Dream Reentry and On-line Chat
An Experience of Synchronicity and Resolving Loss in a Chat Room Setting
Fred Olsen, M.Div.
In the fall of 1994, I purchased my first 14.4 kbs modem for my Atari ST computer. I signed up on the Well.comserver in Northern California and forayed -- with some nervousness and anticipation -- into my first on-line chat session on the internet. It was a sunny Saturday mid morning in San Francisco. After a few false starts, I found myself in a live chat room. There, like magic, I witnessed live dialogue scrolling down my computer screen. What was even more amazing to me as a dreamworker was the first lines of text I saw displayed before me that day.
(Note: screen names are changed for participant's anonymity)
Duggan: How are you feeling today?
Bravo: I am really bummed out this morning.
Duggan: Why is that?
Bravo: I had a nightmare last night that is really bothering me.
Bingo. Here in my first chat room sesion, I find myself in the opening lines of a spontaneous dream sharing. I had that familiar, but nevertheless, amazed response when a synchronicity happens in life. I felt both playful and honored at the magical timing of this moment and typed my first line of live on-line chat in response.
Dreamtrack: THAT'S GREAT !!!
Bravo: Why is that great?
Dreamtrack: Dreams are such gifts to help us to understand ourselves and to resolve our inner issues.
Bravo: It didn't feel great to me.
Dreamtrack: I know and that's okay. It's just that I am so involved with the power and value of dreams, I couldn't help but respond.
Duggan: Are you a psychologist or something?
Dreamtrack: I am a dream worker and have a dream center in San Francisco.
Duggan: Really?
Dreamtrack: Yup This is my first time in a chat room and I appeared right when you mentioned your nightmare. I couldn't resist responding. I hope that's okay. I was the intruder.
Duggan: Ohhh.
Dreamtrack: I was simply amazed at the coincidence.
Dreamtrack: Are you still there Bravo?
Bravo: Yes, I am here.
Dreamtrack: Would you like to tell us the dream?
Bravo: Sure, it made no sense to me. It left me feeling really depressed.
Dreamtrack: Do you feel okay sharing the dream content with us?
Bravo: Sure. In the dream, I was at my father's grave. The grass was dry and brown. It was very barren. In real life the grave is very lush.
Dreamtrack: Did your father die?
Bravo: Yes, he died a couple of years ago. There was a very spooky feeling in the dream, like there was a presence.
Dreamtrack: Can you feel yourself in the dream now?
Bravo: Yes, it is very clear, like I am right there now.
Dreamtrack: In the dream, how old are you?
Bravo: The same age I was when my father died.
Dreamtrack: Okay. And what are you wearing there?
Bravo: The same clothes I had on then, just casual clothes, nothing special.
Dreamtrack: And what are you feeling in the dream?
Bravo: I'm feeling a heavy weight of guilt and shame.
Dreamtrack: Where does that heavy weight live in your body?
Bravo: I feel it in my heart and in my stomach.
Dreamtrack: Good. Go to that place in your body where the heavy weight lives and tell me what you see.
Bravo: I see my father in his bedroom like he was when we found him.
Dreamtrack: And where are you in the picture?
Bravo: Standing in the doorway to his room.
Dreamtrack: What do you see in the picture?
Bravo: What was happening then was that my father had been disabled and bed-ridden for a long time. We all had to support him. We were pretty poor.. He got all of the attention and I was angry with him before he died for not being a real father to me and getting all the attention.
Dreamtrack: I see.
Bravo: Off and on people would bring Dad money in small amounts and give it to him. Just before he died, he called for me. I didn't respond. I was too upset with him at the time. When we discovered his body the bed was covered with the money. He had wanted to give it to me as a gift.
Dreamtrack: Wow. And he wasn't able to give it to you because you didn't respond when he called.
Bravo: That's right. I felt so terrible.
Dreamtrack: What did you do then?
Bravo: We spent the money on his funeral. I have felt so bad ever since that day. I go to his gravesite often.
Dreamtrack: And last night you were there at the gravesite in the dream and it was dry and barren, right?
Bravo: Yes. I feel so bad about what I did to Dad.
Dreamtrack: When you go back to the dream right now, what is the feeling?
Bravo: There is a wind. a presence there. It is spooky.
Dreamtrack: You are there right now. What are you feeling?
Bravo: I feel the wind, it seems to want to communicate with me.
Dreamtrack: What happens when you listen?
Bravo: I see my father.
Dreamtrack: What is the picture?
Bravo: He is there in front of me. I see only his face. He wants to tell me something. I am afraid..
Dreamtrack: What is your response?
Bravo: I feel so ashamed. I can't look at him.
Dreamtrack: What does he want to tell you?
Beachbum: Hey room, what's happening?
Duggan: Shhhh, this is really interesting.
Beachbum: Hey, I was at the beach yesterday and met these really hot girls.
Duggan: Quiet, this is really important what is going on here.
Beachbum: I'm staying. Who wants to talk about the girls?
Instant Message: Dreamtreck to Bravo: Want to continue this in a private room?
Bravo: Would you? This feels really important.
Dreamtrack: Of course. Meet me in room Dreamtrack.
I set up a private room and Bravo shows up.
Instant message from Duggan to Dreamtrack: Man, that was awesome. I understand that you can't stay in the room, but I sure hate missing where this is going.
Instant message to Duggan fromDreamtrack: Thank you. You know Bravo, right?
IM Duggan: Yes, we're friends.
IM Dreamtrack: He can share what he wants with you later. Take care.
IM Duggan: Thanks.
Bravo: Are you still here?
Dreamtrack: Yes. Duggan was feeling left out. Do you want him to join us?
Bravo: No, he'll be all right and I'll fill him in later. Right now, this feels too important.
Dreamtrack: I agree.
Bravo: Where were we?
Dreamtrack: At the grave site. Your Dad appeared to you and wanted to tell you something.
Bravo: Oh yeah. Wow! Do you think that was real? Or was it just a dream?
Dreamtrack: How did it feel to you?
Bravo: It felt and feels as real as life, maybe more real.
Dreamtrack: I think so too. Can you see him now?
Bravo: Yes. I see him in bed as he was before he died.
Dreamtrack: Good. What do you want to do now, in the picture?
Bravo: Take him to all the special places he loved. We lived on the big island in Hawaii, that's where I live now. He loved the island.
Dreamtrack: Good. You are there. What do you need in order to do that?
Bravo: His wheelchair and the family car.
Dreamtrack: Good. What happens now in the picture?
Bravo: I am driving him around the island.
Dreamtrack: You feel that?
Bravo: Yes. It feels really good. He seems so happy. We never did this together in real life.
Dreamtrack: What are you feeling as you do this with your father?
Bravo: I feel so much better, to see him happy.
Dreamtrack: What' happening now?
Bravo: We are back in his room, before he died. He wants to give me the money. I can't do that. I can't take the money. It belongs to him.
Dreamtrack: What is his response to you not receiving his gift?
Bravo: His is very sad. He really wants me to take it. I just can't do that.
Dreamtrack: Where do you feel blocked about receiving his gift?
Bravo: I feel it in my head.
Dreamtrack: Okay, go to that place in your head where you feel that block.
Bravo: Okay.
Dreamtrack: What do you see?
Bravo: I see a block of steel. It is like a cage. I am inside it.
Dreamtrack: How old are you there?
Bravo: Young. I feel trapped.
Dreamtrack: What do you need there?
Bravo: I need my father's love.
Dreamtrack: Okay, What do you want to do in the cage to get your father's love?
Bravo: I don't know. I guess I have to call for him. He seems so distant and far away.
Dreamtrack: What happens when you call for your father to love you?
Bravo: He comes and opens the cage.
Dreamtrack: What's happening now, in the picture?
Bravo: We are hugging. It feels so good.
Dreamtrack: Notice that feeling in your body.
Bravo: Okay. It is very warm. We're both crying.
<long pause>
Dreamtrack: Good. Now bring that feeling back to the room with your father.
Bravo: I feel better, but I still have a hard time taking the money. I don't feel I deserve it.
Dreamtrack: Do you think he can use the money?
Bravo: LOL I guess not. He is dead. He can't use it where he is. But it is already spent anyway.
Dreamtrack: You see your father now?
Bravo: Yes. He is smiling. He wants me to take the money. Boy, this is hard. Okay, Dad. I accept the money.
<long silence>
Dreamtreck: What's happening?
- I'm crying. It is like we are really hugging and I feel his love. Thank you.
Dreamtrack: Thank you.
Bravo: Is this what you do for a living?
Dreamtrack: Yes.
Bravo: Then I must owe you a lot of money. This was a long session.
Dreamtrack: LOL You didn't ask for this work did you.
Bravo: No. But you still did the work. I can't take it for nothing.
Dreamtrack: Guess what?
Bravo: What?
Dreamtrack: What was the lesson in this session?
Bravo: I'm not sure.
Dreamtrack: It was about you learning to receive a gift. Consider this time a gift, a part of the lesson. LOL Beside's, you gave me a gift today.
Bravo: Really! What was that?
Dreamtrack: You gave me the opportunity to do my work in a new medium. I have never been in a chat room before, let alone to lead a dream session in one. You let me know that I could do my work on-line. That is a gift to me. Thanks.
Bravo: Wow. Thank you.
Dreamtrack: My pleasure.
Bravo: Maybe I'll see you again on-line. I feel better than I have for a very long time.
Dreamtrack: I'm glad. Take care.
Bravo: Bye
Dreamtrack: Bye.
Since that first on-line chat session in 1994, I have had the opportunity to share dream-processing on many occasions in the privacy and anonymous realm of cyberspace. On a few occasions, I have developed telephone client relationships for a short time, but mostly, the sessions have been simply a spontaneous gift. In each case, the dream processing emerged naturally out of a chat session where a person was feeling troubled, confused, in pain, or simply curious and adventurous about my approach to inner dream or soul travel. On-line dream work, as any dream work, can -- and in my point of view -- should become as natural as any other avenue for human expression and communication in everyday life. So often we rehash our problems, conflicts, and concerns over and over again, without really going to a level where deep healing and transformation is possible.
Fred Olsen, M.Div.
Fred Olsen Fred Olsen, M.Div., a former NASA engineer, his work over the last 25 years has been in developing Dream Reentry Healing, a system of inquiry for tracking the path of inner imagery. He is the co-founded the Bay Area Dreamworkers Group in San Francisco in 1985 and directed the San Francisco Dream House from 1986-1995. He is known for his process of Dream Reentry Healing which was more recently named Soul Tracking and Cellular Transformation.
http//www.dreamgate.com/dream/reentry/
E-mail Dreamtreck@aol.com
