“Dreams say a lot about the dreamer – or do they?”

January 19, 2011

Today’s Bit of Advice….

“Dreams say a lot about the dreamer – or do they?”

I am a dreamer.  I dream a lot, I remember my dreams in the morning, and I like to look for meaning in them.  I really enjoying the dreams I have and they are rarely scary nightmares.  That said, I realize I am probably not in the majority.

My husband dreams every night as he is falling asleep and I can tell exactly when the dream starts.  Not because he gets a cute smile on his face.  Because he reacts physically to his dreams by jerking his arms and legs.  I know better than to try to fall asleep before him because he will just wake me up with the crazy movements.  I know to wait him out.  His dreams in the middle of the night are very physical too.  He frequently has to wrestle people, fight over weapons, or strangle bad guys all while sleeping.  He’s a multi-tasker.  I know when he’s saving our family from evil because he starts to breath fast, yell, and grab at things.  One night he almost pulled the lamp off the bedside table and on to himself. His dreams might tell you that he is a physical person who will take care of us in case bad guys break in.

Our kids are physical dreamers too, but not the way their father dreams.  They like to walk around the house while they dream searching for a rest room.  Not a one can find the room, though, without adult guidance.  Sometimes I wonder how long they will wander before an accident (or the bathroom kind) occurs.  We haven’t waited them out with a stopwatch. Their dreams might tell you that they drink too much water before bed.

My sister used to do a little sleep dream walking when she was younger (much younger!) too.  I remember her running downstairs a time or two in the middle of the night.  She also had a monster episode in which he was pinching her toes.  We could not convince her otherwise and she went back to sleep.  I don’t think she remembered much of that in the morning, thank goodness.  Her dreams might imply that her legs fall asleep along with the rest of her body.

Both my parents have dreams where they call out or talk during the night.  Not every night, but enough that it isn’t a one-time event.  My mother had one this week that woke my dad (and he sleeps pretty well).  He tried to shake her out of the bad dream but had very little luck.  Finally he got her roused enough that he could tell her to “get up and walk around”.  Didn’t even offer to walk with her  - what a guy!  J  When they were first married, he had a dream where he called out “You burned the roast!!”.  My poor mother (who is really a very good cook) had a little bit of a complex about roasts for a while after that.  Their dreams tell you that my dad needs to be careful what he says in the middle of the night. (Disclaimer:  I didn’t ask my parents if I could share their nocturnal discussions with all of you.  Hope they won’t mind!)

My dreams rarely result in physical or verbal outburst and I have never done any night walking.  I just go to sleep, get into a good dream, stay there a few hours, then wake up.  I seem to have good control over my dreams and can change the course of the dream at will.  I love being able to remember the dreams in the morning as they give me good ideas for stories I want to write.  I really love dreaming.  My dreams suggest that I am at peace and calm while I sleep (yup!)

But, I can’t finish this blog post without telling you where the impetus for today’s Bit of Advice came from.  I have a dear choir friend who has worked really hard to get her name in my blog.   She sent me the details of her dream from two nights ago with the hopes that I would be inspired to write about it here.   Knowing her, she may have even made up the dream just to get her name in print (haha!).  She said her dream was about a new choir I put together that didn’t include her.  Many of the women in the choir were appalled that she had not be included.  They tried to get her to join anyway along with some guy named Fred (whom I do not know).  One woman decided to hold a protest and not rehearse the music and, sure enough, ruined the concert later when she missed her entrance.  Then my friend woke up.  Neither of us knows what this dream means.  Maybe she doesn’t feel skilled enough to be part of our choir.  Or that the other choir members support her more than me.  Or that we need to find a “Fred” to join us.  Regardless, her dreams tell you that she’s obviously eating too much spicy food before bed. LOL!

No matter what you dream, or how you respond to your dreams, enjoy the dreaming process.  The good dreams are inspiring and motivating.  The bad dreams aren’t real and you can throw them away in the morning.  Just don’t hurt anyone while your thrash around. 

Glad I could let my friend inspire this post and she’ll be thrilled to see her name in print. (I did put her name in the blog somewhere, right???)

Hope you enjoyed the read.