Dreams can be weird. I don’t know about you, but every so often I wake up from a dream and ask myself, “What on God’s green Earth was that all about?” People, places, and situations can get all mixed up and twisted in our dreams. But maybe our subconscious mind is trying to tell us something. And maybe we can use these dreams to become more creative.
There’s a Connection Between Dreams and Creativity
Studies have found a connection between dreams and creativity. Check out these articles to learn more:
- Dreams Make You Smarter, More Creative, Studies Suggest
- Dreams, Creativity and How They Are Connected
- Can Paying Attention to Dreams Increase Creativity?
I think the results are clear. Dreams are connected to creativity. However, just having a weird-ass dream won’t do much for your creativity if you don’t use it. We don’t magically produce creative stuff. We have to put in some effort. It’s no different when it comes to using our dreams to become more creative. We need to be intentional about it.
A couple of weeks ago I had a funky dream. The first thing I did in the morning was to write about it. I wrote a post on Facebook. I wrote a poem. The key to using your dreams in creativity is to actively consider them, and their meanings. Then create something, a poem, a painting, a song, based on your recall and/or your analysis.
You May Never Figure Shit Out, but…
Over the years, I’ve become good at discovering hidden meanings within my own dreams. This is because I practice reflective thinking. I face the scary dreams and try to understand how they relate to my waking life. I write down the perfect song lyric I hear in that I’m-as-famous-as-Bob-Dylan dream… as soon as I wake up. Still, sometimes dreams are so strange that you’ll never figure shit out, and that’s okay.
Great creativity is often a mix of things you’d never expect to be mixed. How do you think we’ve come to have so many unique genres of art and music and food? Weird combinations. That’s how. So even if you can’t figure out that weird-ass dream you had last night, it’s still going to help you become more creative. Because a dream within itself is naturally creative. Dreams mix unexpected things together to come up with wonky alternative realities. That’s fucking genius. How wonderfully we are made.
So next time you have one of those funky dreams that freaks you out, makes you wonder, or wakes you up with a smile on your face, use it. Take the time to write it down, think it over, and make it into a story. You’ll be killing two birds, practicing creativity, and learning more about yourself.
Disclaimer: If you are a non-dreamer, I’m sorry. This post was in no way meant to be discriminatory toward people who either do not dream, or can never remember their dreams.
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