Everyone has dreams, but not everyone remembers them. Dreams have been described as a phenomenon of sleep were the dreamer is manifesting thoughts and experiences based on what thoughts and experiences already exist in their mind. If that's all there was too it, there would be no need for this blog. But, of course, here we are and here we go.
Let's start first with some common types of dreams. There are wish-fulfillment dreams, nightmares, reoccurring dreams, vivid dreams, lucid dreams, premonitions and extra-dimensional dreams. Most dreams are just "normal" dreams, which our subconscious mind is trying to make our conscious mind aware of certain issues or dilemmas in our lives, using symbolic details in order to help us overcome and move forward. Most of the time our subconscious knows what is really going on within ourselves, but our conscious mind is too full of clutter from our daily lives that we don't notice.
Let's back up a little. Our 'selves' consist of 3 different levels of consciousness. We have our conscious minds, which is everything we are aware of and what we use to think in our daily, waking life. Next, we have our subconscious mind, which consists of our deep emotions and unresolved issues or dilemmas. This is the mind we use mostly when dreaming. And last, we have our unconscious mind. This is were we derive our intuition, premonitions, and here is where we find our true, inner self... ego free. It is important to understand these three levels of consciousness in order to better understand ourselves and our dreams. Most of us primarily use our conscious minds during our waking life and our subconscious minds during sleep, so we will discuss these first.
The reason a lot of people don't remember their dreams is because their levels of consciousness are far apart. The memories of our dreams lie in our subconscious minds, and when we wake up, if we are too detached from our different levels of consciousness, our dream memories almost never reach our conscious minds. Therefore we don't remember the dreams. As we begin to bring these levels closer together, it becomes easier to retain the memories.
The distance between our levels of consciousness is also why some of us have a memory of a dream but begin to forget it as we wake up. We are in our subconscious minds in our sleep therefore our memories of our dreams are also in this mind set. As we begin to wake, we also begin to transfer from our subconscious mind to our conscious minds. In this shift, these two levels of our mind overlap, so we are aware of being conscious at the same time that we are aware of the dream memories. As the shift continues we begin to get closer to our conscious minds and further from our subconscious minds, leaving our dream memories behind. This is why it is always recommended to write down dreams as soon as you wake up.
If we learn to bring our subconscious minds closer to our conscious minds, we will remember more dreams. This works both ways, so if having these two levels closer together helps us remember our dreams when we are awake, it also helps us become conscious when we are dreaming. This brings us to lucid dreams. Lucid dreams happen when the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. These dreams can sometimes be controlled and are usually also vivid as a result of us being aware. Vivid dreams are in much more detail and seem more real. Most lucid dreams are vivid, but not all vivid dreams are lucid. Our minds in our dreams usually don't question reality because our brains normal perceptual process is inactive while we dream. In other words, what we see and experience in our dreams does not go through the same perceptual process it would go through when we are awake. This is why dreams can seem real. It is also because of this that we can train ourselves to have lucid dreams, to realize when we are "in" a dream.
How can we question if we are dreaming or not if we are not aware that we are in a dream? The trick is to constantly question reality when we are awake. In dreams, fine print or clocks are unstable, therefore they usually can't maintain their consistency. Also, light levels usually can not be changed because light in dreams is a symbol to let us know if we see what is going on or not. Therefore changing it would change the meaning of the dream and we can not do this. We can use this to our advantage. For example, if we train ourselves to question whether we are dreaming when we are awake by flicking a light switch, staring at a clock and counting the seconds or reading fine print a couple times, it will raise our awareness level in dreams as well. Do this until it becomes second nature to question whether you are dreaming or not. Most of the time we will assure ourselves that we are awake, but when it becomes a habit to question our dream state, you might find yourself doing it in a dream. When this happens you will, like always before, assume you are awake, except this time, the light might not turn on or off, the clock will not work normally, or the fine print will not stay the same. This will trigger your conscious mind to become active, and you will now be aware in your dream.
Our unconscious mind is the deepest part of our 'selves'. This is the part of us that is interconnected with everything. Global consciousness is a result of this part of our mind. Intuition, premonitions, and our true inner selves lie in this part of our consciousness. It is the most difficult part of ourselves to consciously tap into. We are either born already at this level, or we attain it through discipline and practice. Our unconscious minds hold many abilities and wonders. When we tap into this level in our dreams, we are able to attain new information, or see people or places we could not otherwise see, where time and space are not a factor. We can learn, travel, heal and grow in these dreams.
This interview with Mike DeLuca covers a few stories where people have claimed to solve problems in their dreams by receiving information they did not previously have.
Interview with Mike DeLuca at Paranormal Cafe Podcast:
-Part 1-Part 2There are many ways to bring our three levels of consciousness together. As we do this, we will begin to have a better understanding of life and more importantly, ourselves. Imagine ourselves with these three levels together as one. Imagine that we are always conscious when we dream and always aware of our emotions and dilemmas when we are awake. Always guided by our unconscious minds, having universal understanding in all aspects of our lives, while we are awake in this physical world or awake in the cosmic, dream world.
Dreams go as deep as you want them to go. Whether we know it or not, we are all able to achieve these dreams. As our consciousness continues to shift forward, we will continue to experience and accomplish more in and with our dreams.