Finding the tail of a lost dream

: Image via Wikipedia

This scenario can happen almost any day. While waking up and still in that in between state known as the hypnogogic, a dream seems vividly present and full of fascinating imagery for reflection…yet as the transition into the day begins, as the routines take hold and the ego “concerns” again grab our attention, the dream evaporates from consciousness.

So what to do? Well, if it never dawns on you that it has slipped away, chances are it’s gone. If there arises a nagging at the back of the mind that something has dropped out of consciousness, then it is often possible to retrieve the image.

I tend to follow this process:

I go somewhere where I can be alone without interruption for five minutes.
I re-enter recent dreams, playing them before my mind’s eye like a re-run.
I reflect upon archetypal themes that have been activated recently.
I quiet my mind and await the re-emergence of the image.

Often it’s a swift moment where the image again shoots past the conscious mind. Reaching for the image is like grabbing for the tail of a fish in a stream with one’s bare hand. But it works. Give it try next time.

Fred H Schlegel

I have similar difficulty with day dreaming. Although the daydreams are mildly directed vs the crazy stuff that I recall at waking. I've always wondered if it was partly a self defense mechanism going on where the noggin takes one look and says

ccseed

The ego has gained it's stronghold through separation from the inundating effects of the unconscious. It was a long slow and in many ways grueling process that began way back in pre-history...

That being said, the ego is capable of making the fleeting images swirling in the background a priority, which in many ways turns the tables so that the knee jerk like defense mechanism is no longer necessary to protect consciousness, as consciousness itself is leading the investigation.

Susan Mazza

Once it is lost I have a heck of a time getting the image or thought back into my conscious mind. I will try this next time I have that nagging feeling you refer to. I started keeping a notebook by my bed so I can mine the gold from the moments when I am fortunate enough to observe the shift in my consciousness.