Dream Visions

Why Keep a Dream Journal?

To work with your dreams, you need to remember them. Yet dreams can be among the most elusive memories. Experts say that we forget most dreams within moments of waking (especially if we are awakened suddenly by an alarm and jump out of bed).

Capturing Dreams Before You Forget Them

The best way to capture your dreams is to write them down as soon as you wake up, before you get out of bed—if possible even before you sit up. That is because movement tends to cause you to forget them.

Some people keep a pad and paper beside the bed to capture dreams. Some use a penlight or lighted pen to keep from having to turn on a light. Some even write in the dark.

Dream Researchers Say to Record Your Dreams

Dream researchers advise keeping a daily dream journal, recording all your dreams for later analysis. Looking for overall patterns, such as repeated symbols or themes in your dreams is much easier if you record and keep them in one place, in order by date.

A dream journal can be a simple notebook, a sketchbook, or even loose sheets of paper. If you use loose sheets, it is best to store them in a ring-binder to protect them and keep them in order.

Finding Time for a Dream Journal

Some people say they have no time to write down their dreams when they wake up, but it need only take a few moments. According to dream expert Robert Moss, you do not have to write down every detail. He has found that simply jotting down the most important points will allow you to recall the dreams later, when you have time to write down or sketch more details.

Jotting down even a few notes during the day whenever you remember an impression from a dream can be useful. Often a dream that you did not recall when you first awoke will come back to you later bit by bit. By noting down those fleeting impressions as they occur, you may recall the entire dream.

Benefits of Keeping a Dream Journal

The value of dream journaling can be huge. Physicians and therapists have been able to diagnose serious problems by reading dream diaries of their patients. Unrecognized health problems or relationship issues often are clearly apparent in the journal.

Robert Moss, author of Conscious Dreaming, and Dreaming True, recommends rereading our dream journals for the insights they show us about our lives. Often, those who keep journals are able to recognize unnoticed patterns or themes in their own lives. Often that leads them to make beneficial changes in health habits or lifestyle to improve their lives.

An interesting side benefit of keeping a dream journal is that people often find that they have had prophetic dreams but forgotten them before the foreseen event occurred. In other cases, warning dreams have caused people to change their plans or persuade others to do so—and saved them from death or injury.

Tips on Remembering Your Dreams, Part 1

To help remember their dreams, many people keep a notebook, a dream journal, next to the bed for capturing dreams with a pen or pencil. Keeping a dream journal helps so much that many experts consider it essential for accurately remembering dreams.

Many dreamers recommend using a lighted pen, so as not to disturb anyone else sleeping in the same room. Using a lighted pen keeps you from having to turn on the light, which allows you to stay closer to the drowsy dream state. That also helps in dream recall.

The moment you awaken, before getting out of bed, is the ideal time to write down your dream, even if you only have time to record the date, name the dream, and jot a few notes. Studies show that moving around tends to awaken you fully and usually hinders dream recall.

Not everyone remembers their dreams on first waking. And some have to dash off to work with no spare minutes to stop and write. But that’s OK. Just write down as much as you can remember about your dream as soon as you can.

Dream expert Robert Moss says people often remember dreams in bits and pieces, so by naming your dream and jotting a few notes, you start the process, and you can add details about the dream later, as you recall them.

Write down everything you remember, without interpreting it, even if it does not seem to make sense. Often, the odd details or parts that do not seem to fit in or make sense contain the most valuable information.

Even the tiniest detail in your dream may be important and should be considered when analyzing your dreams. Look closely at all the people, animals, objects, places, emotions, and even the colors and numbers in your dreams.

Ask yourself, “What does this remind me of?” Write down the first thing that comes to your mind. A real situation in your life may be symbolized in the dream. If you recognize a real-life situation in a dream, ask yourself, “How did situation make me feel?”

Often when there is more than one scene or story line in your dream, there are several issues your subconscious is trying to tell you about. But it can also mean that your inner self is trying several different ways to convey the same information with different symbolism.

Dreams often have multiple, layered meanings. The same dream can be telling you several things, or showing you similarities between seemingly unrelated situations in your life. Taking time to understand your dreams can be extremely enlightening.

For more tips, see Remembering Your Dreams, Part 2. (Watch for it on September 11.)

Flow-Dreaming, the Next Step in Active Dreaming | BYBS

FlowDreaming book and CD by Summer McStravick

 You know what a fan I am of Robert Moss and his concept of active dreaming. That is, deliberately going back into dreams, taking action there in order to change situations in the waking world. Moss teaches that dreams are a tool for healing ourselves and the situations around us, and that we can use dreams actively to do that.

I have found another author on using the power of dreams to enhance your life. Her name is Summer McStravick.

McStravick, producer and director of Hay House Radio, has a similar concept, which she calls flowdreaming. And she takes it even farther, I think. 

In her book-and-CD-set, FlowDreaming, McStravic teaches us to go into “the flow” of the universe and make changes in our life from inside the flow. Starting from a visualization system that her family used when she was growing up, McStravick further developed it into a system for manifesting the conditions you want in your life.

The small hardback book is short and pithy, a clearly written instruction book that is also very inspiring. FlowDreaming comes with a CD of guided meditations and guided journeys into flow-dreaming. McStravick has a very good voice, by the way.

I love this book and highly recommended it. And the price is right. I got the book with CD for only $12.21 on Amazon.com. 

I hope you try this book and use it to make your good dreams come true. Learning to get into (and direct) the flow is a true blessing.

Dreaming Beyond Death | BYBS

Dreaming Beyond Death: A Guide to Pre-Death Dreams and Visions is a book about the dreams that some patients have spontaneously that comfort them throughout the process of dying, and how to counsel them. It was written by the Rev. Patricia Bulkley and Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.

Patricia Bulkley is a counsellor who works with people who are dying. Kelly Bulkeley is a dream researcher. They came together to write a down-to-earth, matter-of-fact book to help patients like Patricia’s and those who care for them.

Recently I reviewed another book on essentially the same topic, The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead, by Robert Moss, whose books I talk about a lot here. If you have read some of those reviews, you know that I love Moss’s books and his ideas.

You may also have decided that his books are probably a bit out there for materialists who have no particular belief or interest in dreams. Moss’s books are extremely readable, but they also tend to be long. While they are easy and fun to read, they are also somewhat mystical. 

Dreaming Beyond Death is a short, simple book, written for those who do not believe in dreams but do want to help others make a peaceful transition. This is a book you can give to a healthcare professional or a person with a conservative, orthodox belief system. The book does not assume that the reader believes in dreams or anything mystical. And for those who are not dream believers that is a very good thing.

This book also tells vivid stories of dreams that have brought peace and reassurance to dying people. It provides guidance for helping people understand and accept their dreams. And it does all that in a simple, readable way.

Dreaming Beyond Death is a great book to give as a gift, knowing that almost anyone can benefit from it. They do not have to believe in anything metaphysical at all. I wish I had had it to use in comforting a friend who was dying of cancer a few years ago. 

So keep it in mind. You might like to read it yourself.

And it could be a wonderful caring gift for someone who needs it. In fact, it would be a great blessing.

Dream Books and Synchronicity | BYBS

Lately I keep finding so many great books on dreams that I cannot keep up. I read part of one and then part of another. Then yet another great dream book turns up…

After reading several of Robert Moss’s books on dreamwork, I seem to understand much more of what the various dream experts are saying. And I understand more of other books, such as those of R.J. Stewart. While not about dreams, they do relate closely to Robert Moss’s active dreaming practices. Somehow it all seems to be coming together. 

Today in a site on Mandalas I found a page of great quotes from Carl Jung on dreams. Dream information keeps turning up all over the place. Carl Jung would call that synchronicity.

The wealth of knowledge and of well-written books on dreamwork available today is a real blessing. Watch for more dream book reviews soon on this blog. 

And in closing, here is a wonderful quote from Carl Jung on dreams:

The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends. For all ego-consciousness is isolated; because it separates and discriminates, it knows only particulars, and it sees only those that can be related to the ego. Its essence is limitation, even though it reach to the farthest nebulae among the stars. All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. It is from these all-uniting depths that the dream arises, be it never so childish, grotesque, and immoral.

“The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man” (1933). In CW 10: Civilization in Transition. pg. 304

Robert Moss’s On-Line Radio Show on Dreams | BYBS

Robert Moss, the dream researcher, teacher and author that I keep talking about, has a radio show on dreams! You can listen over the Internet on the second Tuesday of each month, from 11 am to noon Central Time.

Here is the link: http://www.healthylife.net/RadioShow/archiveWD.htm

There is even an 800 number so that you can call in with questions during the show as he interviews other dreamworkers and dream researchers. 

What a blessing for all of us!

Dreaming with the Departed | BYBS

The Dreamer's Book of the Dead

Dream expert Robert Moss has written yet another ground-breaking book, The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Side. It’s a big book, and I just started reading it. So you can be sure I will be writing more about it later. Meanwhile, just in case you have some holiday gift cash burning a hole in your pocket, I wanted to tell you about it. 

If you have read any of the Robert Moss books on dreams (or if you have been reading this blog), you know that he uses innovated techniques and is breaking new ground (in our culture) in the practical and spiritual uses of dreaming.

Some Native Americans, Tibetans, Indonesians, and others have been masters of dreamwork for centuries. But Europeans and Americans have for the most part considered dreams to be meaningless, if not downright scary. Robert Moss and others are changing that as they teach us amazing and effective ancient ways of working with dreams.

The point of this book is that our departed loved ones, friends, and spiritual teachers often appear to us in dreams with important messages, but we don’t always pay attention. Moss teaches us to heed such messages. He also teaches us to take the initiative to contact the departed in dreams.

One of the main reasons to contact departed loved ones, friends, even enemies, is closure. Sometimes we need to apologize or receive apologies to heal old wounds. Sometimes we just need the reassurance that they are still in existence, even though no longer living.

Moss says that sometimes people who have died cannot rest easy until they deliver information or make peace with the living. It may be practical, like the whereabouts of missing papers or valuables, or it may simply be guidance on handling business, family or spiritual problems.

If all this sounds morbid, it really isn’t. You can also contact spiritual teachers and others who have gone before. You can ask them for advice or find out valuable information about the past or the present. 

There is a lot of information in this book on various dream practices. As always there are wonderful stories of real people and experiences, as only Robert Moss can tell them. The book covers a wealth of information on dreams and dreamwork.

So you might want to take a look at The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead: A Soul Traveler’s Guide to Death, Dying, and the Other Sided by Robert Moss. You will find it on Amazon. I know, because that’s where I got it.

My family (on both sides) has always been blessed with dreams that contain messages from departed relatives. We have stories of dramatic dreams conveying important information going back over 100 years that I know of. Probably there were others that we no longer remember. Such dreams can be helpful in a practical way, but mainly they are comforting. 

Dreams that bring help and knowledge from departed family members are a blessing that I like to remember, especially at this family-intensive time of year. How about you?

Dreaming on the Edge of Sleep | BYBS

Awhile back I wrote about dreams and problem-solving. I don’t think I was very clear, judging by one of the comments. I think I gave the wrong impression by talking about sometimes feeling that you have worked all night instead of really sleeping.

I know that worrying can interfere with sleep. And I agree that a task or problem that seems impossible at the end of a long, hard day can seem like a piece of cake after a good night’s sleep. But that’s not what I meant.

Since then I have been reading a book, Dreamgates, by Robert Moss. In it, I ran across a passage that clarified my thoughts. As always Robert Moss says it better than I can.

Talking about dreams and “half-dream states,” Moss writes, “Active dreamers tend to spend a lot of time in the twilight zone, even whole nights….As you spend more time in the twilight zone, you will discover a notable increase in both your creativity and your psychic awareness. Going with the flow of spontaneous imagery in the twilight zone puts you into the stream of the creative process. It puts you in league with your creative source,…coming through cool and clear as a mountain stream.”

Later he writes, “You may enter the twilight zone before or after sleep, but you may also enter it wide awake, with no intention of sleeping. It is not the relationship to sleep that defines the twilight zone; it is its character as border country.”

Needless to say, Dreamgates is another great Robert Moss dream book. This one focuses more on dream journeys to imaginal worlds, but it has already covered a lot of other valuable ideas, and I’ve only read the first 50 pages. The part I just quoted was on page 10!

Since I have just started reading Dreamgates, I can’t tell you much more about it. So far, it is a fascinating book with lots of wonderful new dream lore and inspiration. I’ll write more about it later. Finding this book has been a blessing to me. 

If you have read Dreamgates, what do you think of it? Have you put any of the concepts into action? Do you have a story to share? Please leave a comment and let us all know your thoughts—and dreams.

Dreams vs Reality | Blog Your Blessings

I just found a great quote on dreams and dreaming that I think sums up the teachings of Robert Moss, lama Tenzin Wangyal, and other dream researchers and teachers often quoted on this blog on the topic of active dreaming.

It may sound flippant at first, but I think it is well worth thinking about. What do you think?

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other. —Douglas Everett

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…