"Dream A Better Dream"

Dreams are the flights of our unconscious into the depths of our imagination. Mm-hmm, that's an interesting contrast - flying and depths, but I'm going to go with it. I am thinking of the dreaming that occurs during sleep. Our bodies are immobilized as we sleep and our mind takes action. When we go into REM, we see images and our brain waves change. We'll leave the technical, biological side of dreams for this post and focus on the psychological and interpretative focus.

I actually spoke quite recently with a friend about dreams. We have both experienced odd ones. Sometimes dreams have no rhyme or reason for what they are and sometimes they seem primed to give us information.

I think we can learn a lot from dreams. Not every dream, mind you, because I've certainly had some dreams that just leave me baffled, but if you feel like there's something more - there probably is.

The title of this post comes from a mantra I dreamt up years ago. I used to have a lot of nightmares. I was terrified of the dark and my dreams didn't help matters because I'd wake up in cold sweat feeling disoriented. However, a realization came to me during one dream in particular and I haven't had a nightmare I couldn't handle since. The realization is "dream a better dream", of course.

Let me set the scene.

I was with a friend in an unknown neighborhood as the sky darkened into evening. We were running. Our feet slapping the ground and our breath coming out in large gasps. We were running away from something. And it was getting closer. We ran through backyards and past houses that were dark and looked abandoned. We seemed to be the only two in the world, other than the thing that was chasing us. We jumped over fences and finally crouched down in the shadows of one. The thing growled. It sounded like a big dog, but I couldn't see it. I could just feel my heart racing and the fear of getting caught. In that moment, I was paralyzed and unable to move. My fear escalated to skyscraper heights and I was at the edges of waking up.

Somehow, a reasonable and calming thought came through. I'm not sure if I was learning something at the time or if something had changed in my life that I felt this way, but I stayed in the dream (and asleep) and calmed myself. The danger was still present, yet I felt isolated and separate. Like looking down from above on the whole scene, I "woke up" enough to know that I was dreaming. The adrenaline and fear was still coursing through my body, but I took hold of my thoughts and whispered to myself: "dream a better dream." I repeated that over and over and my mind took hold again.

I didn't want to be dreaming about some terrifying thing chasing me.
I didn't want to feel trapped and powerless.

So, I chose to dream of the opposite.

I put all of my energy into another scene, another dream and it was difficult. Like trying to erase pen from paper, it seemed impossible, yet I kept scrubbing away at that dream - choosing things meant to give me the opposite feelings.

I dreamed of flying.

Not just any type of flying though. I had wings, and my friend had wings, and we flew through bright blue skies that were open with no chance of a shadow. I focused so hard on making that real in my mind that my dream changed. It really did become a "better dream" and my body calmed down, letting me stay asleep with a much more serene heart.

I bring up this dream and the phrase, because I know what it feels like to be powerless in dreams and in the real world. However, this lesson from my dream has given me confidence in my ability to change my world by changing my thoughts. Our minds are so powerful and we are powerful as well. We have the ability to dream better dreams and see our situations in a different light.

When we succumb to shadows, we also have the choice to rise up. Don't get me wrong. It will be difficult and challenging and it might not happen on the first try. But, you get back up. You try again. You keep going and you "dream a better dream" until you make it a reality.

Have you had a "dream a better dream" moment in your life? Leave a comment and let me know. I'd love to hear your story!