The Unconscious World of Dream

How To Remember Your Dreams
Next: The Importance of Dreams

Links: Keeping A Dream Diary.............Create A Free Dream Journal
I know that if we meditate on a dream sufficiently long and thoroughly--if we take it about with us and turn it over and over--something almost always comes of it.... Carl Jung
Helpful Hints for Better Dream Recall

Before you go sleep
          1.  Expect to remember your dreams.
          2.  Review past dreams.
          3.  Get ready to record your dreams.
          4.  Be prepared to stay awake to make a record.
          5.  Review the previous day back to morning.

Upon waking
          1.  Follow your dream backwards.
          2.  Try and remember all the dreams you can.
          3.  Think of events that may have triggered dreams.
          4.  Don't be discouraged if there is no recall.
          5.  Don't forget the dream before you write it down.

Daily Attitudes
          1.  Value each dream.
          2.  Accept all dreams.
          3.  Approach recall as a skill.
          4.  Expect to recall dreams during the day.
          5.  Don't compare recall ability.


The simple steps to dream recall:

1. Pay attention.

2. Expect positive results.

3. Accept what you produce.

4. Use your imagination to interpret the symbols in your dreams.

5. Be curious about your entire dream world and eager to explore its territory.

6. Have a definite purpose when you want a dream to serve you, and concentrate on the subject about which you want dream help.

7. Be filled with gratitude that you have this wonderful opportunity to explore your inner world anytime you sleep. Like Aladdin's cave, it is filled with treasure.


Dreams are a different level of awareness, more fluid, multi-layered, filled with meaning. They are an alternate form of perception -- that's why they are often so difficult to remember. And that's also why working with them helps us out of our "perceptual trenches." In order to remember a dream you have to create a bridge between your daily awareness and the mind state of your dream world. Remembering dreams clearly requires a certain limberness of perception.

Simply remembering your dreams, even if doing so is a struggle, builds strength and flexibility of perception.


A few suggestions:

  • If you have difficulty remembering your dreams, affirm forcefully that you WILL remember your dreams when you wake up. Repeat your affirmation with strength a number of times as you drift to sleep.
  • Write down your dreams or at least a few notes about your dreams the moment you wake up. Often it is easier to remember dreams in the first few minutes after waking when your awareness hasn't become fixed into its normal patterns of perception. Reread your notes later in the day to help bring as much of your dream memories as possible into your normal waking awareness.
  • Keep trying! If you have difficulty remembering even one dream, the effort will still pay off. If you usually remember your dreams, this practice will enhance your dream recollection, awakening you to the full depth of your dream experiences.
Create a Personal Dream Symbol Dictionary

As you remember your dreams more, make special note of the symbols that appear in your dreams: people, animals, objects, places. Write down the symbols that seem to you to be the most powerful, those that evoke the strongest feelings, those that keep reappearing in your dreams. Explore their deeper meanings.

A simple technique is to create a dictionary:

On an index card or on the page of a journal, write down the name of the symbol and a brief description of it. On the opposite page, or on the back of the card, write down what it means to you.

  • What feelings do you associate with the symbol?
  • What memories does it evoke?
  • What does the symbol represent to culture, to religion, to the world of business?
  • Might the symbol be a pun (coins representing "change")?
Consult Myths-Dreams-Symbols Dream Dictionary

Why create a symbol dictionary? Because you are learning a new language. The intuitive mind speaks to us in a highly symbolic language. The first encounters with psychic "flashes" often seem like you've been dreaming while awake; you suddenly realize you've been watching a stream of images pass before your eyes. The world of dreams is the classroom in which we learn to read those images. Dreams are your own private language lab.


Watch Your Dream Numbers

Pay special attention to numbers and dates that appear in your dreams.

If you get a date in your dream, mark your calendar and see what happens that day. Does your dream add extra insight into the events of the day? Sometimes your dreams can be precognitive, describing an important event on a date, yet too often we don't recognize when this happens. Even if we remember the dream, we may not make the connection in our minds because we haven't yet learned to understand the symbolic language of our intuition.

With numbers, notice numeric patterns occurring in your daily life, even in seemingly random details, and see what correspondences to your dream arise. Does any event or experience associated with the number somehow parallel your dream?

Recognizing numeric correlations with dreams can be difficult at first because we haven't been trained to see numeric patterns. In our experience, numbers that arise in dreams can be many things, but when you make the right correlation you often find yourself thinking "Aha!" because all of the pieces of the dream suddenly snap into place. Numbers can be:

  • Money-- "Three" can be the $300 bonus you unexpectedly receive, or the $300 bill for the car repair you're about to need.
  • Dates -- "Fifteen" can correspond to the fifteenth of the month.
  • People -- "Seven" can be the seven people in your business meeting later that afternoon (even if you didn't know in advance who would show up).

Numbers found in dreams can, of course, be many other things as well. The more you work with dream numbers, the more you'll learn to anticipate their meaning rather than make the connection after the fact.

Dreams are a deep well of hidden awareness. These three exercise are meant to be an introduction only. You can go much deeper in working with your dreams, both to understand yourself as well as tap into your psychic potential. Draw the waters from your dream life regularly if you want to develop your psychic abilities.

newvision-psychic.com



12-25-04

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