Post by undineworker on Feb 27, 2007 19:42:01 GMT
I have just been gathering some very useful information together to help us all to get more from our dreams, both before we go to sleep and after we wake up. Here are a few observations and pointers for everyone.
Why we dream - dreams are really a way for your subconscious mind to communicate with the conscious mind. Tests were done wherein a coloured liquid was injected into the brain area before sleep, and this showed vividly during dreamtime, showing that the brain is more active in sleep than in waking life! Just think what that means in terms of having "a good night's sleep" - your brain is taking over all the functions of your body on auto-pilot as well as processing everything that has happened to you during the day and recently solving all your problems and dilemmas, not to mention the large area of your brain we do not know, use, or understand...could this be the part where we process past life memories, or spiritual knowledge? no-one is really sure about this...but it makes for a very interesting hypothesis.
Symbology in dreams - well, interesting, this, often, in my interpretations I say that water means emotion, or a house with rooms suggests the mind with its many compartments...but serious new research suggests that there is no such thing as the original concept Freud had of universal symbology...it simply doesnt exist. Tests were done, and a group of people dreamed about lots of different things, yet no two people had the same explanation for a symbol, on the contrary, they had totally different ideas about what different symbols meant, all intensely personal ideas, and mostly relating to recent happenings in their lives. There is very little sexual symbology either, which seemed to really obsess Freud, ie he thought a cigar may mean a male member.....!!! but this is not the case.
Colour in dreams - both colour and sound are present in most dreams, it is simply that a dream is so fragile that on waking, we often forget. In tests done relating to a person keeping a dream diary over a period of years, the colours grew more vivid, the more disciplined the person became at writing down the dreams...it was also easier to interpret dreams based on colour language and understanding, because certain colours came to relate to certain themes in the mind of the individual dreamer...an interesting thought, e.g. red for anger, blue for calm - makes sense doesnt it?
Now a little exercise - if you would like to get better at remembering and recording your dreams, try out this methodology -
1. Incubate an idea - before going to sleep, think consciously about a topic or a person you would like to dream about. Pose a question thats troubling you and see how your dream responds to it.
2. Keep track by noting things down - keep a pad and ligth pen or tape recorder or laptop or dictaphone next to your bed to record your dream as soon as you wake up.
3. Try to wake up naturally without the help of an alarm clock - I know this one is tough for some people - If your schedule doesnt allow you to sleep in during the week, begin keeping your dream diary during the weekend, to get into the flow with it.
4. Wake up slowly - for the first moment after you wake up, lie still and keep your eyes closed, due to the fact that your dream may be connected to the position your body is in, whilst you were asleep. Try to remember the dream and then "file" it in your memory by giving it a title, like "being chased by a scary monster" so you can begin the process of automatically calling its content to mind should you find that you need to refer to it later on in the day.
5. Join the dots - to better interpret your dreams try to make connections between your remembered dreams and recent events in your life. Do you recognise people/places from the past or present? Can you understand any themes from the dream, and also remember to look for patterns over one or two consecutive dreams that might help you to unravel and understand an individual dream (using the title from the last one to call others to mind with similar themes).
6. Change the end results - if you have nightmares that keep on coming, and make it difficult or scary to go to sleep, try to alter the ends...once you wake up from a nightmare, visualise a change in the action to create a more positive outcome. If you are trapped, dream you can fly, if you are chased, dream that you turn around and confront the monster, and he is a mouse!! Its your dream, take control of it!
7. Be patient - this is the hardest part for most people but it may take days or weeks before you are able to recall yoru dreams in detail - good advice is to keep practising. Dreams are fragile and trying to recall everything seems to get easier, having a cumulative effect after awhile, so it becomes like every good habit, one you will enjoy, and not want to stop....its far more enjoyable than just keeping a journal, because this is the diary of a conversation between your conscious and subconscious minds!!
Have lots of fun and let me know how you all get on!! I shall expect to see an increase in dreams for me to interpret, and maybe we can do some together!
love and light
Lizzie xxxx
Why we dream - dreams are really a way for your subconscious mind to communicate with the conscious mind. Tests were done wherein a coloured liquid was injected into the brain area before sleep, and this showed vividly during dreamtime, showing that the brain is more active in sleep than in waking life! Just think what that means in terms of having "a good night's sleep" - your brain is taking over all the functions of your body on auto-pilot as well as processing everything that has happened to you during the day and recently solving all your problems and dilemmas, not to mention the large area of your brain we do not know, use, or understand...could this be the part where we process past life memories, or spiritual knowledge? no-one is really sure about this...but it makes for a very interesting hypothesis.
Symbology in dreams - well, interesting, this, often, in my interpretations I say that water means emotion, or a house with rooms suggests the mind with its many compartments...but serious new research suggests that there is no such thing as the original concept Freud had of universal symbology...it simply doesnt exist. Tests were done, and a group of people dreamed about lots of different things, yet no two people had the same explanation for a symbol, on the contrary, they had totally different ideas about what different symbols meant, all intensely personal ideas, and mostly relating to recent happenings in their lives. There is very little sexual symbology either, which seemed to really obsess Freud, ie he thought a cigar may mean a male member.....!!! but this is not the case.
Colour in dreams - both colour and sound are present in most dreams, it is simply that a dream is so fragile that on waking, we often forget. In tests done relating to a person keeping a dream diary over a period of years, the colours grew more vivid, the more disciplined the person became at writing down the dreams...it was also easier to interpret dreams based on colour language and understanding, because certain colours came to relate to certain themes in the mind of the individual dreamer...an interesting thought, e.g. red for anger, blue for calm - makes sense doesnt it?
Now a little exercise - if you would like to get better at remembering and recording your dreams, try out this methodology -
1. Incubate an idea - before going to sleep, think consciously about a topic or a person you would like to dream about. Pose a question thats troubling you and see how your dream responds to it.
2. Keep track by noting things down - keep a pad and ligth pen or tape recorder or laptop or dictaphone next to your bed to record your dream as soon as you wake up.
3. Try to wake up naturally without the help of an alarm clock - I know this one is tough for some people - If your schedule doesnt allow you to sleep in during the week, begin keeping your dream diary during the weekend, to get into the flow with it.
4. Wake up slowly - for the first moment after you wake up, lie still and keep your eyes closed, due to the fact that your dream may be connected to the position your body is in, whilst you were asleep. Try to remember the dream and then "file" it in your memory by giving it a title, like "being chased by a scary monster" so you can begin the process of automatically calling its content to mind should you find that you need to refer to it later on in the day.
5. Join the dots - to better interpret your dreams try to make connections between your remembered dreams and recent events in your life. Do you recognise people/places from the past or present? Can you understand any themes from the dream, and also remember to look for patterns over one or two consecutive dreams that might help you to unravel and understand an individual dream (using the title from the last one to call others to mind with similar themes).
6. Change the end results - if you have nightmares that keep on coming, and make it difficult or scary to go to sleep, try to alter the ends...once you wake up from a nightmare, visualise a change in the action to create a more positive outcome. If you are trapped, dream you can fly, if you are chased, dream that you turn around and confront the monster, and he is a mouse!! Its your dream, take control of it!
7. Be patient - this is the hardest part for most people but it may take days or weeks before you are able to recall yoru dreams in detail - good advice is to keep practising. Dreams are fragile and trying to recall everything seems to get easier, having a cumulative effect after awhile, so it becomes like every good habit, one you will enjoy, and not want to stop....its far more enjoyable than just keeping a journal, because this is the diary of a conversation between your conscious and subconscious minds!!
Have lots of fun and let me know how you all get on!! I shall expect to see an increase in dreams for me to interpret, and maybe we can do some together!
love and light
Lizzie xxxx
