Inspirational ideas have a habit of striking in the most unforeseen places. Most of our creative ideas transpire while we sleep. Dreams are one of the primary sources of inner wisdom used in various contexts such as problem-solving and reducing stress. Most dreams operate on the level of myths and stories, making them sublime sources of ideas and inspirations. The following are six great ideas created from dreams:
1. Elias Howe’s sewing machine
In 1895, Elias Howe had come up with all elements of his sewing machine but was struggling with the needle design. One night, he had a dream that cannibals were preparing to turn him into a meal. They were dancing around waving their spears in the air, and then he saw it. The spears had holes at the tip. It gave him the idea that instead of at the end, the thread could pass through that point.
2. Einstein’s theory of relativity
In his dream, Albert Einstein was talking to a farmer telling him about a herd of cows surrounded by an electric fence. However, the farmer saw something contrasting. When he woke up, he realized that a similar event could vary from distinct perspectives. Through this, the theory of relativity slowly began to fall into place.
3. Beatles’ hit song ‘Yesterday’
‘Yesterday,’ by the famous band Beatles, is one of the most covered songs in history. It all came to one of the band members, Paul McCartney, in a dream one night in 1963. He suddenly woke up with a tune in his head, and right next to him was a piano. He got up and started playing the notes until they allied forward logically.
4. The periodic table
While in his mid-thirties, Dmitri Mendeleev, a renowned Russian chemist, was struggling to classify 56 known elements into a periodic table. Then one night in a dream, he saw a table where all aspects fell into place as called for. When he woke up, he wrote it down on a piece of paper and accredited as the founder of the periodic law.
5. Twilight
Stephenie Meyer was a stay-at-home mom in June 2003 when she woke up from a vivid dream. In it, two people, an average girl and a beautiful sparkly vampire, were having an intense conversation in the woods. The two were falling in love, but the vampire struggled to restrain himself from the scent of her blood. Meyer became a sensational author among teenagers and hit the bestseller list with over 70 million books sold worldwide.
6. The structure of the atom
Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, received the Nobel prize in 1922 for the discovery of the model of the atom. One day when he was snoozing, he envisioned the planets fastened to pieces of strings rotating around the sun.
Conclusion
Dreams are responsible for some of the world’s best hit songs, blockbuster movies, scientific breakthroughs, and life-changing innovations. Sleep, apart from being crucial to health, is a prime source of creativity.
