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Author Topic: Titles and Fragments  (Read 7301 times)

Rain_Dancer

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Titles and Fragments
« on: November 08, 2011, 02:05:51 PM »
I have logged my dreams for about 4 years now.  At the suggestion of Patricia Garfield, I began titling my dreams this past summer.  I realized this morning how sharply it can bring a theme into focus, when otherwise I would have just thought…”random dream processing”.

Not only have I found titling to be illuminating, I have also come to see that even fragments can offer meaningful insight.

This morning I mulled over a dream fragment that I almost didn’t even bother to record – the previous night’s dreams were long and epic and I thought just that little fragment wouldn’t be worth anything. 

The dream:
I am drawing a bath, the faucet handles are old-fashioned white porcelain-covered. 
The water wasn’t very warm because someone before me had used it.
I considered drawing a bath anyway, and instead decided to wait and give the water a chance to get hot again.


I put it away, and this morning when I typed it up to add to my log, I wondered how to title it.  After a moment, I typed, “Don’t bother with the lukewarm”.

As soon as I titled it, I understood and laughed out loud.  I’ve taken a year off from dating, to heal and clean up unhealthy love habits and behaviors.  I had often found myself pursuing “lukewarm” men, and caught up in a pattern of trying to figure them out and win them over.  This dream reflected to me that, even in dreaming, my unconscious behavior is rejecting the lukewarm and refusing to settle for less than a delicious hot bath. 

Also it reflects to me that “I” am lukewarm about dating, and need some time to heat up again, as well as a general theme of reserving my time and attention for people who really value me, and not to bother with “lukewarm”, that waiting a bit for what I really want will yield a more satisfying experience.


I’m interested in hearing other’s perspectives and experiences with fragments and titles, please do share!

Tony Crisp

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Re: Titles and Fragments
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2011, 11:52:26 AM »
Excellent advice and well put.

I find that having put all my dreams in a computer file, I find searching for ideas and dreams always brings me back again to see the incredible insights I have recorded. I add to the search by using dtSearch, a remarkable and inexpensive program. It can search a whole library of files in seconds. Not just one word, but context and different words together.

Tony