LUCKY DREAMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23940, 16 October 1939, Page 9

LUCKY DREAMS

NOTHING IN STORY OF “ SEEING A WINNER”

Dr Franz Plewa, 36-year-old Viennese psychologist dnd “ interpreter ” of dreams, was one of the speakers at the Individual Psychology Summer School in Oxford (writes a representative of the Daily Mail, London). In an interview I talked with Dr Plewa about dreams. Here are some of the things he told me—l pass them on for all dreamers to remember.

If, in your dreams, you see a certain horse flashing past the post in the 3.30 to-morrow, take no notice. For dreams in this respect are not prophetic. If the horse actually does win —that is simply coincidence —and bad luck on you. If you are on the Stock Exchange and dream of a sudden rise in certain shares, be very careful. Dr Plewa knew a broker who successfully backed winning dreams for several weeks. He boasted that he could dream the rises and the falls of the 'Change. Then he fell ill, was away for about a fortnight, continued to follow his dreams—and lost. Realities Distorted

“You see.” said Dr Plewa, in his uncertain English, “ in these early direams it was simply that he was carrying on his day-like thoughts as to what would happen to the market. As soon as he was away, and lost contact —poof, where were Hs dreams? ” You should not think that to imagine you inherited £50,000, a house in the country, and had been promoted to a big job is a happy dream. Oh, no. It does not show a pleasant state of mind at all. It only means that you are dissatisfied with your lot in life. In tne words of Dr Plewa: ‘‘A dream always distorts realities to higher or lower planes.” It is the man in the muddle who usually dreams. He cannot make a decision in daylight, so he takes it to bed with him. “I do not think your British Cabinet Ministers and big public men can dream much,” said the doctor. “They have the courage to accept responsibility for their own decisions. The child, the adolescent is liable to dream most.” And it was of children that Dr Plewa spoke to the school earlier. He told them that there was no such tiling as a “ nervous child.” “The term is an invention of scientific investigation.” he said. “Parents so often believe that they have a ‘ nervous child.’ and give it medicine and generally pamper it. “It’s a mistake. Never pamper a child—it is only discouragement to him

and makes the child dependent on you. But parents should not use corporal punishment.” Nerovus children, he added, were those who were afraid —and to be afraid was a sign of insecurity.