***Dreaming … What is located between a horse’s nose and its tail?

What is located between a horse’s nose and its tail?
A Horse, of Course!

Dreams Are Amazing
Dreams represent many different things to everyone. They are as individual as the person they belong to. It is up to you to determine what they mean to you.

My own personal experiences have not been one of in-depth dream investigation, so I tend to be a bit blasé about it all. So when it came time for me to dictate how I handled and managed my own dreams, it was well planned and thought out. Through my studies of the subconscious, I have formed certain opinions of how I would prefer my dreams to reveal their true nature to me. I am about to share a dream event with you. And it probably will not be very exciting to you. I am acting as a journalist reporting, “How it all happened”.

I had a Dream …
There was a fire! But, it was just a small fire1 when I noticed it. As I looked around, it became obvious that nobody else had noticed it. I looked around for something like a fire alarm to “sound the alarm”. But there were none around. No fire fighting equipment, either. I ran around notifying everyone I saw of the fire, but they were preoccupied and just ignored me.

What was completely out of place for me is where this was all taking place. I was in the Engine Room2 of a ship3. Even though I had never been here in this place before, by the equipment and instrumentation I knew what this place was. For some reason, even though the fire was small and almost unnoticeable, I felt a huge sense of urgency; that if the fire wasn’t dealt with immediately that it would destroy the entire ship.

The small fire was coming from some type of electrical component within a clear cover. So there was no easy way to really get to the fire to put it out. Also, to use water on a fire in electrical equipment is not a good idea and can easily lead to electrocution. There were no easy solutions to be had. The unusual thing was the fire was a blue flame, like air is blown through it, sort of like what you see with a torch.

The reason I am telling you the detail is that I want to point out what role the photographic memory plays when it comes to the inner workings of your subconscious mind. Over a week has passed since I had the dream. The images of what occurred in my dream are as clear and intense now as when they first occurred. They are clearer than real life!

Another piece of this vision was a peculiar odor that the flame was giving off; cloying, choking, yet vaguely familiar4. And that smell, too, was completely out of place. It was very pungent, acrid, and thick5. This odor is the prime key that connects all the events together.

I came to the conclusion that I had to be the person that took action otherwise the vessel was doomed!

Here is a list of circumstances that have been brought to my attention:

The small fire
Engine Room
Located in a ship or vessel
Choking smell of smoke, but out of place, odor vaguely familiar
Odor is pungent, acrid, and thick

About the Photographic Memory
Some studies of the photographic memory suggest that memories gained in this way dull and lose their detail in 3 – 4 minutes. But even today, over a week later, I can see it as if was occurring clearly in front of me at this very moment. By my own experiences (too many to count besides this one) I challenge the claims that the photographic memory is not real or has minimal value over long periods of time.

My logic is this: From all of my experience with the photographic memory / eidetic memory, and other cognitive abilities; if someone tells me the photographic memory is just something that goes bump in the night, my own personal evidence and experiences show me otherwise.

Empathy for the Non-Believer…
The photographic memory has been cannon fodder for many people over the years because it is primarily associated with the subconscious mind. Since people are not in good touch with their subconscious, they find it unfathomable to imagine that their photographic memory has never left them; that it has always been there. The only time many of them are in contact with their subconscious is when they are asleep, dreaming.

To some, the adult eidetic memory (photographic memory) is the bastard step-child of the psychological world – to be picked upon. For others like me, we possess our own irrefutable proof that supports our unwavering conviction of its existence and accessibility to everyone.

Have you ever wondered why, when you go through your daily activities, that you do not meet these people all over the place? Approximately 1 out of every 20 people you encounter are serious eidetikers that have some relationship with their photographic memory. It is because at an early age, they were taught to hide their abilities. I know many people that went through school making sure to miss 1 or 2 questions on their tests so they didn’t draw attention to themselves.

It comes down to this. Recognizing and trusting your photographic memory is a relationship, between you (your conscious) and a lover that has left you that you no longer trust (your subconscious). Even when you find that your subconscious has been right there all along, it still doesn’t commit you to trusting it. That is why you must be taught how to build and support that relationship. Eventually, you come to trust it once again. Thus, your photographic memory is allowed to be a part of your life once more.

Revisiting the Dream
So now we can go back to what led us here in the first place; my dream. Again, I have had a significant dream that my photographic memory remembers every detail of. What does it have to do with my life? What is the connection? My surroundings in my dream were completely foreign from anyplace I had ever visited. Where did it all fit?

Along my personal soul searching for methodically simplifying my relationship with my own subconscious, I decided long ago to direct my mind to only remember dreams that were important to me. Since I dream hundreds of dreams each night, it is nice to pre-filter them down to remembering just the important dreams. With the gravity and intensity this dream possessed, I knew it must be important to me. It was.

The Connection
That morning while feeding the horses, I noticed that one horse had a cough that turned out to be an upper respiratory infection. He had not eaten much of the food from the previous night and had not drunk his water. He also had an elevated temperature and a sore throat. (You think us humans have it bad when we have a sore throat, think of an equine having a sore throat. That is a lot of throat! Be thankful it was not a giraffe!)

The sore throat and the cough is something he would most likely get over naturally without treatment. But whenever horses don’t drink, they dehydrate. Dehydration leads to colic, and equine colic is deadly. Most horses that don’t get to old age die of colic. So, I am not just treating the horse for the cough, sore throat, and fever; I am also treating him for colic. I really don’t need to go into all the details as to how you treat a horse for colic. Let’s say it is a bit messy at times when dealing with that side of things.

But along with the mess, there are particular odors and a cloying acrid smell. To another horse, it is like walking through the rose garden. But it is different for humans. But keep in mind; I would select a horse when compared to most other animals for those types of odors. (My experiences in life have taken me far and wide.)

So let’s take a look at the list we created before:

The small fire – Sore throat and elevated temperature.
Engine Room – The Engine Room of the horse is his gut. If that doesn’t work, he is DEAD in the water – Equine colic.
Located in a ship or vessel – The vessel IS the horse. The entire list had to do with the horse. If I had not acted quickly, my chances of saving the horse would get bad quickly.

Choking smell of smoke, but out of place, odor vaguely familiar – The odor of equine feces, making note of the colic.

Odor is pungent, acrid, and thick – Same thing.

Remember Important Dreams
When I remembered the dream, it signaled me to take heed and pay attention to my surroundings. The detail from the dream gave me specific insight that allowed me to connect-the-dots. Most of the dots were seen after the fact. That is why it is said that “hindsight is 20/20 vision”. The result of me being aware of a potential problem and acting quickly, I was successful at saving the horse. Today he was running around the paddock as he normally does, without a care, as horses do. (Joke ahead… He is so inconsiderate. He didn’t even thank me. Neigh!) The story may have had a different ending if I had not acted when I did.

Epilogue:
Because I have directed my subconscious to make only my important dreams memorable, I can easily tell what dreams I need to pay attention to. Coupled by the fact that I fully accept my photographic memory as a part of me as a complete human being, I cannot be dissuaded from tapping into it and using it. With the recall of critical key pieces of information from my dream in high resolution for an extended period of time allowing me the avenue to remember each detail completely while I am writing this story for you. After I have completed the writing, the event will be shelved because it has served its’ functions.

I hope you found this article intriguing and are enjoying the use of your photographic memory. There is a big bright world out there you are most likely not experiencing. Life is full of experiences waiting just for you. But you must take those first steps to make it all happen.

Shannon Panzo