Have you ever sat down to write the synopsis for your next short story, only to have been overcome by a substantial case of creative block? You are not alone; just about every person in the field of literary arts and other areas have dealt with funks and slumps in one way or another. One thing you can do is sit and wait for the creative juices to get flowing once again. Unfortunately, these inventive setbacks can go on for years on end; and if you're actually working professionally in a field requiring your visionary engine to be firing on all cylinders, you might want to try an alternative to waiting for that stroke of genius to return haphazardly.
Case and point; don't rely solely on what you see with your eyes. The most fertile visuals you can put in your mind are what actually come from your mind. Yeah, that's right; your dreams are probably the best source of inspiration in the universe. The reason for this is not only the fact that your subconscious mind is a treasure trove of knowledge and ideas you once had long since forgotten by time; but it also a creative no-holds-barred sanctuary away from typical conscious biases of what you might otherwise consider to be a "good idea."
Everyone who's anyone knows the Freudian psychology behind this; your subconscious mind is essentially the underworld of the brain. Or probably put into a better metaphor, the unseen part of the iceberg. It is a place where memories are repressed as well as urges. But these aren't all negative recollections or the uncontrollable impulse to date a celebrity; they can include the explanation for the good feeling you get when you see the snow against a sunset, or can't explain why you wanted to experiment with some crazy story you thought would get the worst public response of all time.
These remarkable workings of the emotional right hemisphere of the human brain have yet to be completely deciphered. Occultists say that our right brain is connected to the realm of the supernatural or the astral plane. Others say God gives us our dreams because that is how he communicates with us.
Whatever theory you believe in, never dismiss the unmistakable fact that dreams and the subconscious mind are a wonderful place for ideas and inspiration. In fact we wouldn't have Paul McCartney's classic "Yesterday" if not for the unbridled power of dreams.
So if you have read this far and are wondering what to do next, get a dream diary. It's just a regular notebook (or can even be a sketchbook) that you keep next to your bed. Upon waking from a dream you would like to remember, jot everything you can recall down in your dream diary. You must make a habit out of this, however; as you will not start doing this automatically. You must train your conscious as well to form good habits of recording the inner workings of your subconscious. So that when the right dream comes for the project in question, you can recall it. Give it a week at the least to get the hang of it.
And remember to keep a pocket-sized notebook with you at all times. Even during waking hours ideas can strike without warning. Who knows? One day you could be looking through all those notes and saying to yourself, "I couldn't be happier for writing that one down."
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