Do you dream?  Do you remember them?  Are some of them uncomfortable?  I have had many dreams where I have felt joy and relief when I realized it was only a dream (after waking up); I have also had dreams that I wished could last longer (smile).

As a dreamer, when we have an uncomfortable dream and wake up, we can go back to the dream and visualize a different outcome.  The same approach also works in our waking life, which to some philosophers is just another dream.

Sometimes I feel that my life is like a magical dream.  Situations have appeared in my life, that even in my wildest imagination, I would have never expected it.  That has made me wonder, if I could not even imagine a situation, then who dreamt that dream?  If I could not have imagined that situation, how I could take credit for its happening?  In such situations I realize there is someone bigger than “me” who is dreaming.  Some people say that “someone” is God, or our “higher Self”.  In any event, we feel there is some power bigger than our “self” that is creating the magic.

Many times our everyday waking experiences are also like an undesirable dream. Like an undesirable dream, if we do not like our waking experience we can change the experience.  There have been “undesirable” waking experiences in my life which I would have preferred not to have experienced at all, or to have experienced for only a short time (such as suffering).  When I am experiencing an unpleasant waking life experience, I ask myself, did I contribute to the creation of that event in some way?  Could I have imagined that event?  Did I support that event (by thinking with feeling) to produce that outcome?  If yes, then I am able to imagine and feel an alternative outcome, just as in the dream world, that can affect the future.

In the context of Tending to Your Garden Within, based on the type of seeds we plant (imagination) and nurture with our feelings, we will have different types of plants in our garden within.  As a gardener, we can re-seed our garden within and nurture these seeds with the nutrition (love, enthusiasm) that is to our highest good.  The key is the realization (waking up) that we can change our dreams and experience a more desirable outcome.  The poem below illustrates this concept further

Uncomfortable Dream

You are uncomfortable.

You feel your suffering.

You feel your pain.

You feel your fear.

You think there are no options.

You think you are 100% right on predicting

doom and gloom.

You can even prove it!

All of sudden, there is a nudge within

and you realize …

You have had such nightmares before …

You realize the nightmare, seemingly real,

does not seem real after waking up.

You plainly ask, “Am I dreaming?”

Then all of sudden you wake up from your dream.

Your suffering ends.

You feel your joy within.

You close your eyes again and

dream something more joyful.

Copyright . 2011 by Shervin Hojat