A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (13 page)

alone are the final authority on what your dreams mean. What do

you think they are saying?

LEARNING FROM OUR DREAMS

Aristotle said that the insights available from dreams were like objects reflected
in water. When the water is calm, the forms are easy to see; when the water
is agitated (that is, when the mind is emotionally disturbed), the reflections
become distorted and meaningless. The more the mind can be still before sleep,
said Aristotle, the more the dreamer can learn. If you go to bed calm, the
memories of your dreams will be clearer come morning.

=
78
<

Dream Signs, Triggers for

Lucid Dreams

As you jot down more of your nighttime adventures, you’ll

notice that you often dream about very similar things. For

example, you might have

frequent dreams about your

sister, your pet, the ocean,

All too often, my dreams incorporate the

school, snakes—anything.

idea of home. Sometimes it’s my current 

These recurring dream ele-

apartment, other times it’s my childhood 

ments are called dream

home, but usually it’s some strange blend-

ing of all the places I’ve lived. It is safe to 

signs, and they’re a power-

say that my most common dream sign is

ful stepping-stone to lucid

my place of residence within the dream

dreams. Even now, without

world. Now, whenever I find myself in “a 

knowing it, your dreams

home” that doesn’t pair up with my wak-

contain certain people,

ing world home, I instantly know that I’m 

events, locations, and situa-

in a dream. —JARED Z.

tions that pop up again and

again, dream after dream.

Once you identify those personal dream signs, they will essen-

tially act as landmarks in the dream world, a great way to achieve

lucidity.

Find Your Dream Signs

Keep a journal for a few weeks and you’ll begin to see patterns.

A dream sign is personal to you. You might have a recurring

dream sign that’s been with you your whole life, such as fear of

=
79
<

snakes. They might change frequently as you yourself change: my

new boss. Find a highlighter, read through your dream journal,

and start underlining the objects, places, people, and themes that

pop up more than once: a large mansion, owls, my brother Joe, the

park, embarrassment. Keep a list of all these dream signs.

Locating and identifying dream signs will train your subcon-

scious to spot them the next time they appear. If you recognize

that you often dream about your old girlfriend, for example, you

can use this as a trigger for becoming aware that you’re dreaming.

Tell yourself before bed, “The next time I see my ex-girlfriend I

will realize that I am dreaming.” Knowing that your dreams speak

a familiar language with recurring places, people, or themes will be

one of the easiest ways to recognize that you’re dreaming.

Discovering a Natural World

In January 1832, the HMS
Beagle
drifted through the Atlantic,

meandering around volcanic islands, until it finally docked in

the archipelago of Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa. Its

passengers stepped onto the rocky islands and began examining

and cataloging its natural life. Charles Darwin, a young man of

twenty-three, walked along the shore. He wrote about one of his

findings that day, an octopus that changed colors like a chameleon.

He must have stared at it with awe as the creature’s flesh trans-

formed from yellow to green to red.

If writing down your dreams feels like a chore, try to shift

your approach. Imagine that you are crafting a book of tales from

a completely different dimension, the log of a pioneer, because in

=
80
<

essence, that is exactly what you are doing. You are an explorer,

and the uncharted terrain is your own inner universe.

As your dream journal grows, so will your relationship with

your dreams. You’ll soon be dreaming more, having longer and

richer dreams, and a wonderful list of common themes and sym-

bols will start to take shape. Hey, you may even learn a thing or

two about yourself along the way.

�

Summary

•   Writing your dreams down is the most effective way to 

remember them.

•   Dreams contain insights that we often miss unless we write them 

down and then go back and reread them.

•   Dream signs are essentially recurring elements of your dreams 

and are a perfect way to recognize the dream state.

•   Jot down important points as soon as you wake up, otherwise 

you might forget.

•   Have fun with your dream journal. It’s a book of your 

experiences from another dimension.

=
81
<

=
82
<

8

The Reality Check

<•=

“Reality is frequently inaccurate.”

—Douglas Adams,

writer, humorist, defender of the black rhino

How do you know that this isn’t a dream? You might say,

“Well of course I’m awake, I can see a world around me,

smell things, touch and taste the external world. I’m

sitting here reading this book, dammit!” This is good evidence,

but we’re afraid it’s not enough. If you were in a dream right now

it’d feel just as real. All that clever evidence you had—sight, touch,

taste, smell, sound—all that exists in the dream world too. The

multisensory experience, the authenticity of emotions, the solidity

of our surroundings—all these elements are so convincing that it

doesn’t occur to our brain that we’re in a dream. This is why rec-

ognizing the dream state takes an inquisitive mind. This chapter is

about training your mind to be inquisitive.

=
83
<