''I" had a dream last night:

It seems obvious that the "I" who experienced the dream is the exact same "I" who lives your day-time life. But if you examine things carefully, I think you will find that, somewhat like Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there are two very different people involved.

Your waking life is fairly predictable: You have a good idea of what will happen to you tomorrow. You know which town you'll wake up in, who you will see, and what abilities you will have. But think about your dream life. You have no idea where you will be, you don't know who you will meet. Even worse, you don't even know what capabilities you will have: You might be able to fly, to talk to animals or meet people long dead. On the other hand, you can be a bumbling, idiotic version of your waking self.

For example, suppose someone came along and accused you of stealing the giraffe that was tied up in front of Safeway. In waking life you might say "I never saw a giraffe. I didn't steal it. I couldn't steal it. Why would I steal it? And if I did, where is it?'' Whereas in a dream you might think, ''Oh no! I'm going to jail.''

Once you see dream life as a reasonably separate but equal existence, you are in a position to establish a relationship (as we say in California) with your Dream-self.

This Dream-self is someone very near and dear to you but how do the two of you help each other? This is not like managing your waking life or helping your waking-life friends.

In waking life you have various techniques to help you deal with tasks and problems. For example, you can leave yourself notes: ''Take out the garbage,'' ''Remember tomorrow is Mom's birthday.'' But it is difficult to leave your Dream-self reminders that there are no lions in the garden and no sharks in the swimming pool. This is an unusual relationship.

How to Hold a Conversation with Your Dream-Self:

Now that you see the Dream-self and the Waking-self as two different people, they can hold a conversation. Together you can generate your best advice about the various possibilities and predicaments each of you encounter.

I understand that this sounds schizophrenic (in the popular sense), but it isn't at all. You're not dealing with personalities in conflict because you each have the other's best interests at heart.

If you are working on your own, you will need to set up a structure so that you can hold this dialogue. (''It will be hard in the beginning but then everything is hard in the beginning'' – Musashi.)

The more you can separate these two aspects of yourself, the more it will feel like a genuine conversation. It takes some practice to allow the Dream-self its natural voice. If you write in your journal, you can use different pens. If you hold a dialogue out loud, you might have two chairs and move back and forth as you converse. To start the dialogue, you could ask your Dream-self a question or just start talking.

Here is a dream followed by the correspondence between the Dream-Self and the Awake-Self.

Jane's Dream:

I dreamed I was in my kitchen preparing dinner and Jack Brown, from work, kept coming in and bothering me. Finally, I screamed at him: ''Get out of my kitchen!''

AWAKE-SELF: What was that all about?

DREAM-SELF: I have no idea what Jack Brown is doing in my kitchen. I think he was supposed to come for dinner, but not to disrupt everything. I feel very strange having him in my house.

AWAKE-SELF: Why are you screaming at him?

DREAM-SELF: Because he's messing with things. Taking pots down and looking inside them and not putting them back. He's annoying me.

AWAKE-SELF: Do you want him to stay for dinner if he stops annoying you?

DREAM-SELF: Not really. I feel very uncomfortable with him and my husband in the house.

AWAKE-SELF: Tell Jack Brown that you've changed your mind. You've decided he can't stay for dinner and he needs to go home to his own wife.

DREAM-SELF: OK. I did that. He says he doesn't want to go.

AWAKE-SELF: Tell him he has to go, and if he doesn't go you'll tell your husband.

DREAM-SELF: He's gone.

AWAKE-SELF: Is there anything you'd like to tell me about Jack Brown?

DREAM-SELF: The two of you are kind-of flirting. It's making my dream life uncomfortable. Would you stop laughing so much at his jokes? It makes him feel sexy.

AWAKE-SELF: Understood. Will do.

And Jane has learned something new!