SUCCESS & LIFE BY DESIGN

Lucid dreaming: the solution to creative blocks?

#16 in my Tonics for Your Creative Spirit email series: Charlie Morley

It’s that Creativity Quote time of the week again!

This week’s words of wisdom come from a fascinating author (and very nice chap) that I met at a recent Hay House event in London.

(If you’re at all interested in personal growth tips or spirituality, I highly recommend the Hay House events. I’ve never met such a fun, friendly and open-minded bunch – both the speakers and the guests.)

During a break between speakers, I found the bookshop and was eagerly stocking up on reading matter for my train journey home, when a book with a beautiful blue cover caught my eye…

Dreams of Awakening:

Lucid dreaming and Mindfulness of Dream & Sleep

by Charlie Morley

I thought this was a ‘curious co-incidence’, since I’d recently added Learn lucid dreaming to my Fun Things To Do list.

(I say ‘curious coincidence’ but I’ve been studying the nature of the muse long enough to know her handiwork when I see it…)

Before I knew what had happened, I’d bought the book and dropped it into my overflowing goodie bag. And when I picked it up for a quick browse the next day, I couldn’t put it down.

If you’re new to lucid dreaming, the idea is that we can be consciously aware during our dreams, and then we can direct them – we can do anything we want, without the limits of our waking reality.

And the interesting part is – the brain can’t tell the difference!

So experiences during a lucid dream are perceived as real – to the extent that our neural pathways and even our bodies are affected.

Imagine the fun you could have directing unlimited experiences that the brain perceives as reality!

But it occurred to me that lucid dreaming also has the potential for some powerful benefits for us creative types.

If you can, as Charlie teaches, engage with your subconscious mind, then you can explore any blocks that are holding you back. (Ever suffer from fear, self-doubt or resistance….?)

Just imagine how your work would take off if you could eliminate some of the more common creative struggles.

Not to mention the fact that dreams can also make great writing prompts! I often think some of my dreams would make great films or novels. (Though maybe not the ones about the peacock… I look forward to learning what that’s about.)

So, if you’d like to know more about the benefits of lucid dreaming – and how to do it – Charlie’s book is a really fun read. He makes it all very easy to understand and guides you through the very do-able exercises. There’s also more info over on Charlie’s website.

But the reason I’m sharing all this is that in my never-ending quest for inspiration for creativity and uplifting quotes, I found this gem in the first few pages:

In the text, Charlie was referring to our actual night-time dreams. But I think it also applies to our waking dreams – the visions we dare to imagine and hope for our futures.

I believe that the more we explore and express our creative dreams, the more confidence and ability we’ll have to turn our life’s dreams into reality.

So, the next time you need a little motivation to find the time or energy to do your creative thing – remember that your dreams are at stake!

And what is life without dreams? As the great Paulo Coelho writes in his multi-million selling fable about following your dreams;

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true
that makes life interesting.”

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(And as a writer who went from poverty and obscurity to literary superstardom, Senhor Coelho knows a bit about making dreams come true….)

Till next time – wishing you a dreamy and creative week,

PS If you’d like more on the link between dreams and creativity, I’ve got another Creativity Quote post about that here. Or you can sign up for the whole Creativity Quotes weekly series here.

And if you’d like more Productivity Tips for Sleep-Loving Creatives, I have a whole collection here.

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