DREAMING WITH MICHAEL OLSEN

Dream expert discusses the true meaning of our dreams

Many of you are having dreams during these difficult times and are trying to find answers as to why you are having them. Sometimes you goto dream interpretation sites that will analyze your dreams much further. Unfortunately, we are not satisfied most of the time with those interpretations which lead us to a confused state in our waking life. So where do we look for the right answers?

If you haven’t already come across dream expert Michael R. Olsen, then now is the time to ask for those answers to those dreams. Michael R. Olsen who has been studying and researching dreams over the past two decades has led many in taking those dreams in the right direction in their waking life. He discovers the unconscious intelligence within us where he unlocks the reasons why people dream about the things that they do. FERNTV spoke with Michael R Olsen about why there is more to our dreams than we realize.

FERNTV: Was there a dream that you had that inspired you to become the dream interpreter that you are today?  Or was it a series of dreams?

Michael: Both, actually. The whole idea – vision really – of making humans across the world pay attention to their nightly dreams, first of all, came at the early beginning of what ended up being many years of therapy (psychoanalysis – a form of therapy where dreamwork is a fully integrated part of the therapy). When I began psychoanalysis back then, in 2001, I thought I wasn’t dreaming (that is, I couldn’t recall my dreams, and I wasn’t aware that we all dream ~2 hours every night). But that quickly changed as I was very desperate, and quickly discovered how to open up that channel of invaluable information about myself. And I was blown away. First of all, by discovering this whole new world inside myself – a world that had always been there. Secondly – and the major revelation – discovering how precise my dreams were in describing what really prevented me from living the life I wanted to live. For me having a fulfilling and intimate love life, and a career where I deep down feel that I do what I am here to do which was not the case back in 2001. What really prevented me from having this life had more to do with me than with other people. A painful realization at first, but what an enormous gift to receive!

A dream that really gave me the courage to decline a, from the outset, wonderful career opportunity was the one I am about to describe. I had the dream the night after having accepted a posting in the US – an attractive position; the “full ex-pat package” with everything paid for, on top of a good salary. I did have doubts as to whether this was the right next move for me, doubts as to whether a career in pharmaceutical sales and marketing in fact was the right thing for me. But I didn’t know what else to do other than to accept the offer.

It was after all my “first career”, the place I started working after having finished my Master of Science in International Business at Copenhagen Business School. Working in a leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry was my identity at the time. I even recall a dream I had in the middle of that career; a dream where I had the company Logo – Lilly – tattooed on my arm – just to stress how fully identified I was with that job/career. So by accepting the posting in Indianapolis I also figured; I could always return to Denmark if it turned out not to be the right thing for me. And now for the dream.

Again – I had this dream the night after having accepted the job in the US.

“I see a woman kneeling down next to a grave.  A very narrow and long grave, maybe 30 feet long.  The woman is deeply moved and very sad.  Not crying, but in deep sorrow.  As she sits there she is burying several small babies.  Dead cold babies.”

I see a woman kneeling down next to a grave. A very narrow and long grave, maybe 30 feet long. The woman is deeply moved and very sad. Not crying, but in deep sorrow. As she sits there she is burying several small babies. Dead, cold babies.

I woke up, deeply moved. Having worked with my dreams for a number of years at the time (this was in 2006), I immediately understood its meaning. Now for those not embracing the fact that this is how dreams communicate – using odd, sometimes wild and dramatic imagery – this dream might appear as being really weird. And it might even stress the thinking of many; “dreams are just a lot of mumbo jumbo”. The best person to interpret a dream is as such the person that had it –  this since the dream is made by the dreamer’s own unconscious. But you do need to tune in on – and learn – the language of dreams, in order to then understand your dreams. With a dream like this you could ask; What are babies to you Michael? …babies to me are little creatures that can grow up and become almost anything! 

The dream told me in clear imagery that by accepting the job opportunity in the US, I was burying a whole array of other development opportunities, other talents/strengths that I was carrying around inside. It told me that yes, I might make more money, and drive an even bigger car – but I wouldn’t truly develop myself.

The dream gave me the courage to go in a totally different direction career-wise – first by working six years as a trainer in leadership & project management. – i.e. using my teaching skills. A skill that I use very much in my current role – among other things as a speaker at corporate events.

FERNTV: For those who are not in the know, can you briefly describe what unconscious intelligence means?

Unconscious intelligence is an expression of all the types of intelligence we all have that are not so literal/obvious. Dreams are in that regard in many ways “intuition in your face” – an expression of intuition in clear images. Our unconscious intelligence “knows everything about us” – our true strengths, our potential, our limitations and it also knows why we currently aren’t living the life that we long for often because we have unconscious thought patterns/behavioural patterns hindering us in doing so also known as shadow sides. This unconscious intelligence again is clearly expressed in our dreams.

And I have to admit – by starting to use the word “unconscious intelligence” (instead of dreams) – a door opened in terms of suddenly being invited to speak at a lot of corporate events.

FERNTV: Many people during this pandemic are having vivid, apocalyptic, dystopian types of dreams.  Can you explain why a lot of us today are having these types of dreams?

Michael: An interesting phenomenon indeed! Almost the first time in history where we know with certainty, that people across the globe are having the same dreams / the same dream themes (as examined and described by Harvard-researcher Deirdre Barrett, based on an international online survey). I.e. dreams of an invisible enemy that threatens to kill us and our family. Dreams in which we are attacked by huge swarms of bees/other insects (the virus!). Dreams in which we are either extremely lonely – or crammed into small places with a ton of other people not feeling we can breathe.

Our dreams often illustrate in clear language what’s going on deep inside us. How we are truly feeling about/reacting to what is happening around us – often not what we tell ourselves when we are awake. I.e. – many of us have felt extremely uncertain and threatened by Corona (am I going to die? Is my family going to die? All of it expressed in our dreams. On that note – about 2/3 of our dreams contain negative imagery/emotions – illustrating how big a theme FEAR is for how we go about living our lives. The only thing being; we are deeply unconscious about it. Deeply unconscious about how often FEAR is what leads us to do what we do, feel what we feel, and think what we think.

FERNTV: From your perspective are nightmares actually dreams or are they two separate things?

Michael: A question I often get 🙂 Nightmares are dreams – dreams with overly negative/frightening content. Nightmares truly are dreams that begs to be taken seriously, as they are often about things that unconsciously prevent us from being as happy and joyful as we could otherwise be.

FERNTV: You have recently written a book called “How to Understand Your Dreams”. Can you maybe point out one thing that your readers learned about themselves after reading your book?

Michael: I think the biggest learning people have had – based on the feedback I have received – is the major discovery of how the answer to some of life’s bigger or smaller questions – Who am I? What am I to do in my life? – but also; how do I solve this relationship/work issue – or what am I to decide about this one important thing in my life? – really IS to be found inside of us, not outside. Many of us search for answers outside ourselves by e.g.consciously/unconsciously comparing ourselves to others, seeing a coach or therapist, or simply asking others what they think we should do with regards to this or that. Nothing wrong with seeing a coach/therapist – I have done that myself for many years, and it has been extremely valuable for me. But other people can ask the right questions, they can guide us – but in essence, we are the best to determine what is the right thing for us to do. This however takes for us to not be clouded (unconscious) in our thinking / our behaviour – and dreams are extremely good at telling us the honest truth – coming from a deep place within ourselves.

FERNTV: What is the most common question that comes up after you have done your lectures or talks?

Michael: No doubt: “I have dreamt XYZ – what could that mean?” – which we then typically have a chat about “offline”, or after I have answered the question in more general terms as it quickly gets very personal when we talk about our dreams. But other than that I think the question most often asked is “I have these really weird dreams – there must be something wrong with me? – or “I dream these really weird things – it could hardly mean anything – could it? Answer; most dreams – especially REM-sleep-dreams – are “weird” (we also dream in non-REM-sleep, these are however typically more “normal” dreams). The “weird” metaphoric language of dreams simply is the language of dreams – and most people discover once they start working with their dreams how immensely precise dreams are at describing something of very high relevance to us – which we are mostly unconscious about at the time of the dream. And yes – all dreams mean something, but some dreams are more important than others.

FERNTV: It should be a no-brainer but the better your sleep hygiene is, the better dreams you will have.  Do you find this true?

Michael: Hmm, partly true. Enough sleep and some dreams will help you feel better when waking up in the morning. Actually mood regulation is one of 7 major reasons why we dream. But if you carry around unresolved issues, e.g. not being aware of just how much that bullying experience back in primary school has affected you – enough sleep is not going to do it. You need to do the inner work – while being conscious. Your dreams will – on their own – try to solve those issues, but it is often not enough. The collaboration between dreams and conscious thought is an extremely powerful tool – to me one of the best ones out there.

FERNTV: Discuss what takes place in your webinars?

Michael: I do many corporate talks currently due to the pandemic, mostly webinars, where the focus in the first half of the talk typically is on all the creative solutions, ideas etc. that are simply LOST at most workplaces because most of us are not able to recall our dreams. Did you know that the underlying technical solution of Google came from a dream that founder Larry Page had? And did you know that the brand name Nike came from a dream that Jeff Johnson –  the first employee of the company then named “Dimension Six” had? That “Yesterday” was composed in a nightly dream of Paul McCartney? All of them dreams, that Larrý, Jeff and Paul were able to recall. Most ideas however never make it to consciousness since most of us cannot recall our dreams! Which is easy to learn, and more than just writing them down – because there needs to be something to write down.

The other half of the talk typically covers the personal benefits of understanding our dreams / utilizing this part of our unconscious intelligence – namely vastly increased personal insight, heightened self-esteem, and better relations with others (colleagues, friends, partners) – which by the way is something found in dream research. For more info on my talks/webinars, see this site: Use your unconscious intelligence – and be the superhuman you are. My talks can always be tailored to the event that I talk at. Currently (COVID-19-context) I mostly speak under the title: “Use your unconscious intelligence to navigate – and stand strong – in an ever-changing world”.
My self-study online course (Unlock your DREAMlife – Learn how to recall and understand your dreams) gives you the best foundation for much better recalling and understanding your dreams. It is structured around “The DREAMlife Method” – my own research-based, and easily understood model for modern (2021) dream work. The model really is for me the best way to approach dreams today, and it is developed based on nearly 20 years of studying dreams, dream research, older and newer books on dreams – and not the least, interpreting several thousand dreams.

Find additional information here:
Michael’s website: Michaelrolsen.com/Michael’s corporate talks on utilizing dreams/unconscious intelligence: Michaelrolsen.com/booking/Michaels self-study online dream interpretation course: Unlock your DREAMlife