Slice of Life: Be creative with your dreaming

One-third of our lives id spent sleeping and of of that one-third, another one-third of our sleep time is spent dreaming. On the average, we dream around five dreams nightly but usually remember few or none of our nightly adventures.

Upon awaking, a dream is often like a soap bubble which disappears quickly and completely in a flash. For thousands of years, our ancestors believed dreams contain powerful messages. In very recent history, dreams have been dismissed as nonsensical bits of irrelevant information. The current scientific research is that dreams contain valuable information for problem solving and creativity.

Dr. Deidre Barrett, an assistant professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School, has written a book, "The Committee of Sleep" (Oneiroi Press, 2001) that contains many examples of how scientists, artists and athletes use dreams for inspiration and creative problem solving. Furthermore, Barrett proposes that by utilizing certain simple techniques, an individual can inject problem solving into one's dreams. Barrett proposes that dreaming assists us in finding solutions outside our everyday thought patterns; she discovered that more than half the artists and fiction writers she interviewed, along with inventors, engineers and others, found dreams to be helpful in their work. She further mentioned that two Nobel Prizes were products of dreams.

Barrett's techniques for promoting dream creativity include some simple steps which she labels "incubation" to prepare the sleeper for productive dreaming. The first step is to write down your problem in a simple sentence and place it next to your bed, making sure to keep a pen and paper nearby. Next, review the problem just before dozing off. When you wake, try to remember what you dreamed and write it down immediately.

Lucid dreaming is when dreamers are aware that they are dreaming. It is reported that three out of 10 people have had at least one lucid dream. Some researchers believe that lucid dreaming can help in the treatment of nightmare sufferers. Psychologist Daniel Erlacher of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, proposes that athletes can internalize complex high jump movement sequences more quickly after lucid dream training.

I know of a young boy who was having terrible nightmares of being chased by monsters. He would scream out in terror while having these dreams. The suggestion was made that perhaps he could stop these monsters if he had a big sword or gun. After several peaceful nights, he was asked about the monster dreams. He reported that the nightmares were gone. He had, in his dreams, stopped running, turned around and confronted the monsters. He then morphed each one of his fingers into long sharp claws, which scared his dream demons, and they ran away.

Many people have recurrent dreams that they often have experienced from childhood into adulthood. These dreams are like loops that repeat themselves over and over again. Often these recurrent dreams are upsetting to the dreamer during waking hours. Such was the dream of my mother who shared with me that she had the same haunting dream since she was a young girl. In this dream, she was lost on a dark street. She wanted desperately to go home but didn't know where home was. I can pinpoint the time frame when my mother told me her dream, as I had just purchased a secondhand Cadillac in absolutely pristine condition. I thought my conservative mother would disapprove, thinking it to be ostentatious and extravagant. To my surprise, she loved it and loved being driven around in it. I suggested to my mother that, in her dream, I would drive around the corner in my new car, stop, open the door and take her home. Several weeks later when my mother had returned to her house, I asked her about her dream. All she said was, "I don't have that dream anymore." Sweet dreams.

(Dr. Donna Pinter is founder and director of Psychological Services Clinic, Bloomsburg, Danville and Sunbury. "Slice of Life" appears on this page each Sunday.)

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