Acting Your Dreams: Using Acting Techniques to Interpret Your Dreams by Ben Tousey Page A

You’ll find that you are suddenly more aware of what was
intended. But be aware that whenever we paraphrase we have a tendency to put
our own verbiage and our own ‘stuff” over the top of it. Once you’ve
paraphrased the sentence, go back and repeat it exactly as it was written. This
will help keep you true to the Dreamwright. After all, we’re not trying to take
liberties, we’re simply trying to understand the Dreamwright.
     
    Context
    This is a very
important word and should always be kept in mind whenever we work with our
dreams… or with anything else for that matter. Context, simply speaking, is the
stuff that surrounds a given word or phrase that will add more information to
what is being said. For example, look at the phrase “If your right hand offends
you, cut it off.” If we take this phrase out of context we can do some serious damage
to ourselves and others. And I’ve heard of people who have done just that.
     
    As we study our
dreams, we must take what is being said in context. I have a friend who calls
his wife Toots. To some ladies this is an insult. But in the context of their
relationship, Toots is one of those special things that she loves to hear
because it reflects his personality and his love for fun and silliness. She
loves to be called Toots by him. But out of context, this phrase would be an
insult. Me, or any of our other friends would never dream of calling her that.
     
    Some of us have
made statements and had those words taken totally out of context. This happens
to celebrities and politicians all the time, and is a good example of why
context is so important.
     
    So we need to
ask ourselves: “should what is being said be taken literally or figuratively?”
In the case of dreams, both could probably be true. That takes us back to the discussion
on paradox. Before we make any decisions, we must look at the dream in context.
Why did you choose a tutu for your elephant? In the context of your dream,
perhaps you’re a dancer who’s been struggling with diet issues. By using this
imagery, your Dreamwright could be poking fun at your issue in such a way as to
tell you to “have fun with your new choices.” Only the context of the other
events in the dream will tell you for sure.
     
    In the context
of the dream example, a black dump truck would mean very little, but since the
dream involved imagery from the movie Goldeneye, then the dump truck
represented another near-miss for James Bond as he had to try to escape this
deathtrap. Again, the context is important here as it could represent something
that to me would be a ‘deathtrap…’ figuratively speaking.
     
    Mission #10
    1.       Pick out certain
words and phrases that have a strong emotional impact in your dream and write
them down.
    2.       Write down the
denotative meaning of the word or phrase.
    3.       Write down any
connotative images that come up when you read the word or phrase.
    a.        I had a lot
of fun with the phrase “Is Jacob Well”. First of all it was a pun as there is a
place in Israel called “Jacob’s Well”. Secondly, in the context of the dream it’s
a secret code. Thirdly, the word well can have several meanings, and by looking
at it both connotative and denotative I learned a lot. Fourth, my name is
Benjamin. Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob. He was also Joseph’s favorite
brother. Joseph, if you remember was the dreamer. He dreamed big dreams about a
destiny that he would one day fulfill.
    4.       Take any dialog from
the other characters in your dream and paraphrase them.
    5.       Once you have done that, reread the
dialog exactly as it is written.
    6.       Take note of any
thoughts and insights that you experience.
    7.       Draw pictures of
images that may pop into your head as a result of some of the words.

Emotion
     
    As I stated
earlier, words create emotion. If I tell you to shut up, that’s probably going
to make you angry. If I