Dream priming 

A psychological technique that can increase dream recall rates over time, useful for healing from depression or trauma. Dream priming involves saying to yourself out loud before you go to sleep something along the lines of "If I have an epiphany during my dreams, I will wake up before my mind forgets the dream so I can ponder it more thoroughly."

To escape the confines of your mind, you must first listen to your heart. The mind may need to relearn this ability in typical cases of post-traumatic depression, which is where dreams come in significantly handy. While dreaming, the mind is truly able to wander free without being stifled by conscious thought. However, dreams are naturally forgotten in the course of natural awakening from sleep. Dreams are only remembered upon awakening when one awakens before their dreams can be naturally discarded from memory. As such, one must make an intentional effort to recall their dreams in order to make the best use of them. Dream priming is an excellent way to accomplish this, though it does take a certain degree of practice to master such a skill.

The most basic way to prime your subconscious for this dream recording process is to give yourself verbal instructions before going to sleep. "To escape the confines of my mind, I must first listen to my heart. If my dreams present a worthy path for me to take, or an epiphany worth contemplating further, I will awaken before my mind can discard the memory." Any variation of such a phrase can suffice as long as it is relatively cogent and spoken out loud to maximize mental retention rates.

Dream priming by Inlovewithabsol May 19, 2024