How to problem-solve in your dreams


  Your dreams are "written" in your own private vocabulary; that's why
their menaing is often unclear (and why dream books you buy at the corner
newsstand won't explain your own visions). Moreover, the language of dreams
is sensory and visual, whereareas the language of daily life is verbal. You
need to translate a dream much as you would a foreign language.
  Unfortunately, the same force s that make us disguise problems in our
dreams are likely to hinder our recognizing them whne we're awake. Even
Freud had trouble with self-analysis. So an impartial listener - atrained
therapist - can help. "It's a collaborative process," says New York
psychoanalyst Walter Bonime, author of the classic text, THE CLINICAL USE OF
DREAMS (Da Capo Press, $29.50)
  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore your dreams alone or with a
partner. People who keep dream journals say that over time, patterns often
emerge.
  To put your dreams to work solving problems, try this routine:

 o Program yourself to wake up after every REM period. I did it while
   writing this article simply by telling myself I wanted to at bedtime. But
   don't make it a regular habit. "The ability to maintain consciousness
   during sleep can backfire," says Dr. Neil Kavey, director of the
   Columbia-Presbyterian sleep lab. "If you can't shut it off, you may have
   trouble remaining asleep, or you may sleep so poorly that you feel you
   didn't sleep at all."

 o Put a notebook and pen or tape recorder at your bedside.

 o At bedtime, select a problem and sum it up with a question, such as
   "Should I take this new job?" Write it down and list possible solutions.

 o Turn off the lights and reflect on these solutions. Stick with it until
   you drift off to sleep.

 o When you wake up - during the night or in the morning - lie still. To jog
   your memory, pretend you're a detective interviewing an eyewitness.
   What's the last thingyou remember? Before that? Going backward can help
   you more easily reconstruct a dream.

 o Write down or tape record all that you remember. Do it before you shower
   and have breakfast.

 o If you have trouble catching dreams, try sleeping late on weekends
   The longest dreams occur in the last part of sleep and many of us cut
   sleep short on week nights.


  Once you've recorder your dream, how do you decode it? Tell it to yourself
in the third person, suggest psychologist Lillie Weiss in DREAM ANALYSIS IN
PSYCHOTHERAPY (Pergamon Press, $11.95). This may give you some distance from
the dream and help you see the actions more clearly. Then look at the part
of the dream that is the most mysterious. "Frequently the most incongruous
part provides the dream message," Weiss says.
  In her dream-therapy study, Cartwright asks participants to examine and
try to change repetitive, troublesome dreams along seven dimensions:

 o Time orientation. Do all your dreams take place in the past? Try
   positioning them in the present or future.

 o Competence to affect the outcome. Try finding a positive way to resolve a
   dream.

 o Self-blame. In yor dreams, do you hold yourself responsible  when things
   go wrong? Must you?

 o Relation to former role: If your divorced, do you still dream of yourself
   as married? If you have lost your job, do you still see yourself at work?
   Consider alternatives.

 o Motivation. Do you dream of being nurtured? Can you think of a way to
   take care of yourself?

 o Mood. What would make a dream more pleasant?

 o Dream roles: Do you like the part you play in your dreams? What role
   would you prefer?