I had a dream last night.
I was driving in a car rolling backwards, through the streets of my childhood neighbourhood completely and utterly out of control. I could turn the steering wheel but my feet were restricted and I couldn’t find the brakes. Of course, the hand brake wasn’t working. The car picked up speed, too quick now to catch what was happening behind me. I knew at some point I was going to hit something. Another car. A person. Someone’s beloved pet. Any effort was frantic and but full of restriction. I was caught on the one thing I had control over… the steering wheel. Until the person in the passengers seat, who shall remain nameless, but was significant to the premise of this dream, stated with an air of calm - ‘There’s nothing you can do.’
I had to let go.
When I did. I was enveloped in calm.
The dream ended.
I’ve been training myself to lucid dream.
It works best for me on those repetitive dreams. The anxious ones.
Typically for me, this entails being in a university lecture theatre and discovering I’m six weeks in and haven’t been to any lectures, done any work and have several assessments due in days.
After waking from one of these dreams, one too many times, I decided next time I was going to consciously go back to my university room and lay everything out, prioritise and take one thing at a time.
It worked. The next time I had that dream I was fully prepared and consciously able to carry out my plan.
I’m pretty sure my subconscious mind wised up to my conscious shenanigans. These university anxiety dreams were replaced by looking for a public toilet with every option impossible to use with any privacy. I made a conscious plan to overcome that challenge too.
I also learned to dream more consciously in any other dream I felt uncomfortable. Walking through a park at night and being followed. Being unable to walk along a path in a cattle paddock and swimming it instead of walking. Choosing to stop and listen to someone offering some insightful teaching and inviting some friends along for the fun of it. My favourite thing to do in lucid dreaming now is to rise above it all and fly!
I had one of these university dreams again recently. It was the first time in a long time. The timing this time though was more extreme than ever before. Maybe 12 weeks into term with exams the following week with HECS debts unreturnable. Still, I managed to shrug and say, ‘There’s always next year.’ I’m not sure if this was from all the practise at lucid dreaming or whether it’s because I have so much on in real life, I have no capacity to take on a single bit of stress so I let it go. Late university assessments are miniscule to the load I’m holding currently. Hehe. (I really shouldn’t be laughing.) Not sure if letting go was a win for me over my subconscious or not. It’s probably just a subconscious message. To surrender. To take on only what I can. The rest doesn’t matter. If this was the message, I can say with confidence, Message Received. Thank you mind!
The letting go and surrendering message certainly fits with last night’s midnight drama driving backwards in a car. There was nothing I could do. I was going to crash. I let go. And that’s all I needed to do.
What dreams do you have?
Do you lucid dream?
Do you have any tips on dreaming?
