By Bethany Barton
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 12/19/22 – What happens in our dreams stays in our dreams? Not according to the acclaimed author, teacher, and Certified Dreamwork Professional Tzivia Gover. In fact, in her new book Dreaming On The Page, Tzivia teaches readers not only how to access the wisdom of the midnight mind to inform daily decisions, but how dreams can be directed to help get answers to all our burning questions. The book also explores the connection between our dream state and creativity and how dreams are often the link between the subconscious mind and inspiration that we’ve been searching for.
Tzivia is a dream expert, who has even been featured on TEDx Talks for her work with dreams and writing. She has an MFA from Columbia in creative writing and is a Certified Proprioceptive Writing Instructor. She has also written the books The Mindful Way To a Good Night’s Sleep and Sleep Tight Through the Night. We had the privilege of sitting down with Tzivia in a Hollywood Times exclusive interview and getting the inside scoop on how exactly she came across this seemingly magical connection.
“Dreams picked me!” She replied. She explained that ever since childhood her dreamscape has been one full of vivid imagery, emotion, and even adventure (some good, some not so good). For her, nighttime has always been a place of exploration. She also discovered as she began her journey into poetry that it felt natural to turn her dreams into poems.
She realized that over time many authors had come to the same conclusion, using their dreams to inspire and direct their writing. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, and even the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer have roots in dream time.
In our interview, we chatted with Tzivia about the writer’s process, exploring the more carefree “it comes when it comes” style of Hemingway vs. the more regimented Anne Lamont and Stephen King style where the writer sets a timer or word count goal and sits down every day, come what may, to write. Tzivia revealed she is more of a Stephen King-style writer and explores in her book how writers can turn “habit” into “ritual” with their writing. For example, setting a timer, lighting a candle, saying an affirmation, and creating a space to connect with their inspiration or muse, if you will.
The ritual makes writing feel much less like a task and much more like a privilege. A pleasant meet-up with the muse as opposed to a regimented business meeting. As a writing teacher, she also feels ritual regularity helps the writer’s inspiration show up much more consistently, like setting a date with their creativity. It was a wonderful conversation and deep dive into the mind of the writer and the tips in her book for creating a more welcoming space for creativity are a phenomenal perspective shift.
Tzivia also discovered that when she began teaching writing to adult education and ESL students, sometimes guiding them to use their dreams as prompts opened up the gateway to their creativity. “Everyone is a natural storyteller, we do it every night in our dreams!” she explains. Creativity may not initially come easily to everyone as a result of various traumas or limiting beliefs, but dreaming is one of the most natural things there is, common to everyone. It seems to connect the two often opens the flow of inspiration.
In our exclusive interview, Tzivia revealed her own dream life is “pretty wild.” She has high dream recall and often has several a night. She says she uses them often to help inform her daily life, whether it’s writing, decision-making, or even dating. Tzivia revealed dreams helped her find her husband! She simply asks her dreams to reveal things to her, and they do!
“Dreams are our internal GPS,” she says, and learning how to use them is like any other skill. Her book includes all kinds of exercises, tips, and tricks to help increase dream recall and learn how to make the most of them. It also includes prompts that act as “pebbles tossed into the writer’s mind” that send out creative ripples.
Tzivia truly has unmatched insight into the inner world of the dreamer and the writer, which she expresses in quotes such as “the compulsion to understand experience rather than merely living it and the desire to narrate the journey are hallmarks of a soul who is born to write.” No description of a writer could be more accurate.
Others are already beginning to take note of her impressive insight as the book is getting rave reviews such as:
“Accessible and unfailingly encouraging Dreaming On The Page proves that dreaming and writing is for everyone and that when you combine the two it can be truly magical.”- Brooke Warner of She Writes Press.
So, with all this hype we decided we would give it a read ourselves. Here is what we thought.
Dreaming On the Page Review
Magic is truly the word I would use for this book. Why? Because it really works! I can personally attest to its touch of magic.
I am one of those people who doesn’t remember their dreams often if at all. So, I committed to the process and tried out a few of the simple practices the book presents, and Voila! I could remember every dream perfectly! I even got a few ideas for my writing from them. It was like I was writing stories in my dreams, and all I had to do was wake up and jot them down.
When I mentioned this to Tzivia during our interview, she replied that that actually wasn’t unusual for her to hear. She explained that sometimes even when she simply stays at people’s houses they will begin remembering their dreams and that people who take her workshops report the same result. It’s like she’s a touchstone for increased dreaming power and her book is the portal to harnessing the dream world. If that is an exaggeration, it is only a slight one.
Yet the book is not just about remembering dreams but about actively using them to inform our writing and daily decisions. The book introduces the concept that we do not have to be passive in our dream life but that we can actually be active participants. We can use them to inform our daily decisions, amp up our writing, and everything in between. The book contains exercises, prompts, quotes, and much more that help stimulates the reader’s dream and writing time.
Tzivia notes that the book is not just for professional writers but is accessible to anyone looking to tap into the inner wisdom of their dream state. She explains that if the readers are to take anything away from the book there are three simple ways anyone can increase their dream state:
- Keep a notebook and pen by the bed
- Set the intention of remembering your dreams and any other intentions you want to add(improve writing, answer a question, etc.)
- Pick up the pen and notebook and start writing first thing in the morning
With these three steps, Tzivia feels anyone can increase their dream recall and use. After doing this myself for several weeks I found myself looking forward to both my dream time and my morning writing process. My dreams became a lot more vivid, I was able to actually recall them and I was able to use them in my writing, even if just by journaling and getting the creative juices flowing before sitting down at my computer.
Tzivia quotes DiAnn Mills in her book, saying “To write is to feel the dance of your soul swirling in a dream that drips imagination onto the paper” and I think any writer who reads this book will agree. We as writers, and humans really, are always looking for something to help us connect with our muse, and this book is it. It helps readers connect to their creativity and learn to “mine the wisdom” of their dreams and bring them into their daily life and writing.
Tzivia is certainly someone you want to get to know and we highly recommend you do yourself a favor and pick up this book to start making your dream time your playtime. Sleep tight!
To connect further with Tzivia check out her websites listed below.
@tziviadreams
Photo Courtesy of Tzivia Gover
Photo Courtesy of Tzivia Gover
Photo Courtesy of Tzivia Gover
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
