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Throughout human history, dreams have been mysterious and compelling, often seen as the gap between worlds. Many today believe that dreams are hidden messages from our subconscious, ours for the interpretation. Freud believed that dream were the key to uncovering the repressed traumas and desires of the unconscious mind. Carl Jung regarded dreams as a source of psychic wisdom beyond our normal access. Indeed, dreams may well happen when our unconscious minds tap into a vast repository of knowledge and experience, beyond our normal space and time. This could account for the accuracy of some predictive dreams. This source of knowledge might also help to explain the astonishing insights which sometimes comes to us in our dreams. Famously, Friedrich von Kekule revolutionised organic chemistry with his findings about the structure of the benzene molecule - the details of which came to him in a dream. We all need sleep - in fact, sleep deprivation is one of the worst things a human can experience, causing extreme trauma, hallucinations, paranoia and terror as well as physical exhaustion. During sleep, regular patters emerge in all of us. The deepest sleep happens shortly after we fall asleep, then a short period of lighter sleep follows during which our eyes dart about behind closed eyelids, as if following some activity. This phase of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) is when we dream. We have an average of five periods of REM per eight hour sleep, dreaming through each, and usually awakening just after the last one. If dreams can bring such insight into current problems and wishes, why is it that we find it so hard to remember our dreams? Those woken suddenly during a phase of REM can often recall fragments of a dream, but we're all familiar with the effort of trying - and failing - to remember a dream, as exasperating as trying to catch a speck of dust. One explanation is that the images within our dreams are so profound and - sometimes - disturbing to our waking selves that the conscious mind shuts them off in a form of self-protection. The phenomenon of dream rationalisation is also well recognised - even when we do remember dreams, we tend to self-censor them in an effort to have them make sense according to the physical world we know. Lucid dreaming is the state of being awake whilst dreaming. This usually occurs in the middle of a dream, when the dreamer gradually becomes aware that they are in fact dreaming. One sufficiently practised in creating and maintaining the mental clarity required, lucid dreaming is an incredibly powerful psychological tool, since the dreamer can then take control of their dream and work through or confront the issues they feel they need to deal with. Keeping a dream diary is an ideal first step towards lucid dreaming. On awakening, try to get into the habit of immediately jotting down any details of dreams you can remember. Use of a dream symbol can also be useful - pick a symbol that would not happen in normal rational thought, such as a talking flower or a building that walks. Repeatedly visualise this image before sleeping, and tell yourself that when this image appears you will know that you are dreaming. This takes a great deal of practice and perseverance, but is known to be highly effective in triggering your lucidly awake state during a dream. For more information visit our Dream Gifts and Kits section or our Dreams and Dream Interpretation Books section in the new age shop.
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