Dreams.
How many of you think about your dreams?
I’m not talking about your hopes and wishes, goals and ambitions, types of dreams.
Although those are important too!
I’m talking about the ones that happen while you’re sleeping.
Do you ever stop to think about what they might be saying?
Well, I do.
Last week I had a dream.
A dream that woke me up.
And then it nagged at my soul.
It was a dream that has still stuck with me even after I worked out its meaning.
So today I’ve decided to share the dream with you.
Some parts may not make sense because dreams can be that way, but in the end, I walked away with a lesson.
My Dream.
I don’t remember the parts leading up to the moment where I was walking along the corridor of a hospital with another person. In the dream, I knew this person, but outside of the dream, I can’t say that I do. I am telling the person that I will show them my area of the hospital (we are both patients).
Even though I know that I am 40 year old me and the person I am with is of a similar age, the hospital has a futuristic feel. I know this because my “wing” is along the yellow corridor and the other person’s “wing” is along the orange corridor. I don’t know if they’ve actually become a patient in the orange corridor or not, but if they aren’t, they will be.
These colors are not the color of the walls. It is based on a threshold that we cross which looks similar to a parking block (or stop). I notice this because after I cross, I stop to make sure that an alarm doesn’t sound as the person I’m traveling with crosses into the “wing” that is not assigned to them. It does not go off and I notice workers passing us and not paying attention to the fact that this person from the orange wing is here.
I turn back to the person with me, but they have stopped a bit back. I call to them through the crowd to wave them toward me. They ask me “where are the toys?”. I look around at the other patients. I notice that they are in hospital gowns, have white hair, are very obviously of an advanced age, and are laughing and talking with one another. Then, I turn and tell my traveling partner that everyone here is close to death and they don’t care about toys.
Awake.
I awaken and it’s the middle of the night. I don’t know if my thought happened before or after I awoke, but there’s a realization that I am a 40-year-old in a section of the hospital with people who appear to be in their 80’s and dying from a terminal illness (granted not in a painful way). My first anxiety-ridden thought is “do I have a terminal illness that I don’t know about and this is my subconscious letting me know?” I don’t feed that thought because it feels like my mind panicking, not my intuition creating a “knowing” knot in my stomach.
Still, the dream eats at me because I feel like I’m meant to take something away.
I journal about it and turn it over in my mind.
Meditation.
The next day during my meditation time, I am still pondering this dream.
As I begin the meditation, I have the thought “if I had a terminal illness, is this the way I’d be living my life?”.
The immediate answer to that was “No. More often, I’d be choosing to spend time seeing the people that I love .”
Lesson.
That is the main lesson that I took away.
We are not promised a certain number of years, or weeks, or days, or even breaths.
And neither are the people that we care about.
As I pondered the rest of the dream, I came to think that the reference to “toys” was all the things we tend to accumulate. The things that we’ve chased that we realize don’t matter when you can see your final days looming. I have been on a slow sail to my own personal definition of minimalism, but I think it’s time to find a little wind for those sails and continue with my decluttering process.
It isn’t always easy to work out seeing the people who mean a lot to you (family, friends, etc.). Especially if they don’t live down the street or inside your home.
I know that I often get tied up with my obligations around my home or think that my teenagers won’t survive without me accessible to them on a daily basis.
However, the reality is, I could just say “I really need to see you (loved person). Let’s figure out how to make that happen.”
In fact, I’ve already started making plans to see people this summer that I’ve missed for way too long.
Does this life lesson resonate with you?
Perhaps you should pick up the phone and call that person you love and let them know what they mean to you.
Let your light shine!
Amy
I rarely remember my dreams. Those that I do are very dark. I’m good with not remembering.
Have a fabulous day. ♥
I understand that! I’m not a fan of my darker dreams either.
I love how dreams can seem so logical at the time, but when you think back through the events, they often make no sense at all.
True! The funny part about this dream is that its sequence of events made more sense than most of my dreams.
In last night’s dream, I was standing outside the glass which encased the ocean with fish and a scuba diver, having a conversation with someone and then suddenly I was inside a room waiting in line with my daughter to play ski-ball but they asked how old she was and when I said 14, they said we couldn’t play because she needed to be 12 or under, and then much other randomness. lol.
I DO get invested in my dreams, whether wake or sleep. I liked your dream. It was a peaceful setting.
The Mister and I, like y’all, are caught up in our own things and the kid things, and we often feel like we don’t get enough of one another, let alone others. When we do carve that time out for our friends, we have to schedule it weeks out — but it is always wonderful! When spontaneous get-togethers can occur, it’s even more delightful.
I’m a big proponent of sending a text or jotting a card to remind people I’m thinking of them and looking forward to seeing them again soon.
I think everyone has a tendency to get lost in their busy world.
To see some of my family takes an effort because they don’t live in the same part of Florida. And then I realized how much time has passed…and these are people I care about. Plus, I don’t see my Naples family nearly as much as I want. I’ve made plans for a longer trip to Florida over the summer.
I should send texts and notes more often!
Oh good, well I’m glad you’ve carved out some Naples and other Florida time!
Like Comedy Plus, I only remember the bad ones, so I would prefer to not remember a thing!
I’m sure I’d feel the same way if those were the only ones I remembered.
This post really spoke to me Amy. Last night I had dinner with a girlfriend who recently lost her sister. There was lots of talk about mortality and living each day as best we can. Definitely a lesson in your dream. I’m a big believer there’s always more beneath the surface. 💜
I’m sorry for your friend’s loss Miriam. I can see how that would bring up conversations of mortality and living each day fully. I think our dreams can tell us a lot if we take the time to reflect on them. <3
They sure do. Thanks Amy ❤️