Monthly Archives: February 2006

dreaming your way to the top

dreaming your way to the top

chapter 8: Organize in your Sleep.

Sleeping and dreaming are powerful tools. The unconscious brain uses this time to re-organize thoughts, process events, and sort ideas. To harness your unconscious brainpower, save your last waking five minutes to set out your most complex problems. Review and put on paper in front of you what’s most irking, frustrating, or blocking you. For example, “How can I make the rent this month?” Allow it to look really messy. Let yourself get really worked up. The more you signal your brain that this is something you want to process, the better the process will work. When you reach the upper limit of emotional tolerance, tell yourself three times, “Show me a way to resolve this problem.” Then quickly turn out the light and fall asleep. (If you can’t sleep, you probably haven’t worked the process hard enough–it may take several weeks of practice.)

Immediately upon waking, pen some notes on your dreams directly next to the previous night’s problems. Your dreams about tapdancing sideways with a video camera and discussing the movie Ghost with an older female friend will undoubtedly shed light on your financial woes, but the next and final step is crucial. Renowned dream expert Jeremy Taylor says we all have a ‘blindness’ to the most valuable insights of our dreams. He suggests a method of collective projective dreamwork whereby one allows a group of people to use their collective imagination to help interpret the dream’s meanings. Your brain knows exactly what to tell you and exactly when, so use what you’ve learned during the night to solve what’s been bugging you. I’ve found the best groups to help interpret dreams are not necessarily friends. Your co-workers, unbiased and disinterested, will be the most beneficial group in helping elucidate insights. Pick a time of the day when you’re all together, like an early business meeting, or a company luncheon to share the tapdancing images and let the insights begin!