DREAM:

I’ve recently moved into a new house (that I LOVE) and I’m settling in when I remember an apartment that I have that I need to get the last of my furniture and belongings out of by Saturday (today) because the lease will be up. It’s an apartment I haven’t used in a long time and had forgotten about until today. I can’t imagine how I could have forgotten about it, but I’m glad I remembered, even though it now brings on great stress because I know I’ll need help (strong bodies to move things and a truck) and there’s not a lot of lead time to make that happen. I go to the apartment to look around and decide what to do.

I’m in the apartment, which feels like an old high rise building that hasn’t been updated in a very long time. I pull the sheer curtains aside on the window to my left and I can see another apartment complex that feels a lot like one that is very near me in real life and where I once lived (in real life) except that it has a clubhouse with a nice rooftop space. There appears to be a party going on on the rooftop. The women are dressed in fancy cocktail dresses with flouncy skirts, and I think to myself that it looks like a fun party.

I move away from the window and look around the room. There is sparse furniture that looks sort of art deco from the 70’s. It’s not placed well, mostly scattered around the room. I walk into another room and there are white cabinets from floor to ceiling. I pull open two doors that swing out like french doors and I see drawers, also white, that are the full width of the two cabinet doors I’ve opened. I pull one drawer open and it’s full of boxes of stationary, but it looks as though someone has run a roller of white paint over the top of the boxes. It’s like the cabinets and drawers were all painted, then the drawers were opened and the roller was run across so all the boxes have white paint on them, but I can still see that the boxes are navy blue and they have lettering on them, some with peoples’ names. One is the name of an old female acquaintance of mine (in real life). I open more drawers and find the same things. The boxes are varying sizes and with different names and “feelings” about them, but they’re all kind of covered in paint.

I pick out one box and open it. It conjures a memory – a story about someone. I think to myself that I need to get these boxes out of here before I run out of time. I don’t want to leave them behind.

Suddenly I’m outside at what may be a park, but there are groups of people here and there. There is a circle of chairs where several people are chatting. I’m walking toward something (not sure what, but I have a destination in mind) and as I pass the group in chairs, a woman looks my way. Our eyes meet and she waves at me as if to say Hello. I wave back. I know that I know her but can’t remember from where. I think about going back to ask her, but decide against it. I need to get where I’m going.

Now I’m back in the apartment. I’m in the first room with the scattered furniture. I look around and think, This is not my stuff. But I still know I need to get the boxes out of the drawers.

[End of Dream]

I woke up after this dream with my mouth wide open and breathing heavily…not panting or panicked, but like my body was trying to pull as much oxygen into my lungs as possible…like I hadn’t been getting enough. (Very sexy image, I know.) I was also very groggy. I drifted in and out of sleep and grog; each time I returned to grog I would think to myself, If I just close my mouth and breathe in through my nose I’ll get more oxygen to my brain and I’ll wake up.

I eventually forced myself awake. This is what happens when I take off my CPAP and then fall back to sleep. I obviously am not breathing properly, but I also have some very vivid dreams during this time.

OBSERVATIONS

1. I’ve been trying (consciously) to get myself back to a regular writing practice. I’ve been telling myself I need to finish my memoir and maybe I might find an agent and publisher in the process.
2. I recently bought a new house and quickly settled in. Within two weeks I had all boxes emptied and everything pretty well organized. It’s almost like I was getting ready for something.
3. I had a house party just two days ago – not a cocktail dress party, but…could have contributed to this.
4. I get a feeling that the woman who was sitting in the circle waving at me represented someone from my life. She had my mother’s coloring and build. And by the way, a lot of my story is about my relationship with my mother, so there’s that.
5. I feel like the boxes in the drawers were stories I need to tell. I think it’s interesting that the cabinets and drawers are white and that the boxes are partially covered in white paint. Does that mean purity? Honesty? Truth? My truth?
6. Shortly before I resumed using my CPAP machine, I had one of those dreams – I had been having a lot of vivid dreams toward the end of no-CPAP, which is probably because I wasn’t breathing well – but in this particular dream, when I awoke, the only thing I remembered were the words: My life depends on it. I immediately thought of my CPAP and decided that must be a sign, so I resumed using it that night.
7. So what’s the part in this dream about running out of time or it being too late? Am I truly on a time limit? (Scary thought.) Or is it a message that I’ve put off telling my story long enough and it’s time to get moving because it’s what I’m supposed to be doing? (I prefer the latter explanation.) I guess I’ll find out eventually!

Originally Published August 9, 2015

Sometimes the Universe sends messages subtly, sometimes it wakes you up with a thump on the head. Early this morning I got a thump . Not an actual thump, of course, but a dream that contained a message that was meant for me and was said in very clear, specific words.

Yesterday had been very full with house cleaning and erranding, and ended in a soiree with several dear friends. It had been a lovely day and evening, and at 11:00 p.m. I was happily exhausted, so sleep came easily. Always appreciated!

Unfortunately, at 1:33 a.m., I was rudely awakened. I’ve been having issues lately with anxiety, and it was the familiar tingling in my chest that woke me. That, and the phrase spoken to me at the end of the dream.

Let’s start…at the beginning.

The supporting character in my dream is a tall, blonde, male actor – probably now in his 60’s – whose name I cannot come up with, even after several online searches. Moving on.

For the entire the dream I am in a house that is very non-descript. I do not see furniture. It is not a house from my real life. It is just a bunch of dark rooms connected by a single, dark hallway. I move back and forth between two rooms in the beginning and can’t seem to find focus, primarily due to a heavy sense of guilt.

The aforementioned actor is in the house with me, but I do not interact with him much. The feelings with which I’m struggling have to do with being in this house with my new actor friend, and not giving him the attention he deserves. At the same time I am struggling with some uncomfortable feelings about a former lover. This is someone I no longer have in my life, but for some reason I am holding onto feelings of sadness for how that person may be feeling or what they may be going through. I worry that I am spending too much time dwelling on the former relationship to the detriment of the new one.

Toward the end of the dream I stay mostly in the hallways, between rooms. In the final scene, I come to the room where the actor has been the entire time and he says to me, “I’m giving you time to write your story.”

I immediately experience a feeling of relief. He does not want to pressure me. He is giving me space to do what I need to do. There is no need for guilt here.

INTERPRETATION:

First, the obvious message: I need to write my story. Don’t worry about, don’t think too hard about it, just do it.

In the first week after leaving my corporate job I focused on some personal business as well as some administrative work related to my art business. I left writing at the end of my list – as always. Now I know I must be sure to factor in plenty of time for writing. I have a rough draft manuscript that desperately needs a final run-through. I must allow room for this work.

Next, symbolism in dreams fascinates me! The general consensus among dreamologists is that a house represents you. Different rooms have different meanings, but since none of the rooms in my house were distinct – I couldn’t tell if they were bedrooms, living rooms, etc. – I interpret this to mean the hallway was the only space of significance in this house. On the website Dreammoods.com, I found the following:

To see a hallway in your dream symbolizes self exploration. It is the beginning of the path that you are taking in life. You are going through a transitional phase and journeying into the unknown. It also signals spiritual enlightenment, emotional growth physical prowess, new opportunities and mental passages in your life.

Regarding the guilt and the “former lover.” A true former lover? Maybe. But there were also hints of work-related tasks in my dream. Nothing I can remember vividly, but they were there. So I believe the former lover in my dream represents the corporate job I recently left. A job that I loved. Over the months leading up to my departure – and apparently, even after leaving – I’ve struggled with whether the timing of my departure was appropriate for the colleagues who now own that body of work. Did I do enough before I left? Did I share enough information with them? My dream is telling me it doesn’t matter. It’s fine. Move on.