Dreams are nature’s way of saying take a break. Usually it is not a break within the framework of your life, but into a world where anything can happen. Occasionally it intensifies what is going on in your life and takes you down deep troughs of frustration or up high mountains of creativity. I like to think of dreams as a place to go where I can tether myself to the creative side of me and go out and explore.
Granted most of my dreams happen when I’m sleeping. But there are times when I am wide awake, lost in thought, and dropping out of wherever I am, to explore the regions of my mind that need exploring. A teacher that I occasionally sub for calls that a “brain break”.
Those brain breaks can be forced. I can say to myself, it’s time to stop and smell the roses. It’s time to go out beyond the norm, the expected, the here and now and become one with my inner thoughts.
If I’m sleeping, you can probably see it from my REM eye movements. If I’m awake, I get that glazed look in my eyes. You can see me physically there, but you know I’m somewhere else. You can also hear that I’m elsewhere…someone is usually saying, “Harvey are you listening to me?”
I would like to be able to channel that mindful thinking. Reach for it when necessary and have it guide me to wherever it is that I am meant to be. Maybe start the day (or during the day) by closing my eyes and focusing on the paths before me and deciding which one I will take today. Or before I go to sleep, imagine what paths will await me in slumber and suggest to my mind, “Why don’t you take a stroll that way tonight.”
Something to think about.
