Watching a nightmare on elm street reminded me that some people enjoy lucid dreaming, as well as intentionally using their dreams to try and solve problems they can’t solve consciously. Some inventions and creative pieces of art have come from dreams too.
So has anyone intentionally used their dreams to try to problem solve? What was the result?
Some time ago, I had a dream about a method of purifying a compound I was making in the lab; it wasn’t too wild an idea so I gave it a shot. Utter rubbish, I’ll never trust my dreams again!
So sort of, but not intentionally. Or effectively.
Yes. Sometimes I use dreams to plant an idea in my consciousness so deep that I won’t realize it was planted there. This is a very dangerous procedure and to pull it off I have to hire a team of professionals led by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sometimes my dreams will clarify something emotionally for me. They are often humourous too. A recent example was: IRL a colleague who seems to be empowered by our boss to act inappropriately has been driving me crazy. She yells and carries on at well, almost anyone, her staff; my staff; our students; colleagues, and the boss does nothing about it.
I had a dream that I’d had my boss’ dog to care for and I lost it. It got loose and wouldn’t respond to me at all. (I know her IRL dog is grey). I followed it down to a river and finally caught it. Except in my dream it had long reddish hair - and when I grabbed it’s collar it had my colleague’s face. The colleague has that long reddish hair the dog had in my dream.
So, realizing the colleague is my boss’ dog to all intents and purposes has allowed me to be amused rather than angry. It also pointed out to me that the colleague always does the bidding of the boss, including the dirty work (barking).
Yes. I go through phases in dreams. There was a period of several months or years where I had lucid dreams every night, and was conscious of my dreams and able to interpret them while sleeping. When I was about 19, I was a very troubled girl psychologically, and I had just begun a new relationship with my now-husband. I think I had a lot of fear about my issues affecting him or somehow destroying our relationship.
One night I dreamed we were walking through an old town and he wandered into a haunted house. Concerned, I started to go after him - but there was this hideous ghoul standing in the front doorway. I started to back down, but my husband was right behind it, shuffling as if entranced, and I realized I couldn’t leave him. That inner voice said, ‘‘You can’t. You have to face that thing. You have to overcome your fear and resolve this.’’
So I did. I looked right in its face. It was hideous, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. My new boyfriend wandered absently down a staircase, and that ghoul turned and looked at him, then looked back at me with the vilest intent. It was challenging me. It went after him.
Without hesitation (and with complete consciousness that I was dreaming), I grabbed the thing nearest to me - a large pink umbrella - and tore after that sucker for all I was worth. So now we’re running around this elaborate staircase, the ghoul chasing my oblivious boyfriend and me chasing the ghoul, beating it repeatedly on the head with an umbrella.
This is where I woke up, my heart pounding and filled with an emotion I can only describe as pure elation. I realized I had more power than I had realized to protect him from harm, because I actually had control over my behavior and could make damn sure his needs were met too.
Probably one of the best dreams I’ve ever had.
There have been times when I’ve been stuck on a design problem (theatrical), and I ‘dreamed’ of solutions. Of course, I often promptly forgot the solutions, or they just weren’t practical in a real world, obeying the laws of physics sense. But a few have worked out.
All the time – not constructively, but creatively. Most significant was a “boy meets girl” dream that inspired me to write an 85,000 word novel in five days – I merely wished to learn how the dream was supposed to end, had I not woken up early.
Recently I purchased a Dreamcatcher from the local Native American store – according to myth, it’s supposed to trap the bad dreams and allow the good dreams to pass through. It hasn’t had much effect yet – in fact, I’m thinking about taking it down from the wall, because I *enjoy *nightmares! 
Interesting topic. It seems that dreams (that are useful in solving problems) are quite rare-examples would be the poet Coleridge’s “Kublai Khan” poem, Tartini’s musice (“The Devil’s Trill”), the structure of the benzine molecule.
Why are such dreams so rare?
I’ve had practical results from dreams (One told me how to build a 3D Television set, which would have worked. Another told me about building toy race cars that used butane lighters as the bodies and as fuel), but these weren’t intentionally planted.