Ep68: How Have Dreams Shaped Your Life?

Magloire (Rocio) Aguirre MA, PCC  is from Bogota, Colombia. She is an ICF-accredited coach, a certified mindfulness teacher and mentor, and a transformational educator. She is also trained in dreamwork and became the founder of Despierta y Vive tus Sueños (Wake Up and Live Your Dreams). She is an expert in modalities such as Mindfulness, EFT, dreamwork, art therapy and others that complement her coaching practice. She enjoys walking in nature, writing, reading, learning, teaching, traveling, as well as exploring the dreams of day and night.

Magloire's Links
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In other dreamy news...

Catch Amina LIVE on the radio on the Dream Journal podcast with host Katherine Bell from Experiential Dreamwork talking about some of her favorite dream-related topics. You can tune in to the live conversation on Saturday, May 25 at 10 AM Pacific Time (1pm EST). It will be broadcast in the Santa Cruz area at 90.7 FM or can be heard streaming live at KSQD.org

New Book on Amazon: Divine Dreamers
All proceeds from this book sale will be donated to the IASD, an organization dedicated to the research and understanding of dreams and their impact on our lives.

Transcript

Rocio
Hi, Amina. 

Amina
Hello! and welcome to the Dream podcast. I'm excited to learn more about what you do. Before we get into introducing my lovely guest for today, I have some quick updates for my listeners. On May 25th, I will be appearing live on a radio broadcast in the Santa Cruz area.
It's going to be at 90.7 FM. You can also catch it live stream online if you're not in the area at Ksdk. Org. So that's going to be May 25th. The details are going to be in the description. I also just became a published author. So you can find a book that I coauthored with some of my amazing dreamer friends, some of which I've had on the podcast before, such as Joanna and Jaime and Jaime's ten year old daughter, who included a chapter.

These are some amazing dreamers with great stories about their dreams and jobs. So definitely check it out. The proceeds from the book sale will be donated to Iasb, and other than that, please be sure to follow on social media. And if you're listening, leave a five star review. I really, really would appreciate it and it just means so much to me.

00;01;27;13 - 00;01;57;16
Rocio 
 Hi My name is Magloire Aguirre.   Some people call me on here because it's much easier, especially here in Latin American countries. I'm a life coach. I'm a certified mindfulness mentor and teacher. And, I also have certifications in Dreamwork. I started doing more because I had a fascination with REM since I was a child, especially because I remember them well, but I couldn't know what they were telling me.

So when I was a child and when I was a teenager, I found those stories very interesting and I wonder if they have any meaning. I didn't know what they meant at that time. Deep inside, I believe that someday I will be qualified or I could understand them. I had the belief deep inside that someday I could know what they were telling me.

Furthermore, I listened to my mother sharing her dreams with my grandmother, which is a practice that some people do here in my country. It's common that some of us tell our stories, especially when we see someone we know. In the dream, we would usually tell the person, I saw you in the dream. I dreamt this about you last night.

So that's something Normal let's say, but it was only until 20 years ago that I began to pay more attention to my dreams, and I began to write them in a journal. And this happened because for several days, I began to have a series of dreams that made me anxious. One night I dreamt that there was an earthquake, and I was under a building that had collapsed.

Another day I saw how a place was flooding due to heavy rain and so on. So I had these these dreams about naturally sisters one day after the other. And I was really, worried, if something was going to happen. And what I needed at that time was to write them and I was surprised that when I started writing them, this dream disappeared.

So that was very, very powerful for me. So since then, though, it was in 2004, 20 years ago, that I started like my dream journals. Then years later, in 2010, my father passed away. He suddenly died in a in an accident. That was a very, very painful time in my life. But when that happened, I realized that I had dreams announcing his death and when I was looking at my dream journal and I found one dream and then another dream, I mean, that was very, very shocking.

At the same time, it was like, wow, I knew that my father was going to die. But when I had the dreams, I didn't think that was going to happen. I know that makes sense. But the thing is that for a year and a half, I had dreamt that announced his death in different ways. And they were not symbolic dreams. No, they were literal, very nature and they were very clear. That was very important to me, because I understood that there were different ways of having information different from the the way I knew and valued at that time. Yes, the logical, linear, rational part of me. So everything associated with intuition came into being, or I paid attention to that.

And taking advantage of the fact that that that seemed I was studying a master's degree into 2002 when my father passed away. I was studying a master's degree in transpersonal psychology, and there was a course in Dreams in Dream Work. So that was my first professional studies in dream, because I said, well, here is something important, really. And I started doing that.

And then throughout these years, after the master's degree and during this last decade and the last year, I been studying with great experts in the field. I have been doing professional dream work courses with Gilliam Callaway certification lately I have been studying my problems as well and other people. I have been studying yoga with tens of and lucid dream to extravagant.

So basically that's how. That's why I'm here. Paying attention to dreams and teaching people how how to do that. 

Amina
Yeah. That's awesome. That's a really, really incredible story. I'm interested in the premonition dreams of your father, because I know that can be something very tough. But premonition dreams have this ability to, like, kind of mentally prepare us for things. How do you deal with premonition dreams and what are some ways that people can identify them? Maybe if they don't notice that they're happening? Well, I can tell you that the most important dreams, precognitive dreams I have had in my life, where those dreams about my father, it was difficult to know at that time that they were announcing something in the future.

00;06;09;02 - 00;06;35;19
Rocio
Really, when I dreamt that my father had died and I woke up crying. Sometimes I remember that I thought, wow, well, I'm glad that it's just it was just a dream. And when I noticed that I had recurring dreams about my father's passing, I just thought that it was not my father. I had my grandmother, who was very sick at that time, and I thought, oh, that's very weird that I dream about my father's passing.

00;06;35;24 - 00;06;51;08
Unknown
Probably my grandmother was going to die because she's sick, but I didn't pay much more attention. So what? I'm trying to answer your question, I'm saying is that for me, has not been easy to know that something is about the future. Now, what I do is that I do a check in. That's one way to do it. Yeah.

00;06;51;08 - 00;07;08;27
Unknown
So anytime I have a dream, I do a checking if this dream can happen completely out in the future in some way. And I learned that from Robert Moses. I had to give the credit to him. I know that other people do it too, but I learned from him, so that's a good way to start. Yes. To to do that again.

00;07;09;02 - 00;07;26;09
Unknown
Can this play out, for example, if you if you're doing that, there is and is going to be what as an army I don't know. For example. Yeah, that can happen anyway. Some people have. How about that. You and if you are ehm close to the beach or you are going to travel to a place close to the beach, you can ask, oh, can this happen here?

00;07;26;13 - 00;07;45;03
Unknown
It's, it's a possibility, right? Especially if you are in a place where there are red flags, for example, here in Colombia. In the Pacific. Yes. And if not, you can think, okay, this dream about an army can be just a symbol of something, right? But the first thing is to check that can these things that I dreamt about play out in the future.

00;07;45;06 - 00;08;13;12
Unknown
The people like seeing the situation because sometimes also their dreams are rehearsals, right? We are rehearsing something that is going to happen in our day to day lives a conversation with a boss, a conference, a conversation with a partner and they are trying to help us prepare for a better performance and avoid, for example, a conflict, right? If I dream that I am discussing it strongly with my my boss, it is something that can happen in the future, and I know that I have certain situation with my boss.

00;08;13;13 - 00;08;32;16
Unknown
While I can be prepared for that, yes, I can be prepared not not to create a problem, a big problem, but I can be prepared to know how to respond wisely in how to handle the situation better, the conversation better, how to, regulate my emotions so that I don't explode, for example. Like that doesn't make sense. Yeah, definitely.

00;08;32;16 - 00;08;53;02
Unknown
I think that's that's a good explanation. because I notice a lot of people might get anxiety or stress and start freaking out with the possibility that a dream could happen in real life or in waking life. But yeah, I notice that it's not always something that we're meant to prevent or do something about it. Maybe just get mentally prepared or think about the possibilities.

00;08;53;02 - 00;09;21;20
Unknown
And I've had dreams like that too, you know, where people close to me have passed. And I always wake up with that feeling of, oh, I'm glad that was a dream. But yeah, you know, it's kind of hard to accept the possibility that, you know, it could happen. I mean, everybody dies eventually. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And you know that that you mentioned that about those dreams, especially when when we dream that somebody is going to to pass is that I know that they can help us to make peace with those people because, as you say, sometimes there are things that we kind of control.

00;09;21;21 - 00;09;43;21
Unknown
We just know what the dream is telling us that something is going to happen, but maybe it's not in our control to change that, right? The event itself. But if we are having a difficult situation with the person because it's a closed one frame, maybe we can be prepared for that in a way to improve the relationships. And let me tell you something about that.

00;09;43;23 - 00;10;09;20
Unknown
Since my father died suddenly, as I mentioned already, and I didn't believe it was about my father that taught me to do things different with my mom. After his death many years later, I started dreaming about my mother's death and that was really scary because I had the same way my father passed away. So I say, oh my goodness, that that was a different attitude from my side.

00;10;09;20 - 00;10;29;11
Unknown
So but what I did was to see where I could improve my relationship with my mom, where things could change if there were things that we didn't agree. So about how I could get closer to her, how I could be more affectionate or more loving. And so then let's say that maybe we can do. Yeah, even if we kind of change the way we kind of control the situation.

00;10;29;11 - 00;10;46;28
Unknown
But this is what I can do, Definitely. I think that's the best way to approach it. You know, instead of freaking out, because that's really all you can do is just appreciate them more, be there while you can, because you never know. I mean, dreams can be symbolic. I don't think it means every time you dream of somebody dying that that's what it means.

00;10;46;28 - 00;11;07;00
Unknown
Literally. You also mentioned, about how you spoke with your parents, or maybe your mother and your grandma about dreams growing up. I think that's really interesting. What was that like? Like in Colombian culture in general? was it just like a family thing? Is it a spiritual thing? And how did that, like, shape your interest in dreams?

00;11;07;02 - 00;11;31;13
Unknown
Well, I think that, definitely shaped my interested in dreams, because that was very common. Yes. It was not. we are a thing to talk about dreams in my family, I don't know, I cannot speak about all of the family, but I know that many families also, do this, that they share dreams generally, the dreams we share, sometimes they they bring very, a very strong emotional response.

00;11;31;13 - 00;11;53;28
Unknown
And so when we have, like, the strong situations we dream about, when we dream about people who have passed away, then communicate with us or tell us something like, oh, I dream about my grandmother who gave me this advice. Isn't that something that sometimes happened? And and this is this is something that cannot be proved. scientifically, it makes sense in our day to day lives.

00;11;53;29 - 00;12;18;11
Unknown
So sometimes receive advice that it is related to our life. And it makes sense really. So that's that's something that is. Come on. You can tell a person I dream about you and this is what I dream. And it's no, I mean, people are not going to look at you like, what are you talking about? No, no, it's like a okay, but it's not also something that you are going to rely on to go on with your life.

00;12;18;16 - 00;12;47;25
Unknown
So what I mean by that is that it's something that is maybe ingrained in us because of our ancestors, our grandparents, but it's something that needs to be considered really to be considered because dreams are a source of information. I can say more than information is a source of wisdom. Yeah. If we know how to pay attention to them and how not to freak out, as you said, because we see something negative or something that seems to be negative.

00;12;48;01 - 00;13;25;00
Unknown
So if we know how to work with them really, really, they can inform us. They can they can guide our lives. We can get an additional source of information and wisdom that we that can help us in, in difficult times and to make decisions wisely. If we know how to do that. Yeah. That's true. You know, I always think about how I see my dreams is like my internal therapist, and there's so many different, you know, views on different types of dreams, you know, like the daily processing dreams of just your waking life memories and then the spiritual messages and visitation dream.

00;13;25;00 - 00;13;49;27
Unknown
So I've noticed there's so many different ways to look at dreams. So in your personal experience, where do you think dreams come from? I know that's a very vague question, but what are your thoughts? I want you to ask me that question. You know, not to make any scientific claims, but it can be your personal theory. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I'm kidding, but yes, I it's something that is difficult to prove in my belief.

00;13;49;27 - 00;14;12;13
Unknown
I think that they come from our larger consciousness, something that I call our pure consciousness, where the creation of light comes from the creation of reality. That's all I can say. Yeah, there are some theories about that. I know that there are academic theories and but this is this is my belief, right? That's valid. I mean, I like that, I like to think of all the possibilities.

00;14;12;13 - 00;14;31;02
Unknown
I know that it's still a slow process of like, scientific research to really catch up and be able to understand these things. And I love that you have your masters and you studied, did some dream work training and things like that. I think that's great. So how do you think, like for the future of like, dreams and research?

00;14;31;02 - 00;14;50;12
Unknown
Like what would you like to see in terms of being able to understand this more in like an academic setting and get it more widely understood? I would like to see more people involved in it. Really, dream work is something that comes or dreams or a stunning dreams, or trying to understand dreams is something that comes from our ancestors.

00;14;50;16 - 00;15;12;23
Unknown
It's not something new, it's something that comes from them. And we know that our original native people in different countries, they use dreams for guidance, for healing, to do art. There are many people who do art still today. That's what I want to see. Yes, like the recovery of that wisdom, because it's something innate in us. I mean, it's something within us.

00;15;12;27 - 00;15;39;16
Unknown
It's something that belongs to us. It's our right. We don't have to forget our dreams because we think that we are more sophisticated. It doesn't have to do with that. In fact, if we get in touch with those internal resources we have, that makes us sophisticated. It's very valuable. So that's what I want to see. And I and I think I'm seeing it, I see that there are more people, more and more people interested in dreams.

00;15;39;16 - 00;16;05;22
Unknown
I see that new generations of young and younger generations are also very interested in this topics. Yeah. So I think many people are finding the value of that. So I can say that I was very skeptical in my teenage years and in early in my 20s, but with this dream that I had about my father, and I think that that was the purpose of those, that's what I say, that there is something larger that is guiding us, that dreams come from that consciousness.

00;16;05;27 - 00;16;34;18
Unknown
Yeah. So those dreams came to my life to show me that I could believe in my dreams. I could find important information. I could find guidance. And they have given me a lot of information about how I am. Also, they are very valuable to doing their work to see, for example, my I'm my obsession when an emotion is out of control and something, something that I don't want to recognize in in waking a state they show me.

00;16;34;21 - 00;16;56;08
Unknown
And so that's, that's a good thing. They, they show me. They speak to me directly. Yeah. Look at this. Hey, pay attention to this. Yeah. This is not good for you. Well, in short, what I want to say. Yes, yes, I want to see more of that. And I think this is what is happening. Definitely, I think so I believe that, yeah, I agree, I love to see more people get curious about their dreams.

00;16;56;08 - 00;17;12;28
Unknown
And the work that we're doing is great because we're putting out information out there for people to learn and know that they're not alone. And, you know, just normalize dream sharing. So I'm excited for that as well. and there's so many ways to work with your dreams, you know, like you mentioned, like you can analyze your dreams, record them.

00;17;12;28 - 00;17;32;14
Unknown
There's lucid dreaming. There's there's so many different like, fields within the niche of dream work. So I think that's really interesting. What are some of your personal interests within Dream Work and like what is your practice like, you know, dream journaling, how do you work with your dreams? What I do is to write my dreams. That's what I do.

00;17;32;16 - 00;17;57;09
Unknown
That's the first thing, dream journal. I am writing my dreams since 2004. 20 years ago, I started. That is powerful. In fact, I think I can say that am very enriching way to write the dreams. Because you can see patterns when you look at your dreams through a period of time, six months, one year, whatever you want to to track, you can see patterns.

00;17;57;14 - 00;18;21;00
Unknown
You can notice the things, the topics that you dream about. You can see situations that are recurring. So the only way to know that is when you write the dreams. If you don't write them, you will know. Because we forget. I put a title, I write the dream and I write some associations. Sometimes I have associations that things related to the waking state.

00;18;21;02 - 00;18;48;18
Unknown
I usually write what is happening in my life because sometimes there is there is a relation right to that, to the waking state. But it's very, very clear. So I write what is happening in my life, maybe emotionally and not many details, but things, important things really, that I consider important. And I think that I make it simple because there are so many things to do that, I don't want to to feel a burden that to write my dreams is a burden.

00;18;48;20 - 00;19;12;12
Unknown
And then when I have a chance, I look at a dream. I do the check in above the future. There's this play out in the future. I look at if the situations, the places, the people, the character, the dream characters are from my waking state. I mean, if I know them, if they are different places, different places, etc., then I, I check my emotions.

00;19;12;12 - 00;19;35;22
Unknown
I remember my emotions in the dream. I remember my emotions when I read the the dream because sometimes it's different. There is a sense of urgency in the dream, but when I read the dream is not okay, it's neutral. So I check that if there are symbols, some things that I consider symbols, I look at them based on my personal experience because, I don't do I don't check dictionaries.

00;19;35;25 - 00;19;58;22
Unknown
it's the last, the last, the last thing I do. First of all, I look at what these things mean to me. If it is a dog, for example, I say, okay, what does a dog mean to me? Yes. What are the qualities? Why, it's a dream. How do I relate with that? In in waking in state. And the other thing I do is that I try to honor the dream, and I do that by doing something that is related to the dream.

00;19;58;26 - 00;20;20;28
Unknown
For example, if I dream about colored red, and that was very significant in the dream. So I put something red. Yes, maybe the next day. I don't do this with all of my dreams because I know that, we have busy days, but just with those that I feel are drawing my attention that really, really catch my attention.

00;20;21;01 - 00;20;34;22
Unknown
And it's something that I just feel, I know that people can understand that because it's something that you feel it in your body. And all I need to do to look at this, I need to look at this. So that's the way I do it. I love what you said about, you know, you've been writing your dreams down for 20 years.

00;20;34;22 - 00;21;02;11
Unknown
I think that's really incredible. And, you know, you can look back at patterns and things like that. How have you feel like your dreams have evolved over the course of your life? I think the themes have evolved. For example, I used to dream a lot about evaluation tests. Being at the university, studying. Yeah, something was missing. I couldn't present or attempt the test like anxiety with that as I was in kind of the same, the same feelings.

00;21;02;12 - 00;21;25;17
Unknown
But nowadays I can see that they are more related to spiritual aspects of my life. And also my focus is not only the scenes in my dreams, but also the focus that I gave them is different. So what I mean by that is that when I started doing doing more, I was very interested in the day, my day to day life and how did they relate to that?

00;21;25;22 - 00;21;51;14
Unknown
But now they this I'm I'm not interested in analyzing or trying to interpret dreams. I just leave them. I'm not so interested in interpreting my dreams anymore. Just a few of them, just a few of them, but more interested in feeling the energy of the dreams. Because one can get upset with that. Yes, and sometimes it's difficult to understand a dream because there are things that you don't understand.

00;21;51;17 - 00;22;14;05
Unknown
It's so I think it's not necessary. It's my opinion only. It's my opinion, of course, that in my dreams sometimes I don't consider necessary to interpret them and to see, oh, what is this telling me exactly? No, it's more like the energy of the dream. And if there is something that they want to teach me, I know that that will come up in any way because I have them.

00;22;14;05 - 00;22;36;02
Unknown
Yes, they are my dreams. They are product of my mind. Yeah, I agree, I kind of think the same way. I record all my dreams and that's really important to me. And sometimes, you know, I'll think about the symbols and things like that, but I kind of feel like my subconscious kind of knows, you know, what the purpose of the dream is, and I don't need to consciously dive into every single dream.

00;22;36;08 - 00;22;52;23
Unknown
But of course, there are the ones that feel stronger or more powerful. And, you know, I do more work with those. And I love, like you said, taking action to honor the dream. I did that today. Actually. I had a dream about my family member who was in another country. So I texted them and, you know, things like that.

00;22;52;23 - 00;23;17;06
Unknown
So even little things, it just makes me feel like, you know, the dream has been validated and continued on. So I think that's cool. Hey. Exactly. Yeah. So I wanted to see if you wanted to share, like a dream that either shaped your life or maybe a favorite dream of yours. Oh yes. They have something to share. This shape the my life in this change a lot of things about the way I was living my life.

00;23;17;08 - 00;23;43;21
Unknown
It was also in 2010 when my father passed away, that I had a series of dreams in which the place changed, but the message was the same. And here's the message. I was with friends and family members and we arrived to a beautiful place near the beach, and I remember that it was a beautiful sea, splendid sun, a clear sky swimming pool with many people there.

00;23;43;21 - 00;24;11;22
Unknown
It was like a recreational place and people were having fun. And while everyone unloaded their suitcases and went out to have fun and enjoy the place, I stayed unpacked in my suitcase. I stayed in my my room because there was a hotel and I would stay there unpacking my suitcase, leaving everything very well organized. The time went by and when I realized it was dark so I didn't have the chance to enjoy the sea or the swimming pools.

00;24;11;24 - 00;24;31;27
Unknown
And I felt sad. I usually felt sad, at the end of the dream. Yes. When I was having the dream for Hemingway's a day in that one wonderful place. But at the same time, I remember that in the dream I had this hope that there was another day. The next day I couldn't and I could enjoy the place.

00;24;32;03 - 00;24;55;15
Unknown
And that was the dream. One of the time that I was organizing things that I couldn't enjoy. So there were other things, other things that were happening in my life at that time that helped me understand these things. the main message was basically that I was stopping, enjoying moments that gave me joy and peace because I had an obsession with being diligent and perfectionist.

00;24;55;17 - 00;25;21;28
Unknown
So I was trying that everything was perfectly organized before having fun that was affecting me emotionally and even physically because I was all of the time, enclosed spaces inside and inside places without having the chance to to feel the the wind, to feel the, the sun that day, the warmth of the sun and so on. So they had many dreams about that.

00;25;22;00 - 00;25;55;15
Unknown
They were very important because they helped me recognize, accept and understand an obsessive pattern. I had that was harming me emotionally and physically. Yeah. That's incredible. So then after these dreams, you were able to, you know, I just being that way and you had some positive results. Yes. Absolutely. Yes, I missed that. Yes. I could take some actions, when that happens in my lab because I'm not saying that, I completely change everything, but when I see the same pattern, well, I easily see it.

00;25;55;20 - 00;26;13;00
Unknown
And I make changes in my life immediately. That's really good. Yeah, that's. That's awesome. I love that your dreams are able to help you through that. and, yeah, you know, I see that it's a lifelong journey. You know, we're always growing and things like that that never ends. So our dreams are always going to be able to support us in that.

00;26;13;03 - 00;26;32;22
Unknown
Right. Your dreams. If you're interested in doing what, do it. Start simple. You can do it using, a pen, a notebook, or you can do it digitally using your laptop or your mobile. But write your dreams. Write them as soon as you wake up because you are going to forget them. don't obsess to try to remember them all.

00;26;32;22 - 00;26;52;23
Unknown
Sometimes we don't remember the dream. That's fine. That's okay. We don't have to feel guilty about that. But when you have a dream, just even if it is a piece of dream that you remembered, right? It if even if it is a just a sensation, a word, a color, yes, whatever it is, write it down. Put a title and write the date.

00;26;52;29 - 00;27;14;04
Unknown
Write the emotions, the feelings that you had in the dream. When you are writing the dream. What? How you feel. Basically, that's what I advise people to do. The other thing is that a study about that. Yes. If you have the chance, maybe take some courses, learn different, methods, techniques to, to understand them if you are interested in that.

00;27;14;04 - 00;27;37;10
Unknown
I mean, my advice is to have different perspectives. It's good to have different perspectives because you can combine them and you have an open way to see things. Yes, that's that's something that has, worked well for me to have different perspectives. All are valid. You are going to find in them and on the path that there are people who say, oh, this is the best way.

00;27;37;16 - 00;27;59;10
Unknown
I don't think that is the best way I can. There are different ways and all of them are are good. Share your dreams. I mean, if you have children, siblings or a partner, share your dream with them. When we share dreams, we are going to notice that sometimes we dream collectively. We dream similar things, especially when we are with closed ones.

00;27;59;13 - 00;28;22;10
Unknown
We we can notice that that we have similar dreams to other people who who are close to us and and also share them. Because the more you you learn and pay attention to your dreams, the more you are going to remember them. You are going to notice what the symbols of your dreams are about. You are going to to learn that by yourself.

00;28;22;13 - 00;28;42;10
Unknown
Yeah, that's great advice. That's a great place to start. So I think that's really valuable information and it seems so simple. But you know, that's really the best way to get into your dreams I love that. So where can people find you. What do you have to share? I know you do like counseling and dream work and things like that.

00;28;42;12 - 00;29;10;23
Unknown
Yes, yes, I, I am a life coach and I use remote. I always use dreamwork. I tell people right dreams. And it's interesting because when I say write your dreams, people get interested about that. They say, okay, you can find me on social media at my gallery again, right? Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and my website