The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (21 page)

BOOK: The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams
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rather than be forced to admit them in writing. But we know more about memory today, just as we know more about dream content, and we therefore know that you are much more likely to remember your dream if you write it down. In fact, having a permanent record of your dreams can really help improve your skills as a dream directorand as a dream interpreter. Getting into the habit of writing down your dreams also increases your dream recall and will give you even more material to work with in future dreams; characters may come back, situations may surface as your dreaming mind remakes some of the classics (or flops!) in your past. This book's companion volume,
The Dream Sourcebook Journal
, states: "Keeping a dream journal is a way to give to your dreams and to have them give back so much to you."
Give some thought to the kind of notebook you want to use for your dream journal. There are some lovely blank books on the market, as well as books such as
The Dream Sourcebook Journal
which is specifically designed for dream journaling that include instructions and formats for recording dreams. Some people take great pains to make their own, complete with a specially designed cover with a picture of significance to them; a spiritual or inspirational figure, for example. But a plain spiral notebook can work just as well. Left-handed dreamers may prefer a top-bound spiral notebook because it is so easy to use, improving the flow of dream images to the page. Of course, if you're in a pinchon the road or at a friend'sany scrap of paper will do, so long as it has sufficient room for you to get it all down; you can transfer your notes to your official journal later. Still, we recommend that you take your dream journal with you when you travel; in our experience, many people remember more dreams when they are in an unusual location or strange surroundings.
 
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What to Write Down
In a word, everything. The more detail, the better. Putting down as much as possible gives you more to work with, and hones your dream-recalling skills for further work on other dreams. Pay attention to all aspects of the dreamthe colors, lighting, location layout, size of things, direction of movement, sounds, and so onand record them, no matter how trivial or embarrassing they seem. they could prove to be quite significant later. Don't pay attention to how you are writinguse it as a means to an end. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation can all come later, as you go back over what you've written (or do not edit it at allremember, this is your journal, and you don't have to share it with anyone, so you can misspell away!). The important thingthe essential thingis to get the dream down on paper before it slips away. Even fragments are valid, because they may lead to further recall later.
Journal Format
To get the most out of your dream journal, you'll want to create a consistent format, a way of doing things that stays basically the same no matter what the dream. Establishing a format regulates your dream recall and makes dream interpretation easier. You can also go back and find things much more easilyeven years laterif you know exactly where to look for them. We recommend the following format, which you can adapt to suit your needs as necessary:
Date: Write the date and day of the week in the same place on each page each time. Again, you may choose to write the date down the night before as part of your dream preparation; write either that night's date, or the following day's, but be consistent.
Tense: Write down the dream in the present tense, as though the story is happening before your eyes.
 
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NOT:
I was in a big, dark castle.
BUT:
I am in a big, dark castle.
Recounting the dream in present tense brings the story and feelings to life, and helps increase dream recall by putting you back in the moment of the dream. If this way of storytelling does not come naturally at first, don't worry. Write it down however you like. You'll get the hang of reporting dreams in present tense in time, and it will soon be automatic.
Content: Write down everything you remember, even if these are only fragments or pieces of images that don't make sense to you yet. Much of the time, just starting to write down the dream will bring more of the dream back to mind, including not only more obvious details such as dialogue and plot, but colors, sounds, and odors.
Feeling: Record the feelings you associate with the dream. Note how you feel during, at the very end of, and immediately after awakening from the dream. You may want to underline particularly emotion-stirring parts of the dream, making notes in the margins about how these moments made you feel.
Circle or highlight key words and symbols: Now that your dream is down on paper, take time to use your pen or colored markers to circle or highlight the key words, characters, and symbols in the dream. (You may have already underlined the significant feelings in the dream.) Note such things as names, places, objects, directions, sounds, colors, numbers, significant adjectives and verbs, and so on. These highlighted words will give you a place to start in analyzing the dream's meaning, and you can refer to them later when working on your dream index (see below). Develop a notation system that works for you, and use it regularly in your dreamwork.
Title: After you have finished, come up with a title for your dream, and write it at the top of the entry. If possible, choose a
 
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title that reflects the single most unusual or distinctive aspect of the dream (''Rat-Faced Mom," "Flunking the Test," for example). If your dream contained a particular message, you may wish to use it as the title ("Don't Step on Other People's Toes,'' "Let Her Go," and so on). Giving your dream a title helps identify key elements and makes it easier to locate your dream in your journal later.
Day's observations: In this section, note any events or thoughts from the previous day that stand out to you. You may not see a connection with your dream right away, but sometimes you'll find one. Usually, your dreams are related in some way to your daily life, and taking time to jog your memory about these associations is worthwhile. Note also any aspects that are different from your waking realitya house that is yours in the dream, but is much larger or smaller than your actual house, a woman who is your sister in the dream, although you do not have one. When these discrepancies occur, note them and comment on any immediate ideas or questions that come to mind. Stay open to all possible interpretations.
Action: No, this is not where you as dream director yell "Action!" and the dream begins again. This is a place for recording any action you might plan to take as a result of the dream. The action could be related to a dream message, or it could be in response to a memory in your waking life that came to you through the dream. Write down your plans to complete the action, and leave room to comment on the results of your action.
Index: At the back of your dream journal (or on index cards or on your personal computer), start a personal "dream index" of the key words, important characters, themes, and symbols from your dreams. After recording a dream (or at a later time if you wish) note the words you have circled, underlined, or highlighted, and enter them alphabetically in columns in the dream index.
 
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Next to the word, jot down the page or date on which the dream occurred, adding subsequent page numbers or dates each time that particular symbol recurs in a dream. This way, you can develop your own personal glossary of recurring dream symbols that will allow you to examine your dream symbols as they develop over time, giving you greater understanding of the ongoing messages in your dreams. Additional information about interpreting your recurring dream symbols is covered in chapter 6.
Translating into Dream Language
Once you have recorded your dream in full, you can begin to focus in on interpreting it more fully. You can start by learning a special way of talking about your dream. Based on the theory that all aspects of the dream are parts of the self, created and introduced into the dream by the dreamer, clinical psychologist and Gestalt therapist John Weir invented what he call "percept language" to encourage the dreamer to focus on individual perceptions and to expand access to the dream's meaning.
We have adapted Weir's technique in a form we call dream language. How is it spoken? It's English, but it's phrased differently than everyday speech. How does it work? By emphasizing your creation of the dream and the perceptions that lead to each character, setting, and action. Says Weir: "As far as I, the perceiver, am concerned, the external world 'exists' only inside me as sensations and images. Objects as experienced are solely the consequence of my perceptual processes." This includes dreams, which he says "take place entirely inside me. . . . They are my own responsibility. . . . My dreams are my own doing. I 'do' me when I 'dream' me." In other words, it's all "you doing you." Rephrasing the dream in this way can heighten your sensitivity to the personal associations it contains. You're in the land of
 
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dreams now, and you want to speak the native language. After all, it is a new way of speaking, and, like all new languages, it takes some time to learn and get comfortable with it. Give it a try, keep practicing it, and be patient. After a while, it will become second nature.
Here's a basic, one-sentence example:
Regular speech:
I fight with my mother
.
Dream language:
I have me fight with the mother part of me
.
What does that mean? And how does it help us work with our dreams? If we are the ones creating our dreams, then we are the ones who are having ourselves take the actions depicted in them. We stage them. I stage the fight with my mother. "I have me" fight with my mother. But if every character in a dream is an aspect of the self, then it is not necessarily my mother at all, but perhaps my mother and also the part of myself that is motherlike as I see it, "the mother part of me."
Sound strange? Not surprising. After all, it is a new language. Here are some of the basics to get you started translating your dream.
Rule one: Own each part of the dream by using the phrase "part of me," as the dreamer in the foregoing example did, after every noun (except "me"). You are responsible for everything in your dreamthe objects, images, events, feelings. You created them from your unconscious. So anything that appears not only represents the people, things, and occurrences in your waking life, but also parts of you. Sometimes, you my find it useful to break down words into syllables; the background then becomes "the back part of me, ground part of me," potentially enriching the meaning and bringing more material to be interpreted. Experiment with the language, and see what rings true for you.
Rule two: Make all pronouns personal. Do not use impersonal pronouns such as it, that, this, what, one, you. Instead, use
 
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I, me, mine. "It doesn't matter" becomes "I don't matter." "This is really nice" becomes "I am really nice." Doing so personalizes the content and allows you to take responsibility for every element in the dream each time it occurs.
Rule three: Make it active: You cause everything in the dream. "I'm angry" becomes "I anger myself." "It hurts" becomes "I hurt me."
Rule four: Be accountable for all the actions and feelings in the dream. As in the earlier example ("I have me fight with my mother"), acknowledge that you are creating the dream situation by saying "I have me . . ." at the beginning of every sentence and before every verb. For instance, "I have me be confused," rather than "That confuses me."
Always start by using ordinary language in the present tense. Then translate, speaking the dream aloud in dream language, and then rewriting it as such if you wish. You will soon come to see how revealing the dream can be in this state. Here is an example.
"Too Much 'I' in 'Opinion'"
I dream that I publish a brochure. I pick it up to look at it, and see that I have made a typo. There is an extra "i" in the word "opinion."
Translation into Dream Language of
"Too Much 'I' in 'Opinion'"
I have me dream that I have me publish a brochure part of me. I have me pick the brochure part of me up and have me look at the brochure part of me. I have me see that I have had me make a typo/mistake part of me. I have there be an extra "i" part of me in the opinion part of me.
Yes, it may still sound strange. But translating into dream language allowed this dreamer to translate the dream so that she could understand its meaning. She was making an error in the way

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