Can a dream help you solve a problem?
asserted
you → help → problem
Here's how to try tonight
Can a dream help you solve a problem?
asserted
you → try → problem
Here's how to try tonight
We spend about two hours every night making home movies in our minds.
asserted
We → try → minds
Over a lifetime, that adds up to about seven years of dreaming.
asserted
that → add → dreaming
For most of human history, those movies were considered sacred.
asserted
movies → consider → history
Many early civilizations believed dreams were messages from the gods.
asserted
dreams → believe → gods
In ancient Greece, people slept in temples hoping a dream would bring guidance or healing.
asserted
dream → sleep → guidance
By the 1970s, scientists took a far less romantic view.
asserted
scientists → take → view
A few psychiatrists likened dreams to the brain's attempt to make sense of random signals, and their theory threw cold water on the idea that dreams were meaningful.
asserted
dreams → liken → idea
Psychologist Rosalind Cartwright, known to colleagues as the "Queen of Dreams," pushed back.
asserted
Cartwright → know → Dreams
She believed dreamwork could be a form of therapy and made her case in books including Crisis Dreaming, co-written with Lynne Lamberg and The Twenty-Four Hour Mind.
uncertain
dreamwork → believe → Lamberg
She published many studies from her lab experiments.
asserted
She → publish → experiments
And one ancient practice is getting a fresh look: dream incubation, planting a question in your mind before sleep in hopes your dreams will offer insights.
asserted
dreams → get → insights
It may sound mystical, but there's research behind it.
uncertain
It → sound → it
In a small study from the 1990s an instructor at Harvard Medical School asked college students to focus on a problem at bedtime.
asserted
instructor → ask → bedtime
About half reported a dream related to it, and many felt the dream contained a solution.
asserted
dream → report → solution
Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano uses the practice with people navigating challenges and midlife transitions.
asserted
Marchiano → use → challenges
The first step, she says, is asking a good question, and that takes time.
asserted
that → say → time
"You want to ask a question that could be answered," Marchiano says.
uncertain
Marchiano → want → question
Instead, make it targeted but open-ended.
asserted
it → make → ?
If you're weighing a job offer, ask, "What would it look like if I took this job?" or "What would it look like if I went on another date with this person?"
asserted
I → weigh → person
Next, write down what you already know about the problem.
asserted
you → write → problem
"You're looking for the stuff you don't know," she says.
asserted
she → look → stuff
"You want to invite your unconscious to fill in the gaps."
asserted
You → want → gaps
As Marchiano puts it, "Instead of going to ChatGPT, try going to your dream maker."
asserted
Marchiano → put → maker
Finally, turn it into a ritual so it doesn't feel like one more chore.
asserted
it → turn → chore
You could take a bath as a way to wind down as you set an intention or "ask" for a dream.
uncertain
you → take → dream
Marchiano says she writes her question in her journal, then copies it onto a slip of paper, folds it and tucks it into a small velvet bag to put under her pillow.
asserted
she → say → pillow
How to try dream incubation tonight:
- Think of a challenge, decision or problem you face.
asserted
you → try → challenge
If you can, place a related picture or object by your bed.
asserted
you → place → bed
- As you drift off, tell yourself you'd like to dream about it.
- Keep a pen and notebook on your nightstand.
asserted
you → drift → nightstand
- When you wake up, lie still before reaching for your phone.
asserted
you → wake → phone
Jot down anything you remember, even a fragment or an emotion.
asserted
you → jot → anything
That last step matters.
asserted
step → matter → ?
Many people say they don't remember their dreams, and the window is short.
asserted
window → say → dreams
"You only have about three to five minutes to remember," says Dr. Harrison Shong-Wen Chow, a Stanford anesthesiologist.
asserted
Chow → have → minutes
Writing a dream down or telling someone helps move it into long-term memory, he says.
asserted
he → write → memory
Chow's own research explores something even more surprising: how dreams under anesthesia may help people process fear and trauma.
uncertain
people → explore → fear
There's also research into how an electronic device may help deliver dream prompts for targeted dream incubation.
uncertain
device → be → incubation
Dream incubation may not yield anything the first night, and dream recall is subjective.
uncertain
recall → yield → anything
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
