I woke, early this morning, to the sound of torrential rain pounding against the windows. I got up and walked out to the dining room and sat at the table watching the sun slowly rise, illuminating the drops that washed away the remaining snow. It was as if the world was being given a fresh start. It was soothing and it literally sent chills down my spine, as I slowly drank my tea.

The rain kept coming but the rhythm of it changed. It was sometimes loud and furious, but at other times it fell so gently that I had to listen carefully to hear it. That ebbing and flowing reminds me of dreaming.

The dreams that are the thoughts or images that pass through our mind during our sleeping hours can represent a myriad of things (that’s a long discussion for another day). They can inspire us or terrify us, give us hope for the future or have us walking through an entire day in a dark place.

But the dreams that I want to talk about today are the ones that we consciously choose to indulge in when awake. Our dreams can be really spectacular (win the lottery, travel the world), filled with hope (regain my health, know my children are happy), very practical (finish an education, get organized), or aspirational (be a kinder person, volunteer). They’re indicators of what’s important to us. When we allow ourselves to dream we are inviting energy that sets things in motion. Residing below your day-to-day awareness are beautiful dreams that are often squelched for so long that we, sadly, don’t know how to breathe life back into them,

Sometimes my dreams are really big, and sometimes they’re meager, but too often I forget to remember them. I need a reminder that in order to be a dream weaver—to weave these desires into the fabric of my life—I need to ask myself, “If I want to do, believe I should do it, can do it, why don’t I?”

Inside each of us there’s a place that
sometimes rarely sees the light of day.
A place where silenced dreams lay dormant,
waiting for their voices to again be invited to sing.
A place where the child-you yearns to be set free.
A place where everything is possible.

In Les Miserables there’s a song titled “Castle on a Cloud”. It is sung by Cosette, a young girl who’s forced to work as a maid. It’s haunting, but also hopeful, because it’s there that Cosette plays out her dream.
“There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren’t any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.
There is a room that’s full of toys,
There are a hundred boys and girls,
Nobody shouts or talks too loud,
Not in my castle on a cloud.
There is a lady all in white,
Holds me and sings a lullaby,
She’s nice to see and she’s soft to touch,
She says “Cosette, I love you very much.”
I know a place where no one’s lost,
I know a place where no one cries,
Crying at all is not allowed,
Not in my castle on a cloud.”
Like Cosette, we all have dreams. Some of them are very simple, many of them are quite profound, and all of them are worth remembering.

So, I encourage you to keep dreaming
of being your best self,
of kindness to each other,
of a life filled with love and joy, and
of a world filled with peace.

What are your dreams? How can you begin to weave them into your reality?
Kay

Blog: peacefullhome.com
Twitter: @kaymclane
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