The fact is, everyone dreams! Researchers have found that most people dream several times each night and each dream last about 5 – 90 minutes even though some dreams seem like they last all night. Some of us dream in black and white and some in color. We can control our dreams, remember or forget our dreams and as I am going to discuss today, we can learn a heck of a lot from our dreams. [1]
Remembering Dreams
You may be a person who thinks they never dream or does not remember any of the dreams you have and so you might be thinking this article is of no help to you. Truth is, you can train yourself to remember your dreams more easily. Often times we don’t remember our dreams because when we are finished dreaming we may not wake up right away. This drastically lowers our chances of remember that particular dream. So how do we remember our dreams? Just ask. Before you fall asleep, tell yourself you will awaken after your dream and remember what you dreamt about. Practicing this night after night will help you to remember your dreams a lot more easily. It is also helpful to keep a dream journal beside your bed and when you wake up from a dream, write it down right away. Since we forget our dreams very quickly upon waking up, writing down as many details as possible will help you remember. [2] Don’t underestimate the simplicity and effectiveness of asking to remember your dreams.
Mystery of Dreams
To many of us, dreams are a mystery because we often have a tough time analyzing our dreams or even understanding what exactly is happening when we dream. Even the scientific community has not found a clear reason as to why we dream and as at this point on theories exist. These theories include practicing responses to threatening situations, creating wisdom, and psychotherapy. Dreaming has even been compared to the process of defragmenting a hard drive. [3]
When we don’t understand or don’t see value in our dreams, it is easy for us to brush them off as nothing but mind creations that can be meaningless. The truth is, there can be a lot of value in dreams should we learn to analyze them and what we can get out of them. I personally believe dreams can actually be more of a real state of mind and we can use them to experience things we may not be able to experience quite as easily in ‘real life.’ For this reason, dreams are a great tool in uncovering wisdom.
How to Benefit From Your Dreams
I am going to use some personal experience here in order to explain this more easily and make it relatable. Have you ever woken up from a dream you were having about someone doing something that made you angry? In waking life were you actually angry at the person who affected you in the dream? I bring this up because this is a very common thing to happen and it lends a lot to the immense realism dreams can often have. What you felt or experienced in the dream is often the exact same reaction you would feel if it happened in real life. This is because the dream is playing on challenges, beliefs and stories you have within you and once you recognize that, you are ready to begin clearing them.
T
he Process
he Process1. One of the first steps in learning how to benefit from your dreams is remembering them. If you can’t remember your dreams, how can you learn from them!? By using the techniques above to learn to remember your dreams, you can then begin analyzing them in order to get the most out of them.
2. Analyzing your dreams is often a lot simpler than we think. Dreams can be wonky at times as ‘impossible’ things might happen that suddenly appear meaningless. I find one of the best ways to learn from your dreams is to pay attention to how you felt or what emotions were elicited during various states of the dream. You may have interacted with someone, been in a situation or witness to an event that brought up a certain emotion or response. Anger, fear, sadness, regret, hatred, jealousy, love, joy or peace. Whatever the emotion, recognize what it was because this is the key in figuring out where to go next.
3. Once you have picked out which emotion or response was prominent, you can then begin asking yourself why you felt that way in the dream. This is where it is important to dig deeper. Instead of just stopping at, ‘this person made fun of me so I was sad.’ Dig deeper and find out why you truly felt sad to begin with. Do you feel self conscious about what they made fun of you about? Do you have doubts about your self and so you felt sad? This is often referred to as ‘getting to the root’ of our challenges. We often have to be honest with ourselves during this stage of reflection.
4. The next step is choosing to go beyond whatever was identified as the core issue. If for example we found out that we were sad because we were feeling self conscious, we can ask ourselves where this belief system that makes us feel self conscious came from. Did we learn this from how the world tells us how to be? Did we learn this from what someone told us when we were younger? Whatever the reason might be, the awareness of realizing how it got their to begin with will suddenly begin to diminish the power the story has over you. Next ask yourself “Do I want this to keep allowing this belief to limit me and make me feel sad?” As simple as that sounds, most of our stories and beliefs come from a lack of understanding. By understanding the root cause and choosing consciously not to let it affect us anymore, we can begin moving beyond it.
5. It may not all be done there. The next step is putting your new understanding of where the issue came from into practice. Sometimes things will continue to present themselves here and there in your life. That’s OK! It is likely that the belief or story has been a habit for a very long time. We have to break those neurological connections and release the old energy of that pattern. To do this, continue to observe yourself when these patterns re-surface. Apply the same understanding and clarity you realize when looking into the issue, and choose to respond differently. With some practice, you will notice yourself sustain a state of peace very easily as it relates to what was once an issue.
Final Notes
By understanding and analyzing our dreams effectively, our dreams can literally become a playground for experiences that show us what it is we are ready to clear or move beyond in order to find more peace in life. Ultimately we are here to learn and grow as souls and we do that through experience. A real life and dream experience can often be equal in allowing us to clearly see what our challenges are. Key tip: You can ask your dreams to present things to you that you would like to work on. Often times by stating your intentions before sleep, your dreams will give you some great experiences that you can then work on during a waking state. Write them down and have a blast going through it. This is precisely what inspired me to write this article as I have been using my dreams to bring up things that are ready to go.
Sources:
1. http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/tp/facts-about-dreams.htm
2. http://www.lucidity.com/NL11.DreamRecall.html
3. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-literary-mind/200911/why-do-we-dream
