A few months ago I had a terrible dream that caused me to wake up sobbing. My dad was dying. He was physically twisted through the lower torso (imagine a flesh and blood cork-screw). Apart from our understanding that he would soon die, he was quite cheerful. I was devastated with grief and I sensed it was cancer.

So, I rang Dad (a dyed-in-the-wool-atheist, this-is-all-there-is, psychic-awareness-is-bunk kind of person.) I inquired about his health, subtly. He said he was about to have a postrate exam and those internal alarm bells rang.

The results have taken a while but he did have some cancer cells and there is a shadow on his liver (not surprising as he has been a heavy drinker his entire adult life). He's not dying, though it has to be closely monitored.

So the dream was prophetic but far more intense than the reality is (at least for now).

I believe this is what happens. We do pick up on situations but our emotional involvement with the subject matter of the dream affects its intensity. So, because I love my father and fear his death, the suggestion of Dad's illness becomes far worse, taking on nightmare proportions.

Similar stuff happens with good news so that I know when my sister or sister-in-laws are pregnant because I'm suddenly dreaming of breast- feeding a baby that's "mine" but isn't mine.