Dearest Dreamers:
You may have noticed that your Dreaming Self pays attention
to your waking life. Your Dreaming Self
has a unique angle, almost as if observing you from a helicopter. From that perspective, your Dreaming Self can
offer insights to your waking dilemmas and troubling circumstances.
You’ve heard the advice when you’re struggling with a
problem: Sleep on it. Of course!
Allow your Dreaming Self to work with you and you will awake with good
advice or new ideas to help you resolve the problem. This can be a lucky phenomenon, or you can make
it a regular part of your life by learning to incubate dreams.
My reference for this exciting and rewarding process is Living Your Dreams, by Gayle Delaney,
dream researcher, and past president of the International Association for the
Study of Dreams. Delaney spells out seven
steps for dream incubation:
Step 1: Choose the
Right Night – when you’re not too tired, haven’t been drinking or using
prescription or recreational drugs. On
this night you’ll need an extra 10-15 minutes to make notes before you fall
asleep.
Step 2: Make Day
Notes – Record the activities, thoughts, and feelings that filled your
day. No need to write an essay; just a
few lines will do.
Step 3: Incubation
Discussion – Use your mind and heart to describe the situation that concerns
you in detail. Consider and write down
what you see as the causes of the problem, the alternative solutions to the
problem, how it makes you feel, what you might gain from taking action or doing
nothing. Churn up your feelings. Get those thoughts down onto the paper.
Step 4: Incubation
Question or Request – Write a simple sentence on the next line that expresses
your deepest and clearest desire to understand your predicament. For example:
“What’s really going on between X and me?” Or, “Give me an idea for my next painting.”
Step 5: Focus! – Set your notes aside. Relax.
Put all your attention on your Incubation Question. Repeat it; concentrate on it; push distractions
away and return to the question or request.
Step 6: Sleep &
Dream! – The easiest step! As many psychologists, psychiatrists, and students
of dreaming have found, our Dreaming Self sees our life and problems more
clearly, more objectively, and from a broader perspective than we usually do
when we’re awake. Your Dreaming Self
will connect with sources of experience and wisdom often available only in your
sleeping state.
Step 7: Record Your
Dream – Try to re-experience the dream and include any feelings, thoughts,
songs, or fantasies that came with it.
Jot down any associations that come to mind regarding different dream
elements. Even sketch unusual images.
Chances are excellent, Dear Dreamer, that the dream’s insights
will be clear and apparent to you. If
not, spend some time with its images and actors. Talk it over with a trusted friend or dream
worker. Be honest with yourself! If it truly stumps you, send it to me! I’ll be happy to work through it with you.
Next week, I’ll share a dream recently told to me by someone
who incubated an important dream at a crossroads in her life. She credits the dream with making all the
difference in her decisions.
Until then, sweet dreams to you, Dear Dreamer!
SMYD
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