Not Just A Dream

I have been fascinated and intrigued by my dreams for as long as I can remember, and their presence has always provided me with inspiration, direction and answers.

I dream in vivid technicolour and my felt experience makes my dreams feel incredibly real. Ever since I was a child, I remember having such lifelike dreams, and I would often wake up feeling quite emotional and disorientated, and seriously questioning if I had actually been asleep at all.

My dreams can also be quite obscure and weird at times, and I love that my mind leaves little riddles to contemplate and solve. It’s fun to bridge the gap between my imagination and my actionable reality and they actually do help me make informed decisions from a place of deep inner knowing, trust and logical questioning. I believe dreams serve as a profound reflection of my subconscious mind and show up to help me figure things out, and process various aspects of my life. They give me hints, direction and encouragement along the way.

I don’t always remember my dreams on waking, although I often remember them later in the day, when something jogs my memory and it comes flooding back. Usually when a dream elicits such a strong emotion, there’s symbolism, or I get a general sense that there is a synchronicity, affirmation or an answer encoded in the dream, it is directly connected to my waking life. It is at these times that I record dreams in my journal, which helps me reason them out, contemplate and make sense of their meaning.

I have had recurrent dreams that have continued throughout my life. Many have discontinued, and some drop back in, from time to time. There are also those dreams that have shown up once, and have helped me to make decisions that have changed the course of my life. I recently recalled one such dream in response to a post by Janaka Stagnaro, thank you Janaka. That particular dream involved a very old woman that shared her wisdom in an intimate moment with a younger woman. Her message was that life is extremely short, and to live the best life possible, doing what you love. I come to understand that the women were two versions of myself, and that dream resulted in me seriously planning my lifelong travel dream. Some dreams are affirmations and one very scary dream I used to have a lot, just disappeared after a period of deep personal grown, and emotional closure.

I often just contemplate the miracle of my mind and the part my subconscious plays in making the unseen, seen through my dreams. The way my mind manages to process and translate data, and regulate emotions from my waking life, turning them into visual metaphors, that helps me make better sense of life, lived experiences and emotions. The brain is such a complex organ and a true marvel. It’s most definitely a never-ending source of wonder and intrigue and I can’t help but be in awe of its miraculous feat of consciousness, which provides my very own subjective reality.

I gain a great deal of pleasure from deciphering the meaning of my dreams and it’s interesting when an old one shows up again after a long while. One such dream occurred quite recently. This dream begins when I am just walking in nature, usually along a path. I’m very relaxed and just enjoying the scenery when I see something shiny out the corner of my eye, and realise it’s a coin on the ground. I feel surprised and happy to have found my lucky coin. Then I notice another one, and another, and more and more. Sometimes they are hidden in the dirt and I begin digging them out as more begin to show up. It’s not like I find a treasure chest or anything, but I always feel really lucky, abundant and grateful, and it’s a happy dream. I think this shows up when I’m doing what’s right for me, choosing myself, and am in alignment with my inner knowing.

Another recurring dream I have had all my life, although it shows up in many different scenarios, and which is usually accompanied by a calm feeling, surprisingly, are my snake dreams. In these dreams, a snake, or snakes, are a big part of the scene in one way or another. Often very large, sometimes small, single or multiple, and I’m usually quite unbothered by there presence. I also recently had the snake dream which was quite weird and obscure. On this particular occasion, I was out on a walk with my husband, son and his dog. We were having a lovely walk in nature when I saw a snake near doggo. I thought he had been bitten, but he then proceeded to give birth to hundreds of baby snakes. The fact that he’s a male dog giving birth, and to snakes, didn’t seem unnatural at all during the dream, and which was very interesting to me. But yeah, there were literally hundreds of baby snakes everywhere. I’ve had a great many dreams of snakes over the years and incidentally, have had many more close and synchronistic encounters with large pythons and venomous eastern brown snakes in my real waking life. Snakes have always been a symbol of change and transition for me and a spirit animal that seems to have chosen to accompany me on my journey. I always see snakes in dreams or in real life just before transition or a period of personal growth, and which is very affirming. Considering I have just left my home town once again to continue our Wackywonderbus travel adventure, and after spending some quality time with my son and his doggo, this dream is quite on point.

When I was a kid, I grew up on a headland by the ocean, and entire childhood, I used to have a recurring dream that I was running towards the edge of the cliff, and instead of falling to my death, I’d just float gently down to the bottom. It was a very scary dream but always ended with me safely on the sand and feeling the ground firmly beneath my feet. Even after we had moved from that place at the age of around nine, I continued to have it for some time.

Another recurring dream that used to scare the pants off me, and which went on well into adulthood, was about an spirit entity that lived in the attic of our house. It was a vary, very scary dream where I was drawn to this part of the house by noises and strange things happening, and I could feel this presence there. I knew there was something there but I didn’t know what it was, and before I could find out, I’d wake up in a lather of sweat and scared shitless. I was terrified of the dark as a little tacker and beyond. This dream eventually went away after I consciously became aware of the fear it evoked in me, and I worked towards finding the courage to face the fear within my dream. Once I did that, it just stopped. I believe it was associated with healing and processing childhood trauma and possibly also related to a fear of death and the dark after the passing of my nanna when I was a child. I was not able to attend her funeral and somehow that affected me. I had this dream for many years.

I also wanted to make mention of a having a couple of very special affirming dreams involving whales and dolphins. These dreams have only showed up a couple of times and were messengers of hope and encouragement. One in particular was extremely affirming, and involved a very intimate interaction with a dolphin, and was synchronistically followed up with ongoing symbolism in my waking life the very next morning. In the dream, I was sitting on a fold out camp chair fairly close to the oceans edge when a dolphin swam to me and proceeded to swim under and around me on the chair. It was playful and friendly and I felt deeply at peace. This dream occurred towards the end of a very difficult and arduous season in my life, that saw me having to practice great patience and trust in divine timing. This dolphin dream was followed by me being unusually early for work the next morning, and randomly walking into a little antique shop. As I wandered through to pass the time, something beautiful caught my eye, and to my utter delight and amazement. It was a beautiful aquatic scene in lustreware, featuring dolphins playing in the waves, and it completely blew my mind. I never buy dust collectors, although this symbol of hope and encouragement wasn’t a mere ornament, it proceeded to gave me the strength and courage I desperately needed to move through that period of my life with dignity and grace.

It is only when we I am willing to face the truth of who I am, and the depths of my inner most landscape, that it’s possible to better understand myself and what drives my thoughts, beliefs and actions. Bringing the hidden out and into the light of the conscious mind, can often be confronting and scary, although in my experience, it has become another way for me to integrate parts of myself that I may never have understood or wanted to face. I guess this may be an invitation to explore the depths of your own experience of dreams, and to become curious about their meaning, impact and assistance to you in your own waking life.

I was interested to learn that some people never dream, or never remember their dreams. Some only dream in black and white, and others do not imagine in pictures. It’s very interesting how different we all are, and I love learning about, and sharing personal experience. It really is those differences that make us so unique, interesting and wonderful as human beings, and certainly helps us better understand and appreciate one other.

Do you have dreams? How do they show up for you? Do you remember them, and what colour are they? I would love to hear your experience!

Thanks for reading and may your dreams be a source of intrigue and wonder for you also.