Dreams can serve as a wonderful gateway to explore your spirituality. Since ancient times, the importance of messages conveyed in dreams has been an integral aspect of consciousness, as well as a source of great mystery and wonder. Even in the Bible, dreamers run rampant and their nighttime visions play an important part in Biblical stories (figures such as Joseph in the Old and New Testaments, just to give an example). However, there seems to be one stumbling block a lot of modern people complain about: how do you remember your dreams when you wake up?

Emphasize the Importance of Dreaming

 
Some theorists suggest that it became more difficult for people to recall their dreams after clear lines had been drawn between the logical waking world, and the illogical dreaming world. The ancients saw consciousness as more fluid, and didn't separate the two. In fact, some societies would hold trials for people who dreamt of cheating on their spouses just as readily as they would had it actually occurred. This seems ludicrous to most people now, because  in modern society, our nighttime adventures are oft completely ignored and scoffed at. And this is one of the reasons for the decline in dream recall.

The solution? Simply give more importance to your dreams. Affirm every night that what you dream is of utmost importance to you, and tell yourself that you will remember. Do whatever it takes to convince your conscious and subconscious mind that you do actually care what happens to you at night. Prayer and meditation are good exercises. It will feel awkward at first, but as time passes, it will become easier to remember.

Keep a Dream Journal

This goes along with the previous point. If you write something down, it tells your mind that it's something worth remembering. Also, the flow of writing can help jog your memory over things you had originally forgotten. Write down everything you can remember, no matter how trivial or random it may seem.

But how can you write down your dreams if you don't remember them in the first place? This is a trap many get caught in. However, you don't have to remember anything concrete to keep a dream journal. Start off by simply recording how you feel in the morning, as these may point to the general mood of your dreams. Despite what some may believe, it's a scientific fact that everyone, unless they have certain medical conditions or brain injuries, dreams every night. Write down any general impressions you have upon waking, and eventually your span of remembering will increase.

If you can't bring yourself to keep up with a journal, simply discussing your dreams with another individual can serve the same purpose.

Disrupt Your Routine

Have you ever noticed that when you sleep in an unfamiliar place such as a hotel room, that you remember dreams more easily? In ancient Greece, in order to receive messages from the gods, sometimes people would sleep in temples. Disrupting your sleep routine helps because it creates disorientation, especially upon awakening, that causes your mind to scramble for explanations, often jogging memories of dreams.

It doesn't take a temple to achieve this. Some people recommend to create a special space for meditation and dreaming, even to the point of just sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag. However, an easier way to spice up your sleeping routine is to sleep at the foot of your bed. When you wake up, you will be seeing your room from a new angle, which will create the disorientation that can help jog your memory.

Hit the Snooze Button

When trying to remember something, like where they put their car keys, people often pause to retrace their steps. A single whiff of a scent can cause an entire memory, forgotten for decades, to flood consciousness. Seeing a sight or scene that resembles one experienced previously can cause a strange sensation that some claim is the cause of deja vu. If you lay awake in bed for a short while after your alarm goes off, you remember what your mind was experiencing moments before. Because the second you hop out of bed, your mind is elsewhere.

So set your alarm clock fifteen minutes earlier, and simply relax in the same position you normally sleep, and see what you can remember.

Be Ready

Edgar Cayce claimed that the only thing that prevented dream recall was a person's unwillingness toward confrontation. Dreams stir up a lot of mud, and it can be hard waiting for the water to settle; however, it's only when you dig through that mud can you find the hidden gems of spiritual growth. Ask yourself honestly if you're ready to tackle whatever your dreams dredge up, head-on. If you are, then you're one step closer to remembering.

Dreaming techniques are just as subjective as dreams are, and thus one technique may work for one person, and not for another. Try the various methods mentioned above, and see which works best for you.

Dreamwork for the Soul, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Understand Your Dreams, by Alice Anne Parker

Unlock Your Secret Dreams, by Craig Hamilton-Parker

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