Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, met is wife in a very interesting manner. To start the story off right, it is important to note that Powell was extremely intrigued by dreams and their meaning. He even kept a dream journal in which he recorded significant or confusing aspects of his nighttime wanderings.
One particular night, he was approached by a bright figure in a dream. Powell recognized that the bright figure as Saint Peter and the figure then asked him to travel to America as soon as possible and spread the idea of Scouting. Baden Powell instantly recorded this dream in his dream journal and contemplated its meaning for a several days. Was he really meant to do this? In the end, Powell felt inspired enough to purchase a boat ticket and prepared to make the journey.
During January of 1912, during the trip to New York to continue the Scouting World Tour, Powell met his future wife Olave St. Clair Soames on the ship. Although he was 55 years old and she was only 23, they shared the same birthday and began to bond. The two became engaged and married soon after! Through this event, the founder of BSA solidified his belief that dreams carried great power. Later in life, he even treated migraines with dream analysis and different sleeping locations throughout his house.
The main takeaway from this story is that without the ability to retain his dream, Baden Powell may have never met his wife who ended up helping the spread of Scouting throughout America. Dream memory is an important skill that can allow one to analyze mental issues and imbalances in life, and to make necessary adjustments.
In relation to this blog, lucid dreaming is claimed to dramatically increase dream retention. From personal experience, I always remember lucid dreams, while I struggle to remember regular dreams. Additionally, becoming aware of how important dreams can be encourages me to utilize a dream journal. Writing a brief description or making an audio recording of a dream immediately after you wake up acts insures so that if you can return to scrutinize your dream later. Most dreams can only be recalled within the first few minutes of waking up, so it is important to put pencil to paper fast!In the upcoming week, I encourage you to jot down a few main points from your dreams and see if your dream retention begins to improve. Baden Powell benefitted from recalling his dreams, and so can you! I will showcase an example of how this next weeks successes and failure go for me in the following blog. Stay positive and keep trying!
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I have been having rather random dreams recently so this blog really intrigues me. I might have to try to writing them down and find the meaning behind them.
ReplyDeleteI have been having rather random dreams recently so this blog really intrigues me. I might have to try to writing them down and find the meaning behind them.
ReplyDeleteHaving learned about dreaming in AP Psych, I know how debated the "purpose" of dreams are. I like your perspective that dreams can be used as a tool to deal with worries, problems, and (metaphorical) dreams. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope that other people found it interesting also! Next week I'm going to showcase an example of my own dream documenting and analyzing.
DeleteBesides the fact that dreaming always scares the hell out of me, this post is very intresting. I know the story that you recited very well becucase like you I am an Eagle Scout and have hear the story of Baden Powell's dream over and over again. Now in saying that dreams will always scare me because its reality in an alternate universe. I have written down before whats in my dreams in a jounal and the thing that appears most in my dreams is Mt. Vernon. Now if that means Im George Washington reincarnated well I guess I better start getting ready. You have great content and present it in an intresting manner.
ReplyDeleteAnother Eagle Scout? Wow! We need to catch up sometime and swap some stories. And surprisingly enough, the story is not available online. Most Scouts know the tale but it does not appear to be documented in many places on the internet...
DeleteI really found your post intersting. It's really cool to here about how dreams shaped a person's life, like Baden Powell's did. I guess I should start writing down my dreams, because I know I had one this morning, but I can barely remeber it. I really liked your post and hope to put all of the techniques you have taught into place.
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