‘All stories come from the subconscious - which is why it doesn't make sense to over-plan.’ - Michelle Paver

In this bonus section we take a slight tangent and explore how you can tap into the power of your subconscious mind through your dreams to help you become a more creative and better storyteller.

If this something you are interested in then I hope you enjoy it and learn some useful information. If not feel free to skip it and go to the next section in the course. You can always come back to it later.

How Dreams Can Help You Write Better Stories For Your Emails

Did you know that many of the most famous works of literature such as Pilgrim’s Progress (by John Bunyan), Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Bronte), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (by Robert Louis Stevenson), Frankenstein (by Mary Shelley) and Sophie’s Choice (by William Styron) were all inspired to some degree or another by their authors dreams?

Furthermore, it’s not just a whole lot of great literature that we owe to the power of dreams. Many other famous works of art, films, songs, adverts, ideas and inventions also have their origins via the utilization of this remarkable source of inspiration available to every single one of us!

On top of that, it also seems that understanding your dreams better helps you understand yourself more deeply and what aspects of your life are most important and what things need your attention. Plus it promotes mindfulness and focused thinking.

Clearly, all these valuable benefits can be used by you along with the dreams themselves to boost your creative productivity, write better stories and come up with new ideas for your copywriting!

The Power of the Subconscious Mind

‘The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.’ - Sigmund Freud

It is pretty well known that between 95% to 99% of our brain’s activity takes place on a subconscious level. If true, which it probably is, then it means that we only have any real active control over a relatively small part of what our senses are receiving and our minds are processing.

So it makes sense that knowing more about our subconscious mind and what it is thinking about means that we can have a greater understanding of ourselves, our deep-seated motives, needs and desires.

Not only that but if you can effectively tap into your subconscious powers you will also be better able to solve problems, understand the world about you, be more creative, smarter, have a better memory and, yes you guessed it: write better stories.

In addition by writing your dreams down every day it also genuinely helps you practise your creative writing skills. This is especially true if you are handwriting them as there is much evidence to suggest that the act of physically writing also helps improve memory recall, creativity and problem-solving.

A Brief History of Dreams

‘Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream.’ - Khalil Gibran

People have been trying to make sense of their dreams and been heavily influenced by them for probably as long as sleep itself. Mythologies and stories such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and even The Bible are all testament to this fact as they all contain abundant references to dreams.

The truth is that it is fairly obvious that our ancestors (and even many cultures and mystical traditions today) put a huge amount of importance to dreams i.e. Australian aborigines. It is clear that many believed that dreams were powerful divine messages or magical spiritual communications with entities from other dimensions or even premonitions from the future.

Freud and Jung

As well as being the two most important individuals in the history of psychoanalysis, Freud and Jung also knew about the long and complicated history of dreams and their deep influence on the course of civilisations.

At first, they were on the same page as to what dreams were all essentially about. Freud was Jung’s mentor so perhaps this is not too surprising. But towards the ends of their respective lives, they had developed completely different theories as their purpose, meanings and source.

Freud thought that dreams essentially evolved around suppressed desires and ‘wish fulfilment’. Jung, on the other hand, developed the more complex theory that dreams were the psyche's attempt to communicate important information to us through the use of universal archetypal symbols available via a collective ‘cosmic’ consciousness. He divided his archetypes into 3 major categories:

i. Events i.e. birth, death, separation, parents, marriage etc

ii. Figures i.e. mother, father, child, wise-man, innocent, devil, trickster, hero etc

iii. Motifs i.e. creation, floods, apocalypse, immortality etc

It is impossible to really know who was right or if they were both wrong, I will leave that for you to decide. But it does seem to me that Jung was certainly on to something with his ideas on universal archetypes and symbols which we see time and again recurring in dreams, myths, fairy tales, and art (and although outside the remit of this section are certainly worth exploring further if you are still interested).

After all, dreams whilst surreal and sometimes completely crazy do seem to have certain recurring patterns and themes that are universally acknowledged all over the world and have been throughout the ages.

Remembering Your Dreams

If you want to use your dreams as inspiration and to help you become more creative then the first thing you need to master is the art of actually remembering them!

Some lucky people are able to normally recall their dreams when they wake up pretty easily. But for others it sometimes requires a little help via a few simple tips and tricks:

1. Keep a dream diary – This is the most important tip. I recommend a fairly big diary as you may have multiple dreams per night and require a lot of space to put in all the small details. Also get yourself a decent dream dictionary or sign up to a good dream website.2. Write down your dreams as soon as you possibly can – for me I do it absolutely first thing in the morning along with a hot cup of coffee and away from any distractions. Then I write my other normal journal (you probably have guessed by now that I love journals!).3. If you have a daytime nap and have a dream don’t forget to write that down as well – I find some of my most vivid, powerful and interesting ones happen during the daytime!4. Don’t rush writing the dreams down – just try and take your time even if it means waking up 10 or 20 mins earlier than you previously used to do.5. Always write something even if it’s just; ‘No dreams last night that I can remember’ or ‘Did dream but I have forgotten for now what happened’ - by the way don’t be surprised if out of the blue you remember a dream during the day. If this happens make sure you try and write it down (even if it is on a scrap of paper so that you can add it later when you have your dream journal at hand).6. It helps if you have multiple dreams to number them in the order you remembered them being in i.e. D#1, D#2, D#3 or D1: , D2: , D3: etc – just use whatever feels best for you personally.7. Make sure you include the small details like the size and colour of things, how you felt etc as little things in dreams can indicate big issues in life.8. Remember dreams operate completely outside the laws of time, space and physics – so don’t try and force them to be linear, logical or make a whole lot of sense. Just write down whatever you can recall and do it in as much detail as possible. Think of it as a stream of consciousness and be prepared to move seamlessly from one completely different scenario to another. After you have written the dream down then feel free to de-construct it or add an explanatory narrative! 9. Before you go to sleep remind yourself to remember your dreams - you might find using a mantra useful when you first start trying to remember them but after a time you will be surprised how easily you can recall them in the morning.10. If you have a lucid dream then mark it as such and make an extra special effort to write down as much of it as you can – these are a big deal.Writing a dream journal helps you start the day focused and allows you to look back at patterns and themes that you have had in the past which you can draw upon in your daily creative output. What's more, it can help develop your discipline as a writer and your ability to communicate more effectively.

It helps you practice your creative storytelling skills and boosts your imagination, as well as your vocabulary, IQ, EI (emotional intelligence) and memory recall.

Applying this to your email copy

As well as just the general personal improvements highlighted above, there are a number of simple ways that you can practically apply some of the benefits directly to your email copy:

1. If you have a good or interesting dream then why not play around with it and see if you can immediately use it in some form or another in your next email.

2. Over time you will find you have a rich pool of stories, plots and scenarios which you will have collected. You can use all and any mix of these to inspire your future email stories.

3. You might find if you are stuck on some writing issue during the day then you can leave it and sleep on it. When this happens often the answer will come to you in your dreams. Believe it or not, this happens to me all the time especially if I think about the problem just before I go to sleep!

4. If you have a lucid dream you can literally tap into the full power of your subconscious and summon up your favourite writers, thinkers and artists (or whoever you like) to help you however you wish. As I mentioned earlier these are really special dreams and not everyone has them. But you can develop the skill if they are something you feel you would really benefit from (which I do as it happens!).

Understanding Your Dreams

‘The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.’ - Sigmund Freud

Okay, now that you have a few tools to help you remember them, how do you go about making sense of them?

Remember our dreams act as a kind of distorted mirror into our unconscious mind. But if we know how to look at the strange reflection in the right way then we can start the miraculous process of drawing our unconscious mind out into the conscious realm.

The following will help:

Common Dream Symbols and Their Meanings

First off try not to think of your dreams simply as literal stories but rather as a set of continuous images.

These images are made up of a synthesis of everyday experiences and thoughts (that our minds are filtering, processing and storing) combined with surreal situations loaded with hyper intense emotions, abstractions and abstruse self-reflection all coded in a complex universal language of symbols, metaphors and multi-meanings which all need to be personally decoded to reveal your deepest secrets.

Here to help you on your way are just a few of the more common dream themes along with a short description of their possible symbolic meanings which you might find useful to know:

Animals

Animals often represent the part of your inner psyche that feels connected to the natural world as well as our uncontrolled primal forces. Also, of course, different animals arguably embody the essence of different characteristics and qualities. For example, broadly speaking; dolphins, otters and squirrels all seem to be connected in dreams to playfulness and having fun, while dogs, elephants and horses typically represent loyalty and faithfulness.

Cats are highly symbolic of magic, time and space, and have a reputation as bearers of past souls and companions hailing from different worlds.

Swans obviously represent love, partnership and your soul-mates, but are also connected to sensitivity, mysticism and longevity. It may surprise some people to learn that owls and snakes are considered to be wise and bearers of important news, both good and bad!

The presence of anteaters, bears and badgers in dreams may well be telling you to stand up for yourself more. And as for spiders, well believe it or not they are associated to the goddess Athena so are connected with all matters concerning time and storytelling.

Rabbits and lizards are all meant to represent good luck, and in the case of rabbits also fertility and fecundity!

If you are being chased by an animal of prey such as wolf or lion it may suggest that you are holding back repressed emotions like fear, aggression or lust. However, if you are hunting an animal it might well be connected to your unexpressed desires, wishes or pursuits – although like everything to do with dreams it does depend also on the animal i.e. fox, rabbit, deer etc and of course context.

Babies

Dreaming about babies could simply be a reflection of a desire to have one. But they can also just as easily be connected to personal vulnerability, the need to feel loved and protected, or even indicate a desire to have a major change in your life or even start your life completely anew again.

Being Chased

This is one of the most common recurring dreams that people have. Naturally, it depends on who is chasing you, but they usually indicate that you are feeling threatened or endangered by something. A ‘being chased’ dream might also indicate that you are avoiding a certain individual, problem or specific issue that you really need to deal with and resolve.

Basements

In dreams basement, cellars (and even attics) often reflect the deep psyche where we store our darkest secrets and passions. If it is a mess this often means that you feel unfocused, confused and disorganised. It could also mean that there are negative emotions that you need to face up to and deal with. If the cellar is damp or even flooded this frequently represents your emotions which are coming to the surface and need to be dealt with and expressed out in the open.

Exams

Who hasn’t had a dream where they are taking an exam? In fact, this is one of the top ten most common dream themes and for a very good reason! They represent anxiety towards success and failure, not being prepared for a big challenge, being judged by others, and even comparing yourself to peers, friends or family members who you feel competitive towards or even jealous.

Death

Dreaming about death is often not quite as dark as it might first seem. Obviously, context is important, but often it represents the symbolic end of something important to you and about letting go of something. Maybe a phase in your life, a relationship, job or even just a pastime, interest, habit, hobby or behaviour that you are simply no longer interested in doing or have outgrown. If you dream about someone you know dying, take some time to reflect on who that person is, how you feel about them and what their demise means to you personally and emotionally?

Demons

Symbolically if you have a dream in which you are being attacked by a nasty little demon it tends to mean that you are suffering from some type of personal inner conflict, have feelings of guilt about someone or perhaps about something that you have done or are going to do.

Falling

Falling in dreams is exceptionally common. Of course, what it means does depend on context i.e. what the circumstances are and how you feel. But generally, if you are terrified as you fall it probably means you are extremely anxious about something or feel very insecure. If on the other hand, the falling sensation is enjoyable, fun and relaxing, well that probably means you are looking forward to some big event or change of direction in your life.

Fire

There are multiple symbolic meanings towards fire in your dreams. It all depends on the type of fire and how it was behaving and made you feel. Some fires such as those in a snug fireplace provide warmth and security while others such as an uncontrollable raging inferno could very likely represent something like suppressed sexual desires, transformation or purification.

Flying

Sadly we tend to have fewer flying dreams as we go from childhood to adulthood. But when we do have them they tend to represent positive feelings, being generally happy in life, or even being freed from some recent weight or pressure that we are feeling under in our normal everyday life on the ground. If however you are bad at flying or the dream changes to a falling one, well don’t be too surprised to hear that probably isn’t quite such good news!

Food

The meaning of food does depend on what type of food it is, how it makes us feel and what it tastes and looks like. But generally speaking, it is said to be symbolic of nourishment for the mind, body and soul.

Hair

According to Freud, hair represents sexuality. So apparently having lots of hair symbolizes vitality and fertility, while losing your hair signifies a loss of libido or personal power or strength. Alternatively, of course, it could just mean you are anxious about going bald!

If you dream of getting a daring new hairstyle it could point towards the need to take drastic action in the near future to resolve something very important in your life.

Missing a train

If you dream that you have just missed a train (or any other form of transport such as a plane, bus or coach) it more often than not means that you are frustrated about some big missed opportunity that has occurred in your life. All you have to do is work out what!

Nudity

You might just be pleased to know that dreaming about being naked or semi-naked is extremely common and is more often than not to do with revealing your true self, wanting recognition and feeling vulnerable than anything to do with sexual desires – although of course, like most things to do with our dreams and our psyche, it could always be connected to sexual urges or frustration.

Sex

As well as representing a very blatant desire for ‘real’ sex, sex in dreams can also be about a need for fantasy, intimacy or even unification of our conscious and unconscious egos. The key really is who you are having sex with, where it happens and what the sexual experience was like?

Teeth falling out

This is another top ten dream subject with multiple possible interpretations depending on how you are losing your teeth and what is happening to them. But generally speaking, teeth falling out in dreams usually represents something to do with loss of some sort. It might be fear of growing older, losing youthful looks, or just becoming less valuable or useful at work or in some other area of your life you feel is important.

Water

Unsurprisingly water in dreams represents the unconscious. The key to considering the meaning of water in dreams is thinking about its ‘state’ i.e. is it calm like a tranquil lake which might reflect inner peace and serenity or is it a rough choppy sea which may reflect unease and turbulent emotions? Likewise fast running downstream water could suggest rapid unavoidable changes are coming that you will need to face.

The colour of the water is also an important factor that should be taken into account. Dark blues and black water suggest heavy deep subconscious emotions, while light clear water such as that found in a pretty lagoon, for example, is more likely than not to mean you have little to worry about.

Red, on the other hand, is the colour of passion and anger. So consider yourself forwarned!