At different times in my life, I am a physician, a lover, a friend and a daughter, but being a dreamer is what I value the most. Whatever I am doing, I always hear my dreams echoing in a distant underground chamber beneath my thoughts and feelings, attuned to the rhythms of my body and the very substance of the earth. They are my compass and my truth; they guide me and link me to the Divine. They call out to me in an intimate whisper, always knowing how to find me. They speak my real name.
For me, dreaming is a direct line to a place where magic abounds and nothing is without meaning. It is a pristine state of awareness, unpolluted and clear. Direct guidance for healing lies in our dreams, the natural territory of intuition. Here, time and space are non-existent and anything is possible. Like a blank, white canvas, our dream world is a spacious medium where intuition can freely express itself about healing. We have only to listen.
You are in partnership with your dreams. Initiate an ongoing dialogue with them. It's like consulting the wisest doctor you can imagine who knows you inside out. You can ask your dreams anything. How can I keep my blood pressure down? What about my hip pain or allergies? Are there ways to stop catching so many colds? How do I cure my depression? No question is trivial if it is meaningful to you. Expect answers. Some will be direct. Others may require interpretation.
Dreams can keep you well. Dreams provide answers. But first you must retrieve them. How many nights have you awakened with the most amazing dream you were certain you'd recall? Then, the next morning it was gone. Our memory deceives. During sleep, we suffer a kind of amnesia. Dreams are not of the rational mind. Your intuitive memory is what is needed.
4 Ways to Remember Your Dreams
- Keep a journal permanently installed by your bed
- Write a question on a piece of paper before you go to sleep. Formalize your request. How I get more energy? How can I relieve pain? What kind of treatment is best for me? Place the question on a table beside your bed or under your pillow.
- In the morning, do not wake up too fast. Stay under the covers for at least a few minutes remembering your dream. Luxuriate in a peaceful feeling between sleep and waking, what scientists call the "hypnogogic state." Those initial moments provide a doorway.
- Open your eyes. Write down your dream immediately, otherwise it will evaporate. You may recall a face, object, color, scenario, feel an emotion. It doesn't matter if it makes perfect sense--or if you retrieve a single image or many. Record everything.
- Keep repeating this method for a week and answers will come.
When you're finished, re-focus on the health question you asked the previous night. See how your dream applies. Solution will surface. My own answer to preventing recurring sinus infections came in a dream: the flash of an acupuncture office. An elevator. An old Chinese man. A rush of vitality. These were my signposts. Take note of yours. Get in the habit of recording your dreams regularly. Be assured I've never met anyone who can't be taught how to remember. Keep at it. If your answer doesn't come the first night, try again. More details will emerge, rounding out the picture. Then look to your daily life for evidence of what your dream tells you. The woman's face you glimpsed for that split second could just be the healer you've been searching for.
Judith Orloff, M.D is author of the new book Positive Energy: Ten Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear into Vibrance, Strength and Love (Harmony Books). She is also author of the bestsellers Guide to Intuitive Healing and Second Sight. She is assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and an international workshop leader. For more information visit www.drjudithorloff.com.