DREAMS

Lately my dreams have returned to me in all their splendour and majesty. One big contributor to this is the fact that I have relinquished all sleep meds for the past few days, which is a stretch for me. I was told by Rosemary - an RN at Vista Health where I intern - that with a steady diet of Ambien, one can get to where one's brain is dependent on them for sleep. I guess I already knew that, but it was sure nice to sleep straight through the night (albeit with no memory of dreams - ever). What was left was for me to be able to teach myself to sleep. I had looked at all kinds of techniques and stuff before and I had heard of the following one that she mentioned, but honestly I didn't think it would have as much of an effect that it did. What she suggested was not to lay in bed after waking early (which is what happens to me all the time). Instead, if you can't get back to sleep in like 15 minutes, you get up and do something else in some other part of the house. For me, I must avoid computer and TV with their flashing lights. The last time I did this, I just went and sat in the living room for a bit in the dark and then went back to bed without doing anything except that. Tonight if it happens, I'll study for my NCE. That oughtta do it!

Last night I dreamed that my grandfather was showing me a baseball grenade which was covered in leather. In a lot of my dreams, I seem to be wandering through apartment complexes or houses with which I am unfamiliar. Sometimes these places are haunted, but it's more of a startling effect with these rather than an outright nightmare. I can't remember the last time that I had what could be considered a nightmare, and I imagine that's a good thing.

I rediscovered part of a dream journal that I had begun back in 2005. This greatly inspired me, as it appears I was able to stick with that one for some months. I don't remember having a lot of these, honestly, but that's what makes them even more endearing to me I think. One back in March of 2005 (I think that's the right year) includes the following:

I think I saw a spirit guide in my dream last night. All I remember is a doll, like a ventriloquist's dummy, sitting in a box on a shelf. He was scolding me for not being able to project myself out of my body yet even after all the books I've read and instruction I've received. Then I became lucid for a bit - I remember looking at my hand in wonder. Seems like the voice urged me on to fly, which I did. I know that I was in and around a forest, but I can't remember exactly where.

Such is the subject matter of my mind. I look forward to returning to such great adventures, as this is only the tip of the iceberg that I have seen in my time. One thing I would love to be able to do, however, is to type the dreams without having the blaring light of a monitor or the hassle of waiting for a computer to boot up. I'm sure I'll figure something out. If I can just get the gist of it down, it will serve to continue to exercise that part of my mind within which these precious jewels of the unconscious are stored.

"... We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep." (from Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1)