Sleep On It: A Therapist Explains How To Use Your Dreams To Make Decisions

If you're stuck on a problem, many would suggest you "sleep on it." After all, it's much better to spend some time weighing your options than making a rash decision, especially if the situation carries some emotional weight. Stepping away for a beat can help you gain more clarity—seeing the forest for the trees, if you will.

The first step, says Ellis, is to write down your burning question before bed to prime your subconscious. "Sort of a general question, not too specific," she notes. Next, try to record all your dreams for the next couple of nights (if you have trouble remembering, see our guide here). Interpret them and "treat those as though they are a response," Ellis explains. "A lot of times, you'll get a creative answer, something relevant that you wouldn't have thought of in your normal waking." 

That's because your dreams can tap into your subconscious and help you deal with intense emotions; as Ellis notes, "Dreams tend to take the really heightened emotion that we feel during the day and dampen it down or calm it down." So when it comes to solving a problem, your dreams can wade through the emotions and unconscious biases you might not be privy to during waking hours. 

It's a simple practice, yet profound: In fact, she says, tons of creative individuals (think inventors and artists) turn to their dreams when they're stuck on a problem. Apparently, Dmitri Mendeleev (who created the periodic table) saw all the elements organized in a dream, and Albert Einstein came up with the theory of general relativity after dreaming about a field of cows. The Beatles' Paul McCartney composed the entire melody of the song, "Yesterday," in a dream.