February 5th, 2013

Recently, the library where I work was getting rid of several cartfuls of old books (they were donating them to another organization), and they gave employees about a week to go through said books and take any they wanted, free of charge. I hadn't been expecting to find anything of interest, seeing as metaphysics isn't the world's most popular genre, but actually, I found probably six or seven that looked good! One of these is The Power of Creative Dreaming, by Pamela Ball.

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Creative dreaming, or "lucid dreaming", as it is more commonly known, is essentially where one recognizes that one is dreaming while dreaming. In this instance, one of two things happens - the dreamer wakes or the dreamer succeeds in remaining asleep and is able to alter and control the events occurring within the dream. How much control one actually has depends on the individual - practice, after all, makes perfect. Lucid dreaming is a lot of fun on its own, as one has the opportunity to do things that are otherwise impossible, like fly, walk through walls, explore outer space, etc. However, from a metaphysical perspective, there are a lot of other applications for lucid dreaming. One could, for instance, use such techniques to contact a spirit guide or patronus animal, or work with images in the dream to create inner peace and healing. Through lucid dreaming during a nightmare, for example, one has the chance to face the frightening images in the dream, shrinking the problem down to size and getting rid of it. Such actions in the subconscious can have an exponential impact on one's waking life. A particularly vivid, non-lucid dream could indicate the onset of an illness, a problem that you are avoiding, a chakra imbalance, or other issue. By later using lucid dreaming to look at the problem, one can more fully asses the issue and deal with any mental factors - stress, for example, is often the initiator for disease and illness. Lucid dreaming can help deal with and find solutions to that stress. So go ahead, give it a try - use a combination of focus on your desire to dream lucidly, affirmations, and sleep (that is a sort of essential component) and wait for dreaming awareness to set in. Don't push yourself. Results may not be immediate, and that's okay - "all good things to those who wait". Taking note of your dreams in a dream diary can improve both your dream recall and your ability to dream lucidly, and also gives you a record to look at later, examining your dreams for reoccurring themes or images. Sleep tight!