by Diane Burnside

Created on: December 20, 2008

When I was 11 years old I was given my first dream journal. Actually, the gift was born of a sense of self preservation on the part of the giver,I do believe. You see,as a family, one of our morning rituals was to take turns telling each other our dreams over the breakfast table.

My dreams were often epic in nature and I could remember minuet detail. Which, while it delighted me to recall such details was rather dull for the others some of which were still awaiting their share time after 30 minuets.

So , the lady of the house,not wanting to squelch my gift for recall gave me the journal suggesting that I use it to log the full dream in all it's detail and give the family the Highlights.

This led to some interesting observations about the dreamtime. I began to notice that some dreams mirrored conversations I'd had right before I bed. Others seemed to recall little snatches of the days events while still others seemed to recall little snatches of of events "before" they happened

I began to log the daily events in blue and the dreams in red. This way I could correlate real life with dream life and look for sequences and patterns.

this led to a further observation. That certain symbols showed up with regularity under certain circumstances. For example:dreams of floods or tidal waves always occurred during times of great emotional duress. And dreams that I was in school precluded some lesson I was about to get.(I came to dread this symbol)Over the years the journaling helped me to navigate the dream world with confidence and clarity. And I have come to realize how rich and varied are the are the experiences available to us as we sleep.

Some dreams warn you of up coming events

Some help you work out problems

Some take you on adventures when you badly need a holiday or your feeling trapped.

Some dreams have a message for you.

Some are visits from those who have passed on.

Some dreams are short.

Some are long.

Some dreams aren't dreams at all but what Shamanic people people refer to as journeying.

There are lucid dreams where you are aware as you dream, that you are dreaming.

There are programmed dreams in which you decide ahead of time that you want to have for example: a pirate dream or a cowboy dream or that you want your dream to contain the answer to a problem.

There are astro traveling or "flying" dreams

There are epic dreams where you feel upon waking as if you have lived a whole lifetime as you slept.

There are mini-series dreams where each dream picks up where another one left

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