Dreams

I've heard a lot about dreams over the years. I'm very skeptical of dreams coming true and whenever someone tells me that they had a bad dream, I assure them that we dream about what we subconsciously worry about. And if we dream about these things, they might be something that we should consciously address so that we don't dream about them anymore. That's why I know that if a child has a nightmare, he needs to talk about it in as much detail as possible, so that he or she doesn't have it again. I firmly believe that's true.

But what about dreams that do come true? What about Mr. Right's dream about Superbaby? Sometimes dreams really do seem to portend the future. How do we explain away the unpleasant and keep the pleasant?

And do dreams serve a purpose? Last weekend when my big little brother was up from Tennessee, he told me that he pays attention to all his dreams and that they are very important and serve as guidelines in living his life and also foretell good (and bad) fortune. Maybe it's the power of suggestion. When we have a dream that something great is going to happen and it does, could it be because we believe it will; thereby helping it to happen? There's a lot about our consciousness that we don't know and don't understand.

My big little brother also told me that you can teach yourself to remember your dreams. He said that after I say my prayers at night, when I'm nice and relaxed, I should repeat "I will remember my dreams" until I fall asleep. That night I tried it. It was the night before my big little brother's son's wedding and I had a confused, difficult, stressful dream about being lost, dressing completely inappropriately for a shower, and in general doing everything wrong. I hadn't decided what I would wear to the wedding that day but when I woke up, wrote down the dream, and thought about it, I immediately went shopping for something appropriate to wear and I was glad I did.

I think that dream helped. I've remembered parts of two dreams since then. In one, I had a granddaughter with me about 8 months old who belonged to my oldest daughter. She says that one isn't going to play out, but only time will tell. And I had another dream about Africa that I remember very little about and I don't believe there's any possibility that it could have any significance in my life. Of course it might help if I had written it down and if I could remember at least a little more about it.

But, what do you think? Do dreams come true? Are they significant? Are they something that we all should pay a little more attention to? I'm starting to think so and I'd be interested in knowing what you think.