Like a very slow-moving clock, I aspire to create quarterly email newsletters but somehow only manage to get out two per year. Still, that does not deter me from calling them Quarterly Newsletters! Aim high, as I always tell my kids.

Earlier today I sent out my Fall Newsletter, available to read here. Highlighted in the email is news of my upcoming workshop in Portland, OR from Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. Dreams and Eros takes on the forbidden subject of, well, dreams and eros—not in the sense of romantic love, but in the original Greek meaning of the word:

“The original Eros expresses a new thrust in the universe: …from out of Earth there springs what she contains within her own depths. What Earth delivers and reveals is precisely the thing that had dwelled darkly within her.” —Jean-Pierre Vernant, The Universe, the Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths

Erotic dreams often break taboos and feature shockingly graphic imagery that we find it hard to bear, much less share. Yet in dream language these images of creation, destruction, and sexual union hold powerful energies that can help us overcome huge obstacles and transition into new phases of life. Our intent in this workshop is to create a safe space for engaging in this process with our own dreams. It should be a transformational weekend, and those who sign up before Sept. 12 receive a 20% discount.

Other highlights from the newsletter include mention of my two latest Dream Talk Radio podcasts. First up is a great conversation with authors Kelly Bulkeley and Bernard Welt about their new book Dreaming in the Classroom: Practices, Methods, and Resources in Dream Education. I highly recommend the book for educators at every level. Most recently, I spoke with coach and author Simon Turkalj about his new ebook, Double-Dip Recession: The Survival Guide. Simon has great guidance for those who are or used to be in the middle class, about how to not only survive but thrive in this persistent down economy.

You can read the complete newsletter here, and even join my mailing list if you want. I do send out informative newsletters a couple times a year—and who knows, maybe sometime I’ll actually achieve a quarterly schedule.

It’s early in the morning and you’re busy getting your children ready for school. They are mostly cooperative, but one of them is moving very slowly and instead really wants to tell you about her dream. What do you do?

Maybe you’re a teacher, working with a small group of students who are writing stories. One of them proceeds to tell you his dream, and asks whether he could write that as a story. How do you respond?

If you have children in your life, eventually you will be faced with questions like these. Most adults these days want to encourage children’s creativity and avoid making them feel somehow “different” because of what they feel or experience. Talking about dreams with children is a great way to achieve both these goals, and many others besides.

I joined a dream group right after my third child was born, so by the time she was able to talk and tell me her dreams I had a little bit of knowledge about how to handle that conversation. The other ideas in the video below I figured out on my own, and I offer them here to help a new generation of parents become more comfortable talking with children about dreams. Read on…

Last Thursday marked a milestone for my radio show, Dream Talk Radio, when I broadcast my last live show from the KOWS-fm studio in Occidental. For over three years, I have spent every Thursday from 9-10 am on the air, talking about dreams and sleep health, culture, creativity, and broader social issues. But from now on I will take my show to the cloud, so to speak, broadcasting on podcasts exclusively.

I spent the first ten minutes of last week’s show talking about how Dream Talk Radio came into being and how it has evolved since that first live show in January, 2008. Then I aired a really interesting conversation I’d recorded a week earlier with Leo Laporte, whose internet TV network, TWiT-TV, is based just a few miles away in Petaluma. TWiT (This Week in Tech) is currently building a 10,000 sq ft studio in the heart of Petaluma to house its growing broadcast operation, which now includes 40+ hours per week of live streaming video. I talked to Leo about how he built his network, and whether he sees its role in the community changing now that it will have a much bigger physical presence.

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Read on…

I love my work as a consultant in digital publishing and social media. It’s fun, I’m good at it, and it allows me time to write and keep up my radio show. Still, I was wondering when I’d get back into teaching, my other love. Now, it seems, is the time.

In 1999 I went back to school for a Doctor of Ministry degree, as a way to step back from all the teaching I’d been doing and reflect on what I’d learned and what I still believed. My dissertation was about women, power and leadership, with insights gleaned from dreamwork, Goddess spirituality, and the principles I’d learned while earning a black belt in aikido. I had seen a lot of examples of how not to hold power, and was convinced that it was possible to do it better, or at least avoid the most egregious errors I’d seen. In my dissertation, I started developing ideas on how to get there. Read on…

The new year has brought a sharpening of focus to my work and writing, so I thought I’d share a little about the projects I am working on the most. Along with producing Dream Talk Radio, which I continue to host every Thursday morning on KOWS 107.3 fm, I write a lot about marketing strategies for small business at Creative Content Coaching. I recently posted an article on taking advantage of the new features in Facebook Pages, and just yesterday I wrote about five great social marketing strategies that don’t involve Facebook, Twitter, or even LinkedIn. And I have an ongoing series, The ABCs of Network Presence, that is designed to help support your authentic voice online.

I have also been hard at work on a memoir, called Leaving Hotel California. This is a fun project, combining insights about relationships, funny stories about divorce, and tales of growing up a California feminist. I will have more to say later about this great adventure in satire, but if you get a chance do stop by the site and read some excerpts. I think you will enjoy them.

Coming up this Thursday is another thought-provoking show on dreams, this one focusing on the idea of “Culture Dreaming.” I’ll review two books on the subject, and hopefully talk with someone knowledgeable about the practice. Thanks for listening, and spreading the word about my show and other projects—it should be an exciting year!