Have you ever awakened from a dream so inspired that you immediately had to write down a new idea for a play, draw a picture, or write a poem? If so, you?re not alone. While dreams can be useful for solving problems and sorting priorities, they also have inspired countless artists working in the literary, visual, and performing arts.

The first step, of course, is remembering and recording your dreams. Keep a note pad, drawing pad, or tape recorder (whichever best suits your form of artistic expression) on your nightstand to record the most interesting or creative dreams as soon as you awake. If you rise during the night, record any dreams or dream fragments at that time, too.

The most important thing to remember when using your dreams as sources of creative inspiration is to write down all the details before you forget them. Save the development of the idea for when you?re fully awake. When recording information about your dreams, be sure to include the following: date; descriptive title; underlying theme; characters present (known and unknown); setting; story; and emotions felt.

After your dreams are recorded, you can adapt them for your art in various ways. Obviously not every dream is packed full of artistic genius, but when the rare dream of profound insight and deep revelation does find its way into your nightly mindscreen, you?ll be ready for it.

To use your recorded dreams to their best advantage, you need to look beneath the surface for combinations of ideas and dream symbols. The dreaming mind has a way of solving problems by combining ideas in unexpected ways. Without the censoring apparatus imposed during the day, your mind is free to explore new connections. Look for these unusual combinations of ideas to find the unifying link. Can that link be adapted for your art?

Next examine the symbols present in your dream. Beyond the literal meaning of words and images, you may find funny, clever, naughty, touching, or terrifying symbols that can be used artistically. Don?t be afraid to explore these symbols or use free association to link the symbols to your art.

If you?re occasionally able to use dreams to inspire literary (poetry, prose), visual (paintings, sculpture, photography, etc.), and performing arts (film, theater, music, dance, etc.), then you?ll be in good company. Some of the most famous works of art were inspired by actual dreams or by the process of dreaming. Here are a few of my favorites that you also might want to investigate in your pursuit of artistic excellence:

Poetry and Prose

? ?Kubla Khan,? poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

? ?Frankenstein,? fiction Mary Shelley

? ?Book of Dreams,? nonfiction by Jack Kerouac

Paintings

? ?The Dream,? 1910 by Henri Rousseau, French

? ?Der Traum? (The Dream), 1921 by Max Beckmann, German

? ?Persistance de la Memoire? (The Persistence of Memory), 1931 by Salvador Dali, Spanish

? ?El Sueno? (The Dream), 1940 by Frida Kahlo, Mexican

? ?Dreamer on the Ark,? 1998 by Sakti Burman, Indian

Films

? ?The Wizard of Oz? (1939, Victor Fleming); Family classic, American

? ?Spellbound? (1945, Alfred Hitchcock): Thriller, American

? ?Wild Strawberries? (1957, Ingmar Bergman): Psychological drama, Swedish

? ?Belle De Jour? (1967, Luis Bunuel): Erotic drama, French

? ?Akira Kurosawa?s Dreams? (1990, Akira Kurosawa): Collection of short films, Japanese

So start recording your dreams and adapting them to your artwork. Do it tonight while it?s still fresh in your mind. It?s never too late to let your nightly dreams help your life-long dreams come true.

Copyright 2006 Leslie Halpern