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How to Influence Your Dreams
Three Methods: Putting all thoughts out of your conscious mind Focusing on the problem prior to sleeping
Decoding your dream
Programming, inducing, influencing or controlling your dreams can be a method
through which you deliberately set out to solve conscious problems by making
use of your subconscious. Dreaming can solve our problems through offering
us insights and advice.
[1]
Using dream incubation to influence a dream can form part of a lucid dreaming
exercise or, (and easier than lucid dreaming), it can be an exercise in problem-
solving in its own right. The method outlined in this article is concerned with
setting yourself up to dream about something, rather than controlling your dream
once you're dreaming. For the latter activity, see wikiHow's article on lucid
dreaming. In this article, you will learn how to program your dreams so that you
can channel them to solve your problem or to inspire you.
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Have faith in this method. If you're not convinced that this method can work, you'll
make things harder for yourself as your conscious mind struggles to do all the
problem-thinking, keeping you awake into the wee small hours of the night. If you're willing
to give dream programming a try, however, it can be a surprising and uplifting experience
to try and use your dreams to resolve your problems.
The dream psychologist Deirdre Barrett believes that it is possible that our waking
mind has often already solved a problem but that the dream is the only way to bring
it fully to the attention of our consciousness.
[2]
Looking at it this way might help to
quell any misgivings you have about descending into "mumbo-jumbo"! She also
sees dreaming as "extra thinking time" during which the highly visual nature of
dreaming, along with its loose associations and slight craziness, enable us to think
in ways that aren't so obvious while we're awake.
[3]
Decide on the problem or unresolved issue that is of concern to you. Avoid
creating a pile of problems - your problem in need of resolution needs to be
something clearly definable as a current and pressing problem for you.
If your very problem is that you can't disentangle a group of problems, consider
putting that concern forth as your initial problem!
Problems you might want to ask your subconscious about include finding ideas to
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write about or to paint, finding ways to fix problems in relationships, finding
inspiration for an upcoming event or for something you need to design, resolving
problems with studies or work, resolving your confused emotions, etc. For
example, if you have to write a speech for the company manager tomorrow, and
you don't have a clue what to say, ask your subconscious mind to provide ideas
that you can develop when you're awake.
Dream psychologist Deirdre Barrett thinks that problems in need of visualization
might be the most ideal for asking to be resolved by a dream (for example,
inventions and paintings or designs), along with answers that buck conventional
wisdom, also known as "outside-the-box" thinking.
[4]
Prior to going to bed, ask your mind mentally to work on this problem as you
sleep.
[5]
Be sure to ask for a solution or new perspective on the problem.
If preferred, or in addition to asking your mind, you can write down what you want to
dream about in your dream journal or on paper. If it helps, make it a visual exercise
by drawing pictures to elaborate on what you want. This step isn't necessary but it
helps some people to transfer the problem into something more concrete.
Decide which approach works best for you. Below there are two methods offered
for "programming" or influencing your dream. Both are equally valid, it is just that they
are different approaches and it will depend on you as to which works best, so a little trial
and error is called for when you first start learning how to program or control the content of
your dreams. There are proponents and detractors of either method!
1
Put aside all thoughts of the problem in your conscious. Andy Baggott says that
it is pointless to keep mulling over the problem in your mind if you are going to leave it
to the subconscious to resolve.
[6]
One of the dangers of continuing to work through the
problem in your awake state is that you will probably continue thinking, find it difficult to get
to sleep, and will have a poor night's sleep and wake up unrefreshed. Instead, he
recommends that you put aside all thoughts of the problem for which you're seeking a
solution and trust the subconscious to pick up on solving it as you sleep. Once you've asked
your mind to solve the problem while you sleep, try these distractions prior to sleeping:
Read a book you enjoy.
Write a poem or some lines of a written work. Or write a letter to a friend.
Talk to someone else about anything other than the problem.
Spend time with your pets or read a bedtime story to a child.
Try to avoid anything over-stimulating prior to sleeping, such as TV, movies, video
games, etc., or you risk dreaming about these instead.
Remind yourself that if you haven't already come up with an answer, over-thinking it
won't change anything. Have faith and trust in your subconscious.
Go to sleep. Lie down and relax. Put aside all thoughts of the problem and seek sleep.
Method 1 of 3: Putting all thoughts out of your conscious mind
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2
Make sure that you are comfortable, including having the room warm or cool
enough, fresh bed linen, and if you like soft music to sleep by, consider playing a
little prior to sleeping. If you share your bed with someone else, ask that they either
sleep at the same time as you, or not disturb you with light or noise if they come to
bed later than you.
Visualize something positive and beautiful before sleeping - a walk on a beach, a
favorite camping trip, etc.
[7]
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Lie down, relax, and think hard about the problem you would like resolved, or
the inspiration that you're seeking.
Avoid anxious thoughts.
Think straightforward thoughts such as "I'd like helpful insights on how to improve
my running times", or "I'd like helpful insights on how to improve my chances of
getting a raise at work".
Close your eyes and imagine key images for your dream. If nothing appears,
read your programming messages again (if you wrote them down), or think back
through them. Imagine sounds in the background, what you are seeing, feeling, etc.
Think of what you want to dream about from the first person point of view. Imagine
what it will seem like through your eyes.
Think of dialog and sounds that you expect to hear in your dream until you are
hearing them in your mind.
Think hard, but maintain a calm posture. Do not get tense. Just relax.
Go to sleep with these images and sounds in your head.
1
Awaken the next morning and turn to your dream journal immediately. Write
down your dream memories. It doesn't matter what the dream was, keep writing as
quickly as you can because dreams are part of our short term memory. Get all the
remembered material down and you can analyze it shortly.
Go over the dream. What ideas and thoughts has it presented you with?
What practical solutions can you draw from your dream?
Are there particular images that stand out and have some sort of resonance for
you?
Method 2 of 3: Focusing on the problem prior to sleeping
Method 3 of 3: Decoding your dream
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If you do find solutions, or partial solutions, write them out fully or draw them, and
then apply them to your problem, or be inspired by them.
Keep practicing this activity until it becomes easier. At first, it may be both hard
to convince yourself to trust your subconscious enough to resolve your problems and it
may be a while before your "programming" results in fruitful and obvious solutions. The
more that you keep trying this, however, the greater a creative solution source dreaming
can become for you.
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Try to sleep in a quiet area with no distractions whatsoever.
Remember fine details, as they are important.
You might not be able to influence your dreams for a while but keep
trying
An easy way to realize that you are dreaming is to, before you go to bed,
draw a symbol on your hand. As you fall asleep, think "When I look at my
hands, I will realize I am dreaming." or something similar. If you wake up
and realize it didn't work, try again. Eventually you will think in your dream,
"My hand!" and Lucid dreaming should begin.
Lay in silence and darkness well before you are ready to fall asleep, in
this time play out a daydream in your mind and slowly drift off.
Try having a symbol on your ceiling or near your bed that you can easily
access. Stare at it for a few minutes before you go to sleep, and stare at
it for a few minutes when you wake up. This can help you remember your
dreams better/more often.
Play music associated with your dream quietly.
Read your dream journal often.
If this happens when you remember your dreams, you may lucid dream.
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Tips
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Remember! It is a dream, nothing can physically hurt you in your
dreams.
If you try to concentrate as you fall asleep, you may stay awake. The
point of the aforementioned activities (writing it down, etc) is that your
subconscious mind is the thing you want to be concerned with what you
want to dream about. If you tend to be the type who stays awake and
worries, try the first suggested method only.
Don't try too hard, or you'll get a major headache!
Not everyone is convinced that dreams solve problems. If the methods
aren't working for you, maybe you're not attuned to solving problems this
way, or maybe, it's never going to gel with you. You might get comfort
reading Domhoff's work, as he doesn't subscribe to the dream as
problem-solver theory.
[8]
Comfortable bedroom and bed
A dream journal
1. Miranda Hitti, Dreams can solve problems,
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20041223/dreams-can-
solve-problems
2. Deirdre Barrett, The "Committee of Sleep":A Study of Dream
Incubation for Problem Solving,
http://www.asdreams.org/journal/articles/barrett3-2.htm
3. Rachael Rettner, Sleep on it: Dreams help solve day's problems,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37926551/ns/health-behavior/
4. Rachael Rettner, Sleep on it: Dreams help solve day's problems,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37926551/ns/health-behavior/
5. Andy Baggott, Dreams: Transform your life through the power of your
dreams, p. 108, (2000), ISBN 0-8069-3625-8
6. Andy Baggott, Dreams: Transform your life through the power of your
dreams, p. 109, (2000), ISBN 0-8069-3625-8
7. Andy Baggott, Dreams: Transform your life through the power of your
dreams, p. 108, (2000), ISBN 0-8069-3625-8
8. See Domhoff, G. W. (2003). The Case Against the Problem-Solving
Theory of Dreaming. Retrieved from the World Wide Web:
http://dreamresearch.net/Library/domhoff_2004b.html (unpublished)l
Warnings
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Sources and Citations
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