Sometimes I work a great deal more than is healthy I think. That is the nature of running a business and being self employed. Often times it is difficult to see all the positive things in my life until I pull my head out of the computer to look around. When I do, I find that I am so extremely grateful.
Expressing gratitude reinforces a positive, healthy, and happy outlook on life. No matter how overwhelmed we may be.
I’ve been wanting to do a 30 days of gratitude thing, but I worry I’ll miss a day or two, so I keep putting it off. Well, who say’s they need to be consecutive anyway? 🙂 Soooo…. here it goes.
As I approached the top of the snow covered mountains, I marveled at the vivid appearance of the snow covered trees. My friends were in front of me, and we were all riding horses. I wanted to touch the snow. I wanted to feel its texture in my hands and that’s when I had the strong deja vu. I knew I had been at this very mountain top with the same exact feeling of wanting to feel the snow in my hand, and surrounded by friends on horses.
I realized quickly that I had been here only minutes before, in a dream that I awoke from. I had fallen back to sleep, and ended up repeating the dream I had just had. At this point I immediately became lucid.
I decided to focus on maintaining lucidity, and began reminding myself that I was dreaming as I dismounted my horse at the top of the mountain. My eyes followed the snow from tree to tree and then to my friends as they began unpacking their horses and preparing for camp. I had a great sense of elation and well being. I felt as if I was home in my heart.
All my friends were preparing for dinner. We had been on a long journey and it was extremely important that we replenish our energy with a good healthy meal. Though I told my friends I would not be joining them for this meal. I told them that I wanted to take a walk by myself for a bit. While they briefly argued that this would not be wise and that I really needed to eat something, I assured them in the most peaceful demeanor that I absolutely had all the energy that I needed. I knew I was completely safe.
My friend Cheryl approached as I was preparing for my walk, and asked if she had done something to upset me. I smiled and told her no. I explained to her that it was something incredible that had happened. I told here that I was dreaming and that I wanted to explore this world. Cheryl was very supportive when she realized that I was dreaming, and she offered a suggestion. She said, “Well, since you’re dreaming, you could have nice cold beer”.
I could think of no reason why I should not have a nice cold beer, and so I agreed.
While Cheryl went off to fetch me a beer, I enjoyed the scenery just a little bit longer before I lost my lucidity. As she returned, she returned with a horse in tow instead of a beer, and apparently I’d be going for a horse ride instead of a walk.
Thoughts and Comments
For those that may not know, I have been sober since January 7th 2009. I am a recovering alcoholic, and maintain my sobriety with the knowledge that any amount of alcohol would likely take me right back to that unhealthy place I was before I quit. I have no belief that I could have just one cold beer and be okay. That being said, I have unintentionally had alcohol in my dreams before remembering that I don’t drink. This dream is the first dream I’ve ever had where I actively decided in favor of having alcohol full well knowing that I’m a recovering alcoholic.
I have the feeling that if I were to pursue having lucid dreams for the purpose of drinking alcohol that this would be an extremely unhealthy and unwise endeavor. However, casually having it suggested by a dream character (possibly my subconscious) and agreeing to it, did not seem dangerous to me in any way. It seemed perfectly natural and okay, even now that I’m awake and contemplating it.
This dream was most likely inspired by a couple of recent events. Last night before sleep I was reading book 10 of the wheel of time series, “Crossroads of Twilight”. The character Perin was riding his horse in the snow covered forest. The writer made note to comment on the hard snow crunching under the feet of the horse.
Also, not more than two weeks ago I was explaining to a friend that sometimes I wish I could have a single beer. I was explaining that sometimes I miss being able to taste the different kinds of beers that are out there.
There is a common saying that people use when they start their day out a little grumpy, and proceed to have a really bad day all around. They will often say that they woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I’ve had this feeling many times before. I wake up with this inexplicable feeling that something just isn’t right. On occasion it has been so severe that it could be described as a feeling of dread at even crawling out of bed and starting the day.
Sometimes this feeling may cause you to feel negatively toward a friend or loved one, for no apparent reason.
I offer this possible explanation, with a solution. Within the last few hours of sleep, you have had a bad dream that has caused you to feel this way upon waking. Perhaps you have had a dream that your spouse or significant other has cheated on you, which may cause you take it out on them in the waking world. Maybe the dream was that you were being forced to do something you didn’t want to do, or that you were trying to get away from someone or something.
Imagine the power of recalling such a dream upon waking. When you have the knowledge of why you are feeling bad, it is a much easier prospect to move past the bad feelings. Whether the feelings are anger, resentment, or sadness, knowing that they were caused by a dream can go a long way to letting those bad feelings go. In some cases, remembering how ridiculous the dream was can actually make you laugh and turn the emotion completely around. Turning the emotion around has happened to me on several occasions in the past year that I’ve been recalling my dreams.
A follow-up post is in the works with a first tip/technique on recalling your dreams.
Prologue : My sister has been living with a rare form of cancer for more than two years now. I had just visited with her for a few hours, and we were talking about some recent test results that her doctor did not think were good. But from my sisters perspective (and mine) there had seemed to be some positive aspects of the results. She was a little disappointed that her doctors view was not similar to her own. We talked about transformations in the body, and about what her next steps for treatment may or may not be. Well, at least I felt we were talking about transformations of the body. 🙂
Before laying down for this afternoon nap, I set the intention to help heal her body from cancer in my dreams. I also sent her an email of a conversation I had remembered with an herbalist about cancer a year ago. Before falling asleep, I prayed for her well being. I asked the universe for the strength to clear my mind of any selfish thoughts so that I could be focused entirely on helping my sister.
The Dream : I was in a dark city that mildly felt like Hollywood California. I was sure that Cato (my 5 year old son) was close, and that perhaps he needed help. Someone spiritually close to us was with him and taking care of him. Though I got the idea/impression that he was not in the best place to get the help he needed. Somehow I got the idea that I needed to cut the power to the building he was in, so that they would be forced to move him to another/better location.
The brick building was about 3 stories tall, and I walked around to the far side of the building and approached the intersection. I walked up to a power line and easily pushed it over. The power line was immensely huge, but toppled like a tree being uprooted by a storm. As I continued around the building, I noticed that power had been cut to several of the neighboring buildings as well. I had succeeded in my mission.
As I arrived back at the front of the building, my sister walked away from the front door toward me. She was smiling and calm. She said that they had taken Cato elsewhere, and that he was safe. She said that he wasn’t in the best place possible, but the place he went was definitely an improvement over this place. I envisioned him in a 5 story, more modern building about 10 blocks away. I could see it from where we were.
As I spoke with her, night became day, and the city became a grassy field in a park. Cato’s safety seemed certain, and we began talking about the cancer instead of him. As I watched her talk, black diamonds began to form around her body. It was like she was wearing a black diamond dress that clinged to her entire body. Not in a sexual way, but more like it was a natural part of her body. She was actually very beautiful, and I did not feel this transformation that was taking place within her was a bad thing. I got the feeling that the transformation was something amazing. The entire time, she was smiling and calm and we were enjoying our conversation.
For a brief moment her attention was directed at a group of spirits, or people that were only a few feet away from us. There must have been a dozen or so spirits next to us. When my sisters attention returned to me, she said that the group next to us was getting ready to begin a very focused praying session for her health and well being. The group floated away to begin their session.
During this conversation in the park, I felt like I was scooping different flavors of ice cream from somewhere, onto cones, and/or into bowls. This process also felt like a transformation of some sort. Wherever this ice cream was coming from, it was not originally ice cream until I scooped it onto the cones, and into the bowls.
Epilogue : One of the visioning techniques I had thought of for helping to heal my sister was that I would envision myself lifting the cancer out of her body. I suspect that possibly that focus may have caused the ice cream imagery in this dream. It became something positive as it was removed/scooped out.
My dreams are very important to me. I feel that we connect to our spirituality, the universe, and god more deeply in our dreams than is possible in the waking world. While perhaps I can not be responsible for healing cancer in my dreams, I feel that it can act as a strong form of prayer.
Image found on myfunmails.com, click image to see page.
Prologue : This dream happened after 30+ days of journaling my dreams every single morning. Three days ago I had three lucid dreams in a row, and tonight I had two lucid dreams in a row. The things I tried in this lucid dream were based upon my experience in the most previous four lucid dreams.
The Dream : I was in an apartment complex at a friends house, and I was suspecting that I was dreaming, but I’m not entirely certain I was lucid exactly. It was as if I was in my friends dream, and discussing his dream with him. Then someone came in and we followed him, a young boy upstairs to the ninth floor to appartment 903. My friend was asking the boy if he was with his twin sisters. I told my friend something about me having experiences in dreams with twin siblings as well. Thouhg as I write this I fail to remember any such dreams. We were all sitting at tables in this apartment, and celebrating the holidays together. There were actually four, no five women that looked almost identical. They looked very much like my ex mother-in-law. But then their faces also morphed into a woman from an earlier dream that someone had been trying to set me up with.
After a while I ended up laying down in a bed with everyone at the gathering. It was a huge bed, and there were some other beds or sleeping areas as well. I know I wanted to be lucid, so I concentrated on that when I laid down.
Then I found myself outside in the hallway of this apartment complex, and I was lucid. I focused on remaining lucid and keeping my heart rate down. I thought only briefly of Experiment B, and believed I needed to take baby steps to that kind of traveling, since I kept failing in past attempts. I had decided after my earlier lucid dream how I would proceed.
I reminded myself that I was lucid, and not to close my eyes, and not to get my heart rate up. I turned to face the wall and look as closely at one small section of wall as possible. Then I imaginged that I was somewhere completely different. Though because the walls were pink with silver glittered decorations, it was very difficult to think of another place withthese types of decorations. When I turned around nothing in the hall had changed at all.
I decided to try a different approach of just flying to my destination, rather than trying to just be there. I reminded myself I was dreaming, and to keep my eyes open and my heart rate down. I got a running start at an outer wall. It took two attempts, but I finally burst through the wall and began gliding closer to the ground, actually the water. Suddenly it was bright outside and there were palm trees and boats below. Nothing like the dark apartment complex I immerged from. I soard in the general direction of where I wanted to go. Swooping through power lines and over trees and water. Normally around this time I would have lost lucidity. But I think keeping my eyes open, and my heart rate down was working.
The destination I was heading for was certainly not my home in the real world. It was some sort of apartment that I lived in, in the first level of dream that I was in. I was in a dream within a dream. As I was approaching my destination there were helicopters and air planes that seemed to want to shoot me down. I ignored them, confident that any bullets would pass right through me in this dream.
Also, I could hear a voice narrating the situation to me. I think it was my own voice/self narrating to me. At the half way point, I reminded myself that I was dreaming, and to keep my heart rate down.
I flew around one last building before spotting my apartment (dream apt) on the other side. I was on the 16th floor of the building and it was a small room, pretty much like a hotel room with only a bathroom in it. I decided to enter the same way I had left the other building, but flying right through the wall. Again it took me two attempts before I was standing next to a bed that I thought to be mine.
For some reason I had lost track of any of my plans or experiments at that moment. I was entirely impressed withyself for having travelled such a long distance without losing my lucidity or resetting the dream.
Suddenly I had an incredible urge to go pee. So I decided to perform one last test. Would peeing in this dream lucid dream cause me to pee in my bed. Past experience told me no. I could pee in a dream without doing so in the physical world. So I went into the bathroom that had everything pink by the way, and I went pee in the toilet. I returned to my bed and decided to end this dream as a successful experiment, and to write it all down. So I concentraded on waking up, and I found myself back in that huge bed with all the other people in apartment 903. My shifting about caused them to all wake up.
To my disappointment there was a wet spot in the bed where I had been laying. In the parent dream of a dream within a dream, peeing did happen in the parent level. (note that it did not happen in the physical world thought, as I suspected it would not). Apparently though, I did not realize I was still dreaming. I ended the dream within the dream but not the dream itself. I ran off down the stairs telling y friends that I needed to record the dream I just had in my journal. But what I didn’t know is that it would have to wait until I really wok up. I don’t recall what happened in the parent dream after this, but I’m glad I remembered the lucid part of the dream within the dream.
Epilogue : I have a new idea for traveling in future dreams. I’m giong to find the nearest opaque wall. I’m going to focus my thoughts that on the other side of the wall is my bedroom in my home where I am likely sleeping. I’m going to focus on the fact that walking through the wall will place directly at the foot of my bed in front of my wardrobe. Since I can’t see what’s on the other side of the wall at all, it should be a brand new environment, hopefully conjured up entirely from my focus only. At least that is what I’m hoping.
Sometimes I work a great deal more than is healthy I think. That is the nature of running a business and being self employed. Often times it is difficult to see all the positive things in my life until I pull my head out of the computer to look around. When I do, I find that I am so extremely grateful.
