What did you dream last night?
Even if you don’t always recall your dreams, the sleeping mind is always at work. And when we decide to remember more of our dreams, they come back to us—and with them, a flood of healing, insight, and practical solutions.
How do dreams work? The science of dreaming suggests that they blend present-day conflicts with experiences from the past, stitching them together with
emotion and bizarre imagery. Neuroscientists theorize that these mental processes reorganize memories so we can better handle our feelings and learn
from mistakes.
Psychologists even suggest that when we share our dreams with others, we have higher levels of personal insight compared to sharing waking-life events. This is why creatives have historically relied on dreams to dissolve mental blocks. For instance, the ring-like structure of the benzene molecule was discovered in 1890 when August Kekulé dreamed about a snake of molecules swallowing its tail. More recently, computer programmer Larry Page dreamed about a method for ranking webpages for the entire world wide web. One year later, that became the backbone of the Google search algorithm.
Of course, sometimes we just remember the dreams we wish we didn’t. These nightmares serve an important function too, alerting us to what needs attention.
For example, I often dream about my teeth falling out when my coffee-drinking habit gets out of hand. The connection is that too much caffeine triggers teeth-grinding in the middle of the night, which in turn induces those teethy nightmares. Now I use this repetitive dream as a warning sign to reduce my coffee habit and level up my stress-reduction techniques, such as taking more evening walks or spending more time reading before bed.
Similarly, the antidote to most common anxiety nightmares is taking better care of ourselves. We can curb future nightmares by balancing work and home life, or by acknowledging a relationship that needs renewal (or a decisive ending). We can’t often change what stresses us but we can always improve how we respond.
For travelers, remembering dreams is especially easy. When we sleep in new places, the left side of the brain stays more alert, resulting in more awakenings.
The first night sleeping somewhere new is particularly disruptive. But this can be the perfect time to check in: more awakenings in the middle of the night mean more chances to recall a dream.
Surprisingly, we are not just passive dreamers: by focusing on a question before bed, we can train the dreaming mind to turn towards our desires. The process works best when we are emotionally involved, and we can invite fresh insight into a life decision, inspiration for art and design, or good clean code for an unfinished algorithm.
So as you fall asleep tonight, don’t just wonder if you’ll remember your dreams. Instead, ask your creative, sleeping mind: What do you want to dream tonight?