I know that dreams are ‘windows into the soul’, but I wish they weren’t so cloudy and distorted. I awoke this morning after a raft of dreams (seconds or hours?) that left me quite anxious and agitated. All I could recall was being on a raft, trying to gather flotsam and material from the water that would help my existence. Nothing was solid and under my control. Nothing remained the same for long. The only constant was that all was in transition.
It didn’t take much thought before I realized that the dream was only reminding me of the oldest truth, one that we all know, but are tempted to deny or ignore: Life is in constant change. By definition, life = change, growth and death. The one must include the other. Nothing stays the same. Whether in stars or microscopic cells, there are beginnings and ends. Things merge, take form, die, break down and build up. Everything is connected and part of the whole, never disappearing but remaining, but never in the same form.
The biggest change, of course, as far as we are concerned, is death, when we transition into what we cannot imagine. As I am increasingly aware of my age, maybe that’s what triggered the dreams. But the dreams reminded me of much more. I might not have been able to stop the change, but I could affect and direct it.
We have the ability to choose how to react, how to change those inevitable changes into transitions. As long as we are conscious, we can make choices that will affect the totality. To love or not. To hoard or to share. To trust or to fear. To laugh or to cry. These things are within our control, no matter what is happening. And these things are more important than anything else. They define who we are, and what we leave behind after this life. How we use our lives is completely within our power. What a shame it is that we usually are so concerned with the ‘stuff’ in our lives that we ignore that which is by far the most important.
My dream was fraught with anxiety. In them I was frantically searching for what best fitted my situation. Too often our lives are like that, ruled by fears of making the wrong stuff choices. How easy it is to live that way. Instead of accepting our lives as transitory and joyfully exploring the possibilities of fullness and love that are constantly before us, no matter our age or circumstance. How can I grow more today? How can I give more today?
Today? A new day. My body is one day older. My mind has twenty-four hours of more experiences. What will I do? Firstly, I think I’ll write about it. Thanks for letting me share it with you.
Anthony, just trying to see through the window more clearly.
