In Dreams...

Do you remember your dreams? Do you have dreams? Okay, everyone dreams, we need to in order to process our lives, but not everyone remembers them. Lately my dreams have lingered on the surface of my sleep night after night. I can even (sometimes) go back to them after waking to take Bekah potty and convince her it's still nighttime. Here's the thing: How valid are dreams anyway?

Some say dreams are a gateway to our subconscious, with which I agree. Some also say they're a gateway to an alternate consciousness which may allow us to travel beyond what our physical bodies can experience in this life. Food for thought. I've tried to go to sleep hoping, even expecting certain kinds of dreams; dreams with answers to difficult questions, dreams with clarity, dreams of escape. Sometimes I get sort of what I had asked for, though I'm disappointed with the result. A while ago, I prayed for an answer to a lingering hope which I've nurtured (perhaps beyond what's right) since my infancy. That night, I dreamed of my son playing on the living room floor happily. I knew what this dream was telling me: For now, focus on him. I was kind of bummed but I got the message and stop asking about said 'thing.'

The other night I dreamed of an elephant which I was going to consume with the help of a few guys. They were my guides and were showing me how to handle this creature piece at a time. While the pressing matter within the dream seemed something else entirely, I recalled mostly the elephant upon waking and knew this: I had a lot to take in now (or soon) and I would have help 'digesting' it all. Of course in the dream it wasn't weird that I was going to eat an elephant... while moving about in ankle to knee deep water. Yeah... I'm good at remembering dreams.

So that's interpretation, which by the way happens best through the dreamer more than by any book or expert. You know what things mean to you. You know how you felt in the dream, regardless how bizarre the description of the dream seems in waking hours. So what about the other consciousness part? I do believe in that as well. I believe we can be reached, when it's time and when we're ready, by things beyond our physical and waking ability. I've dreamed of those who have moved on from this world. I've made peace, been reassured. I know others who have experienced this as well. Today, I may have sort of promised a coworker that when she was ready... Well, it felt right to say and I'd said it before I knew it. I'm sure this will be; He's never let me down before.

My children dream now, quite vividly sometimes. With Bekah, the descriptions usually include dinosaurs but then again she's awake by then and quite the story-teller. She has intense dreams sometimes and I'm sure it's just that she's finding her way through that world now, a toddler realizing she can gain footing and move about this strange place of her own volition. As a toddler learning to walk may slip and falls at times, so she becomes frustrated and tosses and cries out in her sleep. I try to talk to her about her dreams when I come to her, unless she can calm herself. I wonder if she'll remember these dreams later in life as I remember a few from my childhood. I hope she does; they have more to teach upon looking back than they could at the time. I had a better understanding of what my dreams were saying and now can better interpret the more complicated dreams of my adulthood.

I don't always dream what I want to dream, and too often it's interrupted by crying children, but sometimes I so look forward to dreaming that I don't fall asleep easily. Speaking of which, sleep sounds good about now even though it's only 10:20pm. Hmmm... might be an early night tonight.

Dream well my friends.