Little Practices (Are Big Practices)
On writing down dreams, notebook harvesting, and saving love notes from others
Dear reader,
Happy Sunday! It was a very full, rich week over here - the collaborative colloquium with HDHS community (I will share the recording when it is available - thank you to those who joined us live!), Daphne turned 5 (!!!!!), UPEACE students graduated, and a journal article I wrote was accepted (yay! a little more on that below).
Today I wanted to share with you about a few little practices that actually feel like big practices - little practices that make my life better, richer, fuller, more vibrant. They are practices about relationships with ideas and dreams and words. Today we’ll talk about:
Writing down dreams
Notebook harvesting
Saving love notes from others
Dear reader,
What did you dream about last night?
Do you remember any images, any lingering feelings or emotions?
This morning as I was writing down my dream (it’s the first thing I do when I wake up every day), I realized I don’t think I have written to you much about dreams at all! (A little bit here). This surprised me, as dreams are one of the main pathways of enchantment in my life and writing them down has been a core consistent daily practice for decades. So today, this Sunday, we begin with dreams.
A snippet from last night’s dream journal:
There was more to the dream (and I’m not going to share all the details as there were some disturbing themes from a different scene that took place in an Italian town). I often dream in vignettes and scenes that may or may not be connected. This dream is clearly playing out what’s happening in my waking life - it is the end of the year, students are leaving, and I do feel sad about that! Big groups standing in circles was an image that stands out.
One of the most interesting things I find about dreams are the feelingscapes and tones. You can tell the story of the plot of a dream but the feeling tone of the dream could be totally different or unexpected. In last night’s dream, there was a sadness of the students leaving (and of us having marked it some days earlier, and what started to be a lack of marking it on the last day, which felt anticlimactic, and almost a longing), and there was this goofiness, playful energy, and laughter around taking pictures.
I have been writing down my dreams since I was a teenager. I used to write them down by hand (which I generally prefer), but after Daphne was born and I was often holding her immediately after I woke up, I started keeping them in a notes file on my phone and have continued to do that. Do what works for you. A nice thing about having them electronically is that they are easily searchable.
Some tips for writing down your dreams:
Write your dreams as soon after you wake up as you can. I usually write them down while my coffee is making.
Write in the present tense. This was a tip I read as a teenager and I have always done it this way. I think it helps me to remember more details as I’m writing, placing myself back into the scene, images, and feelings.
Write anything you can remember - plot, images, feelings. Even if it’s just one image or feeling, write it down. Just one image or feeling is a gift from the sleeping world. Sometimes one image might jog your memory to others, too.
Dreams love for us to do things with them. For me, writing down my dreams is a way of honoring them. I don’t always “do” anything with them - the act of writing them down is sometimes enough. But speaking them out loud to others, or taking an image from a dream and drawing it, or whatever you feel inspired by your dreams - our dreams love when we do this. And interesting things start to happen when we do. It is like weaving the waking and sleeping worlds together. It is magical. Don’t take my word for it - try it, and let me know how it goes.
Write them down daily. The more you write your dreams down, the more you will remember. Set the intention to remember your dreams, and over time you will remember more. Let your dreams know you want to be in relationship with them, and they will respond. They want to be in relationship with you too. They want you to remember, and they want you to act and play with them.
I am also a big fan and proponent of sharing dreams in community. Last summer at the International Institute on Peace Education, we had a dream table at breakfast each morning that turned into a magical portal beyond space-time. My friend Minna Kim and I wrote an article about it for a journal and we just found out this week it was accepted (!!!!), so I will share more about that when the article comes out. And this year on campus, we had a dream club for about two months, and it was also a really magical, powerful space. I might try to start a dream circle over Zoom, and if you are interested in this, let me know!
Speaking of students…some of my incredible students in our nonviolent resistance class created this campaign to support educational efforts in Myanmar. They have almost reached their fundraising goal- if you are able, please help out!
https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8Ux5Mj2imX
Notebook harvesting/carrying forward
Another random practice I wanted to share with you - because I am doing it today - is notebook review/carrying forward. I generally keep a journal which is more for freewriting and processing, and then a notebook that is more about ideas and notes on things I’m taking in, or ideas for things I want to do, brainstorming, mindmapping, etc. For this ideas book, my preferred type of notebook is blank pages - I feel more freedom this way. I love a hard cover. This black hardcover notebook from Ladyfingers Letterpress in Colorado Springs (fabulous queer-owned stationery shop - and they ship!) is one of my favorite idea books I’ve ever had, and I am a little sad to see it full now!
I have a fresh blank notebook ready to go (I recommend this - I filled up a notebook early stages of the pandemic and was very sad I didn’t have a spare on hand), which is from Tulsi Cafe y Plantas, one of my favorite local cafes across from campus, and I am excited to finally begin with it (I get very excited about stationery. I love pens, paper, notebooks, cards, anything to write with or on. This is a source of extreme joy and delight in my life - I will write a love letter about stationery in a future post :)
Before I “retire” a notebook or journal when it is full, I always go back through it and look at what ideas I need or want to carry forward (side note: I save all my notebooks. I know some people like to burn or otherwise dispose of them, but I like to keep them. I have every notebook and journal since I was 15, and the only reason I don’t have earlier ones is because we had a house fire!). Sometimes it’s quotes I’ve written down, or ideas. Here is one from the Re-imagining Education micro-conference from June 1, 2022, a conversation between Bayo Akomolafe, Sophie Strand, and David Abrams, which was at the very beginning of this notebook:
“We are a pattern through which matter flows.
We can chose what flows through us.”
(I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that Sophie said this. But a good reminder to take better citations in my notes! :)
The note below it, I believe, was a reflection from my dissertation (my dissertation defense was the following day, and undoubtedly it was on my mind):
When we put values at the center
The structures and practices can look many different ways.
This was a note inspired by my dissertation conversations with folks at Springhouse Community School in Virginia, who talk a lot about how what we put at the center matters. I recommend checking out and supporting their work! (They’re doing a fundraising campaign right now, in fact - a great time to support their work!). There is a lot more about it in my dissertation, too.
And finally, here is a delightful note I found - aspiring to start this Substack, about a year ago! I am proud of myself for doing that, and having carried this idea forward into action. This was right around the time I finished my dissertation, and was yearning for a way to get more writing out into the world, and here we are! It is fun to see an idea in its nascent stage come into being :)
Thank you, dear reader, for helping me bring this idea to life! More on that below…:)
Love notes from others
Speaking of the Notes app, another small practice that feels like a big practice is keeping a file somewhere (I keep mine on my Notes app on my phone) of love notes from others - little notes of encouragement or appreciation or positive feedback to hang onto for a day when you need to hear it. If you have sent me a nice note about this Substack, it is in there :) We all need reminders sometimes of why we do what we do, or how we are trying to show up in the world, so I highly recommend keeping these little love notes when you receive them, compile them, and refer back to them to remind yourself of how others see and appreciate you, for days when you need encouragement or a little boost.
On that note…
Dear reader,
This is a love note to you.
Thank you for being here!
Thank you for believing in me, for spending your precious time reading these words.
Thank you for subscribing and for giving encouragement to my voice.
Thank you for your hearts and comments and kind words.
Thank you for helping me see this dream into fruition, to carrying it forward, to bringing it to life.
This is just a beginning, and I can’t wait to see what we create together!
Happy Sunday :)
Love,
Stephanie
Some parting questions for reflection:
What little practices feel big in your life?
What did you dream about last night?
I would love to hear in the comments section below!
A post about dreams and journals ... you've definitely got my attention!
I've noticed a profound shift in the feeling-tone of my dreams over the past year. Dreams of catastrophic calamities, being chased, hiding from murderers and the like have shifted to much more positive and benevolent themes. And something new has emerged recently ... actually receiving answers in my dreams to questions I pose before bedtime! I've tried this technique for so long but usually to no avail, but the past two times I asked, I had specific dreams about the people and places I was inquiring about.
To record my dreams, I usually handwrite them when I wake up and recently have been transferring them to a Word document (by way of speech-to-text) so I can search them. I started doing this in December 2022, and the Word file is now almost 50 single-spaced pages!
As for notetaking and journaling, I've resorted to using one notebook for everything. I tried the multiple-book method, but it makes me feel discombobulated. I've told myself that my dreams, journalings, and daily doses of inspiration and planning are all me, so they can live in the same space. :-)