It’s 2017, Do You Know What Your Dreams Are?
BY DEBBBY CARROLL
New Year’s resolutions are often promises we make to ourselves and later break, thereby invalidating the deal we made. Is that any way to start a new year? Or to start anything for that matter, with the likelihood we won’t make good on our vow?
I say we throw the resolutions out the window and start off with something guaranteed to bring us joy. Dreams.
Dreams can represent the stories we tell ourselves, the aspirations and fears we embrace, or the goals we set. They come in the night, creeping in without notice, and they fade just as quickly, like stardust. If we try to capture them, we often fail, as 95% of all dreams go unremembered.
But what if this year we begin by allowing our dreams to see the light of day? What if we take some time to consciously address the things previously left to our subconscious? What if we take the time to dream while we are awake?
My grandson goes to sleep each night after his bedtime story with this routine line up of activities. He announces them loudly to anyone putting him down, “Lay Down, Dream Starter, Song.”
By that he means first you must lay down with him, then you discuss his “dream starter,” and then you sing. The order changes but the components don’t. The “dream starter” can be one of two things. Either you begin describing, with his input, what he might dream about that night, “Tonight I’m going to dream about playing with my friend Frank,” or for variety you can describe what he’ll say when he wakes up in the morning. “When I wake up in the morning I’m going to run into Mommy and Daddy’s room and say ‘I had the best dream; I dreamt about eating chocolate cake with my baby brother.’”
My suggestion is that we all start this year by introducing dream starters to our bedtime routine. Take a few moments, just before you go to sleep to will yourself to dream about your hopes for this year. What would you like to do that you haven’t done before? Or that you did a while back and then forgot how much fun it was so you let it go? What are the things you’ve left out of your life for a variety of reasons but you’d like to do them while you still have time? Places to go? People to see? Hobbies to try? Challenges to take on?
Invite yourself to dream. It’s good for the body, the mind, the heart, and the soul. Start your own dreams. Who knows? You may even be able to make one of them come true once you’ve identified it. Even if you don’t, letting dreams come to your conscious mind can bring you a few moments of hope with no broken promises!
From all of us at GRAND to all of you, here’s a wish for a new year that makes dreams part of your reality. Happy New Year.
About Debby Carroll
Debby Carroll is Avery’s Grammy and the Director of Strategic Development for GRAND. Upon discovering how outdated the images of grandparents were in the children’s books she read to Avery, she decided to write a new one on behalf of fabulous, real grandparents everywhere. Real Grands: From A to Z, Everything a Grandparent Can Be is available on Amazon here
