Customer Reviews

Creative Dreaming: Plan And Control Your Dreams to Develop Creativity, Overcome Fears, Solve Problems, and Create a Better Self

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Patricia Garfield's classic work is one of the landmark books of the century we are now leaving. She takes dreaming out of the hands of tenured "experts" and encourages all to become active explorers of our personal dream experiences, and of dream reality, learning from cultures - especially those of the ancient world and of indigenous peoples - that value dreaming as a source of direct revelation on the critical issues of life and death. Her account of Senoi dream practices (though sniped at by some academic nitpickers as idealized rather than anthropological) provides excellent guidance on braving up to nightmare terrors and forging alliances with dream allies who may at first appear as adversaries.

I vividly remember discovering "Creative Dreaming" soon after it first appeared in the mid-1970s. I felt as if this queenly, elegant woman had picked up a sledgehammer and broken away some of the chains that had fettered our society's appreciation of what is actually going on in dreaming, and why we need to recover the ancient arts of dream incubation and dream healing. Patricia's book encouraged me to follow my own path as a dream teacher with greater courage and openness, and was a vital early influence in the research and practice that eventually led me to write CONSCIOUS DREAMING and the books that have followed. Before I ever met her in ordinary reality, she appeared several times in my dreams both as a guide and as a kind of anima figure. Thank you, Patricia, for all you have contributed to the rebirth of a dreaming culture - a dream I profoundly hope we will see fulfilled in the 21st century.

I read this book for the first time in high school while I was doing research for a term paper. As a by product of that research, I learned how to manipulate my dreams, and best of all, how to fly in them. This has been one of my favorite things to do for the last 30 years. Yes, something I do while asleep. I also learned how to stand up to my fears within the dream, and consequently, in my waking life. Another benefit is that I have dreamed about work, real detailed dreams where I'm sort of reviewing things I have read in manuals and reached conclusions within the dreams that solved problems I was having at work in my waking life. I've gone into work the next day and attempted the procedures (I support computers) that I thought would resolve the problem, and they have! And not just once.

This book changed my life.

I've had this book for years, and really have gotten a lot out of it. It talks about confronting your fears in your dreams, and the important of the dream life to various cultures. If you are a magick user or pagan, you would probably enjoy this book. I was prompted to write this review when I read below that some people think she's an idiot... I thought she did a very good job.

This is a book about dream control. It's worth the ten bucks.

To put it briefly, this book will guide you to PLAN what you dream, be LUCID when you dream, and most importantly to USE your dreams to create to a better developed you.

Dr. Garfield, an experienced 'dreamer' herself, provides effective suggestions on how to control and plan your dreams based on successful methods used by other ancient cultures, such as the American Indians.

She also analyses what common dreams mean, such as those in which you are attacked, and consequently provides suggestions to utilise the dream to have it work for you instead of against you.

Dr. Pat primarily focuses on the psychology of dreaming rather than the techniques in inducing dreams, that is, more of the book is devoted to how you can become a better person through analysing your dreams.

Along with delightful personal dream experience and anecdotes, Creative Dreaming is a comprehensive, all-you-need, guide to having wonderful nights dreaming and a more 'free' attitude while awake. Good on ya Dr. Pat!

I read this book many years ago when it was still in hardcover. Unless it has significantly changed with newer editions, it does indeed contain solid techniques on how to evoke a lucid dream. The techniques are simple and few, but they are all one needs to prepare the unconscious mind for the journey, and then to notice that it is in the dream state upon arrival.

When we dream, we accept what we experience as reality. The techniques help make it second nature to notice the differences between dream reality and waking reality. Once we are practiced at paying attention to our surroundings in our waking state, we naturally continue that behavior in our dream world. Say the dog starts talking to you... You'll notice it's odd and you'll become aware of fact that you're not really awake, but floating in the 'Matrix' of your unconscious mind. All of a sudden you have awareness. With awareness you'll suddenly have control over your reality. With a little practice you'll soon be flying, changing your surroundings, adventuring, drinking from streams of pure creativity and having great sex with anyone you want. Just don't get yourself too excited about the fact that you're there or you'll wake yourself up.

I'd like to point out the fact that your brain continues to run its own programs whether you're lucid or not. When you're lucid, you will have control, but you are not in control. There will be characters, situations, surroundings, and the usual bizarre gamut of dream content that will pop up everywhere. You'll never be out of things to do. The kicker is that unlike the waking life distractions of television, video games, or drugs, literally EVERYTHING in your dream state is built upon the symbolism, meaning and combined experience of your memory and creative inner life. It all has meaning, both simple and complex, and nothing will fail to entertain, excite or inspire.

I successfully practiced the simple techniques outlined in this book. They are all that was required. After that is learning to understand your own internal symbolism to more fully appreciate the experience. The rest of the book talks in detail about how different cultures treat such dream symbolism. This is important, because for those cultures, dreams are an important tool in everyday life. While dreams may be entertaining, they offer unique perspective on our waking experience that helps us to better understand and choose our path. The book also talks about instances of out of body phenomena experienced jointly by groups of lucid dreamers. This material was immensely helpful in understanding the nature of, and potential extent to which a practiced dreamer could take lucid dreaming.

Forget so-called dictionaries of dream symbolism. They are about as meaningful to the individual experience as are newspaper horoscopes. You must learn to understand what your dreams mean to you, not what they mean to Jung or Freud, or someone else.

In this book,not only does Garfield explore the various issues surrounding dreams,she also gives many anecdotes drawn from dreamers' experiences. The language is readable, and the explanations - especially those on lucid dreaming - clear and concise. She minimises academic jargon yet does not "talk down" to the reader. I enjoyed this book and have re-read it many times.

Because the author questions whether the unconscious exists I question whether she knows what she is tallking about. The book delves into waters much of which the author reports about second hand (then why doesn't she question if what she reports second hand exists?). Much in the book is interesting, much is questionable. Questionable how useful also. While the author makes many suggestions after each section of the book, the book isn't very practicable; a lot of steps are missing. I personally found it objectionable how the author seems to boast of her fantastic abilities to dream. One rapidly grows tired of that sort of reporting. There are a lot of better and more useful books on dreaming than this one.

When I first read Creative Dreaming by Patricia Garfield way back in 1977, I was hooked! I entered into a world of creative dreaming that has made me successful in business, relationships and has led me to discover cures to physical ailments. Because of Patricia Garfield's classic book, I can program my dream mind to give me the solution to a problem, any problem, and I can wake up the next morning with the problem solved through a dream. This is singularly the most important book on dreams that has ever been written, and it is one that you must have if you only have a modicum of interest in your dreams.

If you are interested in exploring your dreams even more, then your next stop are these titles as well:

Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life

The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming

Thank you, Ms. Garfield for your contribution.

An incredible exploration of role of dreams in other cultures and "modern day society" dream explorers. In our workaday world, sleep is seen as a time of being shutdown by most, but Dr. Garfield demonstrates how many ancient (and a growing number of modern) peoples have given greater value to the dream world as a source for personal growth and introspection

I did not find this book useful, but to be fair I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for. I was hoping it would help me to remove myself from a lot of the negative dreams I have been used to having and I would have liked to have found some help in it to get me dreaming better, but it didn't work for me.