It’s been a while since I have written about the online events I’m frequently hosting. Today’s topic was one that might interest you and I decided to share it with you: THE POWER OF DREAMS and DREAM JOURNALING.
A quick note upfront: For 1.5 years I hosted the online events on meetup and then switched to eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/o/likeminded-souls-community-120656901218) which is not only free of charge for attendees but also for me 😀
Most of the events have a certain topic that we discuss. It’s a safe space and everyone can bring in their thoughts, knowledge, experience, and questions regarding the topic (in a very respectful way). In April, it will be already two years that these online events exist and so far it has been a great journey! If you would like to check it out, please join us!
WHAT ARE DREAMS?
Most humans dream for about 2 hours each night. Wait what? 2 hours of processing images, emotions, thoughts, sounds, smells, and you just forget about it most of the time?
According to the https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams : Sleep reduces the influence of physical senses and the rational mind. Dreams: build memory, process emotions, do mental housekeeping, function as instant replay (situations are reviewed and analyzed) or are dreams just a by-product of sleep and they have no meaning?
DIFFERENT KINDS OF DREAMS
How do you know what kind of dream you have?
You can often tell by how the dream feels and how aware you are during it. Emotional intensity, clarity, realism, and whether you can control or remember the dream clearly are key indicators of its type.
Subconscious is speaking
These dreams often use symbols, metaphors, or familiar people to express hidden emotions, fears, or desires. They may feel emotionally strong and leave you reflecting on their meaning after waking up.
Dreams as a replay of situations
These dreams repeat real-life events, conversations, or experiences, often ones that were emotionally impactful or unresolved. They help the brain process memories, emotions, and lessons, sometimes offering new perspectives or closure on past situations.
Lucid dreams
In lucid dreams, you are aware that you are dreaming while the dream is happening. You may be able to control what’s happening in the dream.
Fever dreams
Fever dreams are usually vivid, chaotic, and uncomfortable, often caused by high body temperature or illness. They may include distorted visuals, repetitive thoughts, or intense anxiety.
Precognitive dreams
These dreams foretell the future. They can feel like a déjà-vu.
According to the https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams/precognitive-dreams : „Dreams must meet several criteria to be classified as precognitive:
- You must record or tell others about your dream before the dream scenario is fulfilled in real life.
- The dream must have a significant number of unique details so that it is unlikely to be fulfilled by chance.
- Any dreams that are self-fulfilling prophecies or that could be influenced by existing knowledge are not premonition dreams.“
Travels to different dimensions and realities
These dreams feel immersive and otherworldly, as if you are visiting places that don’t follow normal physical laws. They often involve alternate versions of reality and can feel more real than ordinary dreams.
Dream Symbols
There is an overwhelming amount of symbols that can appear in dreams, each carrying its own meaning depending on context and personal experience. Some common symbols we discussed include water, black dogs, and falling from a cliff or a house.
Water often represents emotions: stormy waters can indicate emotional turmoil or inner conflict, while calm waters suggest emotional balance and peace. The ocean symbolizes the subconscious mind, and diving deep into it may reflect a desire to explore hidden feelings or deeper layers of your subconscious.
Falling in dreams is commonly associated with a fear of losing control, instability, or insecurity in waking life.
These symbols are not fixed in meaning but should always be interpreted in relation to the dreamer’s personal experiences and emotions.
This was the first part of the event. A second event focused on the topic of dreams will take place on February 1st, with the intention of sharing insights and interpretations together. If you are interested, you can still join the event.
At the end of the event, we talked about routines and rituals that could help to calm the mind BEFORE going to bed and how to journal AFTER waking up. I will add a few more things that I think could be beneficial.
DREAM JOURNALING
Dream journaling is the practice of writing down your dreams as soon as you wake up. It helps you to improve to recall your dreams and to notice patterns, symbols, and recurring themes.
WHY KEEPING A DREAM JOURNAL?
Helps to
- process and understand emotions and thoughts
- see patterns in dreams (themes)
- understand yourself better by getting deep insights
- understand why you are sometimes exhausted during the day (after lots of dreaming during the night, nightmares, …)
BEDTIME ROUTINE
Going to bed at the same time each night
Calming the mind through
- Yin Yoga
- Breathwork (4-7-8, 4 breathe in through the nose, hold for 7, then breathe out through the mouth for 8)
- Binaural beats
- Donna Eden’s Hook up: Place the middle finger of one hand on your third eye and the middle finger of your other hand in your belly and slightly pull it up (like a hook), breath calmly in and out for 3-5 times.
Place a pen, paper, phone next to your bed
This is important: Set an intention! By doing so, you give your subconscious a prompt.
Here are a few examples:
- „When I wake up, I remember my dreams“
- „I can go back to my dream when I wake up“
- „Show me a solution for my question/problem I have in my life right now“
- „I will have a lucid dream“
- „I am safe in my dream and I just observe“
- „I would like to speak with my ancestors in my dreams“
- „I let go of haunting thoughts and emotions in my dreams“
- „I will understand the message of my dreams“
It would also be very interesting to know if it’s possible to have a certain kind of dream. Like: „In my dream I will be in the Shire, having breakfast with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins“.
IN THE MORNING
When you wake up, leave your eyes closed and memorize as much as you can from your dreams.
Whenever you’re ready, journal your dreams. This can look different for everyone:
- Taking notes
- Painting
- Audio/recording
Write down everything that comes to mind: Symbols, feelings, smells, people, places, weather, colors, events, …
AFTER SOME TIME OF JOURNALING PRACTICE
- Analyze, see if you can find a pattern
- Maybe you identify different kinds of dreams as mentioned above (subconscious, precognitive etc.)
- Write down symbols that seem to have a special meaning
- Observe how your day goes (is there a correlation between your dreams and your mood during the day?)
MY DREAM JOURNALING PLAN
Bedtime routine: I’m already doing Yoga about 5x per week in the evening which I connect with the breathing exercise I mentioned above. For the first week, I will set the intention „I remember my dreams when I wake up“. When I have some kind of routine in remembering, I would like to add the intentions „show me a solution for my question/problem I have in my life right now“.
Mornings: I will try to record them on my phone. This is something that I have started doing lately in Reiki sessions when I talk to my clients about what I perceived during the session. I will take my phone, record what I say and let an app write a transcript. This method already feels quite familiar, so this might be the right one for me. Let’s see how it goes.
OPEN QUESTIONS
I wish we would have had more time to talk about more aspects that are related to dreams and tonight there are still some open questions:
- Is it possible to have no dreams? (Not just not remembering, but really NOT dreaming at all)
- A question I forgot to ask: Do you dream in color or black and white?
- How do dreams affect your day?
- How is sleep paralysis connected to dreams?
- Do you dream when sleepwalking?
- Are dreams interrupted for people with sleep apnea?
- Are dreams different when you take medication or melatonin?