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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sweet Dreams are Made of These

Aaah, sweet slumber, and the dreams that float in and out of our minds, dazzling and captivating us with delightful scenarios, enticing us to remain still and give ourselves over to a gloriously refreshing night's sleep.

If only all dreams were this way.

Dreams are a big part of life.  We talk about goals and desires in the conscious state of mind and refer to them as dreams.  But the dreams we have while sleeping seem to be out of our control.  Whether we enjoy them or not, many times they serve to assist us to process hardships we are experiencing in our lives.  Sometimes they can be so complicated that it is difficult for us to pinpoint what they mean.

It took me awhile to figure out why one of my recurring dreams over the past few years has been about returning to college at my alma mater.  In the dream I am back in Chicago, signing up for courses at the liberal arts college I attended some 18 years ago.  Amusingly enough, it doesn't feel at all ridiculous that I am 38 years old and going to live in the dorms.  It's exciting again.  Sometimes there is a sense of determination and I know without a doubt that I am going to get the music degree that I had dreamed of getting all those years ago (but became too discouraged by the competitive nature of the music world to pursue it at the time).  Other times I am extremely confused and everything has changed so much that I don't know how to sign up for the right classes, I go to the wrong dormitory, buildings look different, etc.  Underneath it all there is always a feeling that I am starting anew and I am happy to be there.  Eventually I realized that this dream was my mind's way of helping me cope with these mid-life feelings of forgotten or abandoned goals, or questions of "what if" and the notion that sometimes I just plain want a do-over.

Another recurring dream is about tornadoes.  This one always holds factors of wonderment, anticipation, fear, and a search for security.  It's always really vivid, and only a couple of times has the tornado actually struck the dwelling where I am seeking shelter.  I always end up being okay, as do my loved ones.  Many times my brain uses these dreams to process frustration with certain loved ones.  The week that my father left my mother after 42 years of marriage and it felt as though a bomb had dropped on our family, I had a tornado dream where me and my parents and siblings were in a jeep driving in a rural area, and my father was driving us straight into the tornado.  Other tornado dreams have consisted of someone running outside to save someone else,  or someone not seeming to care about the tornado, etc.  The stories always run parallel to thoughts and emotions I'm dealing with  regarding these people in my daily life.

Other times I've had wonderfully vivid dreams of loved ones who have passed to the Other Side.  I absolutely adore those dreams and appreciate the opportunity to visit with those people once more.

When I was a little girl I suffered from night terrors which, at times, caused me to break out in hives.  I'm not even sure how to go about trying to interpret those types of dreams.  They are in a league of their own.

Recently I picked up a book written by Jose Silva, famous for his teachings on developing ESP and using our sixth sense to better our own lives and the lives of others.  I have only read a small portion thus far, but it seems as though there IS a method to guide your mind toward dreaming of certain things.  How interesting, right?

Wherever your sleeping dreams take you, I hope you pay attention to them.  I think our bodies and minds have amazing ways to help ourselves process and heal from certain problems and situations, and I truly believe that dreams are one of the gifts we are given in this life.  I will continue to pay close attention to my dreams, especially as we are going through many changes in the near future.

Thanks for allowing me to share my dreams with you.  Feel free to share yours, too!

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