Triangulating

From here: "Triangulation is an approach to data analysis that synthesizes data from multiple sources."

And from here: "In order to successfully triangulate, known features must exist on your map. In other words, you must have some idea of where you are ..."

And don't you have to know where you are to have a better sense of where you are going?

So.

I've been honing and polishing the BCAE Diving Into Your Dreams class I'm scheduled to teach soon - and was looking at different ways to record dreams to share with my class.

From moseying back into the social psych world (here), I remembered that James Pennebaker, social psychologist, has shown that some forms of expressive writing have physical and mental health benefits.

In the Writing and Health section of one of his sites was listed the following topic to write on: "Something that you are dreaming about."

Many of the journalingjournal books that were recommended on that page do have sections on dreams, which was funny to me, as when I was really into Writing Down the Bones freewriting, I never really noticed those dream parts.

Of note, to get those benefits from expressive writing, according to the tested protocol, you have to "really let go and explore your very deepest emotions and thoughts." Indeed, most journalingjournal book sections on dreams don't promote this kind of digging.

BUT - In the dream enthusiast community, when we work with dreams, which are ripe with all sorts of utterly personal content, we explicitly follow the emotional narrative and attend to the "energy" or "juice" - or even lack thereof - because that is where paydirt is!

I say let's move forward by bringing these two separate disciplines, expressive or therapeutic writing, and dreamwork closer together.

Care to join?