I love the comforting feel of sheepskin rugs under my toes. I bought the first one for my bedroom decades ago, and I still love them beside the bed. Summer or winter, they make me feel pampered. They create an atmosphere of casual luxury that says home and comfort like nothing else.

I even like having soft sheepskin beds for my cats. After all, if they are comfortable, they are more likely to sleep in their own bed and leave mine for me. And they do seem to like them, too.

In the icy depths of winter, sheepskin seat covers are a wonderful comfort in the car, of course. And other sheepskin products like jackets, vests and sheepskin-lined boots can be life-savers for outdoor wear.

But sheepskin rugs, slippers, and other bedroom accessories make for a comforting, nurturing atmosphere that helps me sleep better—and dream better, too, I think.

I also have a favorite reading lamp that casts a warm, pink glow throughout the room. I find that reading something pleasant before falling asleep is another way to encourage good dreams.

And you? What furnishings or accessories or bedtime practices such as yoga or soft music in your bedroom do you use to help you dream softer, gentler dreams? Leave a comment and share, to give others inspiration.

No product we use, from facial tissues to computers, is made without chemicals. Chemicals are big business.

As pervasive as chemicals are in business, as in life, one would expect that banks, financial investors, and companies that use large quantities of chemicals would be experts in buying and selling them and in dealing with chemical companies. But one would be wrong to assume that.

Chemicals and the rules and regulations that govern buying and selling them are so complex these days that no one can know them all. The chemical business comprises a number of specialty areas, and different branches of the chemical industry have different rules, regulations and business practices.

If your company is considering dealing in or purchasing large amounts of chemicals, or unusual specialty chemicals, you need consultants that specialize in and truly understand the chemicals involved and the disciplines needed to vet the deal. Even the financing has special requirements and ideally requires specialists in chemical investment banking. You need the help and advice of bankers who specialize in chemicals.

If your company is considering buying or selling a chemical-related business or merging with a chemical company, then the need for a chemical m&a advisory is especially urgent. You need advice from a professional consultancy that specializes in chemical mergers and acquisitions.

Before making a move in chemical m&a, make sure you obtain a full chemical m&a advisory. And to make sure your merger or acquisition go smoothly, consult with the chemical m&a dream team, the Valence Group.

Oddly enough the art that probably is best able to capture dreams is the art of directing films. Some of the best movies either portray dreams or have a vivid, dreamlike atmosphere. When the movie is over, you feel as though you are awakening from someone else’s dream.

Until recent years the only way to get the full effect was to go out to a movie theatre, but nowadays people tend to yak, talk on the phone and kick the back of your seat to the point that going to the movies lost most of its charm for me years ago. And some of the most interesting movies are not popular enough to come to every town. Or if they do, they are gone again before you have a chance to get to the theatre.

Then came the miracle of affordable big-screen home TV sets with incredible sound systems and direct tv. The many channels on directtv offer so many movies that I would never otherwise know about. And you can record them on DVR and save them to watch whenever you want to share someone else’s dream.

Pretty amazing when you think of it. I am so grateful to the artists, especially the directors, who can turn their dreamlike visions into art that all of us have access to these days through technology like dx3. It truly is like having a window into someone else’s dreams, don’t you think?

A friend or group can facilitate that dreamwork by asking leading questions and sharing insights, respectfully and without trying to insist that their observation or suggestion is “the right one.” Even an untrained friend can offer insights as to what an image might mean to *you,* based on their knowledge of you—or simply by asking leading questions to help you focus.

But there are times when extremely troubling dreams are not easily interpreted by amateurs. Such dreams may indicate deep emotional traumas or other issues that require a jungian therapist to fully resolve them.

Dreamwork is a major therapeutic tool in jungian analysis. All jungian therapists are trained in it. They are usually the best psychotherapists for helping you work with your dreams and with other therapeutic imagery.

You may need the help of a professional dream specialist, a Jungian-trained psycho therapist, for therapeutic dream interpretation to resolve your issues. You may need, for example, a therapist like Douglas Tompkins, M.Div., L.P., NCPsyA, who practices in mid-town Manhattan (New York City). Tompkins is thoroughly trained and experienced  in the methods of Dr. Karl Jung and helps clients make the most of the healing effects and insights from their dreams.

However, even if you live far outside the New York area, you should still be able find a jungian therapist in your region. Most large cities have a number of qualified jungian therapists in practice, and there are jungian therapists in many smaller cities as well. So you should be able to find one.

You may get a referral from friends, from a physician, or from another therapist. Whatever you do, it is well worth making the effort to get the help you need to resolve the deeper issues underlying those puzzling and troubling dreams.

Regular, moderate exercise can help relax your body and allow you to sweat out the stress chemicals that your body produces because of anxiety. The result can be a much better night’s sleep and more pleasant dreams.

Everyone knows about the benefits of exercise for your body. Exercise builds strength and replaces fat with muscle. It improves balance, agility and endurance. Stretching while exercising improves flexibility. As a result, you are less likely to injure yourself in daily life, and being pleasantly tired and relaxed helps you sleep better.

When you are more relaxed, you are also more open to dream insights. You are less likely to miss important messages from your subconscious mind, which communicates a wealth of otherwise subliminal information through dream imagery.

Also, if you spend plenty of time in bed to get the amount of sleep you should need, and you still wake up tired, then getting regular, moderate exercise may allow you to sleep soundly, so that you have no need to sleep so much. With the time you save, you can wake up a little earlier and jot down some notes on your dreams in your dream journal to study later. That alone will improve your dreams, because the subconscious responds to attention.

The act of writing in a dream journal informs your subconscious that you are paying attention to your dreams. That means you will remember more dreams. And by writing your dreams down and rereading them later, you will learn more from them.

Of course, if you dream of feeling healthier, having more energy, and looking better, exercise can help you with that, too. Regular, moderate exercise works. And that can help make some of your dreams come true.

There are many options for exercising. For maximum physical benefit, though, a well-rounded workout, as described by 90 Day Review, is recommended.

This is a guest post provided by Fitness Alliance. 

Nowadays technology, though a major aid to productivity, can also be a major source of stress. We have come to depend on technology, so we tend to get very upset if it fails—or it shows signs of malfunctioning.

A generation ago, we depended mainly just on telephones and automobiles in daily life. Some people also relied on typewriters and other machines, but most people used telephones, and so there were anxiety dreams about them. Terms such as “on hold” and “phony” were so common that many did not even notice that they had become popular because of the pervasive use of telephones.

Today almost everyone uses computers and mobile phones to access the Internet. Almost 70% of mobile phones have web access, and so the Internet has become a fact of everyday life. And for those who must use it to get business done, especially those of us who rely on our web sites for business, web technology can be a major source of stress, one that can strongly affect our dreams.

Distressing dreams caused by anxiety can cause troubled sleep that does not really rest us.  Have you ever spent the whole night in restless, shallow sleep, dreaming of  work issues? I have. You can wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed.

One way to stop those troubling anxiety dreams is to eliminate the cause of worry. For those of us who depend on the Internet for business, and who often have problems with undependable web hosting, simply switching to a reliable web host can work wonders in stopping those troubling dreams. I have had several web hosts over the years, and believe me they have caused me to lose a lot of sleep at times.

For example, why toss and turn when you can move your sites to a reliable virtual private server (VPS) that you control and manage? So no one is giving you grief about exceeding the capacity of your “unlimited hosting.” Yet the VPS is all set up for you, with exactly the software that you select, so that you can easily manage it yourself.

I run about 50 websites, so I know how distressing web hosting problems can be. Even when not in the midst of resolving a crisis, I am constantly worrying about the next hosting shutdown for whatever weird reason the hosting service comes up with next.

I’ve been looking at Dot Block, and it looks like I can get the VPS of my dreams, literally. There is even a coupon for $10 off. I think I may actually get some restful sleep soon.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

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Tuition costs have skyrocketed. There are fewer loans available. And student loan interest rates are about to double under federal law.

But you can still pursue your dream if you can find a scholarship. And that is one thing that has become much easier. You can search for scholarships for free on line. For some of us, that in itself is a dream come true.

It turns out that although tuition has increased dramatically and student loans are becoming less and less affordable, there are still billions of dollars worth of scholarship offered every year, for all kinds of fields of study and for all kinds of students. The trick is to find out about them, and this site makes it easy to do that.

The site, called SallieMae, allows you to search for scholarships (for free) in different categories, including

• Career fields
• Military fields
• Special interests
• Sports
• College major
• Minority status
• State you live in

There are even religious scholarships. Any one of those might just be the answer to a prayer.

Scholarships vary a lot in their requirements. Some may require that you belong to a particular group or have a certain grade average in addition to fitting into a certain category. But there are so many available that there you should be able to find one or more that you qualify for.

They also vary in the amount of money provided by each one. The good news is that you might qualify for more than one.

Some scholarships are fairly competitive. So the best plan is to start as soon as possible and apply for as many scholarships as you can qualify for, and see which ones you receive.

Making our dreams come true requires action, but making this dream come true just got a whole lot easier. I hope you will come back and leave a comment when you receive your scholarship(s), and let us know.

Good luck! 

NFL Dream Capsule Necklace

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Screaming Doorbell (Photo credit: barnoid)

A few years ago, in April 2008, I wrote about phantom doorbells and telephone dreamss, sounds heard while asleep that sound real but are really a form of dreaming. To my surprise, that post continued to get comments for several years.

I wrote a quick update post on phantom doorbells in November of 2008, but the original post continued to be the one that drew readers and comments for a few more years.

Then in November of 2011 I wrote about an extra vivid phantom doorbell dream that I had just experienced. Since then the comments have slacked off. I wonder why.

Are people no longer dreaming of phantom doorbells and telephone rings? Or is it that they now know what they are and have no need to seek out others who have had similar experiences?

Now I am back with yet another phantom doorbell update. I still hear them, but the sound has changed. Lately the phantom doorbell sound is nothing like the sound of my real doorbell. It sounds like somebody has a sense of humor. And it stlll sounds like a wake-up call.

I have not heard a phantom telephone in a long, long time. My guess is that is because there are no so many different ringtones around. It becomes hard to recognize a telephone ring, not like the olden days, when there was only one, unmistakable telephone sound.

But doorbells still all sound pretty much the same. Still crazy after all these years.

Are you sometimes awakened by the ringing of a phantom doorbell or telephone? If so, what are the circumstances, and what do you think it all means? Please leave a comment. Inquiring minds want to know.