Thread: Need interview for my research about dreaming and introspection.

The questions sound interesting.

1. You could say dreaming is the embodiment of introspection. What do you think about this premise.

I believe dreaming is a vault that gives us the fastest access to our problems. So yes I agree that it is the embodiment of introspection. However, introspection means you're consciously aware of your mental thought processes. Therefore, the dreaming mind and the conscious mind needs to work hand in hand in other to maximise the introspection process. Dreaming tackles the root problems we face that we sometimes fail to detect when we are awake and our logical minds help to unveil and understand what the symbolic dream icons mean.

2. I think dreaming really helps in understanding ourselves. What do you think about this and why do you think that?

Yes, I agree. However, the dream analysis process is pretty tedious and long. At the end of the day, you can't be 100% certain what your dream is trying to tell you, especially if there are more underlying symbols than it seems on the surface. I feel that the best way to make use of our dreams in understanding ourselves is to take note of prominent dreams, disturbing dreams and recurrent dreams. The fact that a dream is repeating itself goes to show that something is bothering you so much, your dreams are yelling at you to take note of it. The moment you found out what the dreams meant and solved it, it'll no longer repeats itself.

Of course there are other kind of dreams other than dreams that tells you of your problems. The other kind of dreams that I noticed are wish fulfilment dreams, dreams that make you happy when you wake up in the morning. Although it's fulfilling a wish that you long for, it doesn't make you the least upset about it.

3. How useful is dreaming for you (as a person)? could you explain why?

Dreaming gives me the feeling that there's an alternative world that I can live in, that I belong in. In my dreams, nothing that turns out bad is too bad. Eventually the dream will resolve by itself or I'll just hop into the next dream. I don't suffer from OCD in my dreams too and that's what I really like about them. I get to live in the moment in my dreams, something that I fail to do in waking life. Perhaps the shutting of logical mind in sleep helps me to achieve that.

I may sound like I'm escaping into my world of dreams. But truth be told, I'm enjoying the best of both worlds. Why live only when you can live and dream? Reality and dreams enrich each other, without reality my dreams would have nothing to work on other than my creativity. And there are still irreplaceable things in reality that cannot be substituted.

My dream often reminds me that there is more to life than it seems.

4. Research shows stress and an unbalanced psyche has a lot of influence on dreaming. Like the intensity of dreams or remembering them. Does this mean this a good thing for dreaming?

The thing about stress and the way modern people are living their lives is they no longer pay attention to their dreams. When they no longer pay attention to their dreams, they are no longer paying attention to their inner selves too. Lack of sleep, stress and worries ruins one's dream recall so my guess is more people are forgetting about their dreams than remembering them. Although I think if you're mentally disturbed, the disturbing dreams are hard to forget so that may be the time when you'll actually remember more dreams.

Anything that helps people to take note of their dreams is a good start. I started out that way too and it eventually led me to a whole new universe of dreams and new friends who are interested in the same topic. It would be even better if they attempt to resolve the thing that's bothering them in their dreams.

5. How would or do you use dreaming and lucid dreaming for self development?

For dreaming, I'll take note if there's anything that makes me feel unpleasant or upset about it when I wake up. If there is, I'll record my dream down and think through what it means. Dreaming is a check for me to make sure that I'm still mentally sound. Haha.

As for lucid dreaming, I don't usually set goals for myself. You've probably heard about it that some people get excited when they have lucids and they forgot what they want to do. I just do what I felt like doing at the moment of lucidity. When the dream ends, again I record them down and notice certain interesting differences between normal dreams and lucid dreams. I've come to notice that dream characters in lucid dreams are like particles of myself, they'll protect me and they will let things go my way if I want to. It's so great to have minions in my dreams. Hahaha!

6. Hopefully you would like to add something about this subject.

Don't ever ignore what your dreams are trying to tell you. In your dream world, you'll find out it understands you more than you understand yourselves.