Recalling Dreams
I have met people who swear they never dream but I take that to mean that they don’t remember their dreams. If someone “doesn’t dream” and is centered, happy, productive, thoughtful, creative in work and play, loving and curious then I would argue that their life is a wonderful dream. More power to them, but, especially in these times, where the emotional, political, cultural and even spiritual landscape is constantly changing, dreaming is essential for our mental and emotional equilibrium regardless of one’s belief-system or attitude towards dreaming itself. Dreaming is a fact of life.
I have always embraced the notion that if you don’t dream, your dream becomes your fate. In other words, if the dream remains unconscious it is experienced in projected form, which simply means that the emotionally charged elements of the dream attach to real people and situations. One way or another the dream will out!
When we are asleep and in the dream state, our psychic energy back-pedals into an older part of our brain and begins to tell us stories that represent a point of view that may compensate or directly challenge our conscious standpoint. This older part of our brain communicates in a language of symbol, metaphor, analogy and emotion. Often dreams are uncomfortable, unpleasant or disturbing, but I have found that, unless the dream is particularly distressing, writing down or drawing or sharing the dream with someone is very helpful as a way of honoring the dream and the source. (In the case of a nightmare, where the dream-self feels threatened, the mere act of recall is healing, albeit unpleasant.)
It helps to write dreams down either right after the fact or first thing in the morning. One suggestion is to keep a light by your bed and a notebook (or a tape-recorder). If recording dreams is new, you may have to start with recalling fragments. Try not to move too far or too fast when you reach for the notebook, to maintain the mood or feel of the dream.
Please feel free to share techniques that have helped you recall your dreams.
You may want to check out this link on recalling dreams: