Dreams are a powerful thing. Some of us think of them as just a figment of our subconscious mind, a fantasy, nothing special. Dreams are a lot more than just that however. Dreams can reflect what is truly in your heart, sometimes it is sad, sometimes happy, sometimes it makes no sense at all. Dreams can sometimes influence your emotions, or thoughts even after you wake up. Somehow sometimes when people dream about stuff when they wake up, if they remember it their mind becomes fixated on whatever it was about, or who it was about. Dreams reflect the subconscious sometimes and can bring feelings or memories to the surface that have been buried deep inside for a long period of time. Dreams are a lot more than just a figment of your imagination, they can reflect who you truly are, and what you truly desire, dread, or regret. Endless scenarios are possible in dreams, anything can happen. Sometimes drams can even show you the future, or at least some people including me believe that. Dreams can warn you about things that could be potentially bad or you, or bring you bad fortune. Any way you look at it dreams are amazing, they can stir emotion, bring out the truth, and sometimes if you are in denial they can open your eyes.
I came up with the idea of sharing some good examples of some of these scenarios. Here are 3 great examples of the power of dreams. Each of these examples have to do with one of my friends, or past friends.
Eric was my childhood friend, I grew up knowing him from the school for the blind and the visually impaired. Eric and I were close all the way up to the time he got married. I decided t just stop calling him one day because his wife didn't like it and I did not want to interfere with their marriage. At the time I never really said goodbye to him properly. For the first couple of months I was okay, things went smooth, but then the dreams started. These dreams were about us getting back together, him leaving his wife, some of them he got mad at me for not saying goodbye to him, some of these he just ignored me, and some we were just friends and hanging out. These dreams were a reflection of what I wanted subconsciously, what I desired, what I wished would come true. These dreams were the mirror of my subconscious thoughts. I could not stop thinking about him whenever I had one of these dreams, and all the agony, all the pain of losing him to another person just attacked me every time I had one of these dreams. I would be okay after a couple of days, but then I would have another dream again and the cycle would start again. Every emotion I burried deep inside of me always came out when I dreamed about him. Losing Eric was probably one of the most painful experiences of my life. I did end up saying a goodbye to him, and after that my heart seems to be at peace. I no longer dream about him, and I am no longer tormented by my memories and emotions.
The 2nd example is Amanda. Amanda and I didn't really get along well at first, I met her through Brooke. Her and brooke became friends after she moved in a house across the street from brook. I was best friends with brook and Amanda just seemed like an intruder at the time. We had a friend / foe kind of relationship until the 8th grade when her and one of my other friends and me became close. Amanda, rebecca and I did a lot together. Rebecca and I faded out but Amanda and I had a pretty strong friendship until the 12th grade when she got a boyfriend. This was only the beginning of our falling out. She began to hang out with some other friends, or sometimes she hung out with some of my other friends. For some reason I was never invited when they went somewhere. Amanda and I just faded out and things got super awkward with us. Eventually for some reason I do not know she stopped talking to me altogether. I began to have some pretty strong feelings of hatred, regret, and sadness in the years after that. It has been 4 years since we last talked to each other face to face. After that I started to develop these feelings. She won't even talk to me on facebook, or through email, she wont talk to me at all. I was more than aware that our friendship would probably never recover. I was really torn up about it, I couldn't stop thinking about her, my memories tormented me. Then I started dreaming about her. I dreamed about us becoming close again, about us hanging out, sometimes I dreamed about her leaving me again, or me confronting her about how I felt. The dreams did not help much, they just made things worse. As you have probably figured out by now when I dream about someone it's like my mind can't stop focusing on that person, or the thing I dream about. I think I have come to terms with losing my best friend but it still hurts a little. After she got married almost a year ago it was like my heart let go. Funny how that works with me. I no longer dream about us becoming friends again, probably because she is married and has a baby on the way. if we were to become friends now it wouldn't be the same. My mind seems to have grasped that and I am pretty much at peace now. I am still friends with her sisters at least.
The last example is a little less sad than the others. This last person I am going to talk about is Darik. Darik and I met around the same time I met Amanda. I had a crush on Darik for a long time. I have never been especially close to Darik but I have always really liked him a lot. Darik and I have been friends for over 10 years now and he is a very important person to me (if you haven't caught onto that from some of my previous posts I will be surprised). Darik is just one of those people that totally catch my attention, he is really amazing. I did have a rather long period of time when I had a hard time admitting that I liked him, even as a friend though. Around the 8th grade was the last time I had a crush on him. A couple of things made me give up on this. First was I started to like another guy, I actually confessed, and Darik caught me doing this. I felt really guilty after this and regretted it a lot. I decided that I should probably back off from him somewhat. I did this, but in the process I somehow managed to convince myself that I did not like him at all, which wasn't true at all really. My feelings caught up to me a couple of times after that, but then I had a dream.
This dream is a good example of a dream that can influence the heart. I had this dream that I was in this weird hallway, Darik was there as well. I walkd up to him and told him how I felt about him again. Darik got really annoyed and told me to stay away from him, to leave him alone and then he walked away. This dream is probably what killed my crush completely, or at least buried my feelings deep inside somewhere for good. I was painfully aware that this dream would probably come true if I were to try and tell him how I felt again. I decided to let go afte this and back off from him for a while. I think I actually became afraid of being close to him, I didn't want to slip, I didn't want my feelings to come back. I began to push him away slowly. For a brief amount of time I was able to admit to myself that I liked him as a friend again, but after this dream things just got worse. I eventually convinced myself that I did not like him at all again. I was trying so hard to suppress my feelings for him that I managed to convince myself that I felt the exact opposite that I really felt. I could not stand him for the longest time, everything he did seemed to annoy me. In reality I was only doing this because I did not want to get in his way, I was really afraid of getting on his nerves, or accidentally annoying him. He was, and still is important to me even though we have never been super close.
My dreams about him did not stop. Actually, it was because of this fact that I am friends with him still today. My dreams reflected what I really felt for him, and I won't lie I hated it. I wanted them to go away for a while but they never let up. I don't remember then that much, but they reflected how much I wanted to be close t him, and be friends still, how much I cared about him, and some other things. It was because of these never ending dreams that I was never able to completely convince myself that I hated him. I always take my dreams seriously, and this was most definitely an example of that. I was still stubborn for the longest time though. Even though I was somewhat aware that I liked him I would always freeze up and step back whenever I was going to admit that I liked him even as a friend again.
This went on for about almost 8 years. Him and Dylan left the high school around the 11th grade, things were pretty much dormant for while, until college, than my feelings started getting to me again. I lashed out at him a couple of times, I did not understand why at the time but I was really upset. I would not admit that I regretted a lot, but I felt this way and it showed. Every time I felt like our friendship was threatened I lost it and got angry. I actually still talked to him through email sometimes, sometimes I let go and for a brief moment and admitted I liked him still. This was triggered by my dreams I had about him so many times I have lost count.
Anyway, eventually I did admit that I still liked him as a friend, and then I wrote a 2 part post on here around October explaining everything. I suggest you look for it and read it if you want to understand this more.Everything is fine with us now. Actually I feel better about our relationship now than I ever have in the past. I also have to add that within the period between 12th grade and when they were on their LDS mission, the times after I did not see them as much the dreams did decrease, but not enough to stop having effect. I am thankful for this a lot now.
The point is that because of my dreams I was not able to completely let go of him. In a way my dreams saved our friendship. Because I kept dreaming about him I could never fully convince myself, I could never decieve myself into thinking I disliked him completely. I am really glad my brain and my heart work this way.
Dreams are powerful, and I think I have made this point quite clear through this post.
(by the way I just thought I would add I do not still have a crush on Darik, for those of you who are wondering...) **laugh**