What are we Dreaming for?

A dream often times seems like a very elusive and surreal thought or event; something that seems real, while also feeling like it is a fake reality. Dreams are a very natural thing for human beings, even our pets are enhanced with dreams. When we go to sleep, we often times find ourselves in a dream, another reality, a voyage that can often feel like the reality that we know in our awake state. But what is a dream? Do you often wonder where these voyages and experiences come from? Do you think that you are simply in Wonderland which is totally made up without our minds somehow? I believe, like many scientists do, that we are immersed in a sea of infinite possibilities and realities, but we are only finely tuned into one frequency that grants us the reality that we accept as real. I also believe that many times our minds inadvertently tune into a different frequency, and see or experience things for which our current reality cannot explain. I wonder then, if the thoughts and daydreaming that we experience in an awake state, is simply our minds tuning into another frequency. Our minds are vastly complex and inherent with unseen talents; so why would our minds not reach out to other realities to seek out answers that are not necessarily available to us? It may seem very difficult to accept that our minds can perform at this level in an awake state, however, we generally accept the idea of dreams while we sleep. The difference between being awake and asleep is the activity of our conscious minds.

There are many different theories on how our levels of consciousness are separated, however, most would agree that there are three major parts of consciousness. The first being your conscious mind, the portion that we have purposeful control of when we concentrate; however, most of us just let our conscious mind to wander around on autopilot and never really live on purpose. The next layer that I want to discuss is the subconscious, that part of our mind that actually is hardwired to move you through this reality in safe patterns. The deeper part of our mind is the unconscious mind, that part where memories are buried and stored, the part of the mind that does not contribute incredibly to our known reality. Our conscious mind is that part of the mind that actually trains our subconscious and develops patterns necessary to carry us through life without having to “think” about those activities. It is like the General that creates orders and missions for the Private to carry out. Once our subconscious mind is trained, through repetition, then it takes over these learned functions without question. A good analogy for this situation is similar to when you learned how to drive. At first you consciously had to think about every activity of driving, such as your speed, your brake pedal, your lane position, the street lights, your mirrors, your blinkers, and I think you get the point. Now that you have been driving for some time, you can go somewhere in your car and not even remember the trip because your subconscious mind is doing all the work. You certainly did not have to learn to walk all over again every day that you wake up?! But what is really cool about the subconscious mind, is that is does not know the difference between our actual reality and a reality that we dream about or visualize with our conscious mind. If you provide enough purposeful repetition, with your conscious mind, through thought and visualization, the subconscious will just salute, say Yes Sir, and get busy working on these patterns.

This subconscious patterning is what tends to keep us in the same old rut, doing the same old things, and experiencing the same things over and over again. Many of us ask why we always end up with the same kind of partner, the same kind of drama, the same kind of job and any other common situation. This is because the subconscious is still working on the original patterning, imprinted over time by our situations and our conscious training. It is similar to music on a compact disc, it does not matter what kind of situation the CD is playing within, the music will always be the same. The bottom line is that the subconscious programming must be rewritten in order for new missions and purpose to manifest. Positive affirmations have been touted as the number one way to retrain your mind, and yes, these affirmations are always a good thing to participate in. However, you cannot change the recording on a CD by simply yelling positive affirmations at it, much like you cannot necessarily change your subconscious patterning by stating affirmations routinely. Additionally, much of our programming was done at a hypnotic level as we were growing from birth through about 7 years old. We had to absorb information from our environment as we were developing in order to learn things like rules, boundaries and accepted societal behaviors. This young programming is also hardwired in our subconscious mind, so you can see how much of an uphill battle changing your life and your reality can be. If you came to be who you are, how you act and what you routinely receive, primarily through hypnosis, then this may be the only true way of rewriting your programming.

Hypnosis practices vary quite a bit; however, they generally have the same theme. Hypnosis techniques generally focus on the use of four different levels of awareness: Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta. Beta is the level of awareness that allows us to focus on our current reality and carry us through our normal routines. Alpha is a deeper state of awareness which is what practices such as meditation aim to achieve. Science has made us realize that something as simple as watching television or playing a video game actually brings us to the Alpha state and pulls us temporarily away from our normal reality. Delta level is the state we find ourselves in when we are sleeping. But the key level is Theta, where a hypnosis practitioner can communicate with and help with changing the hardwired programming. The subconscious mind is also where everything about us is stored, past, present and future memories and all housed here for the viewing. When a practitioner begins a dialogue with the subconscious, they can begin to learn what kind of programming is actually stored there, and also assist with rewriting that programming. Without the conscious mind in the way, a lot of great work can be done at the Theta level, which can change a person’s life drastically.

Another way that you can work on your own hypnotic programming is by listening to appropriate reprogramming while you sleep. The conscious mind thinks it is in charge, much like a little barking chihuahua might feel it is in charge, and in many ways destroys our chances of deep Theta level change. While we are sleeping, our conscious mind is disengaged, and once again our subconscious mind goes about its normal programming while we sleep. We can take advantage of sleep, in this respect, while the conscious mind is out of the equation, to listen to specific retraining verbiage – remember that the subconscious mind is always active and listening, and sleep does not change that. What I have done that has helped tremendously, is to record myself stating what my life plans, goals and outcomes, and playing this through headphones as I sleep. In this way my subconscious can avoid all the noise of the conscious mind and have the next 8 hours or so to work on these new objectives. I think it is important to hear your own voice stating these new ideas; not that other prerecorded tracks do not work, I just feel like you talking to your own subconscious mind is far more effective. I will admit it sounds very strange to hear my own voice at first, but it became normal after listening to it a few times.

Visualization is also a very spectacular tool to use when you are trying to reformulate the outcomes of your life. Remember that the subconscious mind does not know the difference from what we are visualizing, or imagining, and our ordinary reality. Many athletes use this technique to prepare for and add additional training value to their sport. Many studies have been done with athletes who are simply going through their routines in their minds, which have documented the exact musculature and nervous system firing, just as if they are physically performing the activity. I have used this technique many times in my sport of soccer as a goalkeeper. I have found that my visualization of high end and specific goalkeeping moves and activities, has improved my performance immensely. Studies have been done with people who only exercise with visualization, and the result is that they achieve similar outcomes as compared to those who actually exercise. I truly love to exercise, but I really like the idea of getting similar results while sitting in my recliner!

Any way you look at this paradigm, it becomes obvious, that if you want change, you have to do it on purpose. If you allow your subconscious mind to continue to repeat the same thing over and over again, then you will see the same results over and over again. Take your life over and make some changes, do things that you have never done, take chances that you have never taken, step out in faith and change on purpose, and then you can have all the things and experiences that you have never had.