We're two weeks in to the sleep challenge, with two more weeks to go, and I really feel like I've hit my snoozing stride. I've met my sleep goal of 8 hours a night for five of the last seven nights.
One result of my getting more -- and better -- sleep has been an increase in the intensity of my dreams. I'm not sure if my dreams are actually more intense, vivid, and interesting, or if they only seem that way because I'm not waking up longing to sleep more.
Whatever the reason, I suddenly find myself in possession of a rich and compelling dream life. But here's the catch: for the last week or so, I've woken up with my mind buzzing, excited by the dream I'd just had. But I haven't had the time to write my dreams down. Getting a full 8 hours has pushed my schedule to the limit, so when I get up I need to move pretty quickly to the first thing on my schedule.
At the moment, I just don't have the extra 15 minutes I need to write my dreams down, let alone reflect on them. Does this mean I need to sleep 20 minutes less -- or go to sleep 20 minutes earlier? (At this rate, I'll be going to bed right after the sun goes down!)
This reconnecting with my dreams has been like reuniting with an old flame.
I've always been fascinated by dreams. My recent run of intense dreaming brought to mind a trip I took in the mid 80s to Luxor in Egypt and a tour of the Luxor Temple with its "sleep chambers." These chambers are where the high priests and priestesses would retire after they had prepared, through prayer and meditation, to receive in their sleep divine guidance and inspiration. In stark contrast to our modern habit of drugging ourselves senseless, hoping to "crash" for a few hours before having to face another frantic day, the ancient Egyptians went to sleep expectantly. This spiritual preparation for sleep allowed them to bring back remnants of their dreams and notes from their night's travels.
Even before my trip to Egypt, I had long been fascinated by the work of Carl Jung, with its emphasis on dreams and archetypes. His autobiographical Memories, Dreams, Reflections was one of my all-time favorite books. It helped me explore the possibility that the world of dreams, far from shutting us off from what we consider "the real world," actually opens us up to another reality -- a timeless place that allows us to listen to our soul.
Following that trip to Egypt, and for many years after, I used to write down my dreams in a journal. I filled notebook after notebook after notebook. But then life -- especially motherhood -- intervened. And between nursing a newborn, comforting a crying baby or holding a feverish toddler -- to say nothing of trying to continue to write -- time evaporated into the night, and sleep became more of a survival tactic, and less of a way to connect to the sacred and the divine.
Night and sleep soon became all about the transitions. Head hitting the pillow only when the schedule allowed. Waking up already late, already on the run. Life became a cycle of crash and rush, crash and rush. It was a cycle I eventually became used to. It seemed normal.
Then came my re-awakening. Or should I say my re-asleepening -- I'm once more making sleep a priority, and giving myself permission to remember my dreams. As I say, I still need to make time to write them down - because that's something you must do right away. As Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee put it on HuffPost: "How many dreams are lost between the bedroom and the bathroom?"
And a funny thing happened on the way to remembering my dreams: I've found another way of connecting with my younger daughter. Yesterday, while I was telling her about my newly vivid dreams and renewed interest in writing them down, she began telling me about her dreams as well.
I won't, of course, go into the details of her dreams (I wouldn't want her censoring what her dreams are telling her), but I don't think she'd mind if I say that in one of her recurring dreams, she imagines herself as a living "Stop" sign, forcing people to come to a complete stop before moving on with their lives.
Which, now that I think of it, is a pretty good metaphor for what a good night's sleep allows us to do. Sweet dreams, everyone.
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Lucid dreaming is also fascinating. I try to jot down what I can, as quickly as I can from any sort of dream. I am grateful that despite sleeping little, my dreaming life remains rich and informative, if not always pleasurable.
I really enjoy the dream work/analysis/coaching I do with my sleep clients. Eveyone's dream mind is fascinating and so very intelligent. I truly believe it's become a lost art.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 324)
While journaling dreams is helpful, it is not the only way to remember them. As someone else commented, you can use a tape recorder. Another tip, which you used is to Tell Someone!
Here are a few tips to make dreaming fun:
1. Pay attention to themes and patterns
2. Play with metaphors
3. Share your dreams with someone
4.To reveal your personal symbols, describe dream sequences as if the other person has never seen or experienced them. For instance: kitchen- the place where I prepare and serve nourishment; in a car- The way I get from one place to another. Was I the driver or the passenger? Was it an easy road to travel or were there obstacles, twists & turns?
5. KNOW that your symbols are unique to you. While a flower may represent natural beauty to you, for someone with allergies, it may represent an irritant!
6. Have fun!
Sherry Puricelli, Personal Coach, Awake N Dream Coaching Services
Correct timing is highly individual. Few of us have such extreme early or late timing as to qualify as disordered/abnormal. How to find the correct timing? What time do (would) you wake up when you have some free days with no obligations and no sleep debt? Normal for adults might be between 05:30 and 08:30 or so, IMO.
The best sleep is timed so that one wakes up (nearly) every day without an alarm clock or just before the alarm.
Remember, the human animal is primarily diurnal (as opposed to nocturnal like bats and owls). That means that our internal clock prefers us to run on daylight and sleep when the sun goes down. There is also a lot of research about how our choice of eating times can effect our circadian rhythm and can either help or hinder our sleep cycles.
We can use food to modify our internal clock, say in the event we have to travel across time zones. There is a lot you can research on specifics but basically you can reset when your body wants to wake up based on the availability of food. Simply fasting a few hours past the time you expect to need to wake up programs your body to stay asleep until an hour or so before food becomes available. It is one way to maintain your valuable sleep bank when traveling.
People don't bother with their dreams, unfortunately because dreams are 90% symbolic. They take some work to decipher. The best dream book I've ever read (and I've read most of them!) is Wilda B. Tanner's book whimsically titled, "The Mystical, Magical, Marvelous World of Dreams." When I am stumped, she is sure to drop my jaw with her suggestions.
I hope you find a way to write them down. I do -- it comes first. I keep them in my journal and you wouldn't believe the messages they continue to give when I go back years later and read them. I find their predictions are uncanny and the "reasons why" absolutely true. Astonishing.
http://luraastor.blogspot.com/2010/01/serendipity-strikes-again-coincidence.html
Enjoy the trip.
As Rumi stated, “There is a basket of fresh bread on your head, and yet you go door to door asking for crusts. Knock on your inner door. No other.” We knock on our inner door by honoring our dreams. Not having relationship with our inner world can place us at risk for becoming victim of consumerist mentality. Again, Rumi reminds us, “Don’t walk around with an empty bucket. You have a channel into the ocean and yet you ask water from a little pool.” The little pool is the greed for luxury and materials that many people are drowning in right now.
Payam Ghassemlou Ph.D.
West Hollywood, CA
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Thank you for this honoring of sleep and dreams. And particularly about your daughter. I have learned so much from the wisdom of my children.
Their dream messages and some of our own can reach beyond the stars, and still touch our souls--if we let them.
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