While we can’t fully control our dreams, we can get in touch with our unconscious through the waking dream process, which induces lucid dreaming and makes us aware we’re dreaming.

For the waking dream process, therapist Kalanit Ben-Air says the person can “relive their dream in their imagination” using relaxation techniques, which helps them “gain clarity.”

To influence your dreams without a therapist, dream expert Theresa Cheung says to set an intention to dream about something particular, since our brains are “very suggestible.”

To do so, write your desired dream on paper and tuck it under your pillow at night. It isn’t guaranteed to work, but it gives you the best chance of controlling your dream.

You can also try waking up after five hours of sleep and instruct yourself to “remember” that you are dreaming before letting yourself fall back asleep.

Similarly to influencing dreams, you can also stimulate creativity and imagination by tapping into certain dream states. This is a process known as hypnagogic dreaming.

Hypnagogic dreaming involves utilizing transitional periods between wakefulness and sleep to become aware of any surreal, out-there ideas that pop into your brain on their own.

To wake yourself during hypnagogia, the period during which a person falls asleep, sit upright while holding something that will make noise when it hits the floor.