No self-development author is ever going to tell you to “be your own self-development coach.” That will upset their business model that usually consists of selling you books and seminars.
Further, it’s assumed by many that you can’t do this.
The consequence of this belief pretty much means you’ll be a slave to others’ thoughts about how you should and shouldn’t live your life.
The Dream Recovery System, on the other hand, will tell you to be your own coach—or at least have yourself on your coaching team. Everyone should learn from their own life experiences because everyone’s situation is different and it sucks to keep making the same mistakes.
What you need is a process for doing this.
The authors and coaches can help…sometimes
It’s not to say that none of these self-development authors and coaches have anything valid or useful to say. They do. It can be worthwhile weighing out the points they make and figuring out if it’s something you should or shouldn’t do. At the same time, nobody else has your loved ones, your specific career at your specific place of employment, or whatever. Everyone’s circumstances are different.
If you take a few minutes every day to process your dreams, you can get personalized instruction from yourself.
Your situation is unique to you. While it’s okay to read self-development authors, understanding how to mentally process your experiences should be your priority.
Reinforced in dreams
Life lessons are reinforced in dreams. Everyone has these dreams, of course, but it’s only the people who take the time to understand the dreams and grapple with their content who really absorb these lessons well. This matters because that’s how you make progress.
Mastering the life lessons that are reviewed for you by your subconscious will help you in these and other areas:
- Stay or get out of some kind of trouble.
- Help you tackle issues while having the correct priorities.
- Assist you in making decisions fluidly.
- Understand your feelings about a certain issue.
You can do both
It’s best to use both sources for wisdom. Others have tread in similar, though not necessarily identical, circumstances. They’ve conjured theories. They’ve seen the good and bad of where you can end up.
That being said, if you record and take a few minutes every day to understand your dreams, you can get a good idea of where your growth is over the last month. You can take a few of these “theories” and see how they apply.
One that keeps cropping up, in general, is Erik Erikson’s Stages of Development. In reality, a theory can come from any field and or be based in something as simple as someone opining about something on X.
Be brave! You have the tools for your personal success right at hand within you. All you need to do is tune in!
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James Cobb, RN, MSN, is an emergency department nurse and the founder of the Dream Recovery System. His goal is to provide his readers with simple, actionable ways to improve their health and maximize their quality of life.
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