Professor Bargdill argues that every time we dream, our soul gets schooled! He says dreams prepare us for the future and reflect back to us our past, giving us a chance to make different choices in the future. We talk about what he calls dream inversions in which dreams turn the tables on us and let us know what others feel about how we behave with them. Also he argues that positive dreams are not wish fulfillment but are encouragements for us to keep going. He describes what he calls nightmirths, which are pleasant dreams that we wake up from smiling.

After the break, we take a call from Kai from Miami who shares a dream about seeing her name on a tombstone that helped her understand that she had made the right choice about attending graduate school. We then talk about death dreams and sex dreams, and Richard ends by suggesting that dreams are helping us prepare big changes in the human race.

BIO: Richard Bargdill is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Bargdill is the author of six books, including the newly published: A Dreamer’s Thought Book: Intriguing Ideas about the Dreaming Process. His professional publications cover topics such as boredom, depression, meaning making and dreaming. 

His book is available here: UniversityProfessorsPress.com/product/a-dreamers-thought-book/, and at most bookstores.

Find our guest at: DreamMetaphors.com, FB: @RichardBargdill, TT: @dreamdude, IG: @dreamdudePhD

This show, episode number 271, was recorded during a live broadcast on August 10, 2024 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.

Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick Kleffel for also engineering the show and to Tony Russomano for the phones.

SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question by emailing Katherine Bell at [email protected]. Follow on FB and IG @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.

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The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at [email protected]. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms released the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.

Note that closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts.

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