You Dream for You… Indulge Yourself…

dreamsThe last few days, I’ve been writing an article on Dream Theory and my September Dark Legacy release, for Romantic Times magazine.I went back and reread my notebooks (yes, notebookS) and the small library of dream research I bought and studied while I pieced together the early plot. A lot of reflection ensued. And I found myself getting excited all over again by the science of dream theory and the possibilities that dreams offer our every day lives. Yes, my imagination has taken the concept of dream work and run with it to create a suspenseful paranormal world for my new series. But under all the craziness I’ve stirred up, I still see the great stuff you and I can learn about our dreams and our waking lives–as long as we’re willing to indulge our dreams and go along for the ride

Everyone seems to agree that your dreams are an extension of who you are. That there is an alternate world on the other side of sleep that doesn’t explicitly reflect your waking one. But that parts of each world can cross into the next. Emotions seem to be the generally accepted conduit for ideas and images and symbols to flow back and forth. Your emotions when you wake up and the ones that get dealt with during sleep. And also, I believe, the emotions that we process or don’t process that other people feel around us all day–a lot of us, I wager, work through other people’s “stuff” while not conscious, so we don’t have to when we are ;o)

The single most important thing I’ve learned about dreams from my reading? That they’re working for you. Dreams are doing some of the thinking and a lot of the “information storage” and even some of the feeling that we can’t or won’t focus on while we live out our day. If you don’t sleep long or deeply enough to dream, then that work doesn’t get done. Hence, a lot of people with sleep problems have difficulty with short-term memory retention.

As scary as dreams may sometimes be (and I’ve had a good bit of fun with the scary–and the sweet–in my Legacy series dream battles), dreaming is a chance for you to let go and see what your mind is choosing to deal with. To learn and explore and safely delve into things that challenge you, and sometimes to revisit the memories and experiences you’re not yet ready to let go of.

The key, it would seem, is to be aware of your dreams (before, during or after), and to learn from them as much as you can.What’s important to you? What’s worrying you? What’s on your mind the most, so maybe there’s more work to be done there? Who’s in your dreams, and what do these dream icons represent? There’s not always a one-to-one correlation to the people in your waking world. What symbols repeat themselves in your dreams (for me, it’s water and birds and cats)? What can these symbols and how they’re used tell you about your real world view?

The possibilities are endless, once you become more aware. Some people say the’ve learned how to dream walk. Thaty the’ve mastered how to slip into that palce on the other side of sleep, so they can direct what’s happening there a bit. I’m told it’s rare thing, and for must of us it’s too scary to contemplate, but what an amazing idea! Naturally, that’s what I’m choosing to write about in Dark Legacy and Secret Legacy ;o) 

There’s so much to talk more about. Too many facets of dreams to cover in a single post (look for dream blogs several times a week). For now, here are a few basics terms that might get you interested enough to want more:

  • Lucid Dreaming is when you’re aware that you’re dreaming, while your dreaming.
  • Dream Initiated Lucid Dreaming (DILD)–when you become aware that you’re dreaming in the midst of the dream.
  • Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming (WILD)–when you fall asleep aware that you’re about to dream, and then fall into the dream itself. This most often occurs when you’ve woken from a dream, are still in a half-dream state, and then relax back into the dream you’ve just left.

Lucid dreaming–what a cool goal to have. What could we learn if we were more aware of the work going on in our minds while we sleep?

And just for the Anna record–

  • Yes, I lucid dream.
  • DILD and WILD.
  • No–my hand’s not on the wheel once I get there ;o)

Homework to prep for future posts (if you can’t answer these right now, try to relax as you wake next time. While in your own “half-sleep” state, think back to your most recent dream before it’s gone)–

  • Do you remember your dreams?
  • Do you remember several dreams from your night’s dream work?
  • Do you dream in color?
  • Do you repeat dreams? Are there frequent repeat “guests” or symbols in your dreams?
  • Oh, can you remember enough to know if you dream in color?

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One Response to “You Dream for You… Indulge Yourself…”

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