How Dreams Can Map Out Potential Realities
Our daily lives often feel hemmed in by the realities of work and commitments. Your conditioned self-talk may say, “I do not have time to work on my Wholistic Wellbeing,” or “it is for others who are luckier, richer, and have more time.” So you return to your routine existence and repeat again and again, the same old, same old…
We are taught to believe that repetition is comforting; a sign of efficiency; that we’ve understood the assignment. Efficiency is the barometer that highlights our progress as we continue to perfect the task at hand like an ancient craft. But many go against this conditioned belief as they come to feel that repetition is, in fact, debilitating.
Repetition interpreted as mind-numbing routine was the premise of the Theatre of the Absurd, a genre in vogue in the mid 20th century, with writers like Samuel Beckett satirizing society’s enslavement to repetition through occasionally funny — but mostly tragic — plays. Much like Beckett’s character Winnie, from Happy Days (1961), we often retreat into the memory of a more jovial and carefree time in order to escape the reality of the present. These memories, signs of hidden desires, often seep into our dreams too, where we find a sense of wonder. Some even attempt to map out alternative realities, either through lucid dreaming or simply through the strength of their yearning. If social pressures and rationalist thinking may stop us from making these realities happen, how can dreams help us reach them?
Many think of dreams as an illusory blanket for our frustrations, projecting what we want but cannot attain. But that is not the case: science would have it that dreams are the manifestations of our brain power at its most potent. Dreams occur during the fourth (and final) stage of sleep, characterized by rapid eye movement (REM), when the body is immobilized but the brain is most active. “Dream your own reality” is not only a catchphrase; it’s an invaluable piece of advice rooted in scientific fact.
This is why it’s so important to learn to remember our dreams. How often have you woken up remembering that your dream contained the answer to a head-scratching question, the solution to a puzzling problem, or the key to your success, but couldn’t remember precisely what that answer, or solution, or key was? I’ve been there, too. The best way to remember our dreams is to maintain a regular sleep schedule, make a habit of jotting down what we do remember from them when we wake up, and break out of our daily routines: an atypical daily activity will fuel our dreams as it sticks out in both our conscious and subconscious minds.
Dreams can map out our potential realities because they are not constricted by a rationalist society like we are when we are awake and going about our lives. They do not subscribe to a work-life divide, or jettison thoughts that seem irrational or absurd in their reach and ambition. They do not feature a boss, or a teacher, who tells us: “You are not paid to dream!” Or if they do, they have ways of refuting such statements; of reminding us that the greatest companies, ideas, and solutions were once dreamed up by someone who trusted in their freedom to do so. If we allow ourselves to dream, perhaps we will not only imagine a new way of doing things, but also achieve an entire new way of being.
Growth and change demand fresh energy: and this is something dreams can conjure up better than anything else. Wellbeing experts have documented how dreams can nurture our creativity and fuel the change we want to see in ourselves. We are all stronger and happier when we can express our creativity, and when we allow ourselves — when we dare — to dream.
My life and career have always been nourished and enriched by dreams. Significantly, in the past few years, these have allowed me to imagine a world where Wholistic Wellbeing is a universal birth-right, and fueled my own quest for wellbeing through social and environmental outreach, and by connecting to my emotions, my body, and my spiritual sensitivity. Dreams are our North Stars: let us let them guide us.
