By Danielle Benvenuto
Guest writer for Wake Up World
Since as far back as I can remember, dreaming for me has always been an invitation for a new and exciting adventure. As a child I would lay my head on the pillow each night with a big smile on my face in anticipation of the new journey ahead, something that felt like a hand reaching from some other world in equal anticipation of my arrival.
As I got older and began to move deeper into this world through my own experiences in therapy, I began to realize the power this realm held and how it was there to help and empower me in my life. I began to see this encounter I had with myself each night as a special relationship with a part of myself that was deepening the more I moved into it and explored it. As I moved deeper, I started to realize the messages that were there, the healing that was taking place, the creative problem solving that was happening, and the ways in which bringing forth this experience into my waking life was changing it in a very palpable way.
My dreams have become one of my most cherished friends. They are an ally and a guide. They are my wise mind, my child mind, and my quantum mind speaking to me-sometimes all at once and sometimes one at a time. Sometimes the messages ring loud and clear, sometimes there are no messages at all and instead an invitation to have an experience beyond the ordinary.
If remembering your dreams is a challenge for you, do not fret. Think of your dream life as a relationship, a relationship with another part of yourself that with time (as in any relationship you want to cultivate) will deepen over time as you get to know the landscape. Here are some strategies to help:
6 Ways to Enhance Dream Recall
1. Write down your dreams
The best time to remember your dreams is 90 seconds after you awake. Write down your dreams immediately upon awaking. If you don’t have time, write down the key themes or recite the dream to yourself while in the shower or getting ready. If you can only remember a fragment whether it be a single image or a single thought or feeling, write this down. If you remember a scene, ask what happened before that particular scene. It will start to jog your memory and more fragments will emerge. If they don’t, over time they will.
2. Focus your intention
What you focus your attention on will grow. Therefore, if your intention is to remember your dreams and record your dreams, focus this intention and your dream life will begin to expand. There are many ways to focus your intention and cultivate your dream life. Get yourself a dream journal specifically for this purpose. Before going to sleep, say the following affirmations or some version of them. (Keep in mind these are particularly powerful if said as you are drifting off into sleep.) “I am a dreamer. I remember my dreams in detail. My dreams are here to help me. My dreams will reveal to me only the elements of my life I am ready to see and handle.” In addition to these affirmations, visualize yourself awakening the next morning with full recall of your dreams from the night prior. If you meditate, include these affirmations and visualizations in your practice. If you don’t meditate, now might be the time to start!
3. Know you are safe
One reason dreams may be difficult to remember is because of an unconscious resistance to seeing what they might reveal about yourself. If this is the case, you can remind yourself that nothing emerges in your mind or life that you cannot handle.
4. Share your dreams
Share your dreams with someone you trust. Engaging with your dreams (which is really engaging with a part of yourself) will bring this part of yourself further into existence as you are claiming its importance and right to be. By sharing dreams, either verbally or by writing them down, you are also acknowledging that you trust this part of yourself. When you trust, you nurture and when you nurture, things manifest.
5. Nutritional support
My favorite herbal remedy for dream recall and enhancing dream imagery is mugwort. Mugwort is a plant that lives in Northern Europe, Asia, Alaska and North America. Its active compound is Thujone and it’s often described as a ‘stepping stone’ to lucid dreams. You can smoke it or brew its leaves to make tea. Vitamin B6 is also known to help so boosting your dietary intake or taking supplements (100 milligrams a day being the recommended dose) might be worth a try.
6. Wake naturally
Whenever possible, wake up naturally rather than to the sound of an alarm clock. It enhances dream recall because it is more conducive to dreams lingering into our conscious mind as we slowly rise out of REM sleep. If you cannot live without an alarm clock, take advantage of down time in your schedule. The best time to practice dream recollection is during a weekend or a vacation, when you can maximize your opportunity to awaken with your body’s natural clock. You can also take advantage of extended naps. During naps longer than 20 minutes, the brain goes into the REM stage of sleep, the stage of sleep when dreams happen. If you are able to wake soundly from an extended nap, take advantage of this time to also recollect dreams.
Sweet dreams!
More
since the start of the month I have been recording my dreams each morning and I remember my dreams every night now. I've started to notice a big change in my dream quality and tone. I filled 13 pages the other night with very vivid, impossible to differentiate between being awake and asleep, kinda dream. it's the first time in a long time I've been in full control of my dream. Part of it was, I was standing in a room full of people and as soon as I thought of them wearing a red shirt, it happened. I stood and watched the whole room change from red shirt to green then orange then pink and back in a flash. All I had to do was will it to happen. It's bizarre seeing a room full of people dance in synch at my very thought of it. I was so fully present in the dream.at the end of this 'scene' People try to reach out and touch me, I command that they don't get to. It works, briefly, then I start to doubt my ability to control the situation, next thing I'm being crushed and grabbed at all round and I have to escape. I'm not sure how to maintain that control but atleast I now I know I can do it. Unconscious resistance is a good way of seeing it. I feel that too like a big blank in amongst an otherwise very vivid dream, or a vague notion of something but it's just out of memories reach I thought this must be the part of me which I don't yet feel comfortable with. I get this a lot with people in dreams I just can't remember what was said, maybe it's the truths I don't want to hear, on some level.