Recalling your dreams has many benefits. You can use dreams to
inspire your artwork, get to know yourself better, solve difficult
problems or answer tough questions, or just share them with friends.
Keeping track of your dreams on a long-term basis lets you watch your
growth and development over the years.
Dreams are like soap
bubbles, however. The longer you wait to record them, the less chance
that any will still be around to record. Sleep scientists estimate that
most people have 150,000 dreams in a lifetime. While recalling and
recording that many dreams is more information than anyone needs
(remember poor Doug Quaid [Arnold Schwarzenegger] in "Total Recall"),
keeping track of your longer, more elaborate, most interesting dreams is
a gift you give yourself.
Use all your natural resources to help
you recall your dreams. The combined efforts of body, mind, and spirit
will make the task much easier.
Body
The first thing to do
is get a good night's sleep. Keep the room temperature at a moderate
level and make sure your pillow and bed linens are clean and
comfortable.
The longest REM (rapid eye movement) cycle comes
towards morning when dreams are easiest to recall. You'll remember more
dreams by waking naturally than by waking to a jarring alarm clock.
Keep
materials for recording dreams at your bedside. Buy a special pen and
notebook specifically designated for this purpose or a tape recorder
used for nothing else. Record your dreams immediately upon awakening --
before you get out of bed and begin your day.
Mind
Tell
yourself before you go to sleep that in the morning you will remember
your dreams. Convince yourself that it's going to happen. Be satisfied
with one dream at first; eventually with practice you'll be able to
remember several dreams from each night.
Record dreams exactly as
you remember them. Don't fill in the gaps with transitions, logic,
summaries, or translations from your wide-awake conscious mind. If your
dog is outside, then the scene shifts to your third grade teacher
barking orders in the classroom, say so.
You don't want to take
shortcuts in descriptions. The symbolism and figurative speech used in
dreams is half the fun of dream recall.
Spirit
Appreciate
your dreams and show them some respect. Realize that not every dream is
insightful, but that all dreams have something to offer, whether humor,
creative inspiration, physical warnings, or unconscious perception.
Although
dreams should be recorded without initial judgment or analysis based on
the actions that occurred, give each dream a succinct title that
expresses the emotions that you felt and/or identifies a key character.
Don't be afraid of violent or sexual dreams from your unconscious mind
that are inconsistent with your conscious mind. Write them down, title
them, and read them later when you no longer feel the emotions of the
dream.
Go back and re-read your dream diary or listen to your
dream tapes in later months or years. You'll be amazed at what people,
places, and things consumed your thoughts at the time, and at the
creative inspiration lurking within your unconscious mind.
