From Bleak to Sweet

Do you remember your dreams easily?

I can still recall a dream I had at around 10 years of age. I was alone when I found a small bird outside on the ground. I thought I felt the bird was in pain but it made no noise. I picked it up and stroked the top of its head as it stared right back at me. We bonded.

The end!

I never remembered what took place next. I told friends and family about what I could recall from this vivid dream. However, I did not think to write it down.

Weeks later, I was hanging out with friends near my house when we saw a smaller bird on the ground. We all stood around the bird trying to determine what happened to the bird and what to do. I instinctively picked it up and stroked the top of its head. One of my friends screamed, “NADINE! It’s your DREAM, DUDE!” (This was the 80s, I think it was still cool back then to say “DUDE.”) I freaked out and almost dropped the bird. Thankfully, the bird had a good grip on my finger as it looked right into my eyes. We bonded. Then the bird flew away.

There were a few differences between the dream and the real-life experience:

• The bird in my dream was blue, similar to the colours of a blue jay. In real life, the bird was smaller and brown.

• I was alone in my dream, not with friends.

• I was not near any familiar place like my home in my dream.

Yet the core of the dream still came true.

Why do I still remember THIS dream?

If I didn’t tell anybody about the dream, would the real-life experience matter? Would it even happen?

How many more experiences in real life take place first in our dreams?

There are a few dreams I’ve had in adulthood where I remember every detail. I remembered them because I made the time to re-account these scenes either verbally or in written form. The most vivid dreams I had before 2022 were written down on Post-it notes or notebooks buried somewhere in the closet. I took the time to write down every moment before I forgot, then reread and added more to the notes before the memories vanished.

There was only one problem. The dreams I remembered frightened me. I didn’t want to remember them. I hoped writing them down would help these images leave my mind. They usually fell into certain scenarios:

• I saw people I know are deceased;

• I, or somebody close to me, was badly injured; or

• I was being treated poorly.

The first vivid dream (or vision) I could recall in 2022 was my “WOW” moment in January (more on this another time). It was the moment that inspired me to write again after a long hiatus.

Two weeks into my writing journey I recalled & wrote down a weird and creepy dream I had about YODA (February 14, 2022).

I didn’t know what the dream meant at the time. I wrote it down to preserve the dream and look back on it later.

I started paying more attention to my dreams after the Yoda affair. Writing out these dreams was a way of seeing my subconscious on paper. I noticed repetitive themes and thought patterns through the dreams I was able to remember. Over time, dreams became less negative & more inspiring towards my writing goals. Simultaneously, old fears faded in real life & the dream world.

Dream recall helps to solidify scenes in my mind. I review & interpret dream notes regularly for inspiration & to better understand old fears & anxiety. I made sense of YODA and other dreams as I wrote more about my dreams regularly. This helped me unravel some of the fears I used to carry along my creative journey.

I’m able to recall many dreams because of a morning writing routine. This provides me with new writing themes & future goals, or reflect on things I’ve done. Dream journaling can help with remembering moments in your life, overcoming fears and helping unblock creativity.

Back to the birds…

We have many Starlings in our neighbourhood. I love the sounds of the chirping in the mornings. A family created a nest above our bedroom window long before we moved into our apartment unit. Birds would occasionally land on the ledge but as soon as they saw us or the cats they would fly away.

Last year, one of the smaller birds was brave enough to come right up close to the window and creep on me as I worked. I knew it was the same bird each day because it had a cut on the top of its head. I decided to identify the bird as the male “Sharpie.” As his feathers grew longer, the line on the top of his head became more defined, similar to a bald spot. If I wasn’t on a call, I would attempt to say hello and whistle a song at Sharpie. He would give me a look, but he didn’t run away.

We bonded long before I noticed, in the right light of the day, Sharpie has a hint of blue with his black and brown feathers.

This year, Sharpie visited a few times a week since Spring and sang to me. It was lovely (except when I was in meetings). I hope he will continue to visit. He’s a reminder of the joy I had as a child petting a little bird’s head - both in the dream world and in real life - and how dreams spoken aloud can come true.

More about dreaming next week!

Until then, wishing you all SWEET dreams.

Nadine