What if the dreams you forget by breakfast are actually trying to tell you something?

In this episode of Finish the Damn Book, Susie Schaefer sits down with psychotherapist, poet, author, and dream worker Valerie Johns, MFT, for a fascinating conversation about dreams, creativity, intuition, writing, and the unconscious.

Valerie has spent decades exploring the language of dreams. She shares why remembering a dream begins before you ever fall asleep, why she encourages dreamers to write and tell their dreams in the present tense, and how dream imagery can become a doorway into deeper self-understanding and creative work.

You'll also hear how Valerie's own dream journals helped shape her books Ashes in the Milk and Night Flights: The Poetry of Soul Retrieval, and why she believes the goal isn't simply to be happy, but to become more whole and real.

In this conversation:

• How to improve your ability to remember dreams
• Why Valerie isn't a fan of controlling dreams through lucid dreaming
• How Jungian dream work approaches images and symbols
• Turning dreams into poetry and creative material
• What happens when the ego gets in the way of creativity
• Writing in manageable 25-minute increments
• Intuition, vulnerability, and the courage to be seen
• Why curiosity may be one of the most powerful tools we have
• How dreams can help us reconnect with parts of ourselves we've left behind

Valerie also shares the story behind her Dream Box, a collection of tools she created to help people explore and remember their dreams.

Connect with Valerie Johns

https://valeriejohns.com/

Learn more about Valerie's books, Night Flights: The Poetry of Soul Retrieval and Ashes in the Milk: A Poetic Memoir, along with her work and dream resources.

Finish the Damn Book is hosted by Susie Schaefer.
https://www.finishthebookpublishing.com/

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