Dream a little dream of ... can't remember?

Sample dream journal page
Here is an example of a page from the journal of Bertrand, a cabinet maker who would like to be a writer as well.

Date: June 3, 2001

Day notes
Long day in the shop. How can I change my circumstance so I can write rather than make cabinets all day long? I feel paralyzed and frustrated. Had fun playing with my children, this evening. What is preventing me from creating the life I want?

Title
Boss on my back

The dream
I'm carrying my boss on my back, piggyback style. We are in a visually stunning scene of meadow and ravine, surrounded by rolling hills and mountains. I'm going downhill with my boss on my back. I'm attempting to run, but he is too heavy for me. I'm trying to be careful and strong. My boss says, “That's why I liked using those five Green Bay Packers.” As he says that, implying that I am not as strong as they, I stumble and go to the ground on my belly slightly. As I get back up I ask, “When did you use the Packers?”

Commentary
It felt awful to have my boss put me down. In our dream group session interview, I realized how much like my dad this critical and very demanding boss is. So I'm still carrying my critical self-judgments learned from my father on my back. Small wonder I lose my confidence if I compare myself to five Green Bay Packers! The beautiful scene reminds me of the beauty of creative writing, and of how I stumble when I lose my confidence

If you use a new, dated page for each dream you recall, you will have plenty of space to write your commentary at the time you recall the dream, after an interview, or during a monthly or yearly review of your dream journal. Brief, but careful day notes will be a great aid to recalling the specific waking context that led to a particular dream. Frequently, the issues you outline in your day notes are the very ones you will dream about that night.

If you are beginning your dream journal, you might like to start by recording the dreams you remember from childhood a well as any particularly vivid or recurring dreams and nightmares you recall from your youth and adult life. These will give you a variety of important dreams to reflect upon as you study your dreams. Good luck!

How to dream up a solution tonight
Have you ever gone to bed with a stubborn problem on your mind and awakened the next morning with the solution? Many have. You can do it tonight.

You can learn to sleep on a problem and awaken in the morning with a dream that will contain either the answer to your question or at least information that will move you toward solving your problem. Here are simple instructions you can follow to “incubate” a dream tonight:

1. Choose the topic you want to dream about. You might ask for a new idea for a project you are working on. Or you could ask questions like, “How can I improve my relationship with my co-worker, sister, husband?,” “Why do I keep picking men who are dead ends?,” “Why am I so irritable, or sad lately?”

2. Write down on a piece of paper by your bed the exact incubation question you are posing to yourself tonight.

3. Repeat that question silently to yourself as you fall asleep. If you skip this step you will greatly reduce your chances of generating a dream on your chosen topic.

4. Whenever you awake, write down whatever is in your mind. It may be one fleeting image of an old friend, the tail end of a dream, or just the idea you were asking for.

Remember that dreams show you what you really think and feel. They help you recognize patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving that may be helping or hindering you. And they show you aspects of relationships and situations that you fail to appreciate in waking life.

Interview yourself about your dream without assuming that your incubation succeeded. Only after you figure out what your dream is about should you ask yourself if it sheds new light on your question.

Your dreams won't tell you what to do. They will, if you know how to interpret them, open your eyes to new information and perspectives that will make such good sense that you will probably ask yourself, “How could I not have seen that before!”

For more information, check out the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

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