Some themes have run through my dreams for decades. One is driving a car with very little control. Either I can’t open my eyes, or I’m driving it remotely with my mind and really can’t see it, or the car just isn’t handling right. The other is being in school or a work situation where I’m supposed to take a test or make a presentation, and I’ve never been in the class before. I have no clue what to do. As I enter the dreamscape tonight, I have two very familiar dreams, but significantly different. Instead of a lack of control, there’s this feeling I’m starting to gain some control.
In the first dream, I’m hanging out with an old neighbor from childhood. Tony Merrill lived across the street from me and was about four years older I think. I remember him having nice cars before I could drive. In this dream, he’s got an old restored Pontiac in mint condition. It has red and white leather seats. The interior is decked out with modern features though. It’s beautiful. He insists that I take it for a ride along with a mutual friend who is at his house. I would never drive someone else’s prized possession, but he insists. He’s got it rigged to a hidden switch in the garage that must be flipped or the car won’t even start. He flips the switch, hands me the key fob and I climb in and nervously and slowly pull out of the garage where I promptly sideswipe another car in the driveway putting what I’m sure is a long scratch down the driver’s side door. Then, I run the front bumper into another vehicle in the driveway. I can only imagine the dent in the fender as I get a sick feeling in my stomach. As I pull out into traffic, I ding another parked car. I think I can never go back and face him again. I’m despondent. What am I going to do? Then, I realize it’s all going to be OK. It’s only a dream. I don’t have to go back. I’ll wake up soon. I might as well see where this goes.
People come out into the street in front of me and start taunting me. They’re blocking me from going forward. They’re pointing out the dents in the car. They won’t move. But, I know it’s only a dream, and they aren’t real, so I just hit the accelerator and drive through them. I end up at a house where I go in, and there’s a party going on. I end up in the den where there are all of these unusual aquariums on the wall. I begin looking at the fish, identifying them, just hanging out waiting to wake up. This is where the dream ends.
Last week, when I had my Akashic records reading Barbara Reed asked me if I ever have lucid dreams. They are extremely rare for me.
In the second dream, I’m in school. There’s an old IBM work friend in class with me. I don’t know anyone else in the class. We have the assignment to do a presentation. Unlike the vast majority of my dreams, I know this assignment and I’m prepared. I’m a morning person. And, I like getting things out of the way. But, I’ve been assigned the very last time slot, which is stressing me out a bit. The presentations go on all day every day, Monday-Friday, and I have the 4 o’clock Friday time slot. As other people are making their presentations, I notice they have all used the same software to prepare them. It’s a version of PowerPoint I’ve never seen. There are animated characters in their presentations, sound effects, voiceovers. They are all amazing. But, I don’t feel intimidated. I admire their work and I ask them what they used to create it. I notice that the effects are less and less impressive with each presentation because they are all so similar. I’m confident with my presentation. It won’t be like theirs, but I like my story. When my turn to present finally comes around, I realize I am wearing a shirt and no pants- pretty typical for one of my dreams. I look up, and there’s my dresser. I calmly walk over to it, pull out a pair of shorts that matches my shirt, put it on and give my presentation.
My amateur analysis… In the first dream, I am in my typical out-of-control situation driving this car. I’m incompetent and screwing it up. The difference though is I relaxed into it realizing that the damage was only temporary. I would wake up, and none of it would matter. So, I just went with it to see where it would go.
The second dream could be a direct effect of a workshop I took last night. I took a writing workshop with Tricia Barker, an English major and Near Death Experiencer. The day before I took a writing class with George Kao. George’s take was “just knock it out.” Get a book out; you can fix it later. Self-publish. Just get it done. Tricia’s approach is, take a year to write the manuscript, another year having people look at it, find a publisher, have it edited some more. Tricia was talking about vehicles to use in your writing, how to hook people, editing down (and down and down), etc. My head was spinning after listening to such different advice from one person who has published several books and another who has a contract to have her book published in the Spring. The message I got from the dream was to do my own thing. I don’t need to worry about doing it perfectly or doing it like everyone else. I need to be comfortable delivering my message my way. And, even though I wasn’t quite prepared at the time of the presentation (no pants), the wardrobe appeared and my shorts were there.
One Comment
Very interesting, Brian!