The Lessons Of Our Nightly Dreams
They can spotlight darker times
I have always found the subject of dreams quite fascinating. There have been countless times throughout my life, where I have woken from a dream, absolutely impressed, with the rather uniquely driven entertainment that comes with so many dreams.
Entertained, at the balance of familiarity, and confusion, that come from the many adventures had while sleeping. There are always things we know in our lives, represented in our dreams. We may see peoples or places that reflect our reality. But it is those same things that are often set, in a much weirder, and non realistic way.
When I use the word fascination, in regards to my dreams, I guess it is due to a similar type of reaction that I may get after watching a totally mind blowing, or mind boggling movie. They can be scary, or just downright strange.
I will likely be forever plagued by a certain type of theme when it comes to my dreams and nightmares. As a person who is living in sobriety, drug free for the past few years, I will always find myself in drug themed dreams. While the dreams may slow down after many years sober, I don’t think the brain ever has a true ability to chemically forget about the drug abuse that the mind had suffered.
It’s just something we have to accept. But is it also something, that we don’t have to feed into. And that choice right there, is something that is totally priceless. It took me a long time to learn that. But a wonderful lesson it has become.
Those dreams can encompass many memories, and many lessons that I relearn each and every time they happen. For some strange reason, I never actually use drugs in a dream, but all the feelings and emotions surrounding those darker times, do flood over me, even if I am not using drugs.
The toxic sense of urgency, the stress of the struggle in finding drugs, and in finding money for them for that matter. It reinforces the more healthy behaviours I live with now, and I wake up telling myself, “thank God that shits over with today.”
The dreams involve the unhealthy people in my life during those addiction years. Whether it be people like drug dealers, or the overloaded many fake “drug using” friends I used to associate with.
Sometimes, I actually realize I am in a drug dream when it’s happening. Sometimes I don’t. And sometimes I am more or less, half sure of whether or not I am in a current reality or not.
While a lot of dreams we have can be just random bouts of neurological nonsense, that doesn’t mean that other dreams can’t offer us validated lessons, of those harder times we’ve experienced. The brain never truly forgets. And when it uses a dream to remind us of brighter ways, I figured we may have well use it, because it’s an easy way to get a free education.
As some readers may be able to tell, I recently had a drug dream. Last night actually. Often times when I have them, I always feel an important desire to write on them. There is no better page to keep me on, then this page, right here.
By MICHAEL PATANELLA