5 Ways to Dream Deeper this Holiday
This time of the year always sends me into a more introverted space. With the long nights and short days, I spend more time dreaming at night and writing down my dreams, and even more time daydreaming. It's a good time for reflection and envisioning. For preparing your intentions for the burst of energy that comes with the return of the longer days and the light.
This holiday season, whether you are with family, or alone, celebrating or not, I'm wishing you many moments of peaceful introspection.
May you be brave enough to shine a light in the dark places within and uncover your heart's desires so you may shine your brightest in the coming year.
I've included some tips here - real things that I actually do - that help me dream my deepest and uncover the hidden gems in my subconscious mind.
1. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. No matter how fragmented, no matter how little you remember. Write down any images, colors, people, things you remember from them. You'll find that when you pay attention to your dreams on a nightly basis, it will become easier to remember them.
2. Interpret the symbols in your dreams using an online dictionary. I like to use Dream Mood Dictionary, but there are others as well. Ultimately, the way you personally relate to something means more than what any online dream dictionary can tell you, but its a good place to start the wheels turning.
3. If you wake up at 3 am don't fight it. I regularly wake up after 5-6 hours of sleep. Sometimes at this hour, my mind is filled with worry or anxiety, but if I've been doing some good work with alignment, I'll often find myself filled with creative ideas or the solution to a problem. If I feel "unresolved" in any way during that middle of the night wake up, then I write down any of my thoughts or worries, any of my dreams that I can remember and this serves to clear my mind. I'm almost always able to fall back asleep peacefully after doing this.
4. Go to bed earlier and avoid screens an hour before bedtime. OH sigh, you are probably thinking I'm giving you boring mom-like advice, but I'm telling you - the relaxation you will feel and the depth of your dreaming if you do these things is worth it.
5. When you first wake up, try to hold onto the feeling of the dream. If you are doing number 1, writing them this will help. But even just sitting in bed and feeling the emotional shape of the dream has merit. Sometimes our dreams stretch us to feel things we are longing to feel in real life, or they are revealing something we're normally unwilling to face. If it's a dream that feels good to you, then it is especially beneficial to "milk" the sensation of the feeling of it while it's still fresh, creating a deep imprint of that emotional charge.
