Thursday, November 17, 2011

Dreams (Like the ones you have at night, not goals)

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange."

Dreams are weird.

When I dream, I dream very vividly, always. Apparently this isn't how everyone dreams. It makes for some interesting nights. I will awake and it takes several moments to realize I was just having a dream or what just happened didn't really happen.

When I was a child I would have a couple of reoccurring themes or dreams. One theme was the end of the world. I would always be so terrified when I awoke from dreams like this, terrible-ugh. Suffering, fear, pain, the unknown. Also, I would inevitably lose my glasses and be wandering around totally lost without being able to see.  The second dream was always the same. My mom would be driving me and my sisters home and stop a few blocks away and get out of the car. We would have to find our own way home with the car. Of course we were all under driving age. I was never scared in the dream just confused. It was odd.

As of late I've been having some more dreams with reoccurring themes. I keep dreaming about things in my life that have happened and then I change the events so the outcome is different. I'm sure this stems from wanting to have acted/responded to situations differently.

Oh let's take a short bunny trail here....I think it is utterly fascinating to explore dream meanings. If they have meaning at all or if they are purely for entertainment. The smallest details can represent something (or nothing at all just purely in the dream because of your subconscious.) Of course I'm leery but I've done a little bit of research out of curiosity. But as they say, curiosity killed the cat. OK, back on track.

The next dream theme is school. I have had so may dreams of my senior year in high school. Our class trip, daily classes, the senior lounge. It's strange because I am who I am now and I keep thinking, "Why am I still here." (Supposedly) this can have the meaning of needed to look toward the future instead of the past. Interesting.

OK, here's where it get kinda strange. I kept dreaming in gray tones and of dead bodies. Not a scary nightmare but of strange circumstances and I would stumble upon bodies. Not gruesome and gross but morbid for sure. Meaning: gray can represent fear, depression, or emotional disconnection and dead bodies can represent the fact you are sick of your mundane daily routines. I didn't really need a dream to tell me that my life need some change but it took dreaming those dreams to spur me to action.

Its strange that in dreams we just accept things for the way they are. We are adults in our childhood home. We know previous things that only apply to that current dream. There are places, things, people, etc, etc, that we have moved on from but they appear in the dream.

I do believe that dreams are a mix of elements of our day and our subconscious. Sometimes they have meaning and some are entertainment. I think it is folly to try and put meaning to meaningless things and you can't take your dreams too seriously. But I do think dreams have the ability to help deal with life. It may sound strange but bare with me. People who have lost someone can dream of a loved one and receive comfort. You can have a conversation with someone that could never happen in life. Some resolution can occur which leads to the ability to move on. Having an experience in a dream will finally be the "kick in the pants" that one needs.

Bottom line: are dreams there to teach, help, inspire, give hope, scare, frighten, encourage change,  entertain....

Who knows, maybe I'll never know but until then...."They say we only use a fraction of our brain's true potential. Now that's when we're awake. When we're asleep, we can do almost anything."


No comments:

Post a Comment