It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life."
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A few months back, a friend told me how to hold onto those sleep adventures commonly referred to as ‘dreams.’ I invariably wake with the vestiges of some wild trek slipping out of my mind – how might I hold onto these? They disappear before I have a chance to write them into my morning journal. According to my pal, the trick is:
Lying perfectly still upon waking.
When you open your eyes, try not to move a muscle, do not change position in bed. It is the body’s movement that sends the dream fluttering away.
Now, lying still, repeat the dream to yourself, over and over, several times, recording it to memory. Even if it is only a snippet, repeat this vision again and again.
Once you have repeated the dream to yourself several times, now allow yourself to move just a bit – reach for a pen and paper at your bedside and write it down. (Or, if your phone is at your bedside, make a voice memo.) Do not let yourself be interrupted by anything else: record the dream.
To be honest, my pal is no authority on sleep or dreams, but she spoke with such conviction, I decided to make this one of my experiments over the next while. As much as possible, I try to freeze upon waking, not moving or stretching my body in the least way, and I try to replay the night’s escapade.
I’m not sure if it is her advice or the simple goal-setting/focus on my part, but I have been much more successful in capturing my dreams since I started this practice. What a wild time I have at night! Why does my mind travel in this way? Dreams are a bit like surprise trips, I think. I am always transported to weird and unexpected places, with characters known and unknown, and snippets of reality coupled with bizarre:
- I’m running through a fuchsia-colored high school gym with someone I coached with 20 years ago - there’s an interloper at my house, weaving beautiful curtains and tapestries - I’m a passenger in a driverless car on a curvy highway in the middle of the night - my grocery store opens into the outdoor Italian market in Philadelphia - I’m wandering in rooms filled with handmade wooden toys
What in the world is going on with me at night? I’m going to try to track my dreams for six months or so, and see if there are recurring themes.
I am baffled by my night adventures.
Maureen, your thoughts about dreams has me completely intrigued. I’m sort of wanting to try this out myself. Maybe I will because I often have such strange dreams that make no sense to me at all but can be haunting and vivid. I used to have more nightmares, but not so much anymore. I learned a trick once about having bad dreams. It was to imagine your escape route. Every time you get caught up in some sort of horror film, know how to get your way out. It seemed to help. The reoccurring dream I have most often is where I can’t find anywhere to go to the bathroom. Yes, it’s time to wake up and use the facilities! I’m curious to learn more about your experiement.
Oooh, Maureen! I had a wild one a couple of years ago when I tried to take Melatonin as part of the Covid cocktail and I learned right quick where Stephen King must get his ideas. It’s in the Melatonin. Seriously, that dream was so real I woke up worried about the child lying by the side of the road I’d seen in the dream, and what to do about it. We always wonder if it has something to do with what we eat – was it Chaucer in Canterbury Tales when Chanticleer the rooster’s wife said he’d better stop eating what caused the dream? Goodness, I’m glad to know how to keep the good dreams latched on to my eyelashes, but I’m glad to know that moving around will chase the bad ones off.
Maureen,
You are one busy lady at night. I don’t dream much., but I’m intrigued by this process. I’m not sure I’ll be able to remember it in the morning when I awaken. My dreams usually happen when I’m iill.
Those dreams all sound like fun adventures. I’m curious if I can remember to try this. Recording them is key, isn’t it? I had a very vivid dream this week. I remembered it all; it must have been right before I woke up. However, I just thought about trying to remember it, and it is gone. I didn’t write it down. Have fun looking for those dream themes!