Dreams and Inspiration

The Dream by Pablo Picasso

Nobody is blessed with enough dreams to count on them for inspiration. Mostly, we forget them before we have a chance to capture them in our dream journal.  You have a dream journal, right? A small leather-bound book by your bed? Like the one you carry with you in your waking life to jot down interesting observations?

It is said that out of an eight-hour block of decent sleep, we dream for only two of those hours. God knows what we do with the rest of the time.

Dreams last from between five and thirty-four minutes. That's right, not thirty-five. Thirty four. Makes you wonder.

We forget about ninety-five percent of our dreams. Why? Because we are not PAYING ATTENTION! 

Or, possibly because the hormone associated with memory (norepinephrine) being turned off while we sleep. That's not something we can control. Yet. 

When we dream, we are below consciousness. We are under water. And in the process of coming to the surface, if we want to hold on to what we saw down there, we have to hold it close, grasp it firmly as we break through the membrane between worlds.

Taking notes in your writer's journal about what you observe up here in consciousness is only half of your job as a writer. Keeping a dream journal may open up your understanding of what it means.