My eyes flutter as my mind tries fitfully to drift off to sleep, arguing with my body to follow along. A long day has passed and I knew I was exhausted before I had to sleep but yet, ideas, thoughts and passing remembrances of today's events keep interrupting, trailing into my yearning for sleep.
I lie there ever so quietly in the dark of the night, tucked under a comforter, resting upon my favorite pillow as my body slinks into its usual relaxation mode.
I feel calm. My limbs fall into a peaceful rest as each muscle loosens with the knowledge that work of any kind has ceased.
I am at peace. I know I am breathing but I cannot hear a sound. I have reached the epitome of relaxation. My body exists but yet is quietly invisible to my mind. The only knowledge I have that my body is there is the flowing breath that I silently inhale as I feel it course through my body, inching its way through, expressing a peacefulness to each muscle that surpasses any oxygen intake I have ever experienced. I enjoy it. I embrace it. I deserve it.
Tilting my chin between my collarbones, I look down. I want to see what my body looks like in this state. I find nothing new. Closing my eyes, I move my head back to its desired position on the pillow and settle my mind.
I breathe. The intensity of peace quadruples with each movement of air mass. I am unbelievably at peace. I have reached a state of relaxation that surpasses any knowledge I have ever known. How can this be?
I am ecstatic with the knowledge that somehow I have attained a level of alleviation from my worldly stresses with a simple flowing of invisible peace. Yes, that's what it is--peace. It flows through me, blowing away gently all the constraints of my life that have built up in my body.
I am amazed but yet confounded by the logic. What is this feeling? How can a mortal feel this way?
Oh god! What if I am no longer mortal? What if I am dead?
I don't care. If this is what death feels like, I am never letting it go.
But... what if I am dead?
What if I am dreaming? Nahhh, I have no dream. I can think. I am logical. I see no monsters. I have no characters. There is no storyline. That is, after all, what dreams are--creative stories.
Well, there is one way to find out.
"It's time to wake up."
I don't want to. What if I am not dreaming? What if I really am dead? Wouldn't this feeling of peace be a better way to stay?
"It's time to wake up."
Opening my eyes slowly and cautiously, afraid of what I might see, my eyes begin to focus. I look around the room and breathe a sigh of relief that I am not above my body but rather in it. I touch things--the bed, the desk nearby, the chair, my comforter--and I feel them.
Sighing with relief, I realize I feel something else as well--I feel peace. I am surprised but I enjoy it. I am happy I did not lose it. I have "peace."
I laugh to myself at the absurdity of the quick check of belongings via fingertips and lie back down.
I close my eyes and wake in the morning as the sun filters through the blinds. My body is still with me, my mind is intact--but my peace is gone.
AND, what kind of dream was that?
Dreams are brain waves of activity that cycle through varying stages of consciousness; a simplistic break from our realities allowing the stress and fervor of the day's events to be cast off into a relaxing, creative process.
The stages of sleep involve passing from one waking state into a semi- wakeful state, then into four stages of progressively deeper sleep.
Stage 1: The brain is slowing down. Stage 2: The brain is slowing further. Stage 3: The brain is declining deeply into stage four; the brain is at its slowest. And finally, Stage 4: Dream sleep. Emergent sleep. The brain begins to move faster, returning to a pattern of wakefulness even though you are asleep.
**"Dreams work to solve the problems of the dreamer's conscious, waking life, and they work to quicken in the dreamer new potentials which are his to claim." -Edgar Cayce**
This conscious state allows the liberation of control and the creation of dreams.
A lucid dream defines your ability to control your dream. This interesting state of consciousness allows you to dream while you know you are dreaming, and allows you to control when you wish the dream to end. The experiences are yours for the making. Lucidity usually begins in a dream when the logical part of your mind realizes that the events occurring cannot fathomable be real. You can't really fly with your arms spread wide and no feathers attached, can you? Of course not, at least, not in our waking world. But these little niches of logic in a story filled with creative imagination are the triggers that permit us to question where we are, how this can be happening, and permit us to wake ourselves. With a lucid dream, the dreamer is basically interpreting the dream as it occurs--questioning its validity, thus provoking the mind into a thought pattern synonymous with an awakened state, allowing the mind to consciously come out of the dream.
This type of dreaming is fairly common, however, most people do not have dream recall and therefore, cannot recall if they even had a dream. There are certain places and sites that explore this dream state and offer guidance to those who wish to reach this level of consciousness (http://www.lucidity.com/) and who offer information on what, how and why a lucid dream occurs.
I have to admit that I have never gone out of my way to control a dream on a predetermined level. I enjoy my dreams; I enjoy the lucid ones I am allowed/ and or take control of, and I enjoy that I can recall 90% of my dreams with ease. But, that's just the way I have been since I can remember. I have always had a vividly creative imagination since I was young and I am certain it contributes greatly to the colorful and eventful storylines that pass through my sleeping consciousness.
The ability to control my dreams (as I have experienced them) are normally at a moment when I can suddenly preconceive certain scenarios. If I dislike a possible scenario, I can choose to awaken before it comes forth. If I am troubled, curious or pondering my worldly existence, I can waken as well.
But, that's not to say that I can control every dream I have and yet, not to say that I cannot. I just don't try. I prefer to enjoy my spontaneous, creative outbreaks and go with the flow.
I am neither unusual nor special in my sleeping abilities. Most people experience lucid dreams, they just don't always recall them. The ability to conclusively acknowledge that you're dreaming and therefore can decide to wake or remain in your dream is an amazing feat even to the awake state of mind. I can barely recall a time when I made such a monumental decision in my life, but yet am able to be split-second decisive while sleeping. Well, suffice it to say... the mind is irrefutably an intelligent organ. Too bad mine chooses to utilize its best skills when I’m sleeping. ;)
Well, whatever your dream is tonight, may it be filled with uniqueness, creativeness and lucid control!
Peace
To feel peace in your dream indicates an end or a resolution to an emotional issue or inner conflict. It may signal an end of a cycle and the pause before the beginning of a new endeavor. It also suggests that you have reached a new level of stability and calmness. Alternatively, the maddening quietness may refer to the calm before the storm.
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