That is possible. With the technique I describe here, you take the sense of well-being from the dream and locate it in your body. Once in your body, those wondrous feelings can be recreated at will.

The Technique

Step 1: Locate the feeling. Go back into the dream and relive the feeling that was so pleasant. To help, concentrate on visualizing a specific scene from the dream, and include all of your senses. Sometimes talking through the dream or reliving it with your eyes closed will help. You want to really get the sensation of the dream rather than focusing on the the dream's meaning.

As you relive the dream, notice what happens to your body. The good feelings will center somewhere in your body. You may sense it in your heart, belly, hands, arms, skin.

The crucial task here is to identify your body’s reaction. Your initial response may be more emotional and global, such as "I feel joy everywhere in my body." But if you focus, you’ll discover that the feeling is most powerful in a particular part of your body and radiates out from there.

Step 2: Recreate the feeling. Now go the opposite way: Recreate the feelings in your body and compare them to the feelings in the dream. Focus on the body feeling and then switch your attention to the dream. Did the body sensation match the dream or was there a difference? Repeat this process until you to get a very close match to the feeling of the dream.

Step 3: Separate the feeling from the dream. Recreate the feeling without the dream context. You now have the great feeling from the dream separate from the dream itself. You can take this feeling around with you and use it whenever you feel the need.

Alice's Dream

I dream that I am in Berkeley and when I look at the Berkeley Hills, they have changed. They are magnificent, shimmering, and the light is playing off them like a kaleidoscope. It is very, very beautiful.

The strongest sensation in the dream was Alice's feeling of beauty. She had no trouble visualizing the beauty of the hills and sensed that beauty in her heart and in her throat. She also felt a light, dancing kind of sensation behind her eyes. The overall effect made her want to sing.

For the next 24 hours, every time Alice remembered the dream, she replayed the sensations of her heart, her throat, and her eyes, generating the wonderful feeling. She also started singing in a choir.

Bruce's Dream

I dream I am with Sandy, my ex-girlfriend. We are holding hands and laughing and feeling terrific.

That terrific feeling was constant when Bruce was with Sandy. Unfortunately Sandy moved back to Europe and they parted in a friendly manner. Bruce was quite certain that there was little chance of them getting back together again.

Steps 1 and 2 came easily to Bruce. But Step 3, allowing himself to feel the feelings without envisioning Sandy holding his hand, was much more difficult. Bruce felt that only Sandy could make him feel that way, and he was unable to achieve Step 3.

The next day, without thinking about the exercise, Bruce shook hands with his boss, a woman, and suddenly felt terrific. That day, every woman he encountered made him feel terrific. Bruce realized that he didn't need Sandy in order to create the feelings. By the end of the day, he realized that if he wanted to experience that terrific feeling, everyone could, so to speak, help him do that – both men and women.

Summary

It's important to use this technique only when the dream feelings are unambiguous. For example, if you dreamed you were flying, but were afraid you might fall, don’t use that dream since the good experience also leads you to an unpleasant place. Instead wait for an unmistakably fantastic dream. Similarly, if Bruce's dream had left him feeling sad and depressed at the loss of Sandy, that would be a clear signal not to use the technique.

This technique is a close cousin of the Body Scan

Some dreams are the kinds that we wish we could never leave, creating beautiful emotions. The best way to hold onto these feelings is to locate them in your body. You then can recreate them whenever you want, using them to counteract bad moods or to prime yourself with excitement.