To Dream

It was Saturday morning.  I opened my tired eyes and stared up at the white ceiling.  The fan in my room was endlessly spinning and I tried to focus on just one prong as it continuously looped around in a tireless circle.  I laid there, noticing the calm quiet of the room that I so very much appreciate early in the morning.  Just moments ago I had been in a deep and peaceful sleep.  Or had I? As I laid there I tried to remember what was in that vivid dream I was having just before I met my waking reality.

I hate when that happens.  I can't remember what my dream was about.

I've always been curious about dreams.  There are theories we are taught, some based on Freud, some based on other scientific scholars who try to dissect the neurological happenings while we sleep.  What causes a person to dream? I find dreaming fascinating.  There are countless times I have woken to think that what took place in my subconscious was in fact a reality.  Dreams seem so real sometimes that it is difficult to decifer whether the events actually took place or not.

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become

- John Ruskin

Where there are dreams of flying, winning a championship race, traveling and embarking on exciting adventures all that evoke positive feeling and amusement - there are also those dreams that evoke fear, bewilderment and uncomfortable evils... nightmares.  I would love to know how I could turn the bad dream button off.  Maybe nightmares are our consious fears just projected, intensified and animated in our sleep.  Whatever the case, I could do without them.

I have had dreams, and I have had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.
- Jonas Salk

What about waking dreams?  Daydreaming, I believe, is a wonderful opportunity to think about successful things coming true in a personal future.  There are times I catch myself daydreaming about a certain outcome.  What if I were to become a successful and known writer? How many children will I have? What kind of career will I have in the next ten years? Daydreams seem to be more closely connected with real-life happenings.  Or at least I like to think so.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau

It is curious to me that we use the same word for stories and images in our sleep as we do for a goal or even fantasy that we wish to come true in the future.  Dreams.

If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse.
-Walt Disney

While these are only my (and a few fairly famous people's) humble thoughts on such a fantastic concept, I can say that I sort of hope scientists and psychologists don't ever completely define or explain why we so very often dream.  There remains a mystery and pleasant introspection that comes from dreaming.  It is one of those things that perhaps shouldn't be fully explained but always thought and wondered about.

As you can tell this isn't the first time I've thought so much about dreaming... after several days of thinking about writing on the topic, this morning I awoke and stared once again at that ceiling fan.  I did in fact dream last night and once again can't remember what it was about... in any event, I couldn't help but smile slightly, today I would once again resume living in what I consider part of my very real and wonderful dream.