Remember Your Dreams
It’s always frustrating when you know you’ve had a dream, but can’t remember it. Never fear! Here are some easy-to-use, step-by-step strategies for remembering and interpreting your dreams.
Having Difficulty Remembering Your Dreams?
- Examine whether you welcome your dreams fully. Maybe you are afraid, uneasy, or skeptical. Make a decision to welcome your dreams.
- When you lay your head on the pillow and close your eyes, repeat a simple affirmation to yourself to remember your dream upon waking. Inhale, say “I will remember my dream and welcome its message,” exhale, and allow your mind to relax into sleep.
- Keeping pen and paper by the bedside can be a powerful tool to focus your intention on dream recall. You’ll find that if you get into the habit of writing down your dreams right away upon waking, you’ll have a more coherent and detailed dream “story.” Don’t worry if you feel like you’re writing in your sleep—that’s okay. Read it later, in the morning.
- Practice concentration. As you begin to work on recalling your dreams, take 10 minutes a day to meditate on the dream images or story. Don’t worry about interpreting the dream; just meditate and begin to concentrate on how you feel and respond to the dream.
Are You Eager to Recall Your Dreams More Fully?
- Begin to keep a dream journal. Start by simply writing down dream words or images that are powerful parts of your dream: the sun, running fast, a green hat. Over time, think about the Dream Themes that emerge from these Dream Words, and use this dictionary to explore possible connections and dream meanings.
- Make your dream journal a dream story journal. Take the notes you scrawl at bedside and type them out in narrative form. Do this over a period of time and see if the stories have connections. Do they recur? Continue? Where is your dream story going?
- For more sophisticated dream recall, begin to write not only the dream story in your journal, but also the events of your waking day before the dream. Look for unexpected or completely obvious resonances between your waking and sleeping selves.
Do You Want to Use Your Dreams to Become More Self-Aware?
- If a dream you’ve had is puzzling you, when you lay your head on the pillow and close your eyes, invite a dream that explains the meaning further. Even if the two dreams don’t seem to be related, they are, somehow. Meditate on it and see what comes to you.
- If you have a problem or issue in your waking life, you can ask your dreams to help supply answers and strategies for action. Ask your question before sleep, and see what arises in your dream.
- Don’t assume anything! Dreams are sometimes so like us, and sometimes so not like us. Open yourself to the idea that you are a beautiful mystery, wrapped in an enigma (where have we heard that before?), and that you may still have a lot to learn about who you are and who you dream of becoming. Just as you welcome your dreams, welcome the opportunity to let them transform your waking life.
- If your dreams are frightening or violent and they worry you, consider seeing a licensed therapist to explore dream meanings. Most of the time, though, these dreams have the purpose of provoking you or getting your attention—fast. And they do! As you meditate, ask the dream to explain itself to you. For example, if you are being chased by a polar bear, turn and ask the bear, “Why?” If this doesn’t work, then invite a dream in which the bear appears to you in a calm way, where you are protected, and helps you to understand why it chased you. Even if you dream about something completely different, the answer will be in there, we guarantee.
The most important thing to remember in interpreting your dreams is to recognize that you have your own, very personal, dream world. Imagine yourself as an explorer about to embark on a journey to map an unknown territory, but this territory is yourself and your dreams. What could be more exciting on the path of life than to think and dream with awareness, insight, and curiosity? With these techniques, remembering dreams will become easier, and allow you to find something useful in the suggestions your dreams hold. Happy dreaming!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dream Dictionary by Eve Adamson and Gayle Williamson (a.k.a. Dream Genie)
