Five strategies for taking back your dream space (and your life)
Taking back my autonomy from the world of machines
Our phones are a double-edged sword, aren’t they? On one hand, they bring connection and on the other distract attention. On one hand, they help us to inspire and be inspired; on the other, they make us feel less worthy and not good enough. Well, that’s what my phone usage does for me.
“As I start to peel back myself from being sucked into the device in all aspects of my life, I’m becoming more aware of what life was like before devices and incredibly sad that my children will never know what that was like.”
I’ve started turning my phone to flight mode (or off) at night to help me sleep. I’m finding that I’m waking up refreshed and having vivid and memorable dreams. And I wonder how much of our brain activity is reduced at night because this device radiation is beside our heads. We need to dream. We need to dream to process all our thoughts and experiences. We need to dream so we can imagine different futures. And I wonder what a world without human dreaming would look like. Do you dream? Do you remember them? Has your dreaming shifted with the onset of device usage? There are many studies on dreaming and this article is particularly useful. I think it’s time we took back our dreaming, confidence, time and lives.
So, I’ve returned to my dream space and no longer sleep with an active phone in my bedroom and feel amazing…until I turn it back on. The first thing I do is look at the time. I could buy a clock for when I need to be somewhere (and I will). I could let my body take all the rest it needs and wake up when ready. I have choices in every moment, I am not a victim to the phone. It is just a machine.
As I start to peel back myself from being sucked into the device in all aspects of my life, I’m becoming more aware of what life was like before devices and incredibly sad that my children will never know what that was like.
The most insidious of things the apps have done is shift my attention to other people - their achievements and successes - disconnecting me from myself and my reason for being. I can blame the device and apps of course, but that would be playing victim. I made choices to get a smartphone. I made decisions to download apps. And every morning when I check the time, I make choices to go onto the apps and scroll.
The effect that this is having on my self-esteem is almost measurable. I wake up happy and content. But in using the device, my happiness decreases to the point of self-loathing. I’m lucky I have a raft of strategies to help shift me out of that place. I feel lucky to have the wherewithal to observe this pattern, but what about others who don’t?
So, in an effort to help me be accountable AND help others I offer you my strategies for dreaming better, avoiding confidence crashes, and taking back your one wild and precious life.
Turn your phone off at night. If it is needed for an alarm, put it in flight mode (or buy a clock).
When you wake up, make a conscious effort not to go onto the apps. If they must be installed and you can’t delete them, hide them. If you require the apps for work/business, conduct all business on the desktop and remove the temptation to do ‘marketing’ from your bed. Give your brain the gift of sitting in the liminal space between sleep and waking before you turn to the machine for external validation.
Make a conscious choice as to when you are going to use the apps. Are you bored? Seeking connection? Stimulation? What benefit will you get from using it now? Can you find pleasure in boredom? Can you seek connection by ringing/visiting someone? Can you sit in mindfulness BEFORE you use the apps?
Free writing/journaling. If you have found yourself going down the rabbit hole of self-loathing and comparisonitis, put the device down and write in a journal. Some people call these Daily Pages - where they just write a stream of consciousness for 3-4 pages. Whatever you call it, it can bring you back to yourself. And for me, it helps me get perspective and intuitive nudges.
Get into the body - deep breathing, yoga, exercise, tapping, cold showers, skin brushing - whatever your pleasure, find a way to connect to the body and the self. When we go online, we are almost separating from ourselves. It is a form of spiritual disconnection.
This article was as much for me as for others. We can’t get away from the devices or the apps we’ve built our lives on and I fully admire people who still don’t have FB/Instagram and never have. It is both a blessing and a curse. But getting my dreamtime back, falling into a deep and blissful sleep with vivid and meaningful dreams has been a pleasant reinvigoration of something precious I hadn’t noticed I had lost.
Our minds are probably the last safe places for us in the world with the rapid technological advances and I, for one, will enjoy being human for as long as I can, and keeping my mind healthy and safe through deep dreaming is one way I can start a revolution.
~ Alyssa
