Dream Harvesting

I do all my best work when I am asleep

I say this because it sounds funny but also because it is true.  My night life once involved climbing out of my bedroom window to go clubbing at Paddo’s or Jamison Street but these days I roll my sleeves up and go to work.  

A large percentage of my best ideas seem to be generated in sleep.  For this reason, my children are never delivered to school in a calm, orderly fashion.  Lunches never seem to be made quite on time, nor shoes found.  Herding them into the car seems to invariably involve counting to five in a raised voice and plenty of unkempt hair.  I have been told that an alarm clock set at an earlier hour could resolve this issue but I have yet to try this approach to see if it actually works.

The first half hour after waking is crucial. It is prime time for the harvesting of ideas.  The time where I remember or re-dream my dreams, where I make sense of them and pick the meat off their bones.  An hour later they may evaporate back into the collective unconscious or wherever it is that dreams and ideas reside.  It is also at this time that dreams or the themes in them can be translated into something entirely different and then be later moved into the studio.

The peculiar breed of human that can bound out of bed pulsating with vibrant energy, has no idea what they are missing out on.  

I find it is best to keep my eyes closed for as long as possible on waking.  External visual stimulation will interfere with the procedure of harvesting. Sometimes it may be helpful to write things down but only after the internal processes are complete.

The space between dreaming and full wakefulness is utterly precious, full of gold material.  More structured and conditioned ways of thinking have not yet sunk their claws in.  The usual concerns of the day have not had a chance to stick their interfering noses in.  It is the time of day where pure inspiration can wander uncensored. 

It is a simple gift that I try give myself each day... pretending to be asleep when I am actually awake.  And I try to make it up to my kids in the afternoon.