Book Review By NY Times Bestseller, Julia Ingram

My book, Always Dreaming was recently reviewed by Julia Ingram, the New York Times bestselling author of The Messengers which made quite a national and international impression a few years back. Here's what Julia has to say:

"Always Dreaming is a unique addition to the fascinating process of dream interpretation. The author, a dream analyst, says— based upon what he has learned from helping hundreds of people understand the messages from their dreams— that the experiences we have while awake "are also dreams." Rivinus weaves selected case studies across chapters so the reader gets to know how the interpretation techniques he teaches work with different types of dreams and different kinds of dreamers. He also speaks to the folly of ignoring compelling dreams.

"Taking the long view, Rivinus reports the mention of dream interpretation throughout history and cross culturally. He reminds us, for instance, of Caesar's wife's nightmare foreshadowing his murder on the Ides of March, the part dreams played in the Old Testament, and the belief among indigenous peoples that "we are all actually dreaming twenty-four hours a day."

"Rivinus considers dreams mystical and spiritual, but also practical, because all dreams contain valid messages. And here's how his book is vastly different from most books about dream interpretation. I want to introduce this part of my review by first noting that as I read several online reviews of Always Dreaming, it was clear that even though I believe the author very clearly explains the concept of the waking dream, a lot of readers did not grasp the concept, and misunderstood him to be talking about day dreams. 

"He uses the term "Waking Dream" to describe certain events in our lives that are particularly "shocking, bizarre or repetitive." He encourages his friends and clients to interpret "real life" events just as one would interpret a nighttime dream. Chapter 1, introduces Austin, who had been running errands, and when he returned to his car, started the engine and put it into gear, his car, "seemingly of its own volition, lurched forward at such a speed that, before he could gather his wits…had careened the length of a parking lot, crashed through a three-foot retaining wall, bolted across a sidewalk and… into the middle of a street."  It turned out it was caused by his cruise control malfunctioning. The author helped Austin to look at each of the metaphors of this incident and together they interpreted it to be a message from his own subconscious about his work situation. Rivinus says that waking dreams often highlight a personal conflict AND suggest a solution.  In Austin's case he listened to the message and took charge of his work life by changing jobs.

"The author lays out an easy-to-use five step process of dream interpretation anyone can use although he recommends doing it with a friend or counselor who serves as witness, sounding board and to provide additional perspective."  --Julia Ingram--