About

Belief Statement

I believe that time given in reflective thought about dreams, and about life’s happenings, feeds our souls just as food feeds our bodies. My consulting business is named “Food for Thought” to honor the importance of reflective thinking in the search for God’s will in our lives. My education and experience have trained me to help others seek meaning and purpose in their lives through dream work and theological reflection.

The Importance of Dream Work

Dreams are an actual encounter of life, not a fantasy to be dismissed. They offer the freedom of unconscious expression, and help us completely embrace who we are, and how we are connected to one another, and to God. 

There are many examples of God speaking to people in dreams. These examples abound in Hebrew, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim sacred texts. There is also a deep reverence for the wisdom of dreams in Native American spirituality. In many differing religious contexts, dreams are honored and revered as landscapes of the soul. 

Dreams are also valuable sources of creative energy. Organic chemist, Friedrich August Kekule von Stadonitz had a dream of a snake eating its own tail.  This dream helped him configure the shape of the benzene compound. Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, had a dream that he was being assaulted with spears. He noticed in the dream that the spears had holes in the tips. This realization inspired him to construct a sewing needle with a hole in the tip: a design that was  key to the invention of the sewing machine. Jack Nicklaus, champion golfer, had a dream that showed him how to hold his golf club in a different way to improve his golf swing.  There are many examples of how dreams enrich our lives and our world.

My personal experience in studying the unconscious has helped me pursue creatively the path to wholeness by meeting the “inner characters” that appear in my dreams. Honoring and engaging those varied dream figures is a discipline I use for personal balance. I regard the study of dreams a vital part of my spiritual journey.

What is Dream Work?

Dream work is the conscious seeking of meaning for our lives from the ciphering of the unconscious, symbolic language of dreams. 

Dreams often are responses to the daily dilemmas of life. They help us find ways to keep balance and to put forward that particular part of our personality that is best-suited to deal with present conscious events.

What to Expect

The dreamer is the ultimate authority of the dream and its meaning. I believe my training and education can help my clients understand more fully what their dream might be trying to tell them, but it is important for each client to realize that they are the authors of the dream, and they alone have the full power to integrate its healing in their life from their own experience, wisdom and imagination. 

So why do dream work with me? Because my dream skills can assist in revealing the symbolic language of your dream and help you relate it to the experiences of your life. This will take considerable work and imagination from both of us. It will also involve trust. Everything that is said in a dream session with me is said in confidence.

What Not to Expect

It is not my job to tell you exactly what your dream means and to make predictions. We can search for meaning together, but the real heart of the dream is with the dreamer and her/his relation with a God of their understanding. The hope is that we will help the dreamer become more balanced in her/his approach to conscious life. I believe the unconscious is ready to infuse our conscious lives with divine wisdom. That wisdom is often expressed in symbol, metaphor. Thus, the information is not usually formulaic in content.

Educational/Professional Background

I want to make it clear that I am not a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist. I have a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in New Orleans, a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Oklahoma, and a Liberal Arts Degree from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have also completed the University of the South’s Education for Ministry Program sponsored by the Episcopal Church. My latest studies have certified me as a spiritual director through the Haden Institute. The Haden Institute strongly reveres the sacred nature of the dream in the Jungian tradition.   However, I must confess that the core of my  my dream work experience comes from studying  dreams with Father Allen Whitman, former Episcopal priest and dream worker.  Allen and I studied dreams together on a weekly basis for five years.

My professional background ranges from working as a development geologist for a major oil company, to working as a chaplain in a hospital and a nursing home, to my current work as a spiritual director.