David G. Allan is the editorial director of CNN Travel, Style, Science and Wellness. This essay is part of a column titledThe Wisdom ProjectYou can subscribe here
(CNN)Hosting Saturday Night Live has been a dream of mine for many years. literally. I have had that dream on repeat for decades.
I traveled through space and went back in time to become a superhero. I was close friends with many famous people. I made new memories with my deceased friends and family. I have committed a terrible crime. And I have saved the day many times.
Our sleeping minds are private theaters where you are the director and usually the star, with no limit on production budgets. Yes, some of them are boring (most of mine are work related), but many are funny, sharp, and sometimes problem-solving. That's why you should consider turning your blank notebook into your first dream journal.
Although there is little scientific research on the benefits of dream journaling, those who practice dream journaling are more likely to find it useful or at best. I also find it very insightful and very interesting. At least.
Safely Insane
The first potential benefit of a dream diary is that it can lead to creative breakthroughs. Your subconscious dreaming mind is inherently more original. Your dreams fly through time, leap in logic, embrace contradictions, and sometimes make no sense to our conventional consciousness.
"Dreaming allows each of us to quietly and safely indulge in madness every night of our lives," says Stanford University's Center for Sleep Research. Founder William in his dement words. that.
beginning
It was believed to be a message from the dead containing clues to Kika. Egyptian pharaohs believed that the gods would send them messages in their dreams. They called them Omina. This is the etymology of the word omen. And today's major beliefs have stories in their scriptures, and dreams are key riddles whose meaning must be unraveled.
A more recent theory as to why we dream is that they help us sort, organize and process all the stimuli from our waking life, such as cleaning up cobwebs. But sometimes there is silk made of cobwebs when the answers to problems that cannot be solved in waking life are solved in a more creative dreaming life.
The dream solution has the advantage of working "without the constraints of time, logic, space, or other rules of the real world," says Dr. Alan Peterkin, published by National Geographic. I write in my Guided Dream Journal. Peterkin is Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Sigmund Freud, who wrote the first scholarly study of dream interpretation, believed that dreams mainly reveal secrets and embarrassing moments from the past. But his mentee-turned-rival Carl Jung believed that dreams draw on universal archetypes and contain cues from the subconscious life that help us find happiness and answers to our problems. rice field.
Already one of his theories is that dreams work like real-life dress rehearsals, a way to safely test alternatives. That seems like a nightmare description. Horrible dreams originate in the brain's amygdala, where intense negative emotions like anger and fear reside, Peterkin explained. Researchers say they are useful because they help train the brain to prepare for the challenges and fears of waking life.
By the way, the word nightmare comes from an image that sounds like a nightmare itself. Old English term for evil female spirits (maeres) who are believed to sit on the chest and choke.
"Road"
Dreams are windows into your deepest self. Staring into the real-life mirror of Cracked Fun House changes your perspective. As we write them down and consider their meaning, we travel along what Freud called the 'royal road', leading to unconscious knowledge of the mind.
"Trying to understand your dreams can be an important part of understanding yourself, your relationships, and the world inside and out," writes Peterkin.
"Poor Man's Opera"
Another advantage of narrating and recording dreams is simply escape. And who doesn't need a vacation from life from time to time. In a dream you can visit the past or the future, go anywhere in the world or out of the world, get on an airplane or fly without You can
As Kahlil Gibran put it more poetically, "Allow us to fall asleep. Perhaps the beautiful bride of our dreams will carry our souls to a world prettier than this one."
The word dream comes from the Old English "joy, noise, or music." And I find joy in recording music and deciphering noise.
There is an old Italian saying, ``The bed is the poor man's opera.'' And every day there is a new performance. Dreams will become "a fantastic virtual reality model of the world" and "updated several times each night with cool new content," Peterkin wrote.
Nicole married Kidman, joined Laird Hamilton's surfing her crew, in a rap battle he beat LL Cool J, speed He also dreamed of driving a racer's car Mach 5 It was in Sarah Silverman was my therapist, and she had an affair while Ally Sheedy and I were making an '80s movie together. She played Han Solo in her version of "Hamlet" using a script made with graham crackers. I went to high school with Hulk Hogan in his 1800s, and at that time, Robert E. I attended General Lee's funeral. And I was Batman.
I have been writing down my dreams since high school, so I can recall these dreams and hundreds of them. The simple act of recording a dream keeps it from evaporating in the sunlight.
General Recall
Of the many dream-themed films, two of my favorites are Christopher Nolan's "Inception" and Little known is his 1991 Wim Wenders film Until. The End of the World", William Hurt, Sam Neill, Max von Sydow. As a subplot of "Until", the protagonist finds a way to video-record his dreams and then becomes narcissistically addicted to dreaming (until he goes insane).
Very little is needed to get started. Find a dream diary app or designate a notebook to keep by your bed. The next time you remember a dream, write it down, even if it's a vague, half-remembered dream. Even if it seems boring and not worth remembering, write it down. The more you get into the habit of recording them, the easier it will be to remember them.
I also leave a scrap of paper in case I doodle the keywords and elements in the middle of the night. Even one detail can trigger the memory of an entire dream. Telling someone your dream as soon as you wake up also helps you retain it until you write it down.
My Dream Diary has evolved over the years to include headlines, track themes, people and places, and record "good", "bad" and "neutral/neutral" counts. I am doing I do it to look for trends, but don't set the bar too high for yourself, especially when you're just starting out.
I also sometimes write notes at the end of my dreams if I feel that I have gained some insight into their meaning. For example, you may quickly discover that a dream of getting lost in the city is actually a dream of losing your work files.
The Dream Dictionary is a compilation of myths, psychology, and cultural symbolism, if there is little scientific about them, except for the Jungian collective and unconscious methods. But it's interesting to look at recurring themes.
Remember to interpret your dreams through your own experience. For example, a dream dictionary may suggest that a dog in a dream signifies loyalty. But if you're afraid of dogs, it likely represents something you're afraid of. Or, if your mom has five dogs of hers, your dream dog could be her replacement.
As the great mythologist Joseph Campbell said, "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths."