Dreams, Polls, and Public Opinion

For the past few months I have been following with interest the “Metaphysical Poll” being conducted online by a Toronto woman, Sheila Heti, who was curious about what people were dreaming about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She started collecting dreams and posting them on two different blog sites, which soon became four sites as readers began sending in John McCain dreams as well as dreams featuring two or more candidates.

My radio show listeners will remember the two or three mornings this Spring when I read some of these fascinating dreams on the air. I indulged in a bit of dream interpretation in order to make connections between the dream and the dreamer’s personal life, and to see if any conclusions could be drawn from these subjective reports as to how well the candidates were succeeding in their efforts to attract voters.

Ms. Heti also asked some national dream experts to study the collected dreams every week, and posted their insights on the “I Dream of Analysis” website. I highly recommend browsing through these essays, to discover not only something about the dreams but about the many ways of understanding dreams.

Now that Barack Obama has won the Democratic presidential nomination, Ms. Heti has announced that she will no longer be compiling dreams, although she promises to keep her sites online. I have just finished reading the final dream analysis, posted by Dr. Bob Van de Castle, who looks separately at the content of both men’s and women’s dreams of the Democratic candidates.

No matter what our professional interests, we can learn a lot about our own attitudes and hidden emotions toward work in dreams. If you are contemplating a career change, or are happy in your position but getting conflicting signals from management, it is always worth checking into your dreams to help uncover the keys that will help you navigate times of uncertainty. And if you are interested in what people really think about your product or service, you might try asking them about their dreams!