Natalia Snider is a certified dream practitioner living in Carbondale. She works with people’s dreams and imaginations to facilitate self-healing. Every month, she will analyze someone’s dream in The Sopris Sun. Anyone can submit a dream for personal analysis or inclusion in this column by visiting: www.dreamhealings.com
The number one, most-asked question I get as a dream guide is: “Why can’t I remember my dreams?” This month I’m going to set aside the normal format of dream and analysis to answer this question.
Firstly, I want to state clearly that every person is different and that there are a variety of reasons that are highly specific to each person as to why they don’t recall their dreams. Now, with that being said, from my experience, most of these reasons can be distilled into roughly three types of dreamer.
First, I must point out that one reason is not included. That is, the use of any sort of substance, medicinal or otherwise, before bed. Many people don’t realize that medications or herbs can be blocking their dream recall and the reason you’re not remembering your dreams is simply because of that substance. Once stopped, most individuals will go back to recalling dreams or fall into one of the following types of dreamer.
Type One: The common type. You’re not remembering your dreams because you are not giving yourself space in the morning to try to understand where your consciousness just was. You wake up too fast and get to your physical world and day too quickly. There is no recognition given to your subconscious state. Sleeping is just sleeping and what your consciousness is up to when you’re sleeping is of no concern, or that is what you’re unknowingly training your mind to understand. Then, hard truth, even when you wish you could remember your dreams you are not giving the effort to trying to remember them. But don’t worry, it’s not your fault. This is a long-term societal issue but one that is easily overcome if you so desire.
If this is you, give yourself three to five minutes when you first wake up to stay in the exact same position as you were when you were just asleep (muscle memory works here). Then, become curious. Think about where you just were. Think about what you were just experiencing. Ask yourself investigative questions. If something comes to you, take note, not because you might want to read it later, but because it tells your brain that you desire to remember. That begins the training process. Repetition and practice is key. It’s like training your brain to recall the colors in a room with your eyes closed. You might not remember any at first, but if you train your brain to remember unconsciously you’ll start to recall more and more. Same with dreams.
Type Two: Not common. You’re not supposed to remember. Your life purpose is a physical one and to remember your dreams or to be connected in any way to the astral realms would be a distraction from your ultimate goal in this lifetime. We are not all here to do the same things and accomplish the same goals. There are individuals who are meant to be firmly rooted in the physical. If this is you, then you can release the worry that you’re supposed to be remembering, because you’re not. If you do remember one, then take note because it broke through on purpose. But, be very cautious here that you are not being a lazy Type One trying to pass yourself off as a Type Two. If you are truly a Type Two there will be a myriad of signs. Firstly, you may not even be reading this because things like this don’t interest you. Your astrology (which also doesn’t interest you) might be covered in earth signs in the houses that deal with other realms, especially the 12th house and you most likely don’t have any strong feelings about spirituality.
Type Three: You’ve unconsciously blocked yourself from your own dream realm — most commonly because of childhood trauma where you needed to “grow up” faster to be safe. You cut the cord to the thing that is deemed in our society as the closest thing to immaturity, your imagination, in order to “get real” and “grow up.” The dream realm is directly connected to the imagination.
If this is you, you may also have trouble visualizing or being creative without inspiration. You may adhere to the statement that imagination equals fake. Your astrology might point to other realms in your north node as things you need to take on and overcome in this lifetime. You might lean on plant medicine to access altered states because you are drawn to them but aren’t able to access them without help. If this is you, you probably already know or have your suspicions. Take heart, this is not a permanent block. It’s something you decided to put in place and can remove. Most importantly, remember — you choose if taking it down is challenging or easy.
So, what type are you? Do you have questions? Send them to me. I’m here to help all who desire to recall or connect with their dreams.