A Ramble on Dreams

3 Years ago I listened to a book which almost melted my mind. It talked about dreams we could control. That had scientific studies done on it.

And so I started looking more into dreams

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Natural Dreamers

Some people have all sorts of dreams that they can talk about. Or that they can recall. Ones involving friends, family, neighbours and celebrities in all manner of situations.

I'm not one of them. Maybe a couple of times a year I would recall a dream. So I was intrigued by the thought of getting more out of my dreaming time.

The Polish Moment

One thing about listening to audiobooks is the information is connected to the place we are listening to it. I remember listening to my first audiobooks walking to work in Exeter, Rich Dad Poor Dad in Malaga and a book on Lucid Dreaming in Poland.

It talked about lucid dreaming and the science and theories behind it. A place we could explore and train in our sleep. It opened up a world I hadn't thought about much before.

Modern Dreams

Does life in the modern world mean we pay less attention to dreams?

Have alarm clocks, lighting and mobile phones damaged our ability to dream?

Has a focus on consumerism, being busy and looking for the next thing lessened the impact of dreams?

Do we talk about dreams less than our ancestors?

There has been a lot of time put into studying dreams in recent decades. And sleep. We are closer to understanding dreams, their purpose and the parts of the brain that deal with them.

Dreams and Creativity

One thing I've noticed is that my more creative friends often seem to have more of them. They talk about them more and pay more attention to what night-time visions are telling them.

Maybe they are people more aware of their emotions?

How are our hope and dreams affected by our sleeping dreams?

Dreams have had resonance with the moon and night and shadows and art and all the interesting things!

Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreaming is where the dreamer is aware that they are in a dream. Some wake as soon as they realise. But lucid dreaming is a place for exploration.

And techniques for inducing lucid dreams. Involving dream journals, looking at hands, naps, special teas....

To me dreams sound interesting and useful. For creativity and opening up the world at night.

Starting a Dream Journal

So I now keep a dream journal. It's a place where you can record dreams you have. The act of writing down dreams should make it easier to recall future ones. And studying the journal gives you insight into your thoughts and wellbeing

Mine often it doesn't have much in it.

Sometimes I don't want to wake up fully to write down a dream, on the thought that I'll wake up fully.

And then I go through periods where I recall several dreams a week.

And last year I had my first lucid dream. It involved a plane and some friends. Nothing really exciting happened beyond realising I was aware of being dreaming. And changing a couple of small things?

Personal things I'm doing to help with sleep and dreams include screen curfew after 8 pm (with varying success), the dream journal, looking at hands, walks in nature and getting sunlight in the morning. Future things include dimmer switches

Dream Resources

If you are more interested in dreams...

Books / Audiobooks on Lucid Dreaming include Dreams of Awakening by Charlie Morley and Lucid Dreaming, Plain and Simple by Roberter Waggoner and Caroline McCreedy

For something on dreams there's Beginner's Guide to Dream Interpretation by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Related to dreams is sleep, for which there is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

I found the Beginner's Guides, FAQs and Resources at r/LucidDreaming on reddit to be helpful.

Then for some fiction around dreams try the Graphic Novels of Sandman, by Neil Gaiman.

Finishing Up

A huge and interesting subject. Not covering nightmares which might be it's own thing.

How are your dream times faring?