Dreams | Pay Close Attention

by Carla Royal on June 23, 2010

IMG 8758 Dreams | Pay Close Attention

A couple of years ago, I had a dream about old friends, the friends I mentioned yesterday.  We had been out of touch for over a decade.  There was a way in which I needed that time away.  I was making life-transforming changes that were rocking my world.  I needed the time and space to feel the freedom to let those changes take me where they wanted to go.

I dreamed that I was visiting with these old friends.  When I departed their home, I saw a very long tree trunk lying in their front yard, leading straight out of the yard. I climbed onto the trunk and tried to walk across it.  I fell part way through but it was fun and I was laughing.  Suddenly my friend came running up to the log and said, “Here! Let me show you how it’s done!”  She jumped on the log, barefoot, and ran as fast as she could before falling off about the same place I fell, only on the other side.  We laughed and laughed.

When I awoke from this dream two years ago, I knew that it was time to contact these friends.  The message was crystal clear:  It’s okay that you’ve landed on different sides of life.  All will be well.

So I contacted my friends and we reconnected a bit through email, which led to a wonderful reconnection with their youngest daughter (through another dream!).  The dream culminated in a touching and deep reunion two years later.

I pay close attention to my dreams.  I know they are important.  They have led to many powerful insights, connections, encouragements, and transformations.  Dreams are gifts, only asking to be received.

Do you pay attention to your dreams?  I’d love to hear the ways in which they have been important to you.

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  • Camilla

    This may be too long but…I love when dreams are evidence of how hard our brains are working for us even as we sleep.
    4 years ago, I was teaching at our church preschool. I loved it, I loved the staff, loved the director. Just after school got out, the director of Children’s Ministries and her minion, fired the director out of nowhere. The next month was a whirlwind of anger, sadness (especially because I realized that I would not work for them after this) letter-writing, meetings. I felt so betrayed and sad and panicked as to what I would do now.
    Our son was staying with a family in Germany for a month that summer, so we had planned a 10 day trip around Europe with the kids when his time with them was done. I woke up on our last morning, in gorgeous Murren, Switzerland with this dream:
    I was at the yearly staff retreat that happens just before the start of school. My aide was chastising me, “you shouldn’t be here, you know you’re not going to work here anymore.” The retreat moved to a giant, unlived-in mansion where we would be spending the night. I rolled my suitcase around the rooms, trying to find an available bed. Finally, I stopped in a room and as I stood there, I realized, I’m not going to work for these people anymore, I shouldn’t be here. Suddenly, my kids were there with me and I had them help me gather my stuff, which was now spread everywhere and I warned them that I was about to cause a stir. We headed down an enormous hallway and walked up to the man who was the MC of the conference. I told him I was leaving because I don’t work here anymore and he started to explain to me why the situation was ok and I should stay. As I started to talk, the volume in the room went up so loud that he couldn’t hear a word I said. I finally just handed him my membership card (!), walked through a turnstile, and fist-pumping, made my way out with my children and all my baggage.
    When I woke up, I realized that a song had been stuck in my head throughout the dream (and was for the rest of the day) This is my favorite part; that my brain pulled this chorus out of the files and applied it:
    “I’m not ready to make nice, I’m not ready to back down.
    I’m still mad as hell, and I don’t have time to round and round and round.
    It’s too late to make it right; I probably wouldn’t if I could.
    I’m still mad as hell, can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should.”
    There. Too long but my favorite dream experience.

  • Carla

    I love it, Camilla! Thanks so much sharing. Isn’t it amazing?

  • Keith Crosswhite

    Honestly, I’m sure God can do whatever he wants with dreams (and has), but my impression from mine is that most of the time it is His way to process all the input and tension we have had from that day- a cleansing of sorts….I have no doubt the design is a valuable process, but to assign particular meaning is beyond my paygrade. Most of the time they are things I am glad are “over” in the am….of course, I’m still aware of unresolved issues that popped up in them….just woven through weird things, like a drama I saw on TV or a movie. Some do not remember their dreams at all, so; I would assume that’s how their brain processes unless it’s all too painful to remember. In that case…no fair!

  • keith

    by the way…this pic is awesome!

  • Carla

    Thanks, Keith. I’d love to hear some of your dreams…

  • http://elderwoman.blogspot.com Marian Van Eyk McCain

    Freud called dreams ‘The royal road to the Unconscious’ and I totally agree. My dreams give me wonderful hints about what is going on at levels of my mind that are outside of my conscious awareness. Listening to their messages enriches my understanding of myself and my life, and in my career as a psychotherapist I have helped many other people in the same way. There are various ways to work with dreams that help us to discern their messages, but what I do NOT advise is listening to anyone who tries to tell you what your dreams mean. The Unconscious sends its messages in code. And only the dreamer holds the key to the code for his or her own dreams.

  • Camilla

    Yes, Marian! So great to hear someone say “only the dreamer holds the key to the code” – I so agree.

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