Dreaming is like opening a door to the rest of your mind. All your hopes, wishes, fears, friends, phobias, good times and bad are there. All the accumulated wisdom and insight of the species and culture is stored there for your exploration. It is the most ancient mind rather than the recently evolved logical mind.
While everyone dreams, some people find it hard to remember their dreams. This dream information page will help you improve your memory for your dreams. Think of it as exercise. If you exercise your dreaming mind, your recall, access and right-of-control will increase.
Pay Attention.
Remember, Dreaming is easy. You practice every night. The core idea is to pay attention to your dream mind and nurture it. While awake, think about your dreams. While going to sleep, focus on dreaming. But most important, upon waking, pay attention to your dream. That's the most important exercise. You create your own ritual of morning dream remembering. Any one will work. Tailor fit it to your existing morning routine. You want to develop a set of activities that you perform every morning to help your dream memory. I use a notebook beside the bed. Other's like to get up and focus on a symbol on the wall. Other's stare at the ceiling and recite the dream into a tape recorder. Some prefer to talk it out with a regular morning companion who will share dreams at a morning coffee break. Still others go to the computer and write it down and e-mail it me.
Give Your Dreams a Home.
There is no tool quite like a dream notebook or journal. By giving dreams a home you build dream memory. If you'd don't have a garage for your dreams, Where will they park? Any home will do, notebooks, art stock, sketch pads. The more permanent your dream home, the more fun you will have in the future looking back over your dreams and seeing how the stories fit into your life.
I ritualized writing my dreams. Every morning I write before I do anything else. When I am in top "Olympic" dream form, I record five or six dreams a night. I store all the notebooks in an old sea chest that one of my ancestors brought from the old country.
Go to Sleep Thinking of Dreams.
As you are lying in bed on your way to sleep, think about dreams and about how you'll enjoy exploring them in the morning. Think of previous dream images you have liked. Avoid guilt trips or telling yourself you "should" dream. Oh, yes, the ritual of going to sleep is a rich place to invest in your dreams. The warm glass of milk or the special dozing posture can be a real boost for re-minding yourself to dream. I go to bed lying on my back with a stack of pillows under my knees. I don't go to sleep in that position, but easily enter a borderline state and hover there for a while before rolling over into a standard going-to-sleep-position. In the boarderline state you can allow your mind to wander. Allow it to create a dream. Let go. Stop giving directions.Wake as Gently as Possible.
The idea is to rise from dreaming when the dream is over, not when an outside alarm wakes you. When you wake, hold still for a few minutes and focus attention on what your mind has seen and heard during the preceding time. Keep your eyes closed for as long as you can. Dream memories are fragile, and seem stored in your body's position. The movements of your body disrupt your memory. Keeping your eyes closed, and your body still will help you focus attention on the dreaming mind. Moreover, it is fun to wake and not suddenly engage the outside world. Hover on the brink...Review the conents. Was there any special word or image that stood out. Review the images. Then open your eyes and write.Olympic dreamers learn how to write with their eyes closed, without moving or disturbing the position. Olympic Finalists wake in the dark as many times as the dreams come to an end, writes the whole thing down and resumes sleep for another adventure.
If you must have an alarm, try using two alarm clocks; set one for the time you must wake and set the other 30 to 45 minutes earlier. You can wake to the first alarm, then doze and dream until the second tells you it is time to wake up.
What If I Don't Remember Anything?
If you don't recall a dream right away, relax and let your mind wander. If any image comes to mind, allow the image to lead you to other images, and follow the train of images. Often this will remind you of the dream that you left behind. Let your body Re-mind you. Try your going-to-sleep position or the one you use to hover before going to sleep.It helps to be a little detached. If I get some dreams it is O.K. and if I don't that is O.K. too. It sometimes helps to rerun recent dreams from the last few days and see if one 'Pops" out of the background and suddenly you remember something from tonight's dream. Nurture any image you get and see what it leads to... Still nothing? That's OK, you get to dream again tonight!
Pay attention during the day. Something you see may Re-mind you of the dream. It will pop and suddenly you'll remember something from last night's dream. You may also get a sudden rush of total recall. Pay Attention
Invest In Your Dreams
The more energy you apply to your dreams, the better the chance of improving your dream recall. Starting a notebook, or making a picture journal is one of the best ways to apply yourself to conscientious dream memory. Cultivating a home for your dreams is a ritual that reminds you of every successful contact, and gives you a permanent record of the stories. Later you will be able to look over the dream record, and see the way that the dream mind reflects on your life and your activities. The idea is to nurture the dream and deliver it to your conscious mind in full rich sensory awareness.Share Your Dreams.
The most potent dream exercise you can do during the day is to share your dreams with other's who will regard them with favor. Don't share with someone who makes fun of dreaming, rather share with other people who will support you and ask about your dreams. Every sharing helps.Work on Your Dreams.
The dreaming mind is quite delighted by attention paid to it. If you explore the content of the dreams and examine the symbols and metaphors, your dreaming mind will reward you with more material. It's a little like a puppy this way. While serious seekers do rigorous examination of each image, symbol and action. Everyone can do casual exploration just by rolling the images around in your mind.Turn a Dream into Action.
Tell people if they appear in your dreams. No matter how silly, just let them know and let a conversation develop. You may discover they have insights into your dream. Your dreaming mind will also be pleased to see that the information channel works.Carry Your Symbols with You
Carry your signs symbols and images with you. Look for them in the world. Pay Attention to your images as you encounter them in the real world. If you see a specific thing from a dream go to it and focus some attention on it. There's more than meets the eye. Bring the content of your dream into the world. That helps complete the information feedback loop between your day mind and your dream mind.Dreams Are Free
Relax, if you don't have a dream every night, so what. Pay Attention Look for them. The dream mind has a remarkable ability to inform you about your self; to reflect on yourself, and show you a new view of you. It is a natural vehicle to enhance reflection, gain some distance from your concerns, and help you sort out the affairs of your life.
It's also a blast.
- Dreaming is fun, free and natural.
- No one gains weight from dream food.
- No one gets pregnant in a dream.
- So stretch out, enjoy the free movie.
- It is your personal dream theater.
- It will give you adventures, show you ideas and solutions to problems
- It will teach you and illuminate you.
- Look inside. These eyes give you insight.