How to Program a Dream

PSYCHOLOGIST GAYLE DELANEY, author of Living Your Dreams, suggests five steps you should use to dream about a specific thing.

1. Before going to sleep, write down three or four lines about what you did and felt during the day. What were the emotional highlights? This will clear your mind, relax  you and help you to recall your dreams. Avoid alcohol because it inhibits REM sleep.

2. Write down the issue you want to dream about as a one-line question such as: "What is really the point of Heathrow?"

3. Focus on the question as you drift off to sleep. If you've selected an emotional topic, you may have a sleepless night.

4. Record in detail everything in your mind the moment you awaken, even if it doesn't make sense or you don't remember your dreams. Make no judgments at this point regarding the relevance to  your question. Include any feelings, thoughts, songs or fantasies that come up. Try to re-experience the whole dream.

5. Later in the day, conduct a "dream interview" with yourself. Start by trying to describe your dream in detail. Then ask yourself, does the dream remind me of any person, place or issue in my life?

Bear in mind that dreams work in personal symbols and metaphors. Dreams are rarely literal. For one person, a dream about Key Lime Pie might symbolise a trip to Florida, and could be their subconcious alerting them to a need to take a holiday. For another, Key Lime Pie could signify a guilty conscience about breaking a diet.

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Gayle Delaney -- Living Your Dreams ISBN 978-0062514462

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