Time to dream

One of the things I enjoyed about being an insomnic was that it was fairly easy to remember my dreams. I woke several times in the night, so there would be a different dream to recall each time. Even now that I sleep well, I still have the ability to easily recall my dreams.

I became fascinated by my dreams in my late teens and brought a dream interpretation book, put a notebook and pen by my bed and began to record my dreams. I still have the book, it is very battered and dog eared and the cover is nearly falling off. Now there are several dream interpretation sites online, (here's one) but I still refer to the old book from time to time - it's a lot quicker than switching the computer on at night! A lot of these websites are American so you may have to type in American words not English ones to get the meanings.

People have been fascinated by dreams over the centuries and have analysed and interpreted them, some believe they tell the future and others that they help diagnose physical health. In modern times Freud and Jung felt that dream interpretation was a key to the unconscious mind.

If you want to remember your dreams, you need to start writing down all that you remember immediately when you wake up. Lie still and think about all that you remember. At first it may only be a snatch or glimpse of a longer dream. Write down everything but don't attempt to make sense of it. The more you do this the better your recall will become. I find the easiest way is when I recall a scene and have noted it, I ask myself 'How did I get there?' and am able to remember what happened before and then I work back in stages. Also note down your emotions and how you feel. I have had some dreams which on recall have been intensely happy and sometimes overwhelmingly sad.

When you can start to recall more details from your dreams then you can start to research what they mean. This is the interesting bit!
I tend to go with an overall feeling first and what struck me as being the important elements and after having found that out, I then look up the smaller more detailed aspects that fill in the gaps.
Due to the fact that you incorporate noises and outside events into your dreams, you need to be careful about what dreams you choose to interpret - if you live near a railway and constantly dream of trains, be aware that you may be incorporating the noises you are hearing as you sleep. Also alcohol and eating late at night may produce vivid and imaginative dreams but again these should be discounted.

You may find you have recurring themes in your dreams. For a couple of years, whilst going through a long, drawn out process of being made redundant, I used to dream about boats (which symbolise your journey through life) sometimes they would be big ships and other times small rowing boats. When I was in a relationship that deep down I knew was going nowhere, but was reluctant to end, I used to dream of being chased and trying to hide, when the relationship ended, so did the dreams. I also dream of flying and I feel so good in those ones, even long after I have woken up.

With practise you can even start to control your dreams with lucid dreaming. This is great fun. All that is needed is for you to be aware that you are dreaming and then you can start to put in elements that you want to happen in life. Athletes use this for improving their performance, you can practise asking your boss for a pay rise etc. Personally I have found that if I try and push a dream in a certain direction and it won't go there - blocks are put up in the dreams, then it is a lesson for me that maybe this isn't the right direction for my life to take.

My favourite dream of all time? I was swimming in the sea with George Clooney, we were snorkeling over coral and then sitting on the rocks, basking in the sunlight. That was a great way to spend the night!

Sweet dreams!