A good place to begin is attempting to answer the question, "What are dreams?" Dreams are images, typically presented in story form about our emotions, if we are sighted in our waking lives. If we are blind, they will be less visual, and more sensation, but hold the same fascination and tell us about ourselves in the same way that they do for us sighted folks.

Dreams are always about something we don't know consciously and they are always about ourselves. Our dreaming mind takes several waking life experiences and feeling reactions, and condenses them to one image. This is one of the reasons why they must be decoded to be understood.

Dreams are fresh material, unfettered by social expectation and convention. They are a gift from nature, original, complex, unaffected, real, and unencumbered with artifice. They are emotionally intense, and honest which is why using them for story inspiration will give your writing that special ring of truth, infused with passion.

Dreams come naturally to us as well-constructed stories. They have a beginning, a middle and a conclusion. This is why we often ask dream explorers to discuss the "theme," or "plot" of their dreams and give them a "title." Identifying and naming these aspects of the dream can help tremendously in translating its message. Furthermore, dreams follow a series. Part I might appear to us tonight and Part II might not appear for a week, or a year or even a decade but inevitably there will be a follow-up. We know a dream is a part of a series when similar characters, plots and settings appear again.

Dreams demonstrate for us both sides of an issue. Some believe dreams are helpful for problem-solving which is true, but not in a way you might imagine. They don't suggest, "You should . . . ," rather they suggest, "This might happen if you choose this, and this might happen if you do that." You must decode this information and decide consciously for yourself (the bane and glory of free will!) which path you will ultimately take. That is another reason why they are so fresh. They don't condemn, moralize, or pontificate! They simply present you with the story. The other story of your life.

Writers are routinely admonished to write what they know which has always struck me as wise advice. The dreaming mind will offer you more experiences, more travel, and more exotic adventures than you are ever likely to have in your waking life. In our waking lives we only have so much energy, resources and choices available to us at any given time but in our dreaming mind these are unlimited.

There is a process which is referred to as "incubation" which is simply asking your dream self for a dream on a specific topic. Before going to sleep put a recording device by your bedside and ask for a dream about something that's bothering you or for an experience you would like to have. You might have to ask three or four evenings in a row, but I guarantee you will have the dream you need by the end of a week.

In my experience most writers are introverts by nature.(It's difficult for extroverts to write extensively because they are energized by being around other people. Time alone for an extrovert can be a depressing experience.) Developing depth in your characters however can be a challenge if you have limited your access to a variety of people. Your dreams will provide you with an amazing array of characters to further develop in your stories. The characters in our dreams are typically complex, unpredictable and unique. They certainly are a contrast to stereotypes which can be a temptation when you have developed an interesting and complex plot. Characterization development is a powerful strength in an aspiring writer's work.

Dream material is universal. Your dream will be as helpful for you as it is to me. Our problems, worries and aspirations are not so very different. When you write from a dream, you will be appealing to a vast audience which is not only relevant for now but for many years to come. Your writing will possess collective appeal, contain universal messages, yet be unique and timeless. Your stories will be rich, deep and expressive. And most importantly it will be written by someone who is unafraid to know themselves.

As we honour dream material in our waking lives, we become more whole human beings. We learn to accept those parts of ourselves that we may regard as unsavory, or very grand. We open ourselves to a rich and uncontrollable universe within ourselves that is the generator of not only our greatest and lowest thoughts, but profoundly our most creative.

We learn to walk the path of the initiated, the brave and the receptive. Dream exploration takes us to a realm of the individuated. We begin to understand our calling, our purpose and we burn with the desire to bring our passion into the world. It is one of the paths to enlightenment. It is within you and available every night for you to explore. You don't have to go to a special place to find it, you don't need a guru to teach you the way, and no book on the subject will be as valuable as the one you write yourself. Your own dream journal.

To begin I suggest you begin by writing down your dreams. Title them, identify the theme and the plot, describe the characters and pay attention to the action and reactions of your characters. For a really beneficial exploration, invite a group of kindred spirits to bring their dreams to a dream group meeting every couple of weeks. Share your dreams, explore them together, and encourage each other to write about your dream experiences. It will change your life in ways you can barely imagine.

Kathleen Meadows, Ph.D. Biography
Kathleen lives in Kitchener, Ontario Canada with her life partner. She trains and supervises in a Mentorship Program for the Boards of Education. Kathleen is a feminist, and strong believer in community economic development through her involvement in Barterworks. She is the co-author of the DreamQuest cards with Gloria Nye, and a private therapist working with artists who draw from their dreams to deepen their self-awareness and develop their creative expression. Kathleen and Gloria have just completed another piece of work which is a dream symbol dictionary, and quite different in content and structure from most of the dictionaries presently available on the market. She can be reached at jane@golden.net, or http://www.dream-quest.com