Let’s say you dream about being in a car with flat tires, or trying to stay afloat in a vast ocean, or seeing a spectacular display of lightning. Contrary to what you might think, those dreams don’t mean that you’re afraid to drive, or don’t want to swim, or are scared of bad weather.

Instead, they’re signaling that you should pay attention to your health (the car), your emotional life (the ocean) or your spiritual longings (the lightning). What might seem frightening in a dream is actually a constructive message you’re sending yourself about what you need to change in your life, according to dream expert Barbara Condron, coordinator of the National Dream Hotline. And chronic worrywarts will be happy to know that experts say that the vast majority of dreams are diagnostic (what’s really bothering you) rather than predictive (what’s going to happen).

This weekend, the dream hotline is offering a free interpretation of dreams to anyone who calls 417-345-8411 between 6 p.m. CDT tonight (Friday, April 23) and midnight CDT Sunday, April 25. An expert “dreamologist” will give you a consultation about the meaning of elements in your dream. (You can also submit your dream through the hotline’s website, www.dreamschool.org.)

Read Is it OK to Dream About Other Men?

During the past twenty-one years that the hotline has offered this annual free service, dream experts have not only helped callers figure out their own dreams, but they’ve also helped parents of kids who have nightmares to understand what’s bothering their child.

Laurie Biswell, chief of staff at the School of Metaphysics, said about 70 percent of the callers are female. “Women are more proactive,” she explains, “more willing to talk about and understand dreams and nightmares.”

What if you don’t remember your dreams? It’s generally agreed that we dream throughout the night, so even if you think you haven’t, you probably have. Condron says our failure to remember might be caused by the way an alarm clock abruptly jolts us out of sleep without leaving any room for a gradual transition to the daytime world. There are other reasons, too: a deep-seated fear or an unwillingness to confront major problems.

But those of us who do remember our dreams, Condron says, can use them to change our consciousness about ourselves and our world. In other words, she says, dreams “can wake us up.”

Jane Farrell is a senior editor with BettyConfidential.