“What hath night to do with sleep?”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
Up until roughly seven or eight months ago, I dreamed almost every night while I was sleeping. Not only did I dream a lot, I also remembered most of my dreams ... in fact, I even remember dreams I had years ago (and no, I don't mean the wolf dream I have when I'm running a fever ... everyone knows that my wolf fever dreams belong in a category to themselves). When all of a sudden for no apparent reason I stopped dreaming, it freaked me out just a bit ... okay, okay, it freaked me out a lot. Completely convinced that I must have some sort of rare "no more dreaming for you" type of disease, I did what I always do when I'm completely convinced that I must have some sort of rare disease ... I used the Google. You can only imagine my relief when I determined after many hours of research that my lack of sleepytime dreaming was most likely a side effect resulting from a change in the dosage of one of my medications. I also learned that in most people, the side effect wasn't permanent and in time they began dreaming again. Whew ... talk about putting my mind at ease. Gosh ... what's a life without dreams, eh? Proving that self-diagnosing via the Internet is always a smart idea, about a month ago my dreams did indeed return ... boy, did they ever.
I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for," countless times ... as have I. And after months of wishing I would start dreaming again, I can most definitely, without a shadow of even a tiny bit of doubt, from the depths of my soul tell you to be careful what you wish for ... really ... be careful what you wish for. While I've had my share of weird or frightening dreams down through the years, I can't remember having a stretch of time when every single dream I had was strange ... until now. Please, allow me to explain. Last night I dreamed I lost my car ... not so crazy, right? Except that everyone I asked to help me find it told me I had to climb a marshmallow mountain, walk through hot lava, do 50 push-ups while wearing suspenders and a tie, and appear before the king of Candy Land and persuade him to tell me where my car was. And after I did all that, the knights of the Round Table pulled out their swords and tried to kill me. No, there's nothing at all weird or crazy about that dream ... not at all. Oh, but wait ...
The night before, I dreamed I was on an airplane ... again, not so weird ... frightening maybe, but not off-the-wall weird. Until I realized the plane was about to crash and I grabbed a rope and jumped out the back of the plane and landed safely on the ground ... where I was met by an army of soldiers who told me I was a traitor for leaving my fellow passengers to save my own skin. I woke up when I was crawling to the group of injured people from the plane after one of the soldiers conked me in the head with a giant ceramic teddy bear. And the night before that, I dreamed that some woman I had never met was holding my obviously severely wounded and bleeding Ollie the wiener dog up toward heaven like some sort of sacrifice as I tried desperately to break through the force field that separated me from him ... while I was eating string cheese and trying to buy a bottle of water from a street vendor pushing a silver cart with a live monkey riding on top. Nope, nothing bizarre or terrifying about those dreams ... nothing at all.
I'm sure all you dream interpreters are already hard at word deciphering the deep psychological meaning within my dreams, so here's a touch more info for you as you attempt to analyze the insanity of my mind. Many of my dreams now involve violent behavior of some sort ... violent behavior directed toward me or someone I love. I'm never violent myself in my dreams, by the way ... it's the other people doing all the stabbing, beating and shooting. I dream a ton about losing things or about being lost myself, and I also dream a lot about falling off of tall buildings or mountains. I still dream good, sweet dreams about my granddaughter and my children now and again, but a huge chunk of my dreams these days are dark and haunting ... so much so that if I could figure out a way to not sleep and still function, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
While I don't much care for waking up in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed, turning on the light and searching for Oliver the wiener dog under the covers to make sure he's OK or feeling the overwhelming need to check my garage throughout the day to make sure my car is there, I'm learning that even bad dreams can teach me some pretty important lessons about life. Lessons about valuing the moments I'm given each day ... moments to be kind ... moments to be loving ... moments to be understanding ... moments to be compassionate ... moments to be unafraid ... moments to be brave ... moments to be helpful ... moments to be honest ... moments to be sincere ... moments to be friendly ... moments to be courageous. Lessons about chasing my dreams ... lessons about never giving up ... lessons about dreaming bigger than I ever have before.
I'm tired, cold and yawning ... guess that means it's time to go to sleep and see where the land of dreams takes me tonight. Bring it, Mr. Dreammaker ... I'm ready to learn ... I'm ready to learn all the things you have to teach me.
Dream on, friends ... dream on.
I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for," countless times ... as have I. And after months of wishing I would start dreaming again, I can most definitely, without a shadow of even a tiny bit of doubt, from the depths of my soul tell you to be careful what you wish for ... really ... be careful what you wish for. While I've had my share of weird or frightening dreams down through the years, I can't remember having a stretch of time when every single dream I had was strange ... until now. Please, allow me to explain. Last night I dreamed I lost my car ... not so crazy, right? Except that everyone I asked to help me find it told me I had to climb a marshmallow mountain, walk through hot lava, do 50 push-ups while wearing suspenders and a tie, and appear before the king of Candy Land and persuade him to tell me where my car was. And after I did all that, the knights of the Round Table pulled out their swords and tried to kill me. No, there's nothing at all weird or crazy about that dream ... not at all. Oh, but wait ...
The night before, I dreamed I was on an airplane ... again, not so weird ... frightening maybe, but not off-the-wall weird. Until I realized the plane was about to crash and I grabbed a rope and jumped out the back of the plane and landed safely on the ground ... where I was met by an army of soldiers who told me I was a traitor for leaving my fellow passengers to save my own skin. I woke up when I was crawling to the group of injured people from the plane after one of the soldiers conked me in the head with a giant ceramic teddy bear. And the night before that, I dreamed that some woman I had never met was holding my obviously severely wounded and bleeding Ollie the wiener dog up toward heaven like some sort of sacrifice as I tried desperately to break through the force field that separated me from him ... while I was eating string cheese and trying to buy a bottle of water from a street vendor pushing a silver cart with a live monkey riding on top. Nope, nothing bizarre or terrifying about those dreams ... nothing at all.
I'm sure all you dream interpreters are already hard at word deciphering the deep psychological meaning within my dreams, so here's a touch more info for you as you attempt to analyze the insanity of my mind. Many of my dreams now involve violent behavior of some sort ... violent behavior directed toward me or someone I love. I'm never violent myself in my dreams, by the way ... it's the other people doing all the stabbing, beating and shooting. I dream a ton about losing things or about being lost myself, and I also dream a lot about falling off of tall buildings or mountains. I still dream good, sweet dreams about my granddaughter and my children now and again, but a huge chunk of my dreams these days are dark and haunting ... so much so that if I could figure out a way to not sleep and still function, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
While I don't much care for waking up in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed, turning on the light and searching for Oliver the wiener dog under the covers to make sure he's OK or feeling the overwhelming need to check my garage throughout the day to make sure my car is there, I'm learning that even bad dreams can teach me some pretty important lessons about life. Lessons about valuing the moments I'm given each day ... moments to be kind ... moments to be loving ... moments to be understanding ... moments to be compassionate ... moments to be unafraid ... moments to be brave ... moments to be helpful ... moments to be honest ... moments to be sincere ... moments to be friendly ... moments to be courageous. Lessons about chasing my dreams ... lessons about never giving up ... lessons about dreaming bigger than I ever have before.
I'm tired, cold and yawning ... guess that means it's time to go to sleep and see where the land of dreams takes me tonight. Bring it, Mr. Dreammaker ... I'm ready to learn ... I'm ready to learn all the things you have to teach me.
Dream on, friends ... dream on.
No comments:
Post a Comment