Card #15 – ”Listen to Your Dreams” from the Creative Whack Pack
Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

At face value, dreams can appear weird or meaningless. But if you use them as stimulants to your imagination, and try various ways of interpreting them, you may discover something that will lead your thinking in a new direction.
For example, chemist August Kekulé once dreamed of six circling snakes. This vision inspired his concept of the six-carbon benzene ring. Similarly, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev’s periodic table of elements was dream-inspired.
The plot for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to Robert Louis Stevenson in a dream, as did the melody for “Yesterday” to Beatle Paul McCartney. Spanish artist Francisco Goya used his nightmares as the basis for many of his later works.
Muhammad heard his prophetic call to found Islam in a dream. In one of the world’s most famous dreams, the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad and guided him to Jerusalem on a silver mare and then to heaven, where he received instructions from God.
Greek philosopher Heraclitus remarked on the power of dreams: “While we’re awake, we share one universe, but in sleep we each turn away to a world of our own.”
Use your dreams to resolve conflicts, refresh thinking, inspire solutions, and suggest new approaches.
— What recent dreams can you consult?
— What is “dreamlike” in your current situation?
— Have you ever had a waking experience that felt like a dream from a few days earlier?
— Suppose you had one or more of the following dreams. How would you relate them to your issue?
• You are given three special boxes by a close friend which you take with you in a hurry but do not open.
• You are at a buffet dinner and all you have on your plate is a pile of peas that you don’t want.
• You are on the top floor of a hotel and there is an earthquake and you fall to the ground and survive.
• Your car is not where you left it, so you walk down another street and feel someone following you in the dark.
• You kill someone. After you have gotten rid of the body, you wonder if anyone can tell what you have done.
• Your mother dies and you and your father are picking out flowers for the memorial service.
• You are going down a snow covered mountain in a row boat and your priest is ahead of you in a kayak.
• You are riding up a ski lift and a woman jumps off as part of a training exercise and a boy falls off accidentally.
• You are late for class and you can’t find your classroom and all you have on is a shirt and sexy underwear.
• You are a child playing on a jungle gym and throwing frisbees across a green field with lots of other children.
• You are with children in a pool near a beach and a tidal wave comes over you. “Just hold your breath,” you say to them.
• You are back in high school because you need to get a teaching credential.
• You are driving a car and you hit some mud and the car turns over and a cat flies out the window into an abyss.
• You are driving down a mountain road that turns into a river and you run over a woman in a canoe.
• You go to a meeting to present your ideas and everyone stands around talking and you can’t get them to listen.
• You are driving and you miss a turn and the road goes up and up and you realize you are on a rollercoaster.
• You fall into a big river and you’re all alone and a life preserver floats by. You put it on and swim to shore.
• You are walking on the beach at midnight and a shell whispering the meaning of life washes up next you.
• You and God each have a side of a wishbone and the winner of the “pull” gets his wish.
• You descend into a deep, dark well and at the bottom is a chessboard and an egg.
• You are on a massive bridge between two continents and it starts shaking violently.
• You are part of a frenzied dance under the full moon with 5,000 people.
• You are on an airplane filled with criminals.
• You climb up a long flight of stairs and at the top there is a pack of jackals with blood dripping from their fangs.
• You are set on fire, and from your ashes arise a dog, a bee, and a giraffe.
• You can look into people’s eyes and tell how long they will live.
• You are sleeping in a bed with 200 snakes who are vomiting emeralds and sapphires.
• If you stay anywhere more than ten minutes you have to put money into a “parking” meter.
• You are a world-famous concert pianist, and you cut a loud fart on stage and the audience gives you a standing ovation.
• Everyone you encounter has only one arm, one ear and one eye.
• You are able to communicate telepathically with animals.
• You are part of a festival in which men wear brassieres and women wear jockstraps.
• You never got past the seventh grade.
• You have sexual conquests over whomever you desire.
• You are eight years old again.
• You live on earth by day but at night you live on one of Saturn’s moons.
• You are playing Russian roulette with your five best friends.
• Your associates put you on trial for being boring, and you are awaiting the verdict.
• You purchase a new camera and you discover the photos it takes come out fuzzy.