Everybody dreams.
That we don’t remember them when we wake up is another matter entirely. Sometimes it takes dedication to learn (or relearn) a task or action that we could before.
Even with the practice there are days when my dreams just aren’t there, even though I know I have been dreaming through the night.
- Broken up sleep - not the kind where I awake from a dream but the kind where something wakes me out of whatever sleep I am in and I am conscious again, going from sleep to awake in what feels like the flutter of a butterfly wing.
There are three things that I find particularly dream remembering disturbing. These are:
- Waking up and having the nagging voice of the left brain start off on a litany of things that I either have to do or should have done or the days programme or whatever it can find to bump me out of that place of remembering.
- Waking up and having someone talk to me before I have had the chance to collect my thoughts or remembering of the dreams of that night.
And sometimes dreams are so vivid and present that none of the three things above makes them lost to me. I still do not know why that is other than that for me there’s a more embodied feeling to them - they sit with or in me in a heavier way than other dreams.
Approaches to dream sharing
For dreams to be shared you might need to record them. If you cannot share them immediately then journaling or recording the dreams might be necessary.
Recording dreams can be done in whatever way works for you. Writing, drawing, dictating, dancing - there is no “correct” way, only your way.
Journaling is not limited to writing - even though writing is the action I first associate with the word. Journaling is a dedicated, recurring practice of recording information, in this case dreams.
Journaling
You might have heard other people talk about dream journaling, this might be a new concept to you. Depending on what you want from your dreams and how you choose to interact with them journaling is one way to tell them that you are serious about them.
A dream journal could be a diary or a portfolio of drawings or a collection of songs or choreographies - only you know what works for you.
Does that make you recall long summer mornings of holidays? Maybe that is why we are never satiated with all the stuff we buy - what we want isn’t stuff but time to connect.
Sharing
Whether you decide to share your dreams or not is entirely up to you. The current Western way of living does not encourage using time for sharing dreams, as the way our society has developed has not been with the intent to create time or space for dream sharing or remembering. Mornings in many households are a stressful rush to get everyone out the door to work or school - or at least they were before COVID-19.
Imagine having a morning where you use time to recollect your dream and then you share that with your family. If you see dreams as a way to know how to act or navigate a certain situation or showing you where your next step should be, how good would it be to know that you yourself have the knowledge to control your life? And how amazing would it be to be connected with your family at a level deeper than “How was work/school/practice?”
Indigenous approach
Many indigenous peoples share dreams. Dreams in many other cultures are seen as other realities, in which the dreamer has the possibility to engage, or portents of future events in this reality that can be averted or embraced through actions taken by the dreamer, or messages from other conscious entities to assist with the now, or as the place where we are actually alive and this reality is the dream one. This is not a full list, just the understandings I have been introduced to.
So dreams are powerful, have power, can help you and guide you, if that is what you choose to believe. I write that purposely, as this belief is for me the same as the belief that prayer helps. We choose to align with or invoke the assistance of another power outside of us to help us in our physical reality.
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