Guest Author - Deanna Joseph
Imagine something of your very own
Something you can have and hold...
I'd pave the roads with gold,
Just to have some dreaming... dreaming is free.
Debbie Harry
I recently read the book The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss, and was so inspired by him that I couldn’t wait to share some of my own dream experiences in hopes that it may inspire someone to pay attention to their own dreams.
When I was 19 years old I had a precognitive dream that my car was driving strangely… the lights kept dimming and the song playing on my radio was slow and distorted. Within this dream I had another dream that I woke up, got in my car for a drive, and once again, it drove strangely. The lights dimmed and the music on my radio was distorted.
Imagine my surprise when that next evening I was driving home alone down a long and windy dark country road. I noticed my lights were dimming. And the cassette tape I was playing (it was the 80s) was slowing down so the music sounded distorted. Because of my dream I turned off my lights and tape player and immediately turned around. I had passed a fire station about five miles back, and as luck would have it, my car made it into the driveway and didn’t completely die until I had rolled safely into a parking space.
If I hadn’t had that dream, I would have continued down the dark country road another five miles or so before my car finally stalled (due to a failing alternator), placing me at least 10 miles in the middle of nowhere, along a quiet road with no cell phone (remember, it was the 80s)!
I have always believed that dreams and dreaming were very important and I started keeping a dream journal when I was 15 years old. Yet I understand that not everyone feels the way I do when it comes to dreaming. In fact, when I’ve told others about my precognitive dreaming they have actually gotten quite upset, and tried to convince me that it was ridiculous for me to believe that there was any meaning in my dreams other than my sub conscious mind dumping extra information from that day.
What causes us to be afraid of acknowledging our dreams?
“We trust only what can be measured and manufactured.” Robert Moss – The Secret History of Dreaming.
Did you know that the Aztecs were dreaming of disaster years before the Europeans arrived in Mexico? Montezuma, the leader of the Aztecs, refused to acknowledge this. Like many of us, I supposed he didn’t want to hear bad news. He had all those who were dreaming about coming disaster thrown into jail or killed (including women and children). When the Europeans arrived, the empire was an easy conquest. How might history have changed had Montezuma acknowledged the dreams of his people? i
In my early twenties, I kept dreaming that I was back in school – however I couldn’t find my locker. If I did, I couldn’t remember the combination. Then I couldn’t find my class, or if I did, it was the last day of school – there was a test – and I was totally unprepared. I would have these dreams a couple of nights a week until I finally went back to school. I hadn’t gone to college right after high school, but had always wanted to. These dreams inspired me to act.
Over the last three years I’ve been dreaming that I get a new job, but instead of doing the job I was hired to do (administrative) I find myself singing. In one dream I even make this fabulous discovery of angels inside a crystal, but a teacher in my dream says to me “that’s nice, but shouldn’t you be singing?” I have always loved singing, and have written many of my own originals, and played in a couple of different bands. I don’t know why I got away from it, but without singing my soul felt empty. Since these dreams I’ve been singing more and focusing on finding places to sing. I’ve even been working on a CD. And I’ve never been happier.
We all deserve to be happy and do what we love. And dreaming reminds us of this. Dreaming helps us to get back on track and pay attention so that we don’t miss a thing. Somewhere inside of us is this mystical and unknowable force that wants to communicate with us. This voice can give a warning or it can inspire us to make a change in our lives that will ultimately bring us more happiness.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain ii
i The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss
ii ibid
