Remembering even one thing can help you.
All dreams aren’t sweet. Remembering some dreams is like trying to grab motor oil streaming out of an engine: slippery, unpleasant, hot, messy, confusing, and imperfect.
Like the backyard mechanic performing routine car maintenance, one can have their “oil collection container” (think dream journal or scrap paper) handy. Even so, sometimes it’s hard to get it in place in time. When the oil comes flowing out, there’s nothing to catch it. It’s upsetting. He’s going to have a mess on his hands. He’ll be cussing.
It’s just the way it is. It happens. Sometimes you’ve really got to struggle with that drain plug. When you do, the oil can get all over despite your best efforts.
Not everyone does oil changes at home in their driveway. Later model cars don’t need it every 3,000 miles the way they used to. When you consider the emotional content of dreams and the way things can get “stuck,” it’s the best analogy. The dream came to you when you were asleep. It was flowing. And now that you’re awake, all you can remember is that it was about something.
Start by writing the subject of the dream
What you remember of your dream might not really be the subject. You don’t know what the subject is because you don’t remember the dream.
It doesn’t matter.
What you do remember is something. If nothing else, it’s a start.
Write it down anyway, right next to the date.
There’s two reasons why you want to do this.
- Writing what you do remember can spur the recall of other memories.
- You can ask yourself what the symbol from the dream means to you. This will help you understand what’s on your mind when you go to sleep. What’s the season going on in your life? What are you processing?
You’ve got your day-to-day concerns. They’re things like getting a project for work done. Shopping for groceries at the store. Making sure the potato salad is made for your family potluck. The second season of the show you started watching last year on a streaming service.
Then, there are the higher concerns. These are the things that you subconscious focuses on when you go to sleep. These are the lessons that your subconscious is processing. When it processes them, these lessons form your process for making decisions. That’s not to take lightly.
Sometimes dreams can deal with topics that you’d rather not think about. Simply writing what it is that you remember about them can help you start to uncover what it is that you need to know about yourself.
When it’s a complete mess…
There will be times when you’ll be unable to remember a single thing. It’s like all of the images, words, and thoughts are stuck together.
It’s okay. It happens sometimes. Stick with the program and remember there’s tomorrow morning.
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