People around the world have been talking about a movie so powerful that it can change the course of your life. This movie, The Secret, was created by Australian Rhonda Byrne, and she says that if you follow its philosophy, you can create the life you want—whether that means getting out of debt, finding a more fulfilling job or even falling in love.

Rhonda says she stumbled on what she calls The Secret at the end of 2004. At the time, everything in Rhonda’s life had fallen apart—physically, emotionally and financially—and she was in “total despair.” Then her father died suddenly, and she was worried about her grief-stricken mother. “I wept and wept and wept, and I didn’t want my daughter to see me sobbing,” Rhonda says.

That’s when Rhonda’s daughter gave her a copy of The Science of Getting Rich, a book written in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles. “Something inside of me had me turn the pages one by one, and I can still remember my tears hitting the pages as I was reading it,” Rhonda says. “It gave me a glimpse of The Secret. It was like a flame inside of my heart. And with every day since, it’s just become a raging fire of wanting to share all of this with the world.”
After that first discovery, Rhonda read hundreds of books, listened to hundreds of hours of audio tapes and scoured the Internet for more information. She says she traced the idea of The Secret through history—all the way from 3500 B.C. to the present day. “Since I discovered The Secret, every single moment of my entire life has changed, and I am living my life for the first time,” Rhonda says.

Rhonda defines The Secret as the law of attraction, which is the principle that “like attracts like.” Rhonda calls it “the most powerful law in the universe,” and says it is working all the time. “What we do is we attract into our lives the things we want, and that is based on what we’re thinking and feeling,” Rhonda says. The principle explains that we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth.

To help teach the philosophy, Rhonda created the DVD The Secret, which features experts including the Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, James Arthur Ray, Lisa Nichols and Jack Canfield—who not only teach other people about The Secret, but say they are successful in their own lives because they know and use the principle.

The Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith says he was a drug dealer in college—until he was arrested in a deal gone bad. Michael says he had a spiritual awakening during his trial and decided to turn his life around. Today he leads the Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, where he teaches thousands of faithful followers the path to reaching their highest potential.

James Arthur Ray was insecure and awkward as a teenager until weight lifting helped the self-described geek gain confidence in his 20s. He says that surviving a near-fatal motorcycle crash and almost going bankrupt forced him to focus on the life he truly wanted. Now he runs a multimillion-dollar corporation dedicated to teaching people how to create wealth in all areas of their lives.

Lisa Nichols grew up on the tough streets of South Central Los Angeles. She admits that as a self-conscious teenager, she often used sex to feel loved by men. After hitting rock bottom at age 19, Lisa prayed for a better life. Now, she has made her fortune by motivating more than 60,000 teenagers to make better choices in their own lives.

Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield was deep in debt before he made it big. Now his best-selling books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, and Jack travels the country teaching the secret of his success.

The law of attraction means that everything that happens to you—good or bad—you attract to yourself. Lisa describes it as if you’re placing an order. “If you were at a restaurant and you ordered something, you fully expect it to come served that way. That’s how the universe is. You’re putting out orders—consciously and unconsciously,” Lisa says. “So if you say, ‘I’ll never have a great relationship,’ you just placed an order.”

Jack says everything you focus on can have an effect on your life—from books to magazines to thoughts. “All of that affects how we feel, and the feelings actually send out a wave into the universe, and anything that’s vibrating in a similar level gets attracted into our life,” Jack says.

“Most people focus on how it is. We talk about our current reality—’I'm in debt. I’m overweight. I’m not happy. I’m sad. The world’s not working. We’re at war,’ whatever. And the more you think about that and focus on that and talk about it, the more you attract that [negativity],” he says.

Although thoughts are powerful, Jack says the feelings that the thoughts generate are what actually attract things into our lives. “Too many times people are thinking a thought like, ‘I want to be my perfect body weight of 185 pounds.’ But they look at the scale and they see 205 and they think, ‘But I’ll never make it,’ … so they feel bad,” Jack says. Instead of wallowing in those negative thoughts, you need to find the positive in the situation. Jack says you should stop feeling bad about the weight, and instead feel positive that you are willing to do something healthy to make your life better. Carrying with you those positive feelings is one key to your success.

James says that in order to attract the things you want into your life—to place the right order—you have to do what he calls going “three for three.” “Your thoughts, your feelings and your actions all have to be firing simultaneously in the same direction,” he says. Visualizing your future life can help to hone your thoughts and feelings toward the things you want.

The panel says the thoughts and the feelings are often easy for people to grasp, but you still have to do something about them. “A lot of people watch The Secret and they say, ‘Well, I’m sitting around visualizing my millions coming into my lap.’ Well, they’ll come take your furniture away. And then how are you going to visualize [when you're living] on the curb?” James says. “You’ve got to act on it. Make decisions on where you’re going versus where you have been.”

Jack says that everything in the world is made up of energy, which is controlled by thoughts and feelings. According to Jack, thoughts can travel long distances, so you are sending out signals to many people without even knowing it, and these signals attract like energy to you.

Jack and James say that this means there is no such thing as a coincidence. “Everything happens by principles and laws in our universe. And so consequently, we have an absolutely unlimited power within us,” James says.

Michael says that thoughts—which turn into experience, speech and behavior—become the “feeling tone of your life.” “An individual can actually begin to generate a certain feeling of gratitude, of love, of peace and of harmony, and the universe will begin to match that feeling tone—and what will flow into your life will match the feeling that you’re holding,” he says. “It means that everyone…can release themselves from being a victim and begin to take control of their life’s destiny.”

Gratitude is one example of the magnetic force of the universe. “Basically, nothing new can come into your life unless you open yourself up to being grateful [for what you already have],” Michael says.

“If you think about it, the universe has a conveyor belt of presents lined up for you, and until you receive the one and fully are grateful for it, the next one can’t come out of the chute. It’s all lined up,” Jack says.

Lisa says this perspective applies to weight, family, friends and other aspects of life. She says too many people who want to make things better focus on what’s wrong with the present. “Instead of wanting to change it, appreciate what’s there,” Lisa says. “Find the things about it that work … and by doing that, you create a space for it to get better.”

For example, Lisa says she would like to lose some weight. But instead of focusing on the negative—that she hasn’t dropped the pounds yet—she loves and appreciates the present moment. “I accept it. I love it. I embrace every inch, every pound,” she says. In this way, Lisa is creating the space to “celebrate the now” and then invite better things into her life.

According to the panel members, much of the energy that people project into the world is done unconsciously. “People aren’t walking around thinking, ‘I want a bad thing to happen to me,’ but there’s an unconscious fear. There’s a doubt. There’s a worry. There’s a sense of separation there that’s running them,” Michael says. He adds that spiritual growth is “allowing that which is unconscious to become conscious.”

Michael says that spiritual growth does not mean religion but our “real identity.” “The love, the peace, the joy, the wisdom, the harmony—these are all qualities of the spirit that it’s seeking to express through us,” Michael says. “And so as we become more awake, more aware of that, our life is filled with that kind of vibration, that kind of feeling tone. To grow spiritually is to actually become more aware of who you really are.”

Ryan Bell, a single mother of a 4-year-old, is currently $43,000 in debt. “I’m just in over my head,” she says.

Ryan says her financial woes started back in college when she took out loans. After college, Ryan got a job, got pregnant and got married. To cope with the new bills, the couple opened more credit cards, and Ryan helped put her husband through school. Then the unthinkable happened: She and her husband got divorced—and Ryan’s debt worsened. “I went from living on two incomes to living on one income, but I kept the same bills,” Ryan says.

To support herself and her daughter, Ryan works long hours at a high-end clothing store. After her daughter goes to bed, Ryan works at her second job, a home-based Internet business. “It could be huge, but I can’t spend the amount of time on it that I need to to make it successful,” she says.

Now, Ryan sees every day as a struggle and won’t even go to the mailbox because she knows there are bills waiting for her. “I’m sick and tired of being a victim,” Ryan says. “How do I get out of this endless cycle of debt?”

Ryan’s choices have attracted debt to her, the panel says. To attract a solution, Jack says Ryan should turn her focus from her debt to what she knows her life will be like when she’s financially free.

Simply changing her language can also start to make a dent in her debt. When asked how she is, Lisa says she shouldn’t respond with phrases like “I’m surviving.” “That’s not the kind of life you want to live,” Lisa says. “When people ask me how I’m doing, [I say], ‘I’m phenomenal. I’m great’. Even in the midst of all—I’m great,” she says. “I’m great because I made it through.”

James, especially, can relate to Ryan’s troubles, having been on the edge of bankruptcy twice himself. He urges Ryan to take an “action step” toward her dreams. For Ryan, that’s starting a debt retirement program to pay a certain amount of money toward her credit automatically so she can focus every bit of energy on financial freedom.

Still, the most important stride toward a debt-free life, Michael says, is forgiving her ex-husband and to stop feeling like he owes her something. “Let him know in consciousness, in your awareness, that he cannot determine your destiny. You’re not leaving him unaccountable, but you’re severing those emotional vibratory tonalities so that you can be free.”

True forgiveness, James says, is when you can say the following to the person who hurt you: “Thank you for giving me that experience.”

But how can you forgive when something truly tragic or terrible happens? James says you should grieve, but eventually you need to look for a hidden gift. “Here’s what I encourage people to ask themselves: How does this serve me? … If you’re really willing to dig, there’s a lesson in there,” James says. “And secondly, what can I learn from this situation?”

Even if you can’t identify the gift now, Rhonda says to remain positive in order to benefit from of the law of attraction. “You can say, ‘There are so many gifts in this for me. I can’t wait to see what they are,’” Rhonda says.

In chronic situations with no end in sight, Michael says you should ask yourself another important question: “If this were to last forever, what quality would I have to grow to have peace of mind? Now, as my attention goes to the quality I have to grow, that quality starts to emerge,” Michael says. “The issue that I’m resisting and fighting against becomes less and less intense … it begins to dissolve because it doesn’t have your attention any longer.”

Panel member Lisa Nichols says her life was spiraling out of control before she learned The Secret. She grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where there were gangs, poverty and violence.

In fifth grade, Lisa was in the first class to be bused to the Valley—a predominantly white neighborhood—where she thought she would be welcomed. Instead, she was met with name-calling. “My self-esteem went way down,” she says.

Although she eventually became a popular student, Lisa struggled with depression. “At 17, when my best friends were thinking what college to go to, UCLA or USC, I was contemplating suicide and trying to figure out how to do it without getting blood on my mother’s carpet because I knew they couldn’t afford to move,” she says.

Growing up, Lisa was also told that she wasn’t pretty and wouldn’t find love. She began having “a lot of sex looking for a little love,” searching for her own validation in men. “The sex led to a lot of pain. I thought if I was saying no to the sex, I was saying no to potential love. And I didn’t want to say no to love.”

Lisa began to gain weight in order to avoid men altogether. After gaining 100 pounds, Lisa says she was obese and embarrassed.

Finally, Lisa reached a turning point. “I got on my knees and I said, ‘God, if you bring me through this … I promise I will spend every moment, every breath, supporting and encouraging others to do the same,’” she says.

Lisa decided to stop being a victim. She stopped looking for love elsewhere and fell “madly in love” with herself. Now, she teaches people how to treat her. “I’m the first example of how the world is supposed to love me and I have to give them the best example ever,” she says. “We expect someone to show us our greatness when [instead] I’m supposed to show up understanding my greatness and allowing you to celebrate it with me.”

After 16 years of marriage, Carlton and Beverly Credelle say the passion in their marriage had fizzled. “It just felt as though our life was just mundane, really passionless, almost emotionless,” Beverly says. “Like I didn’t have his mind anymore, his soul, his heart.” At one point, the couple hadn’t been intimate in a year.

Then, Beverly watched The Secret. “For the record, I’ve seen it 62 times. But the first time is when that lightbulb went off,” she says. Beverly realized she was part of the problem. She stopped complaining and began to focus on her gratitude for Carlton. “I started telling myself, ‘I am beautiful. I do deserve passion. I am in a passion-filled marriage.’”

Things changed immediately after Carlton also watched the DVD. Soon, he started making romantic gestures, like taking Beverly out for lunch dates and calling her during the day. She began doing little things for him, too—leaving him a rose in his car and surprising him with his favorite cookies.

Michael says Carlton and Beverly are an example of how gratitude brings about change. “My marriage now is wonderful,” Carlton says. “I feel the passion. I’m loving it.”

Launell is successful in all areas of her life—except when it comes to taking off the baby weight she started gaining 14 years ago.

The first step, James says, is to be grateful for her health and choose to stay healthy and whole. “I want you to start every single day … saying, ‘Thank you for the health I have.’ Say, ‘I love my legs because they’re working functionally,’” James says. “Concentrate on your health and wholeness every day, and you’ll attract more health and wholeness every day.”

Lisa says Launell also has to believe she has the right to have the body she wants. “Make a decision. Do you have the right? Are you ready for it? Are you ready to look in the mirror and love every inch?” Lisa says. “Make 2007 about showing up in the now for you,” Lisa says.

Repeating after Lisa, Launell declares, “I choose today to give myself the best life ever!”

You can start living the The Secret today by following three simple steps: Ask. Believe. Receive.

Michael says to start making a conscious effort every day to take actions that will sync with the energy of the life you dream about. “When you’re talking about action, you’re talking about walking in the direction you want,” Michael says.

But not just any action will do, James says. It has to be one that comes from the heart and will provide a real service. “It’s not, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ necessarily. It’s, ‘If you build it and it provides value, they will come,’” he says. “It’s that heart space. Not ‘What can I get?’ but ‘What can I give and how can I serve?’ And when you’re in that moment, the universe lines up behind you and it’s at your command.”

From: The Oprah Winfrey Show - The Secret

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It was just a short 20 months ago when I discovered a very simple key that allowed me to finally quit smoking and become a runner.

It was such an easy but powerful key that I then used it to eat healthier, double my income, become an early riser, run a marathon, become a vegan, lose weight, reduce my debt, save money, write a novel, complete a triathlon, and start a successful blog.

What was that simple key to success? It was this: flip your thoughts.

Before I learned that, I would always start a goal with a lot of enthusiasm, and then run out of steam and eventually fail. After that initial burst of enthusiasm, the negative thoughts would set in on me: You can’t do this. It’s too hard. I’m too tired. It’s painful. Give in to the easier stuff.

: You can do this. It’s hard, but the reward will be well worth it. You’re tired, but if you do this you can rest afterwards. It’s painful, so let’s take it a little easier, and focus on the benefits. There’s easier things you could be doing, but how will you feel afterwards?

Then I learned to flip my thoughts, and those negative thoughts became positive ones

Take any negative thought that hampers your goal, and find a way to flip it into a positive thought. Are you focusing on the difficulties of a goal or task? Focus instead on the benefits. Are you focusing on why you can’t do something? Focus instead on how you can, and why you should.

Actually, there is another key that must come first: you need to become aware of your thoughts. Many times we are thinking negative thoughts, but we don’t realize it. Start any goal by monitoring your thoughts. If you’re going to go running, for example, be aware of the thoughts that tell you to stop, that tell you that it’s too hard. Spend a day or two just being aware of those thoughts — and then try to flip them.

It’s a skill that takes practice, but trust me, if you get good at this skill, it will unlock any goal you set out to achieve. Let’s take a look at how to apply this key to some common goals. Some of these examples might seem corny and overly optimistic, but trust me, positive self-talk really works.

• Eating healthier. Let’s say you’re trying to eat less fatty foods and trying to eat more fruits and vegetables instead. And you notice a common thought in your head: I really want that fried chicken. I really want that rich dessert. It looks so good and delicious! What do you do? Flip that thought: That fried chicken will clog my arteries and make me fat. So will that dessert. But those cut up fruits and veggies look delicious, and refreshing, and they will help me lose my gut! Think of the negative things about the fatty foods, and the positive things and the benefits of the healthy foods.
• Exercise. The hardest part is actually getting out and starting the exercise. You might think: I’m too lazy right now. I don’t feel like it. I’d rather check my email. Instead, flip your thoughts: Exercise isn’t hard. Anyways, I don’t need to do too much today. I’m just going to put on my shoes and jog for 5 minutes, and see if I feel like doing more from there. And it will help me lose that gut!
• Frugality. Monitor your spending urges, which typically come if you’re at a store or a mall or you’re shopping online. Your thoughts might be: I really want that gadget (or pair of shoes or whatever). I gotta have it. Now flip your thoughts: I don’t really need that right now, and it’s going to put me over my budget. Instead, I want to see if I can go a month without spending on anything unnecessary, so I can pay off my debts and be free of that burden!
• Happiness. Negative thoughts are what get us down and spoil our happiness. There are so many in this area that it’s impossible to name them all, but again, learn to become aware of them … and then flip them. An example: I am such a failure. My life isn’t going anywhere. Flip those thoughts: Actually, I’ve done a lot in my life, and I have a lot to be thankful for (and here you should think of everything you have to be thankful for, including your material comforts, any loved ones, your health, or just life itself). And while I might not be doing as well as I’d like, I am going to take positive action and seek new opportunities. I can make this happen.
• Career success. Negative thoughts are our main obstacles to success. Just one example: My supervisor hates me. I hate him and I’m not going anywhere in this job. Now try flipping those thoughts: I can impress my supervisor and his supervisors will a couple of stellar projects that will bring major benefits to this company. I’m going to take the initiative to start these projects and perform amazingly. And while I’m doing that, I’m going to look for other opportunities to get jobs that will give me the advancement I want.
• Waking early. I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day, and I’ve learned to love the early morning hours (read more about this here). While rising early isn’t for everyone, some people really want to wake earlier, but they have problems finding the motivation when the alarm goes off. Here’s a common negative thought: I’m so darn tired. I can just sleep another 20 minutes and there won’t be any harm. But try flipping those thoughts instead: I’m going to become an early riser and greet the day with energy! There are a few things I really want to do this morning, so if I get up now, I can actually get them done!

by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

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Get right up in her face and tell her you demand leisure time. Okay, that’s a bit much, but you can probably take some leisure time without being a jerk about it. It’s as simple as taking fifteen minutes here and two minutes there. There is a reason why people are addicted to smoking and it’s not just the nicotine. They get to go outside and take a break from all the stress. I find it funny to see a group of smokers huddled on a cold day, but they’re out there because it gives them a chance to have their nicotine and leisure time.

I discovered a great article in the NY Times “Why Leisure Matters in a Busy World.” The author Marci Alboher interviewed Alison Link, who believes that everyone must have some leisure time to work happy. It’s great to see so many people dedicated to helping others improve their work life.

Q. Why should we care about our relationship to leisure?

A. Too often, leisure time that is not used in a satisfying way turns into idle time, or is used to do a single thing to excess (like overeating, or getting into family quarrels). It can even turn negative, which is what happens often in the cases of substance use, delinquency and criminal activity. Also, wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t define ourselves by our work? It should be just as valid to define ourselves by our leisure.

We all need to take our health and happiness into account when we work. Many of us work so hard that we become ill or depressed. We need to have leisure in our life to keep our lives fun and energetic. If all we do is worry about work then what type of life is that? It’s a prison.

My second favorite question and answer was about feeling free. We all need to live our lives as if there are endless possibilities.

Q. So how do you explain all those people who don’t feel free in their lives?

A. Few of us really think about or plan for leisure. We think we should just go with the flow, but too often we end up feeling stressed, overwhelmed and unfulfilled. We need to plan for leisure — perhaps by doing one small thing every day, identifying long- and short-term leisure goals, putting enjoyable activities on the calendar — like we do other aspects of life. But before people start moving up leisure on the priority list, they need to appreciate and recognize the value and benefits of leisure, even when they have constraints (that may be internal or external). We all have obligations and other constraints that inhibit us from engaging in leisure that range from guilt to time or financial constraints. Yet the personal benefits and collective benefits short term and long term are worthwhile.

The mind needs to unwind and just have fun. There is a reason why kids are given time to eat and then run around the playground. They need to release their stress and so do you. You need to schedule in some leisure time every single day.

Here are 8 of my favorite leisure breaks:

1. Take a long lunch break and go to a museum by yourself.
2. Stretch at your desk for two minutes
3. Meet with a friend who you normally don’t see for Lunch
4. Breathe deeply for two minutes and nothing else
5. Walk around the block
6. Call your mother (only if she doesn’t stress you out)
7. Read a fictional book during your break
8. Write a Poem

It’s up to you to schedule in a little leisure time for yourself, so you will work happier and be more productive. Believe me, your family will thank you for destressing throughout the day instead of letting it all come out when you get home.

Karl Staib - The Work Happy Guy

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Fall Asleep Faster, Stay Asleep Longer

Over 60 million Americans couldn’t sleep in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It’s more likely to occur in women than men and can occur for a number of reasons. Stress, anxiety, sleep disorders, biological issues, even jet-lag can cause insomnia. Insomnia is not defined by how little you sleep but by the quality of the sleep and how you feel after waking up in the morning. Here are 10 tips to get a better night’s sleep.

1. The most common suggestion to help people with chronic insomnia is medicine. But consumers need to be careful. There are three different classes of sleep medicines that you can get: sedatives, benzodiazepines and over-the-counter. Sedative drugs (Ambien, Lunesta) and benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium) must be prescribed. Both kinds of drugs are highly addictive, cause tolerance (needing a higher and higher dose as time goes on) and puts a person to sleep in a way similar anesthesia. With these drugs you will be put in the light sleep stage rather than restorative. Some over-the-counter drugs including Advil PM, can cause organ damage after a long period of time.
2. Herbal remedies are the next most often suggested and include kava, passion flower and melatonin. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that these work but nothing scientific. Even though these remedies are natural, it would still be a good idea to run your plans by your doctor. Certain herbs can react with other medications and can even be lethal at high doses.
3. Work out about 4 hours before bed. The exact time will be different for everyone, but 4 is a good starting point. Exercise raises stress hormones initially, but they eventually fall to a lower than original level. It also will help relieve physical tension that may keep you up at night.
4. This one is easy to say but hard to do-cut out all caffeine and nicotine. They are stimuli that keep your brain working overtime.
5. Along those lines, it is a good rule to NEVER use alcohol to fall asleep. Again, alcohol creates tolerance and causes bizarre dreams, inhibits deep sleep and causes most people who use it to wake often during the night.
6. That remedy your grandma told you really does work. Have a glass of warm milk before bed. It may work because it releases tryptophan, a chemical that eventually turns to serotonin, which promotes sleepiness and relaxation; or it may work because you were told it works. Either way, does it really matter?
7. Change might be good. Double check how comfortable your sleeping environment is. Make sure the noise-level, light, temperature and comfort of bed in the room is all to your liking. Change what you can, improvise with what you can’t. And unplug as many electronics as possible. Even if they are turned off they can still emit high pitched sound waves, and many have little lights that stay on that can interfere with you sleep.
8. A key to falling asleep is relation. Progressive muscle relaxation can help with that. All you have to do is squeeze tightly and release each individual muscle group in your body, starting with your toes and working your way up to your head. Repeat until your body has unwound.
9. Another way to relax is with visual imagery. Close your eyes and picture your favorite place in the world. As you picture it breathe in, counting to five; hold for 2; and breathe out for 5. Count to 5 slower and slower until you feel you can sleep.
10. If all else fails you can go back the old stand-by of counting. But instead of counting up, try counting down from a large number, such as 5,000. It causes the brain to think more, and it goes slower than counting up so your mind doesn’t race.

by Cassandra Senior

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Remembering your dreams is the starting place for learning to have lucid dreams. If you don’t recall your dreams, even if you do have a lucid dream, you won’t remember it! And, in order to be able to recognize your dreams as dreams while they are happening, you have to be familiar with the way your own dreams work. Before it will be worth your time to work on lucid dream induction methods, you should be able to recall at least one dream every night.

Getting plenty of sleep is the first step to good dream recall. If you are rested it will be easier to focus on your goal of recalling dreams, and you won’t mind so much taking the time during the night to record your dreams. Another benefit of getting plenty of sleep is that dream periods get longer and closer together as the night proceeds. The first dream of the night is the shortest, perhaps 10 minutes in length, while after 8 hours of sleep, dream periods can be 45 minutes to an hour long. We all dream every night, about one dream period every 90 minutes. People who say they never dream simply never remember their dreams. You may have more than one dream during a REM (dream) period, separated by short arousals that are most often forgotten. It is generally accepted among sleep researchers that dreams are not recalled unless the sleeper awakens directly from the dream, rather than after going on to other stages of sleep.

It can be useful while you are developing your dream recall to keep a complete dream journal. Keep the journal handy by your bed and record every dream you remember, no matter how fragmentary. Start by writing down all your dreams, not just the complete, coherent, or interesting ones–even if all you remember is a face or a room, write it down.

When you awaken in the night and recall what you were dreaming, record the dream right away. If you don’t, in the morning you may find you remember nothing about the dream, and you will certainly have forgotten many interesting details. We seem to have built-in dream erasers in our minds, which make dream experiences more difficult to recall than waking ones. So, whenever you remember a dream, write it down. If you don’t feel like writing out a long dream story at 3 AM, note down key points of the plot. Also write down the precise content of any dialogue from the dream, because words will almost inevitably be forgotten in a very short time.

Possibly, all you will need to do to increase your dream recall is to remind yourself as you are falling asleep that you wish to awaken fully from your dreams and remember them. This works in a similar manner to remembering to awaken at a certain time in the morning. Additionally, it may help to tell yourself you will have interesting, meaningful dreams. A major cause of dream forgetting is interference from other thoughts competing for your attention. Therefore, let your first thought upon awakening be, “What was I just dreaming?” Before attempting to write down the dream, go over the dream in your mind, re-telling the dream story to yourself. DO NOT MOVE from the position in which you awaken, and do not think of the day’s concerns. Cling to any clues of what you might have been experiencing–moods, feelings, fragments of images, and try to rebuild a story from them. When you recall a scene, try to recall what happened before that, and before that, reliving the dream in reverse. If after a few minutes, all you remember is a mood, describe it in a journal. If you can recall nothing, try imagining a dream you might have had–note your present feelings, list your current concerns to yourself, and ask yourself, “Did I dream about that?” Even if you can’t recall anything in bed, events or scenes of the day may remind you of something you dreamed the night before. Be ready to notice this when it happens, and record whatever you remember.

If you find that you sleep too deeply to awaken from your dreams, try setting an alarm clock to wake you at a time when you are likely to be dreaming. Since our REM periods occur at approximately 90 minute intervals, good times will be multiples of 90 minutes after you go to sleep. Aim for the later REM periods by setting the alarm to go off at 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours after you go to sleep. Once again, when you wake up, don’t move and think first of what you were just dreaming before writing.

To remind yourself of your intentions and get yourself into the spirit of your dreams, read through your dream journal at bedtime. Learning to remember your dreams may seem difficult at first, but if you persist, you will almost certainly succeed–and may find yourself remembering four or more dreams per night. Of course, once you reach this level, you probably won’t want to write them all down–just the significant or compelling ones. And, the more familiar you become with the style of your own dreams, the easier it will be to remember you are dreaming while you are dreaming–and explore the world of your dreams while still on the scene.

 

Remembering Dreams - 10 Tips

1. Maintain good, consistent sleep habits. Not getting enough sleep or going to bed ‘dog-tired’ can dramatically reduce natural dreaming activity. The Mayo Clinic offers a list of tips if you are having trouble getting restful sleep.

2. When you go to bed tell yourself that you will remember your dreams. Repeat “I will remember my dreams” to yourself several times as you drift off to sleep. It sounds odd, but this tip has been shown again and again to be one of the most helpful.

3. Try to wake up slowly to remain within the ‘mood’ of your last dream. Buy an alarm clock with a gentle wake setting (sometimes called a progressive wake).

4. Awake at least once during the night, many times this will occur around an REM sleep cycle. Set an alarm or drink a lot of water prior to bed to ensure you have to wake up at least once.

5. Think about, but do not dwell upon your mood/emotions as you drift off to sleep.

6. Avoid alcohol near bedtime. Alcohol reduces the frequency and density of REM sleep.

7. Keep a pad and pencil next to your bed so you can jot down quick notes about your dream if you awake during the night (you may not remember it by morning) or as soon as you get up in the morning. Just the process of writing things down may help you recall more information about your dreams.

8. Start a dream journal. Take your notes and recollections of you dreams and record your dreams in journal or story form.

9. Discuss your dreams with friends and family members. Just articulating your dreams can help you remember additional details.

10. If you awake during the night, think about your previous dream as you go back to sleep. This will help to reinforce the dream for improved dream recall in the morning.

by: http://www.lucidity.com/

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