DREAMS & THE SLEEPING BRAIN
YOUR PSYCHE'S CAR
Analyzing dreams is like learning to drive a car or ride a bicycle. Someone can tell you about types of bicycles and what riding feels like, but it is only when you sit and find your own balance point that you get a sense of what it is about. Working with dream messages is the same. The theory does not make sense until you try it out. By trying it out you quickly see how easy it is to understand your dreams. As you continue, your own experience is the most valuable tool as you continue to learn about dream interpretation.
However, there are helpful ground rules. There are basic techniques you need to know that are the same as knowing traffic rules, and a glimpse of the territory you may ride through. Read on to get an overview of how you can begin to understand your dreams on a solid footing.
A NATURAL TOOL
Dreaming is a natural tool of the psyche. There are physical tools such as cars and fingers. Dreams are a tool of the invisible but very real psyche, which is the emotional, spiritual and psychological part of you that needs as much attention the body. Dreams are a tool to understand yourself, to heal, and to unlock your full potential. Just as anyone can learn to drive a car, so can most people learn to use dreams to "get around" more easily and comfortably in life.
Comparing dream analysis to nutrition, a few hundred years ago people died from scurvy because they didn't know eating fresh fruit provides the vitamin C to prevent it. Yet nowadays any school child can tell you about vitamins and a well‑balanced diet. As a result, we have healthier bodies than our ancestors. In the same way, we now have enough knowledge about dreams to make them generally useful. Using easy DIY dream interpretation tools such as the quick and easy FIVE STEP METHOD by which you can understand your dreams in hours, anyone can monitor emotions, unfold talents and improve decision making. Living in a complex and stressful world, taking advantage of using dreams as a natural self-help tool becomes increasingly valuable .
Like any tool such as a car or a bicycle, dream interpretation requires a minimum amount of learning and some upkeep. Dreams need to be applied in a practical way and used with discrimination. And, just as a car can take you to a shopping center or on a cross‑country trip, you can use dreams merely a little now and then, or quite a lot. Like a car, dream interpretation tools go only as far as you want to, when you want to, and at your own speed. You're the driver!
DREAM HORIZONS
Dreams are not a way to bypass struggles but can make it easier to meet them. They define problems by pointing out their source and suggesting ways to handle them constructively. If you feel the pinch financially, dreams will not provide the number of a winning lottery ticket. But they will point out talents and skills, which, if used, can increase your earnings. Or, earnings may be hampered by personality traits such as a bad temper which keeps someone from getting along with colleagues and blocks promotion.
Dreams point out traits that create roadblocks and show how to turn it into a stepping stone. As psychologists point out, behind every negative trait lies an energy that can be used positively. For example, a bad temper can denote a strong will and insight. This can be turned into enthusiastic but tactful leadership, which can lead to promotion and higher earnings. By the same token, dreams will not normally tell you how to change a boss, a spouse, or an in‑law who may be a thorn in your side. Instead, they help you work on yourself and your own perceptions that need changing in order to cope with the person or situation. Such dream insights allow problem relationships to improve as a side-effect of your personal growth and change in attitude, and while others continue struggling, you leave the fighting behind with ease.
Dreams try to change you constructively, not others. Once you achieve wholeness, they provide more insight about others, new talents, and solutions to problems. Dreams create a tuning fork effect. As you become more effective, whole and happy, those around you automatically begin to change for the better, too. This is why you do not have to hesitate to take the time to nurture your own growth using dream interpretation or any other tool. What you do for yourself helps everyone in the long run. Working with dream insights can make the difference between getting by in life reasonably well, or reaching full potential with happiness!
| STEPS TO DREAM ANALYSIS
1. GET A NOTEBOOK
Writing dreams down is a good first step to make them concrete. The words you pick as you write a dream down often gives interesting insights. Having a written record on computer or in a dream book allows you to review dreams later and see the big picture of your own psychological patterns.
Some people suggest keeping a notebook beside your bed so that if you wake up during the night, you can record a dream. I do this, but with a slight difference. As I fall asleep I suggest to myself to remember my dreams just before waking, unless it is a dream that will not be repeated later. Without this kind of instruction, you may wake up often and get too little sleep. Dreams as stories are generally repeated through the night, like making rough drafts of a term paper. The last version as you are close to waking is likely the clearest one so it is okay just plug into the last batch. With programmed instruction, you can have both sleep and dream time.
However, if you have trouble with recall, waking up for each dream at first may be better a better plan, at least initially. Do what works best for you. To some extent, your psyche is like a computer and can be programmed and interacted with, as suits you best.
2. RELAX & UNWIND
Take a few minutes before going to sleep to unwind. Get in touch with the quiet, relaxed part of yourself which is the connection to your unconscious and soul self. We lead two lives: the outer, role‑oriented one such as your role as spouse, friend and career roles. Three is a second, inner life which consists of feelings, thoughts and reactions. Every day, as you carry out the outer roles, you experience the inner at the same time as private thoughts, feelings, reactions, perceptions and more. Relaxation before bedtime allows the psyche to shift gears from the outer to the inner life and prepares your to communicate with the unconscious via your dreams.
3. NOTICE WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND
As you doze off, notice what thoughts, ideas, feelings, hopes, questions, decisions, and relationships are going through your mind. Dreams mostly deal with whatever your attention is on during waking hours, which is the content of your presleep thoughts. By taking a quick look at what is on your mind, you see what your dreams will be about when you wake up in the morning.
Once you begin to feel a rapport with your psyche, you can even ask yourself a question stated clearly and simply, that your dreams will answer. This is a technique called "Dream Incubation" which the Greeks and North American Indians used. Your dreams will always answer a question, for the psyche is naturally set up to want to dialogue via dreams and problem solving with you is the default stance of the unconscious.
4. TELL YOURSELF TO REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS
As you fall asleep, peacefully tell yourself: "I will remember my dreams tonight". This establishes the mind set or attention cue that any activity requires. Because of my philosophy that life is a spiritual journey, I also say a prayer, asking for guidance to come through where I need it most, in a form I'll understand and remember clearly. Then I put myself in the hands of the Almighty for the night.
5. WAKE UP COMFORTABLY
It is important to get a reasonable amount of sleep in order to remember your dreams. At times when you get less sleep, dream recall may temporarily disappear. That is nothing to worry about because dream recall will bounce back, like an elastic, the next time you get more sleep. Most people need seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
As part of waking up comfortably, if you use an alarm clock, find one with a sound that is not too loud or jarring. Loud noises tend to wake you too abruptly and lose contact with the unconscious which interferes with dream recall. Once that contact is broken, it is hard to remember a dream even you know you were dreaming. Wake up gently, if possible.
Before I used dream interpretation regularly, I was a half‑dazed and grumpy for the first hour or two in the morning. Now that I'm more in tune with myself due to paying attention to my dreams, I generally wake up with zest or a sense of peace and look forward to the day. Though I set my alarm, I wake up five to fifteen minutes before it rings, even for a new wake‑up time. Your unconscious hears and notes your thoughts and intentions, so you can program yourself to wake up in your comfort zone.
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