How to Read My Dreams

I do not present my dreams in the format of an account or story. Instead, I list the titles of the chapters, or sections, of each dream without writing any details. One of the reasons why I do not write down my dreams in their entirety is because, in most cases, it would be the equivalent of writing several short novels. The amount of detail and time required to explore each dream completely would be greater than I can handle in my busy schedule. In addition, there often are many elements that do not exist in reality and have no equivalent in the real world with which to be compared, as well as some that are simply too difficult to describe accurately for language to do them justice.

Keep in mind also that I write my dreams for myself in the first place, so the outline format is really all I need. A list of chapters of each dream is sufficient for me to recall and reconstruct the dream in full detail. Hence, each dream should be read as one reads the chapters in the Contents section before beginning to read a book or novel, or like reading the list of chapters of a movie on DVD. You have at your disposition the title of each dream and the titles of their chapters as indicators, and the rest is up to your imagination.

Obviously, how each of you comes to imagine any particular dream will differ from one another and from how I had originally seen the dream. I do not intend for anyone to be able to view and comprehend each dream in exactly the same way that I did. Just as my poems, thoughts, and stories are open to interpretation, so too are my dreams. I will gladly welcome any opinion or comment you may have. Just don't try to over-analyze me through them!

About the Dreams Themselves

Dreams that I write constitute only a small portion of all the dreams I ever have. I do not and cannot write down all my dreams. To begin, I do not count "dreams" in my conscious state, that is, daydreams or streams of flowing thoughts that may appear as if a dream. For me to consider a dream worthwhile, it must have come in my unconscious, during REM sleep* (normally late REM cycles, towards the end of the entire sleep cycle), so that I had no "control" over the course by which the dream unfolded.

In addition, I must have enough time in the semi-conscious state to rehearse the dream to be stored in long-term memory. That is, when I have just become half-awake from deep sleep, if I have had a dream that is still available in short-term memory, I will try to replay it over and over again in order to hard-wire it.

Any dream, however, is subject to be tainted or lost in part or in whole if I am abruptly awaken (to full consciousness) by the alarm clock, someone entering my room, or my phone ringing (ahem! You know who you are, always waking me!), for example. Thus, a dream during the week is more likely to be lost or corrupted than one on the weekend, when I get to sleep in. In fact, the majority of dreams I have written occurred on Sunday morning.

Of importance to note is that the way I write the chapters of each dream does not follow the proper syntax by which titles are normally subjected (e.g. This Is An Example). Rather, I write in a way that is meaningful to me and to me only. All case (as in uppercase, lowercase) and punctuation (or lack of) for all phrases, words, and names are intended as they appear. Once I have written them after having the dream, I do not go back to change them. You might eventually figure out a pattern, but if you do I would say you have too much time on your hands to try to analyze me.

In the page of each respective dream I list the names or initials of persons who appear in the dream (if any), either as themselves or as other characters, as well as that for recurring fictional characters. I do not list minor characters. Names are in order of appearance, not by importance. You might argue that the first person to appear in a dream is probably the main character and most important person in that particular dream, but that is not always the case. The initial scene in which each person appears is indicated in parentheses, and those who first appear in any same scene are grouped together. For example: Jack, Jill (01); John, Joseph (04); Jeremy (12); Jake, Julia, Jenny (15).


*Please note, dreams do also occur in slow-wave sleep, stages 1-4, but they are not the vivid, complex type of dreams that are characteristic of REM sleep. Hence, it is safe to assume that a story-like dream one remembers vividly came during REM sleep.