Hi, Jane! If you could recommend One Good Thing everyone can do to improve their mental health, what would it be?

Start taking notice of your dreams, and your nightmares too. It’s never too late to become your own dream interpreter… While there are therapists, mages and tarot readers who can all attempt to interpret your dreams, there are no all-knowing experts. There have been countless ways of interpreting dreams throughout civilisation, including the Bible, the Koran, kabbalah, Egyptian and Greek mythology, the Romantic poets, Freud – the list goes on. You can be your own dream expert: by engaging with your subconscious, you can learn a great deal about your emotional state and increase self-awareness.

Interesting. Why is this your One Good Thing?

Engaging with the mystery of the world helps me to escape from the frenzy of day-to-day life. I find exploring the corners of my imagination and my internal life freeing. Nothing makes the start of the day more interesting than reading over where I’ve been in my dreams.

How do we start to analyse our dreams?

Remembering dreams is a matter of patience and practice. Have a paper and pencil handy. It is essential to write down the dream as soon as you wake up. Dreams have an uncanny way of refusing capture and are as ephemeral as any butterfly. The catching itself becomes a fun game! 

And what are the benefits of doing this?

The great thing about dreams is they lead us into a nocturnal landscape where anything and everything is possible. We are not responsible for our dreams and they allow us to escape from the limitations of our daily responsibilities and, like Peter Pan, we may even learn to fly. They have no price tag and remind us that there are many kinds of ‘reality’. Also, if you can develop the discipline to write down your dreams, you are enhancing your writing skills. You don’t have to be a professional author to dream, but writing is proven to improve mental health. 

Are there any ways we can get this wrong?

The only pitfall I can think of is that sometimes our dreams tell us things we didn’t want to know. They can throw up all sorts of challenges, but they also help us make better sense of our emotional lives. The key is to be prepared when dream-catching – you may have to explore darkness and unfinished business. 

How do you personally do your One Good Thing?

To maximise dream potential, I sleep in a cool room and I’m fussy about the quality of my pillows. I also like to vary the positions in which I fall asleep. I think it’s a mistake to go to bed with the expectation of uninterrupted sleep. I keep a journal beside my bed and never record my dreams in biro. They deserve proper ink.

Finally, how has tuning into your dreams changed your life for the better?

I am professionally trained as a Jungian psychotherapist, but dreams have made me appreciate that there are still more mysteries in heaven and earth than concrete facts. We still don’t really know where dreams come from. While brain imaging can tell us what is happening to our brains while we’re sleeping, it cannot explain where our dreams come from. I’ve learned a great deal about myself through my dreams and engaging with my internal life is the best way to start the day. 

Frame Of Mind is Stylist’s home for all things mental health and the mind. From expert advice on the small changes you can make to improve your wellbeing to first-person essays and features on topics ranging from autism to antidepressants, we’ll be exploring mental health in all its forms. You can check out the series home page to get started.

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