Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Dream Recall

I have about 6 years of dreams written in a journal dating from 1992 to 1998. During the time that I was recording these, my recall was so keen that I typically remembered 4 dreams per night. When I read these journal entries today, they trigger memories of the dreams that are much more crisp and clear than memories from daytime events during the same time period. During these years, I learned to lucid dream. I'll write more about lucid dreaming in a future post.

In 1998, I began working a job that required me to wake early by alarm clock. The shock of an alarm clock made recall a bit more difficult than if I had awaken naturally. At this time, I also found myself living in a new town where I knew almost nobody. As a result, a mild depression set in. I was also struggling with many personal issues common to early adulthood.

At that time, I felt a need to let my subconscious mind work on its own without my meddling. For this reason, I really laid off of the soul searching for a while. I let myself get lost in life and stopped most dream work. Somehow, I felt that this was the right thing to do. I understand that this is dead opposite of what most mystics and shamans would have recommended. But, it seemed right at the time.

In the meantime, I did record dreams but usually only if they seemed extremely unusual and important. Now, in 2008, I am taking a renewed interest in how my mind works as well as the general relationship between mind and physical world.

My dream recall is no longer all that great. I remember now perhaps 4 dreams a week rather than 4 dreams each night. I've started meditating again upon occasion, but not on a regular schedule. Also, I am about to embark on a winter of working in Europe. Being in a different culture is a fantastic was to put your own version of reality into perspective. As such, I think that this coming year may be very interesting from a neuronautic standpoint.

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