Some part of me is working all the time. Probably you, too.

[Tobin S.]

When I go to sleep there is a part of me that stays active all the time. I realize now that after recording and studying my dreams, my brain is active all the time. I may not fully recall all of my dreams, but I know now that I'm dreaming all the time when I am asleep...and sometimes when I'm awake.

That is the domain of what Carl Jung called the Self. It's wild and crazy and you never know what it might reveal, but it is always trying to tell you something no matter how strange the imagery and symbols might be. Jung thought of the Self (capital S) as an ocean of which the ego (what most people think of as their self) is only a drop of water. The way I understand it, the Self is human potential. Everything that any human can be is located in the Self. Everything. So it's not some nice peaceful New Age being of light and peace, although it can be that. But it can also be something much darker.

[Doreen]

1. I always figured it was just my ADHD.

[Tobin S.]

2. I don't know how much that activity is related to mental illness.

I have bipolar disorder, but it is medicated and has been for a long time. I've come to think of that medication as making my brain work like an ordinary person's should. But I have always had dreams and everyone does. To what extent we are aware of them I think is only a matter of turning your mind inward and reflecting on what the seeming void of the unconscious turns up. Hint: It's not empty down there. There is always something churning and striving to reach consciousness.

I started down this path by reading Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols. I highly recommend that as a starting point if you want to start exploring the unconscious. Once you start trying to decipher your dreams you will become more aware of them and you will be able to recall them better than you used to if you aren't already good at recalling them. Once you start paying attention to the Self, it starts paying attention to you. It's a little spooky to think that there is some part of us that is actually much larger than what we think we are that is also residing inside of our heads. But it is there and it wants to have a word with you.

[Doreen]

3. I do remember my dreams a little more than half the time.

I dream in color....very vivid color. I do sometimes know what my dreams are trying to tell me or should I say what I am trying to tell myself.

[femmocrat]

4. I retired almost 3 years ago but I still dream about work.

I wish I didn't!