside space-time.” These statements seem very true just because of the nature of our sometimes wacky dreams, but the problem is that they directly contradict the parts of dreams that science has been able to ascertain so far.

One of the most popular theories about dreams suggests that the brain uses dreams nightly to digest the events and emotions you experienced throughout the day. This, my friend, does not really fall outside space-time because this particular phenomenon is strongly dependent on everything we’ve come to know in space-time (how we felt inside, what we thought, what we saw during the day, what we touched, what we held in our hands, etc.)

However, there is an element of truth in the above myth statement, and it all has to do with the precognitive part of the dream. The fact that a dream unmistakably ‘knew’ the future does have an element that seems beyond space-time, or beyond what our calendars and clocks are telling us. There appears to be some sort of mixture in dreams (some people have varying proportions of these ingredients, and even each dreamer’s dreams have varying proportions). One part is based on physical experiences from the past (called “day residue” from our 3D reality), and one part is based on the experiences or scenes from the future (clearly outside our 3D reality). Of course, there are still other elements that I’m purposefully leaving out…

Okay, I caught you yawning. What’s the point of all this mumbo jumbo, you’re asking? Even if you are the world’s top precognitive dreamer, you will still have an element of your precognitive dream that is from your 3D experience, and to get into the timing of all of this, you’ll have to determine which part of the dream is from the 3D world (throw it out for this application) and which part is from the non-3D world (keeper!)

Doing the impossible: Figuring out when the dream will come true.

First of all, this is a totally ugly science, and people who like to analyze things aren’t going to like this section. But since we’re dealing with only the material from outside space-time, it’s going to get extremely right-brained.

Okay, here are just some random thoughts about how to pinpoint the dream’s timing:

1. Go back to your intuition again in your dream. Can you remember the intuition you had as the events were rolling on the inner screen…was it an imminent concern or not? Can you tell? If so, you’re way, way lucky, because this might be (for some people) the most reliable indicator. Yes, even more reliable than if you received an exact date within the dream (in most cases).

2. Look at the events in the dream…was everything immediate and fast, or was it all slow……..everyone taking their time? This might indicate your wait time, and (another big push for a dream journal) look back at your previous precognitive dreams to see how much of a wait time to expect for certain processes. For example, let’s say in the dream, you’ve put together a cake and baked it all about 30 seconds (an impossible feat). You go back to the dream diary to find out that really quick cooking has signified about a week or less in real space-time terms.

3. Look at the dream environment. Are the leaves on the trees changing color (hmmmm….an autumn month?), is there a Christmas wreath hanging on a door (December perhaps?), is the sun extraordinarily hot (a summer month?). Look for seasonal clothes and weather. Listen to what people were saying (“It’s so cold out.”)

4. Return to the lucidity question from Part 1…did you flat out ask someone in your dream what time the event will happen? Did you set the clock in your dream or flip the pages of a calendar?

5. Do some inspirational writing or conduct your favorite spiritual practice. In inspirational writing, you basically get into a very relaxed state with a pencil and paper or keyboard and computer. You’re going to slow down your brain processes and eliminate thoughts as much as possible. Write the projected event on your paper or computer. After a few minutes of relaxing without thought, pick up the pen and begin writing whatever comes. Just let it flow and don’t control it; let your hands do the talking, not the brain. You can look this up on the internet for further guidance on how to do it, but the method might be akin to asking for guidance while meditating or praying. Praying for guidance can also work, but don’t just listen for a date and time. Listen and look for non-vocal messages, metaphoric or not. Look for synchronicities in the world around you. Remain patient.

6. Lastly, remember again that timing is overall very unreliable. Some experts in this field instruct to rely more on that “déjà vu” feeling in waking life. That is, don’t worry so much about when it will happen. Rather, write your dream in a journal and wait. Eventually the déjà vu may come, and then you can return to the dream journal for specifics on what comes next, or what action is required, etc.

Always remember the most important thing with precognitive dreams: Your action!

In most cases, it’s the action that is important, and not the timing. For one thing, as we said before, it is very tough to match up a non-space-time event with our 3D reality. This is why prophecy and predictions are so difficult despite how convicted people get about the source of their precognition.

Depending on the scenario, timing may be important, but it is NEVER as important as the action item you gained from part one. Let’s take another example from Robert Moss’ book, The Secret History of Dreaming (2010). It took Sigmund Freud 23 years from his famous Irma dream until he finally manifested the oral disease that finally destroyed his throat and physical body. By then, it was too late (quite ironic for someone who wrote the famous book about interpreting dreams!) C. G. Jung, on the other hand, chose to give up smoking because of a dream he had…he chose wisely (Moss, 2010, pp. 148-9).

(Taking another actual example from my house…)

Let’s say you dreamed that maggots were in your pantry, beginning to destroy your food. I imagine that most people faced with this dream would start opening a couple of boxes of cereal or bags of chips just to see if that dream had merit. But would you have trusted your dream enough to look in all the dark corners of the pantry, pulling out bags and bags of food? I think most of us would either laugh at the dream or quit looking after, say, the second or third cereal box that didn’t have maggots in it. But my wife did not quit after dozens of bags and boxes. She ended up finding a large quantity of weevils crawling around a bag of rice at the bottom of the pantry, in back of everything. If she had not ACTED then the whole pantry would have been destroyed! If she would have waited until seeing the maggots in the front of the pantry (i.e., waiting for her dream to come true), then it would have been too late! Her action literally saved a bunch of food from being consumed by bugs.

The action is more important than the timing. Therefore, as a concluding general rule, do your action item first from part 1 without heeding too strongly the timing from part 2. Once your action is complete to the best of your ability, then let God/divinity/nature/spirit world do the rest. You’ve done your part, which is probably why the dream came to you to begin with…now go relax in peace…

Disclaimer: The author, Chris McCleary, does not claim to be a licensed professional in counseling, psychology, mental health, or any other related field. The reader is solely responsible for the actions that they decide to take based on this article.