Dreams: Our Inner Conscious Doorway

Our sleep state is a valuable ally. A large part of our life is spent in sleep, so why not use this time to be creative and problem solve? Dreams are probably the most intuitive tool we have been given. Dreams are like messages from our higher self to the conscious mind, providing guidance, inspiration, prediction and even problem solving.

Some people claim they do not remember their dreams, but research has proved that everyone dreams approximately 20% of their sleep time. Actually, we may experience four or five dreams every night, each lasting about ten to thirty minutes. Our dreaming mind registers all the sights and sounds we encounter during our waking hours. It concentrates on processing all those subconscious stimuli and emotions received during the day, or repressed over time. We do clearing work during our sleep.

Dream programming can assist us on career directions, relationships- any decisions we need to make. Just send a powerful thought-form to your higher self to give you a dream to answer a particular question. You may choose to put it in writing. Request both a vivid memory and a clear understanding of the dream. Sometimes we may block the memory of a dream or get lost in its symbology. Stick with it each night until you get a clear message. It will happen. Understand that sometimes our response may come to us in the waking state if our dream becomes too elusive. Be open to hearing the answer in other forms. You may hear a message in the words of a song, a notice on a billboard or a statement from a friend. Generally I get a response within three days.

I often use dreams to bring a better understanding to events going on in my daily life. Before going to sleep, I regularly ask my higher self to provide me with a dream to give me specific information. Sometimes I put it in writing and place it under my pillow.

A few years ago I actually hired someone off the Internet to do some long distance healing work with me. I've long forgotten the intricate details of the healing, but I will never forget the dreams confirming the work. One dream took place in a basement, which stands for the subconscious mind, and I had been asked to clean the area. It seemed to me that I was cleaning a row of furnaces, and if I had counted them, I am sure they would have numbered seven, representing the chakras. I remember laughing and exclaiming that the cleaning was so easy! It was as if my hand was a magnet and the dirt just gravitated toward it. It was such fun to clean. Another dream showed me a fire, which represented a cleansing to me. That was essential feedback, and I was grateful for the dream response.

If you have difficulty remembering your dreams, here are a few simple steps to assist you:

• Commit to writing in a dream journal. When I purchased a simple notebook, and regularly titled my dreams and gave them a short synopsis, my dream recall improved dramatically.

• Waking without an intrusive alarm is important. Generally I find that waking slowly, without moving, brings a dream back to me. If necessary, begin programming yourself to wake without an alarm. Ask your higher self to waken you at a particular time. It will happen. Until you feel comfortable not setting an alarm, set it for ten minutes after your desired waking time. You can quietly turn the alarm off without disruption as you process your dream recall.

• During the day, focus on the importance of remembering your dreams. Affirm that you will remember your dreams easily and understand the information the dreams are sharing with you. Before going to sleep, you might state, “I remember my dreams with increased frequency and clarity.”

Some people tell me they are afraid to remember their dreams because the nightmares are so painful. According to Dr. Marcia Emery, author of Intuition Workbook, “Nightmares can be caused by stress, traumatic experiences, emotional difficulties, drugs or medication, or illness.” When I was a classroom teacher, I had many young children concerned about nightmares. I remember sharing the following technique with them that I learned from Laura Silva, an internationally known mind-trainer:

“If during a dream you are ever confronted, attacked, or frightened by a monster or a bad person - point your index finger at that problem/person; each time you point your finger at the monster, it will shrink to half its size. Open and close your hand, over and over, pointing your finger until the monster is only a couple of inches high. You can then pick up the monster and play with it in the palm of your hand! Now ask the monster what he wants. That monster will never be a threat to you again!”

A youngster named Sara reported to me that she made the monster so small he could fit on the end of her pencil. Sara was no longer afraid of the monster because she was in control. Even if a child is not aware enough to do this during the sleep state, it is also effective to do the exercise as they share the dream. Just have them close their eyes and reenter the world of dreams. Encourage them to change the ending. Make it playful.

Our dreams can be gold mines of information. But unless we are remembering and making sense of our dreams, we are missing out on a wonderful growth opportunity. Happy Dreaming!