The Importance of Day Residue

Day Residue is unduly underated and understandably so. After all, there isn't anything unusual about noticing scenes or circumstances from our waking day appearing in our dreams at night. It is so common in fact, so frequently recognized by anyone with any dream recall at all - and so quickly discarded - that "day residue" is an accurate description of the actual status we typically assign to it. Lucid Dreamers must learn that this assessment is a mistake. Our dreams are "filled to overflowing" with a "wealth" of day residue, and this is precisely what makes it so significant. All dreams, at least the ones with imagery, are entirely composed of day residue; the residue from a lifetime of days. Yet so intricately do our dreams interweave the beads of waking sensory snapshots with the threads of daily events into new patterns, it is impossible for us to consciously recognize every correlation. We cannot help but overlook omnipresence, and saturation is the slyest disguise.

So how can lucid dreamers employ this realization to practical advantage? Learn to recognize in retrospect the countless ways in which day residue manifests in dreams. You will be surprised to discover that it mirrors far more than imagery. For starters, though, simply try to discover what waking event triggered some notable odd occurrence in a recent dream. For instance, dreaming of a childhood sweetheart is obviously triggered by "long ago" residue. If she is curiously only wearing a hat, you should later recall that just before bed you were watching the movie The Full Monte and heard Tom Jones in the soundtrack singing, "You Can Leave Your Hat On." Got the idea? This exercise is not only useful for developing insight into the dynamics of dream creation, it is fun. Like a game, you will feel a surge of satisfaction when you score "a hit." And once you achieve admiration for day residue's multiplicitous role as your dream's episode editor, set designer and casting director, you will become increasingly more keenly aware of each and every event in your waking day as grist for your nightly milling.

I'm enjoying my vacation in Vail. I jumped out of a hot air balloon yesterday, sky surfed with my snowboard down onto the the top of a slope, and realized I was creating some spectacular day residue, which led to the idea for this posting. I pulled out my iPhone and began typing this up. Almost hit a tree. I don't think I'll try that again. /Stephen Berlin