[YS Lounge] How To Use Your 8 Hours Of Sleep For Creativity And Problem-solving – Part 2

In the first part of this article, I talked about the immense power of your subconscious mind and how you can use your dreams for decision-making and creative problem solving

But the biggest problem most people face is in not being able to remember their dreams when they wake up. Some even say that they do not dream at all!

But that is never the case. We ALL dream, but we are not trained to remember them. You can get great solutions in your dreams, but what is the use if you forget them all once you wake up?But if the desire is there, absolutely anyone can improve their dream recall ability. And once you master this art, your dreams will serve you really well, throughout your life.

Here are some effective and practical tips that you can use to improve your dream recall.

1. Maintain a dream journal. If you can take away anything from this article, let it be this – if you want to have any success with dream recall, it is very important that you start maintaining a dream journal. It is probably the most important step in mastering your dream recall ability.
2. Affirm. Before going to bed, sincerely affirm to yourself several times that you WILL remember your dreams. This will send signals to your subconscious, and you will start remembering your dreams more and more.
3. Read. Just before you go to bed, try reading a book on dreams. Or maybe you can read about them in the Internet. The more you read and think about dreams, the better your chances will be of recollecting them.
4. Keep a notepad handy. Always keep a pad, pencil and a flashlight next to your pillow. Once you get into the habit of recording your dreams, you will often wake up in the middle of the night with fresh memories of a dream. Immediately write them down.
5. Important: Most people do not write their dreams thinking that they will remember them in the morning. Don’t make that mistake. In most cases you will not remember. So, as soon as you wake up from a dream, immediately jot it down. Maybe just write down the main keywords of your dream. In the morning when you get up, you can reconstruct the dream using those keywords.
6. I will repeat. If you do not write down your dreams, there are VERY high chances that you will forget. So be wise and note down everything immediately!
7. Stay still. As soon as you wake up, don’t get up from the bed just yet. Remain in your sleeping position. Don’t move. And with your eyes shut, try to recollect as much of your dreams as you can. If you get out of your bed without recollecting the dreams, you will find that just a few minutes of your day-to-day activity will start blurring your dream memories.
8. Recall backwards. Sometimes you may find it better to start recalling your dreams backwards. Start from the end of the dream, and gradually work backwards. Try to replay the dream in your mind as much as you can.
9. Change your position. If you cannot remember any more dreams, here is an excellent tip. Try to lie down again, in a different sleeping position, and try recalling your dreams again. You will often find that changing your posture often helps in greater dream recall.
10. Record everything you remember. Get up and jot down whatever dream fragments you have recollected. Note them down immediately. Try to note down all important keywords that relate to the dream. Write down the characters that were present in your dream, the places you visited or the emotions you were going through. Once you have noted down everything, try to reconstruct the dream(s).
11. Be vigilant. Throughout the day, you might suddenly remember a dream that you failed to recollect in the morning. Be vigilant and immediately note that down as well.
12. Defragment your dreams. Once you have all your dreams noted, go through them, tie up all the fragments as much as you can…and finally write them afresh in your dream journal. In as much elaborate details as possible. The more detailed you are, the better would be your recalling ability.

Once you discipline yourself and get into the habit of recording your dreams, you’ll find that you are vividly remembering more and more dreams every night, in minutest details. For the first few days, you might be able to remember just one or two dreams. But after just about a week or so, you will remember multiple dreams. With proper practice, remembering 6-7 dreams every night would become very common.

Here are some additional pointers that will increase your ability to receive the answers from your subconscious.

Spend at least 10-15 minutes every day meditating and silencing the incessant chatter in your mind.

Whenever you can, try to spend some time with nature and appreciate the beauty and abundance this Universe has to offer.

Stay away from and avoid negative thought patterns.

Once you are able to use your dreams for getting solutions and ideas, you will find a whole new vista opening in front of you. You will be able to use your dreams to help you solve critical issues, and be super-creative in whatever you do. And who knows, the solutions from your dreams may even positively impact the lives of millions of people.

About the author:

Abhishek Agarwal is the founder of Revelri.com, a site that aims at making this world a happier place. He is an Internet marketing strategist and has been doing business online for almost a decade. He is a strong believer in the power of dreams, the Law of attraction, positivity and happiness.

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