THE PRINCIPLE

Your dreams are a great source of creative ideas

There’s a long list of inventors, writers and others who have had breakthrough ideas in their night dreams:

• Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was inspired by a dream.
• Scientist Friedrich Kekule dreamed the unusual structure of the Benzine molecule.
• Elias Howe dreamed how to change the design of his invention, the sewing machine, so it worked correctly.
• Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed the plot of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
• The tune for ‘Yesterday’ came to Paul McCartney in a dream.

No wonder Stevenson said that dreams occur in ‘that small theatre of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long’.

Of course, the vast majority of dreams don’t include breakthrough ideas, but even the more routine ones may have some message for you from your subconscious mind. If you don’t remember and record them, these messages and inspirations will go to waste.

If you think you don’t dream often or you can’t remember your dreams, here’s an easy process to follow:

1. Put a pad or a journal and a pen by your bedside.
2. Just before your sleep, tell yourself that you will remember your dreams.
3. When you wake up, jot down anything you remember from the dreams you had. At first you may remember only small bits and pieces. Record them anyway, because with practice you’ll remember more and more.
4. Do this every night and even when you take a nap.

You may find that some day you’ll owe your success to a dream.