Losing your notebook in a dream may comment that you have lost important ideas or knowledge. It may represent anxiety and fear about losing important notes that would impact your grades in school.
Depth Psychology: The notebook is a warning about being forgetful and untidy, and about keeping things more under control. Start writing important appointments and chores on your calendar! Notes (as in a letter or musical notes) Writing a note in a dream indicates false friends. Depth Psychology: Sec Music.
A notebooks in a dream also represents an estate, a treasure chest, benefits, profits, distress, burdens, or bad comments.
If an unemployed person sees a notebook in his dream, it means that he will find work.
(Also see Paper)
If you dream of looking through someone else’s notebook, this indicates your mistrust of others and your tendencies to be in everyone’s business and affairs. Perhaps you have recently stumbled upon some information that was not meant for your eyes.
2. A greater need for mobility, diversity in communication (especially a “notebook” computer).
3. Returning to a time of learning— possibly a reminiscence of school, likely a life lesson.
See Diary.
If you write something in it, the dream indicates an understanding of reality, intelligence, and fortune.
Work, a process, or a project in your life.
Paying attention (as in noticing things and taking mental notes).
The idea of the written word, writing, or authorship.
School, education, or learning somewhere in your life.
For more clues, consider the owner, purpose, and context of the notebook.
See also: Journal; Writing; School; Book
See Book, Journal.
jotting something down in a: a col eague wil surprise you with his detailed records.
losing your: save a second copy of al important data separately.
reading in your: step back, listen, and do not react at the meeting troubling you.
another’s: an important fact has been left out of the proposal.
A writer in a dream also represents someone who is burdened, pressured, doubtful and uncertain, whereby, writing has become his escape goat and a way out of his depression. Ifone’s boss gives him a paper to write somethingon it in a dream, it means that he will solicit something from his boss and eventually receive it.
If one feels uncertain about some people then sees himself holding a pen and a piece of paper in a dream, it means that his obscurity will be replaced with clarity. Holding a piece of paper in a dream also means attaining one’s goal, or completing a project, or finalizing a program. Apaper salesman in a dream represents someone who helps cunning people do their tricks.
(Also see Notebook; Paper; Write; Writer)... paper dream meaning
If one sees himself striking a flint stone with a piece of steel to produce fire for cooking or for light, and ifhe sees the sparks coming from them in a dream, it means that he will take advantage of his friendship with someone in authority who is rock hearted to help him overcome his poverty and to make his life more manageable.
The flint stone in a dream also represents the rock hearted man, and the steel represents his might. On the other hand, if one strikes a flint stone with a piece of steel and produces sparks from them in his dream, it means that he will witness an awesome fight between two rock hearted and cruel people. Striking a flint stone in a dream also means marriage of an unwed person.
If a woman sees herself striking a flint stone with a piece of steel, and if she can produce sparks in the dream, it means that she will beget a son.
If a spark starts a fire in the dream, it means that one’s wife will become pregnant or perhaps it could represent a fight between the husband and the wife, or a fight between two partners.
If the sparks burn one’s gown in the dream, it means that harm will affect that house and such harm will bring about losses in money, family honor or bodily injury.
If the sparks burn a notebook in the dream, it means deviation from God’s path.... flint stone dream meaning
An inkwell in a dream also represents marriage, business, or a servant. Ifone is presented with an inkwell in a dream, it represents a fight with a relatives or with a woman.
If a respected witness is present when the inkwell is handed to the person seeing the dream, then it means a marriage to a relative. Licking an inkwell in a dream means engaging in sodomy or homosexuality.
An inkwell in a dream also could mean that one may seduce his servant for an unlawful sexual intercourse and that she will no longer serve that house.
To buy an inkwell in a dream means that one’s marriage will see no happiness since one’s writing pen comes out of it with ink only.
An inkwell in a dream also means ulcer.
The pen represents iron (See Iron), and the ink means time.
If one sees a section of his body transformed into an inkwell, whereby he can draw ink from it and write in a notebook in the dream, it means that he will receive an inheritance.
An inkwell in a dream also means medicine.
If one is sick, then seeing an inkwell in a dream also means finding the right medicine and, God willing, one will be cured from his illness.
(Also see Pederasty; Sodomy)... inkwell dream meaning
A writer in a dream represents a cunning and a fraudulent person.
If one’s handwriting looks illegible, or inelegant in the dream, it means that he will repent for dishonesty and from defrauding people. Writing on a scroll or on a legal pad in a dream means that one may receive an inheritance. Writing in a notebook in a dream means dodging, or repudiation. Writing a novel or a book in a dream means receiving unlawful money, or it could mean falling sick.
If one sees himself writing a book or a letter and finishes it in his dream, it means that he will complete a project and fulfill his goals.
If he fails to complete his book or his letter in the dream, it means that something will hamper, or stand in the way of completing his project. Writing with the left hand in a dream means indulging in loathsome actions, going astray, or perhaps having a son who is born from adultery, or it could mean that one may become a poet. Signing a deed, a check or a legal contract in a dream means failing to fulfill an agreement.
If one sees someone he knows drafting a contract between them in a dream, it means that the other person will defraud him, mislead him in a business deal and drive him astray.
If one finds himself illiterate and incapable of writing in a dream, it means that he is depressed, though God Almighty will show him a way out of his difficulties.
If an illiterate person sees himself trying to learn how to write and read in a dream, it means that he will benefit from something he feared for a long time, or it could mean that he will go through hard times.
If a learned person finds himself incapable of writing anything in a dream, it means depression, fear, toiling and obstruction of his business.
(Also see Book; Letter; Paper; Sign)... write dream meaning
A female sexual symbol that appears frequently in women’s dreams. On one hand, a pocketbook stands for personal Luggage (or burden).
On the other hand, it points toward a notebook, as a symbol for memory.... pocketbook dream meaning
As I mentioned, you spend about a third of your life sleeping. If you have a life span of seventy-five years, you’ll be asleep for twenty-five of those years. Imagine! Yet, despite the prevalence and common experience of sleep, only recently did science begin to understand what it is all about.
Although dreaming and its causes are still a matter for speculation, brain wave studies provide important information about sleep itself. In a normal night, a person passes through four different stages of sleep, identifiable by brain wave patterns, eye movements, and muscle tension.
In the first stage, the pattern of the brain waves goes from what is known as beta, or normal waking consciousness, to alpha, the first step into sleep. The beta phase is 13 to 26 cps (cycles per second, the speed of the oscillations in the brain wave cycle), during which you are awake and fully functioning, studying, working, socializing. The alpha phase is 8 to 13 cps, a state of deep relaxation during which you are still aware of your surroundings, whether with eyes open or closed. It is the precursor to sleep and the stage reached during light meditation. Alpha is the sort of somnolent state we might go into on a long train ride when we have been staring out the window at a monotonous landscape for hours and are lulled by boredom and inactivity.
During the alpha stage, heart and pulse rates slow down, blood pressure drops slightly, and so does temperature. Your muscles are in a relaxed condition and you experience mental “drifting.” Images described as hypnogogic may float through your mind, seemingly unrelated to anything or else variations of what you were thinking or doing just before going to bed. These hypnogogic images can be vivid, as if drug-induced. Sometimes these images are quite meaningful and may startle you back to the beta state. When this happens, you may experience your muscles jumping back to the ready-to-go stage, a common happening that is called the myoclonic jerk.
Stage three is called theta and is represented by 4 to 8 cps, the same rate you display during periods of intense daydreaming (when you can actually forget where you are) or deep meditation. This stage of abstractedness is sometimes called a brown study. In the theta state, you are neither fully awake nor fully asleep. Yet you are in a light slumber, and, if not disturbed, you will fall asleep. The brain wave pattern of theta is characterized by rapid bursts of brain activity. Sleep researchers believe that theta is truly a sleep state, but when disrupted out of this state many subjects report that they were not asleep but merely “thinking.”
Researchers believe that it is during the theta stage that most dreams occur.
Dreams are recognizable to an observer by what is called rapid eye movement, or REM. The eyeballs move back and forth like someone watching a tennis match under their closed lids. Researchers originally discovered REM by watching cats sleep, and if you observe either a cat or a person sleeping, you will notice their eyes moving back and forth. A cat or dog may twitch as if running, but during REM a human’s muscles are virtually paralyzed. The period of REM ordinarily lasts for several minutes at a time, switching on and off. If you awaken during a REM period, you will most likely remember your dreams easily and in great detail.
“Dreaming liberates perception, enlarging the scope of what can be perceived.”
Carlos Castaneda,
The Art of Dreaming
The last stage is delta; at 0 to 4 cps, it is the slowest and is evident during the deepest part of the sleep cycle. This is the state when you are totally out and even a ringing telephone or alarm clock may not wake you. Teens often experience this deepest level of sleep in the early morning hours, which is why they are often hard to wake up for school. Teens actually do better when allowed to sleep late: you function better, learn better, and generally feel better when you are able to “sleep yourself out.” It’s unfortunate that teens are often mandated an early rising time for school or even before-school activities, such as sports practice. It’s not only how much you sleep, apparently, but also when you get your sleep that counts.
People awakened from the delta stage of sleep will feel disoriented and only half awake, and they will want nothing more than to go back to sleep. If, for example, a need to visit the bathroom wakes you from a delta sleep, you may bump into the furniture or the walls, even though you know your way around. During delta, there are no eye movements. It is also the time that sleepwalking occurs. As most everyone knows, a sleepwalker can move around unerringly, as if awake, and should be left alone unless he or she is in danger. If not awakened, sleepwalkers almost always make their way back to bed without a problem, and when they do wake up they have no memory of their nighttime excursions.
An average complete sleep cycle lasts about three hours. For the first hour and a half of the cycle the sleeper moves from a waking state to light sleep to REM sleep to deep dreamless sleep. The cycle reverses itself in the second half, returning upward (so to speak) from the deep sleep of delta to the lighter theta- alpha stages. As brain activity rises, so do blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. In warm weather, you may be awakened by feeling hot as your body temperature returns to normal. This is always a clue that you are in the process of waking up, and it’s a good sign to be aware of so that you will focus on your dreams and be ready to take notes on them.
Every night you go through three or four complete sleep cycles of ninety minutes each. The first REM period of the night lasts five to ten minutes. During each cycle, the REM is repeated, lasting longer as the night progresses, while the time between the cycles gets shorter. Your last REM can be as long as an hour, and this is prime dreamtime with excellent chances for good recall of your dreams. What this means in practical terms is that, if you sleep for seven hours straight, half of your dreamtime will occur during the two hours before you wake up in the morning. An additional hour of sleep will give you an additional hour of dreaming! This is a powerful argument for getting to bed early enough to get eight hours of continuous sleep. Of course, these figures are based on laboratory averages and may not hold true for every person—you are an individual and will sleep and dream in your own way. I have found that I dream twice as much as the average reported by sleep studies, sometimes with less sleep than the average, sometimes with more.
None of these states of consciousness—beta, alpha, theta, delta—are foreign to us. We cycle through all four of them during the course of twenty-four hours, slipping in and out of them, mostly without noticing. For example, during normal beta wakefulness, you may drift off into a daydream or reverie, thinking about tonight’s date or tomorrow’s picnic, and enter the alpha phase for a while. The phone rings, or a friend speaks to you, and you snap back into the beta state.
Or you could be driving your car along a monotonous route with little to pay attention to and slip for a few moments into the theta phase (lots of people fall asleep at the wheel for a few seconds and then quickly recover) only to flip back into beta as you see a sharp curve up ahead or hear another car honking. Everyone has had the experience of “dropping off” for a couple of seconds during ordinary everyday activities (or, perhaps, lack of activity).
For those who want to pursue dream studies, it’s important to pay attention to these alpha-theta states. There is a twilight zone where you are neither asleep nor awake but are alert to slight disturbances. It’s here you may catch a dream as it is forming, and it is in this state that you are best able to give yourself instructions for remembering your dreams-to-come and for “programming” dreams to fulfill specific purposes.
Use the following exercise to track your own personal sleep patterns. Following the format given here, keep a record of your sleep habits for two weeks in order to prepare for the exercises throughout this book. You’ll find out a lot about your sleep needs, when you dream, and your level of recall. Over time, even from day to day, you may find differences that are worth noting. Then, if you want to continue the process, record your sleep habits in a separate notebook.... the nature of sleep dream meaning
If you have looked through this encyclopedia and are still having problems understanding what your dream meant, it might help before you go to sleep to ask your dreaming mind to make a confusing situation clearer for you or to present you with images or symbols that you can understand. When a dream seems important but you find it impossible to understand, ask yourself just before you go to sleep to be sent another which will give you further insight.
If you can relate the dream to a particular incident, problem or situation in your waking life but cannot understand the message, think about the incident before making your request. Some dreams reflect the worry associated with problems, showing that you are wasting your energy and could be putting it to better use. Even insoluble problems can be helped by a change of attitude—and that is how dreams can help.
Put your request as a direct command to your dreaming mind. In your thoughts, just before you go to sleep, state to yourself quite clearly what you want to know, and tell yourself that in the morning you will remember all that you have dreamed. To show you are sincere, you might want to put a notebook and pen by your bedside in readiness to write down the first thing that comes into your mind when you wake up—your dream. Sometimes it can take a few requests, depending on the link between your conscious and unconscious mind, but eventually your efforts will achieve results.
found out in waking life. Cheating and faking in dreams may also suggest feelings of inadequacy in waking life.
If you were performing a trick in your dream, try to remember if your audience was impressed or not, as this dream may suggest that you are trying to manipulate people in waking life.
If you were plotting or scheming or are a part of a group of people plotting in your dream, your unconscious is telling you that you are not being completely open and honest in your dealings with everyone in real life. Dreams of hiding or dreams in which you lock up your possessions or hide them away in a safe, strong box, under the floorboards in the attic may also represent some form of deception or fear that you are not facing up to.
See also Surreal impossibility entry in SURREALISM AND FANTASY.... dream mysteries dream meaning
When beginning the steps towards interpreting your dreams, many people find it helpful to keep a notebook – a dream journal, if you will – right next to your bed with a pen or pencil. As soon as you are physically able, begin your journal.
Write down your dream as soon as you remember it. Write down everything you remember, even if it doesn’t make sense. Most often, the parts that don’t make sense or are out of place are the most valuable. Every detail, even the minutest element in your dream is important and must be considered when analyzing your dreams. Look closely at the characters, animals, objects, places, emotions, and even color and numbers that are depicted in your dreams.
Ask yourself, “What does this remind me of?” Write down the first thing that comes to your mind. This will likely be the real situation in your life that is symbolized in the dream. What did that real-life situation make you feel like? If this is the same feeling represented in your dream, you’re on the right track. Often when there is more than one part to your dream (more than one story line) that usually means there are two things your subconscious is trying to tell you.
Remember that we have between four and seven dreams per night. If you wake up from a dream, write it down. Don’t roll over and go back to sleep. If you don’t write it down, you’ll never remember it in the morning! At the very least, you can jot down the basic premise of the dream and go back in the morning to fill in the rest of the details such as feelings, etc.
Suggest to yourself every night as you fall asleep, “I will remember my dreams.” Say this over and over. Your sub-conscious will act on this subtle suggestion. Practice keen observation in your dreams through self-suggestion prior to sleep. When a problem confronts you, you might want to ask by prayer for guidance to be sent to you through your dreams.
Trust your instincts! If something seems important, it probably is. Try not to let your logical side take over.
So you’ve got your dreams down on paper. Where do you go next? The next step would be interpretation.
... how to remember your dreams dream meaningDreams and their purpose
Consider dreams like home movies that each person produces in response to their daily experiences. These movies are meant to clarify certain situations and support the person. With sufficient knowledge, they can become a sort of spiritual guide, since oneiric thoughts are a window to the subconscious where, frequently, hidden feelings and repressed needs are stored without us realizing.
Even then, there are people who question the importance of dreams. Some scientists, for example, believe that the content of dreams is simply a random mix of the many electronic signals the brain receives. Others, however, find all types of messages in even the simplest dreams, and end up distancing themselves from daily reality in favor of oneiric activity.
Neither extreme is advisable. Each dream is undoubtedly a journey into the unknown, but, at the same time, modern psychology has allowed us to understand a good part of their structure. One of the conclusions drawn from the study of dreams confirms this: dreams can be a priceless aid to the imagination, but above all when it comes to solving problems. You just have to know how to listen to them, because their content tends to have a direct relation to the emotional challenges you are experiencing.
Each dream is a journey to the unknown with an implicit personal message. Although it is the content of the episode that determines our emotional state, dreaming in black and white indicates a possible lack of enthusiasm or nostalgia for the past. These dreams are an invitation to live with more intensity and enjoy the present.
Still from the film Viaje a la Luna (Méliès, 1902).
It is known that in times of crisis, our oneiric production increases significantly, both in quantity and intensity. Should we consider this “surplus” to be positive? Yes, as long as one makes an effort to remember and interpret the dreams, since, as we will see further on, they have a valuable therapeutic potential.
For example, if a couple is going through a critical phase, remembering and analyzing usually helps them understand the subconscious reactions they have to the situation. In other words, dreams are an excellent tool to get to the bottom of emotional conflicts. Knowing the causes is an essential step to resolving the problems, regardless of what course you take.
The English psychologist David Fontana, whose books have been translated into more than twenty languages, said it clearly: “In listening to my patients’ dreams in therapy sessions, I have observed how, often, these can take us right to the root of the psychologic problem much quicker than other methods.” Although, we shouldn’t fool ourselves: dreams are a mystery that can rarely decipher everything. But if a certain level of interpretation helps us understand ourselves better, what more can we ask for? From a practical point of view, our own oneiric material can be very useful.
In dreams, relationships with others are a recurring theme. The people that appear in our dreams, especially strangers, represent facets of ourselves that the subconscious is showing us.
Well-known writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, and Woody Allen have had faith in this, acknowledging that part of their works have been inspired by dreams. The discoveries of Albert Einstein or Niels Bohr (father of modern atomic physics), among other celebrated scientists, had the same origin. In any case, these examples shouldn’t confuse us: no dream can tell you what path to follow through symbolic images without the intellect to decipher them.
Prosperity, precognition, and pronostics
What’s more, judging by some documented cases, we can even reap material gain from dreams. There is proof of some people that had premonitory dreams managing to earn significant sums of money thanks to their oneiric “magic.” The most spectacular case was in the fifties, when an Englishman named Harold Horwood won a considerable number of prizes betting on horses. His dreams transmitted clues as to the winning racehorse to bet on. Unfortunately, these types of premonitions don’t come to everyone. However, anyone has the opportunity to discover the greatest treasure of all—knowledge of one’s self—through their dreams.
We’ve all experienced the feeling of having lost control of our lives at some point. We might feel like others are deciding things for us or that we are victims of our circumstances.
Our “dream-scapes” contain valuable information about our desires and concerns; they could also function as a forecast of some aspect of our future. According to ancient tradition, dreaming of stars predicts prosperity and spiritual wealth. “Starry Night” (Van Gogh, 1889).
However, many psychologists disagree with this. That is, they argue that daily events are not coincidences but rather meaningful deeds that reflect the inner state of the individual.
Dreams and thoughts
According to these experts, luck is a pipe dream, something that does not exist, since that which we consider the result of coincidence is none other than the natural manifestation of our thoughts and attitudes. We are basically creator, not passive receivers or victims of the events that unravel in our lives.
An example that illustrates this idea perfectly is the story of the old man who threw rocks into the sea. One day, someone asked if he ever got bored of the simple game. The old pebble thrower stared at his questioner and gave an answer he’d never forget: “My small stones are more important than they seem, they provoke repercussions. They will help create waves that, sooner or later, will reach other other side of the ocean.”
What does this have to do with dreams? It’s simple: as we’ve just seen, we are the only ones responsible for our daily experiences, no matter how hard that is to believe. Therefore it shouldn’t be too difficult to take control of our lives; we just have to listen to the messages in our interior, that is, our oneiric thoughts, of which we are ultimately the authors.
Visualizations
In this way, thanks to dreams, our two existences—conscious and unconscious—can work together to make our lives more creative and free. An important part of this process is getting to know and understanding better the process of thought. One of the most beautiful and commonly used visualizations in yoga reminds us of this: “In the bottom of the lake of our thoughts is a jewel. In order for it to shine in the light of the sun (the divine), the water (the thoughts) must be pure and crystal clear and calm, free of waves (excitement). If our water is murky or choppy, others can’t see this jewel, our inner light...”
In the bottom of the lake of our thoughts is a jewel...
But it’s not that simple: it’s often difficult to discern the connection that unites wakefulness with sleep, between what we think ourselves to be and what our oneiric fantasies say about us. In any case, if our search is passionate and patient, constant and conscious, it will result in the discovery of our true Self. Therefore the interpretation of dreams cuts right to the heart of the message conceived by and for ourselves (although not consciously). It is important to learn to listen to them (further on we will discuss techniques for this) when it comes time to unstitch their meaning and extract the teachings that can enrich our lives.
The rooms in our dreams reflect unknown aspects of our personality.
In this way, when we have to make an important decision, we can clear up any doubts through a clear understanding of our most intimate desires. Although it may seem like common sense, this is not that common these days, since most people make decisions at random, out of habit, or by impulse.
The meaning and psychic effect of some deities in Tibetan Buddhism can be linked to the monsters that are so popular today.
Dreams allow creativity a free rein and free us from worry, sometimes resulting in surreal images that would be impossible in waking life.
Put simply, the idea is to find your true identity and recognize your wounds, fears, and joys through dreams. Never forget that the subconscious, although hidden, is an essential part of our personality. Dreams are fundamental for understanding the Self, since they are a direct path to this little-known part of ourselves. Their symbolic content allows us to recover repressed emotions and gives us a map to the relationships that surround us.
Nightmares that put us to the test
Sometimes the messages they bring us are not so pleasant and take the form of nightmares. However, although it may be hard to accept, these nightmares are valuable warnings that some aspects of our life are not
in harmony with our deepest Self and thus need our prompt intervention. Nightmares are proof that self discovery is not always pleasant. Sometimes it’s necessary to feel this pain in order to find out what you really are and need.
On the other hand, dreams give creativity a free rein because, when we sleep, we are free from our day-to-day worries. Therefore, even if you don’t consider yourself a creative person, keep in mind that all the scenes, symbols, and characters that appear in your dreams have been created solely and exclusively by you.
It’s often very helpful to record dreams in a notebook (we will explain how further on) in order to later analyze them and apply their teachings to daily life.
It is quite the paradox; the human being awakens their most intimate reality precisely when they are sleeping.
Carl Gustav Jung, who dedicated his life to studying dreams, developed this metaphor: “People live in mansions of which they only know the basements.” Only when our conscience is sleeping do we manage to unveil some of the rooms of our magnificent house: rooms that may be dusty and inhospitable and fill us with terror and anxiety, or magnificent rooms where we want to stay forever.
Given that they all belong to us, it is reasonable to want to discover them all. Dreams, in this sense, are a fundamental tool.
How to remember dreams
At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Sure, dreams are really important, but I can’t use them because I simply don’t remember them.” That’s not a problem, there are techniques you can use to strengthen your memory of oneiric thoughts. Techniques that, when applied correctly, allow us to remember dreams surprisingly well.
The use of these methods is indispensable in most cases since people tend to forget dreams completely when they wake up. Why? Because, according to the hypothesis of Sigmund Freud, we have a sort of internal censor that tries to prevent our oneiric activity from becoming conscious material.
Sometimes the message of dreams turns unpleasant and takes the form of a nightmare...
However, we can laugh in the face of this censor with a few tricks. The most drastic is to wake up suddenly when the deepest sleep phase (REM phase) is just about to end, so that you can rapidly write all the details of your mind’s theater in your notebook. Waking suddenly will take this censor by surprise, stopping it from doing its job. The best time to set the alarm is for four, five, six, or a little more than seven hours after going to sleep.
If your level of motivation is not high enough to get up in the middle of the night and record your dreams, there are alternatives that let you sleep for a stretch and then remember what you dream with great precision.
First of all, it’s helpful to develop some habits before going to bed, such as waiting a few hours between dinner and going to sleep. Experts recommend avoiding foods that cause gas (legumes like green beans, raw vegetables, etc.) and foods high in fat.
You must also keep in mind that, like tea and coffee, tobacco and alcohol alter the sleep cycle and deprive the body of a deep sleep (the damaging effects of a few glasses on the body does not disappear for about four hours).
What is recommended is to drink water or juice, or eat a yogurt, more than two hours after eating, before going to bed. There are two main reasons for this: liquids facilitate a certain purification of the body, and because, most interestingly for our purposes, it causes us to get up in the middle of the night. As we said, this will catch the internal censor by surprise and allow us to record our dreams easily.
Relaxing in bed and going over the events of the day helps free the mind and foster oneiric creativity.
Yoga exercises, such as the savasana pose, are great for relaxation, restful sleep, and a positive outlook.
Relaxation
It’s important to surround yourself with an environment that stimulates oneiric activity. You should feel comfortable in your room and your bed. The fewer clothes you wear to sleep, the better. Practicing relaxation techniques, listening to calming music, or taking a warm bath a few minutes before getting into bed will help relieve stress so that you enjoy a deep restorative sleep.
There are good books on relaxation on the market, both autogenous and yogic; we recommend one of the most practical, Relajacion para gente muy ocupada (Relaxation for Busy People), by Shia Green, published by this same publishing house. However, the real key is to concentrate on remembering dreams. When you go to bed, go over the events of the day that were important to you. This way, you will increase the probability of dreaming about the subjects that most interest or worry you.
So, let’s suppose you’re asleep now. What should you do to remember dreams? First, try to wake up naturally, without external stimuli. If this isn’t possible, use the quietest possible alarm without radio. Once awake, stay in bed for a few moments with your eyes closed and try to hold your dreams in your memory as you gently transition into wakefulness. Take advantage of this time to memorize the images you dreamt. The final oneiric period is usually the longest and these instants are when it is most possible to remember dreams.
Remember that it’s best to write the keywords of the dream immediately upon waking. It is convenient to keep a notebook on the nightstand and reconstruct the dream during the day.
The dream notebook
Next, write in the notebook (that you have left beside your bed) whatever your mind has been able to retain, no matter how absurd or trivial your dreams seem, even if you only remember small fragments. This is not the moment to make evaluations or interpretations. The exercise is to simply record everything that crosses your mind with as much detail as possible. Giving the fragility of memory, it’s okay to start off with just a few key words that summarize the content of the dream. These words will help you reconstruct the dream later in the day if you don’t have enough time in the morning. Ideally this notebook will gradually become a diary or schedule that allows you to study, analyze, and compare a series of dreams. Through a series of recorded episodes, you can detect recurring characters, situations, or themes. This is something that’s easy to miss at first glance. One important detail: specialists recommend you date and title each dream, since this helps you remember them in later readings.
It’s also interesting to complement your entries with relevant annotations: what feelings were provoked, which aspects most drew your attention, which colors predominated, etc. An outline or drawing of the most significant images can also help you unravel the meaning. Finally, you should write an initial personal interpretation of the dream. For that, the second part of this book offers some useful guidelines.
While we dream, there is a sort of safety mechanism that inhibits our movement. Therefore, sleepwalkers don’t walk during the REM phase. This protects us from acting out the movements of our dreams and possibly hurting ourselves. Still from the Spanish movie Carne de fieras (Flesh of beasts) (1936).
As we’ve seen, there are a series of techniques to remember dreams. This is the first step to extracting their wisdom. Now, given that oneiric thoughts are a source of inspiration for solving problems, wouldn’t it be great to choose what you dream about before you go to sleep? Rather than waiting for dreams to come to us spontaneously, try to make them focus on the aspects of your life that interest you.
How to determine the theme of dreams
Let’s imagine that someone is not very satisfied with their job. They’d like to get into another line of work but are afraid of losing the job security they enjoy. On one hand, they’re not so young anymore, they should take the risk to get what they really want. But they don’t know what to do. They need a light, a sign, an inspiration. In short, they need a dream. But not just any dream, a dream that really centers on their problem and gives answers.
However, if you limit yourself to just “consulting your pillow,” you won’t get the desired results. There is a possibility you will be lucky and dream about what you’re interested in, but more likely you will dream of anything but. If we are really prepared to dive into that which worries us most intimately, we can direct our dreams to give us concrete answers. Just like the techniques to remember dreams, the process is simple: before sleeping, we must concentrate on the subject of interest.
It’s also best to write in your notebook all the events and emotions of the day that were most important before you go to sleep.
Once your impressions and theme to dream have been noted, concentrate on the subject that most bothers you. Think about it carefully; propose questions and alternatives, “listen” to your own emotions. It’s best if all possible doubts are noted in the dream notebook. This way you’re more likely to receive an answer.
In order for it to be an effective answer, the question must be well defined. The fundamental idea of the problem should be summed up in a single phrase. Once you’ve reflected on the problem, it’s time to go to bed. But the “homework” is not finished yet. Before going to sleep, you need to concentrate on the concrete question. You need to forget everything else, even the details. Just “visualize” and repeat the question, without thinking of anything else, until you fall asleep.
Oneiric thoughts are a source of inspiration. Annotating and analyzing them carefully fosters a process of self discovery.
Writing a dream notebook
You should always have a notebook and pen near your bed to write down dreams the moment you wake up. Don’t forget to always write the date. What details should you include in this kind of diary? As many as you remember, the more the better.
Dreams are “signs,” messages from our subconscious, and the study and interpretation of them helps resolve the problems that worry us.
Nocturnal sleep puts us in touch with the deepest level of being, which allows us to approach our problems with a wider perspective. And induced dreams tend to be easier to remember than other oneiric activity.
When we dream, we enter a marvelous world that escapes the laws of spatial and temporal logic.... what are dreams for? dream meaning
Expression or communication (since a book is an expression of the author).
The topic of the book or a related activity, person, location, etc.
The idea of reading or studying.
A different form of entertainment, relaxation, or story (such as the movie you watched last night).
See also: Text; Communication; Story; Following a Procedure; Library; Notebook; Journal... book dream meaning
Tuning into your inner wisdom.
An inner flow or process (such as creativity or expressing emotion).
See also: Writing; Notebook... journal dream meaning
A means or channel of communicating (such as through art, music, the media, politics, or activism).
Self expression.
Creativity or creative freedom.
Problem solving.
A thought process.
Consider the context and intention behind what’s being written or drawn.
See also: Typing; Writing; Ink; Notebook... pen or pencil dream meaning
Every 90 minutes or so your eyes move rapidly around under your closed eyelids. At the same time your brainwaves become highly active, almost as though you were awake. It’s during this period of what is known as ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ or ‘REM sleep’ that you dream. In the early part of the night, which is when sleep is deepest, the REM periods are quite short, lasting only a few minutes at most. Towards morning, as your sleep becomes lighter, the REM episodes become longer. The last dream you have just before waking up can last for as long as three-quarters of an hour.
During REM sleep, your body is immobilized. This means that if you have a nightmare where you try to run away or cry out, you feel para¬ lyzed. People who walk and talk in their sleep usually do so between periods of REM sleep when the body is once again able to move.
Although some people have a natural facility for remembering their dreams, particularly those with emotional, creative or introverted personalities, few can bring back the whole experience whilst others recall little or nothing. Accurate dream recall is not easy. You learn it, as you learn any skill, by developing an interest, maintaining your enthusiasm and following a routine.
If you have a stressful lifestyle, try not to watch television late in the evening. Instead, spend a few minutes relaxing quietly and letting go of the day’s concerns. If you find it hard to switch off, light reading can be helpful and alcohol and coffee late at night should be avoided. They
are known to inhibit dream recall, as can sleeping pills. Keep a pen and a notebook within easy reach of your bed. Leave this special notebook open and write down the date as a signal to your subconscious mind that you intend to remember a dream.
As you start drifting off into sleep, tell yourself: Tonight Ishall have a dream and remember it in the morning.’ When you wake up, lie still and keep your eyes closed. Allow your mind to stay relaxed, drifting back until you recapture a fragment of a dream. Even a single image is better than nothing. As soon as you remember anything, write it down, however trivial it seems. Make it a habit to write something - even a note of the mood you woke up in is better than nothing. It’s important to do this first thing, before you get out of bed. The simple act of changing your position in bed can be enough to make a dream disappear without trace. A loud alarm clock can have a similar effect. Do remember that no skill is acquired overnight. Be patient and persevere.... how to remember your dreams dream meaning
Expression.
Creativity.
Writing words can represent: Expressing something (thoughts, feelings, opinions, etc.), or fearing or desiring the expression of something.
Recording or noting something, or a desire to remember or preserve something.
Writing music can represent: communication; inspiration; expressing yourself (or a desire to do so); creating something where there was nothing; creating something new from existing things or within an existing framework; experiencing freedom through creativity.
Consider also what was being written and why.
See also: Story; Words; Text; Typing; Pen or Pencil; Ink; Language; Communication; Journal; Notebook; Music; Song; Poetry... writing dream meaning
If your initials are carved on the desk, this also expresses your desire to make your mark on the world. Freudians would argue that opening a desk and searching inside is a symbol of sexual intercourse.
Many of us associate ink with our schooldays and if ink is spilled over a sheet of paper in your dream, this may suggest feelings of guilt. The shade of ink will be significant: black ink will symbolize evil thoughts or deeds, whilst red will symbolize impulsive acts. Dreaming of notebooks or schoolbooks can suggest a great deal; are the notebooks neat, suggesting an ordered mind or are they messy, suggesting confusion? If there are doodles alongside the scribbles, this suggests a creative personality that thrives in chaos. If, in your dream, your schoolbag is filled with pens, papers, books and apples, this suggests the happiness gained from happy experience but if the schoolbag is heavy and cumbersome, you may be feeling weighed down by the past. Pay attention to the quality and condition of the school bag as it could reveal a lot about your current approach to life.
If the school bell rings suggesting that a lesson is over, this may indicate the end of a difficult phase in your life but if the bell comes at the end of a playtime, it could signify regret that a happy period in your life is coming to an end.... educational paraphernalia dream meaning
Why Keeping a Dream Record Helps You Get the Message
1: YOU LOCK IN A DREAM MESSAGE. By recording a dream, you lock in its message. Otherwise, the odds are that you will forget the dream and lose whatever insight it is trying to share. If time is short, jot down key phrases and record the full version later.
2: IT KEEPS YOU IN TOUCH WITH YOUR PSYCHE. Recording a dream ensures that messages will keep coming. Dream communications are like talking to a friend, which, in this case, is your psyche or inner voice. If you do not return a friend’s calls or e-mails, they stop. Recording your dreams tells your psyche that you want to keep talking and hearing the advice your inner voice has to offer.
3: YOU SEE CRITICAL PATTERNS. A dream journal lets you notice patterns that relate to your emotional battles, decisions, relationships, and finding your path in life.
4: YOU NOTICE WARNINGS OR A POSITIVE HEADS-UP. It is said that you pre-dream everything of importance that happens to you. Whether a dream brings a health warning or is a heads-up about a promotion, recording your dreams regularly is like maintaining a flashlight on life’s dark roads. It can shed light on the unknown.
5: IT IS EASIER TO TRACK YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRESS. Dreams unveil patterns about your psychological and emotional health. Each time you spot a pattern in your dream journal, you empower your own progress. Plugging into those patterns via dreams can make a striking difference to the success, peace, and happiness that you achieve.
6: A DREAM JOURNAL CAN BE A SPIRITUAL DIARY. If spirituality is important to you, your dream journal becomes a reflection of your inner life. For those who keep an eye on their spiritual progress, dreams can connect you to your soul. Many traditions value dreams as a spiritual connection and perceive dreams as a door to divine healing and blessings. Spiritual dreams are messages that relate to the journey of your soul and can answer life’s big questions. A dreamer who had never felt that God was real asked herself, “God, are you there?” She received a dream that knocked her socks off and the experience left her convinced that God personally knew her and loved her unconditionally. She described the dream experience as feeling more loved than she had ever felt in her life. Whatever your spiritual questions, staying active with a dream journal helps such experiences unfold.
7: A DREAM JOURNAL CAN BE THERAPEUTIC. Need a therapist? One key function of dreams and dreaming is to serve as a built-in counselor. The very act of dreaming may in and of itself help to relieve stress and keep your emotions in balance. At the same time, dreams often unearth insights with the deft hand of a loving counselor. At other times, jarring images may arise to get your attention when you are emotionally veering off track. Don’t laugh. Maintaining an active dream journal can feel like instant therapy.
It Pays to Review Your Dream Journal
REASON 1: A REVIEW IS A FAST TRACK TO NOTICE INSIGHTS AND SOLUTIONS. Every time you sift through past dream messages, your dreams become clearer. It’s like getting to know a new friend. Over time, you understand each other better and can help each other more. After you review your dreams, your psyche may begin to fast-track new, amazing insights and solutions. Reviewing such insights that were logged in a dream journal can be especially valuable for those in professions that require problem solving.
REASON 2: GOING THROUGH YOUR DREAMS HELPS YOU GAIN A FRESH PERSPECTIVE. Whether it is months or years later, reviewing your dreams can be the equivalent of taking an inventory of your life, who you are, and where you are at. You may notice emotional patterns to which you were previously blind and may decipher dreams whose meaning had escaped you. As you explore with fresh eyes, you see deeper meaning in certain dreams and discover further revelations about yourself and your life. As you take a trek through your dream journals, magical ongoing threads that recount the story of your life can unfold.
What to Put into a Dream Journal
Tricks for Dream Entries. Recording a dream may seem obvious, but there are a few tricks that are worth noting. Recording a dream is not the goal—the goal is to understand the dream’s message and to apply it. Including the following items as you record your nightly tales can improve your dream skills.
DATE. Note the date; someday, when you look back, it will be of interest.
TITLE. Give each dream a separate title that highlights its main impact.
DETAILS. Record every detail, even if you think it is unimportant or repetitive; such details may later prove important.
AS IF IT IS HAPPENING. Write the dream in the present tense, as if you are re-experiencing it. Doing so often helps recall extra details or fill in a scene you had previously forgotten.
FEELINGS. Note how a dream made you feel. The mood that a dream brings out in you can be a clue to its meaning.
A ONE-LINE SUMMARY. Immediately jot down a quick story line, as if writing a movie trailer that explains what your mini movie dream is about. Let this one-liner capture the heart of the dream, as your first impression about the dream.
LIFE CONTEXT. Make brief notes about your life. The question to ask yourself is always, “To what in me or to what in my life does the dream refer?” It may take a week or two to get an “aha” for every dream, and if you lose the thread of what was happening at the time, you are less likely to zero in on the message. Jot down brief reminders about:
• What was on your mind as you went to sleep.
• Major feelings you have been experiencing.
• Main issues that day, that week, or that period.
• Major pending decisions.
• Challenges, crises or turmoil related to relationships or other circumstances.... the benefits of a dream journal dream meaning
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