Karl Stefanovic: Today show host reveals naked dreams
A dream expert has left Today host Karl Stefanovic red-faced after he revealed details of his naked vision last night during an awkward interview, while his co-host watched on bemused.
Confidential
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Even when he is asleep, it seems Karl Stefanovic is worried about his public image.
In an awkward interview with dream analyst Jane Teresa Anderson on the Today show this morning, the polarising TV host revealed that last night he dreamt about flying and also “that I was naked out in public”.
“When you dream about being naked in public, it is often about your fears that your public image is slipping,” Anderson told viewers. “It is like, ‘oh my goodness, everyone is going to see the real me.”
To that, Stefanovic laughed loudly and quipped: “They’ve seen it”.
The 45-year-old seemed to be referring to shirtless beach paparazzi images taken earlier this year.
“It is about not your actual physical body Karl, it is about yourself and the way that you approach life,” Anderson said.
“If you look at that kind of dream, it can help you to see why do you feel that way? Why are you worried that your real self might show through.”
Co-host Allison Langdon was clearly amused, declining to offer up her own dreams.
“I don’t really remember them too clearly but what I do like from what Karl has said is that maybe Karl is having a few moments of self reflections at the moment, which can only be good for him.”
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Anderson explained that a person’s dreams are individual to them but that general themes can be explored. Flying in a dream, she said, represented freedom.
“It is important to always pay attention to our dreams but particularly at the moment,” Anderson said. “What is happening in our dreams is our dreaming brain, our dreaming mind, is processing all our emotions and experiences to try to make sense of our world.
“So at a time like this when we are experiencing intense emotions, potential change, actual change, our dreams are working really hard and that is why they are so vivid and intense.
“If we can remember our dreams and work with them they help us to understand why we are processing our life in a way that they are and if we look really closely into our dreams we can see better ways to cope or solutions.”
WHAT YOUR DREAMS MEAN
In light of Stefanovic’s revelations, Confidential asked Anderson to share the five most common dream themes.
“Every dream is unique and personal,” she said.
“If you really want to understand dreams, a dream dictionary is not going to help.
“The art and science of interpreting dreams lies in discovering the personal significance of dream symbols and how the dream storyline relates to the dreamer’s life. A solid first step is to think of dreams as being allegories.
Here are the five common dream themes and what they mean according to Anderson:
Naked in public
This can come up when you’re feeling – or fearing – being exposed, not in your physical
nakedness but in who you really are, what you’re thinking or feeling, the real you behind the
public image. Unless you’re a hermit, most of us have a public image.
We might have an image we adopt for work, or for parenting, or for relating to people in general. Although this dream theme is common for people who appear in Public with a capital P – celebrities, politicians – most people have had this dream at some point in their lives.
If you have this dream you might like to think about why your image or other people’s
opinions of you are so important to you. What would happen if you allowed your
vulnerability to show, or to step out as your true authentic self rather than adhere to an
expected image?
Missing the plane or running late
In this dream theme you start off on time for your appointment or plane, but things get
more and more complicated. You realise you haven’t packed your bags, or got your tickets,
or ironed your clothes.
You might get to the airport but lose your cabin bag, or there’s something wrong with your ticket. No matter what you do, you just get more and more delayed and it’s obvious you’re not going to catch that plane or arrive on time.
This can come up when there’s a place you want to be (think a goal you want to achieve)
but no matter how hard you try it feels like you’re just not getting there.
Often this is because, unconsciously, you don’t want to achieve that goal.
Maybe you fear there’s too much to lose. Do you put obstacles in your own way? Do you make things complicated when they could be simple?
Do you undervalue yourself? Why is it so important for you to reach that goal? The details in your version of this dream help to pinpoint the exact situation and what needs to change for you to either reach that goal or decide on a more appropriate
one.
Being chased
In this theme it’s usually something scary doing the chasing, and you’re generally either
running away or trying to hide. Fear can wake you from this dream.
What are you being chased by – or what do you feel you’re being chased by – in life? It might be as simple as a deadline that you seem to be constantly running from, and once one deadline is met, another looms.
It might be something you don’t want to face, which is why you’re running or hiding in the dream. For example, you might not want to face your financial situation, or a physical pain, or your feelings about ageing, or your worries about your relationship.
If you want to go deep on this one, that thing that’s chasing you is often an aspect of yourself, something you don’t want to accept, perhaps an attitude you have, or even something
wonderful like a talent you don’t want to explore for fear of where it may lead.
This kind of dream alerts you to discover what you’re not facing (the details of the dream
help identify this when you know the art and science of interpreting dreams) and then to
have the courage to face it.
We all know from experience that when we face a fear it shrinks. It’s never as big or as scary as it feels when we’re running or hiding from it. When you face the fear you’ll find ways to deal with it, and to find positive ways forward in life.
Flying
Without the plane, that is. By yourself, flapping your arms, or swimming in air, or gliding and
soaring, or trying to get off the ground and getting stuck in branches or powerlines.
A key to interpret your individual variation of this dream is how you felt during the dream. Did you feel elated, free, powerful, or scared, frustrated at not getting higher, or did you feel a sense of escape?
If you felt elated and flew high, perhaps you’ve noticed a certain emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual sense of freedom lately.
Have you been able to ‘rise above’ a situation and look down and see it for what it is, or, at least, get some objective distance and perspective?
If you felt you were in escape mode, what are you trying to escape in life, and would it be better to get grounded and sort it out?
If you felt frustrated because you were getting trapped, where does this apply in your life: what is stopping you from reaching a ‘higher potential’ or ‘getting something off the ground?’ If you’re flying and trying to persuade a group of people on the ground to join you, and they’re hesitant and doubtful of their ability, they probably represent aspects of yourself that doubt your ability to ‘fly high’
in some area of your life.
Teeth falling out
This is one of the most common dream themes. People used to think it happened for people
who grind their teeth in sleep, but it goes deeper than this.
In this dream you open your mouth to speak and teeth fall out, or they crumble, or you get as far as speaking but you spit out teeth. Or you suddenly realise, to your horror, that some of your teeth are missing and it shows.
This theme generally relates to your fears and concerns about communication.
Spitting out teeth when you talk? Perhaps you fear the words you speak, worried you’ll ‘spit it out’ and say something you can’t take back, just like you can’t put the lost teeth back in or grow new ones.
Crumbling teeth may represent your conscious or unconscious crumbling confidence in speaking out.
Missing teeth may represent your fear that you’re missing good communication skills. You may be an excellent communicator in life, but still fear or doubt that you are. Another thing to remember is that we all lost our milk teeth as children, and so you may have a memory of not being able to talk properly, or being embarrassed about having teeth missing or about speaking with a lisp.
The teeth in your dream may symbolise any of these childhood emotions that are coming up in your life now.
* For more information on Jane Teresa Anderson’s dream analysis, go to www.janeteresa.com.