Monday, July 19, 2010

Sweet Dreams are Made of These...

I just saw the movie, "Inception" with my family last night, action packed with tons of suspense and odd twists in the story.  It was the first time to see Leo Di Caprio as a daddy, and weird to see the creepy bad guy in "Batman Begins," play a rich businessman you almost want to like.  It was all about dreams, extracting people's dreams and inserting new dreams into people's heads.  All very surreal and at 2 and a half hours long, I enjoyed a pleasant nap half way through to wake up just as confused as I was when I dozed off.   I was entertained, and all the guys in my family liked it a lot, which made me happy to know they were happy.

One thing I couldn't get into was the way they treated dreams as so deep and profound, or the way they made great use of fear in dreams.  I'm just not into fear. I've learned a strange trick to turn my dreams at night to my favor if they get anywhere near scary or bothersome.  If a bullet is flying at me, I am somehow conscious that it isn't real but a dream, and I turn it into a bumblebee or a butterfly.  I force the scary things to become less threatening.  I scold the bad guys and tell them to be ashamed of themselves and watch them slink away with their heads hanging, and the monsters I just may turn into teddy bears having a picnic.  Every time I do that the emotional intensity of the dream just flattens out like someone had popped a balloon. The dream just turns to nonsense or I just wake up.

This all started when I was 7, when I had one of my terrifying recurring nightmares of being pushed off a high cliff.  In mid-air I remembered that I only fall off cliffs in dreams, which meant I could insert whatever I wanted to change my dream.  I placed a huge mattress at the base of the cliff, and then had a lovely time bouncing up and down when I reached the bottom.  The dream faded away pretty quickly after that.

These days I rarely remember a dream at all, and I think it's because my mind nullifies anything disturbing so quickly, that any dreams I might have are completely forgotten the moment I open my eyes.

I don't know if everybody is as aware of the fact that they can control their dreams, but I know all of us can control the fears and irritations we have during our waking hours.  I believe that once we know how to bind up negative attitudes and fears the moment they start to encroach on our thoughts, the easier we can handle the stresses of our daily lives.  For those who would just see this as a psychological trick, you're not going to get very far because psyching yourself out to feel good even when things are going wrong, doesn't change the fact that things are still going wrong!

Using faith to stop evil from harming us does more than give us an emotional sense of peace, but it actually stops concrete problems from happening in very real and practical ways.  There's a kind of stubbornness combined with faith that says just plain "NO YOU DON'T" to any spiritual force that is trying to tempt you with worry or fear or choosing what is wrong. It can become a part of who you are.  It's a faith that says no to the idea that God won't come through for you, no to the idea that if you humble yourself you'll just get hurt, no to the thought that your problems are just too overwhelming.  Faith knows how to put those attacking spirits to shame if you use it, and then the results in real life follow.

I've known various people who said, NO YOU DON'T to cancer, to drugs, to prostitution, to AIDS, to witchcraft, to depression, and are no longer victims of any of them.

You may not be able to turn a bullet into a butterfly, but you sure can turn around an attack on your life into a victory if you just learn how to fight back, and that's even better.

15 comments:

GLP said...

I agree. Strength comes when we decide to fight. When I made the decision to do this my life was nevr the same.

Fran Lewis said...

I never thought about dreams in this way. It's interesting how powerful the mind is and why it's so important to use our faith and not our emotions.

Tania - Queens, NY said...

I know in essence this was not the whole point of the blog, but i never found out how to take control of my dreams. i was told i could once, but i find it impossible. next time, i dream something, hopefully I will be conscious enough to make it into whatever I want it to be :)

Debora Anjos said...

Mrs E! You're an inspiration and I will be just as quick to fight back too, I'm getting there...

Amazing about the turning of dreams, I surely want to learn how to do that. Maybe you can teach us the trick during at the Beach outing.... :)

Nancy-Kenya said...

This is so encouraging. Many take what they dream reality not knowing that they are the ones who hurt themselves by believing in dreams. Instead of allowing dreams drive us, lets put our trust in God for He knows whats good for us or not. Thanks Mrs. Everlyne. Nancy - Kenya

Princess Erika said...

Using our intelligent faith is the only key for us to overcome all our problems and trials that come in our lives.

Erika G said...

Yes! as you said in our girl talk meeting last time Ms.Evelyn. God is bigger than any of those fears.We have to chose to listen to them and go along with them or send them away. We decide. Thats what helped me not live in fear anymore.

Kenia Rivas said...

Hello Mrs.Evelyn,

We have the power to decide when we've had enough of anything negative and by learning to use our faith and fight back, we will be able to turn those situations into positive ones.Thank you for this message Mrs.Evelyn:-)

Sincerely,
Kenia Rivas

Rebeca=) said...

Wow Mrs Evelyn, how cool that you can think of such depth when just beginning with a movie about dreams. But that's too true! We cannot believe the rubbish the devil and situations tell us, we must believe by faith we will overcome! Also i think i wanna see the movie, looks interesting.

Jenjen said...

I saw Inception too, I thought it was brilliant. But what you said about stopping evil from harming us is a big point. One of the things I first learnt when I came to the church was to say NO YOU DON'T to my fear and doubts as I was a certified doubter! using your faith is the only way to have peace of mind.

silindile said...

What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds carefuly along with our faith

missleon said...

There is so much power in our decisions and in our words...more than we realise. This just goes to show that we have the ability and the power to change anything negative in our lives and turn it around for our good.

Betty said...

I am almost the same as you with dreans Mrs Evelyn. There are times that I can't even remember what I dreampt about.Each time I have a bad dream the results always turns out to be good on my side.Now I know why I'm like that because of how I control my mind. It is very powerful to know the mind can do that if we use our faith properly.

Betty
UK

Sibon Phiri said...

I never knew we could control our dreams. That's something new I learned today. I used to be a very fearful and doubtful person but when i decided that enough was enough and that I was going to trust in the word of God and doubt the doubts, I saw changes in myself, my attitude and in my life. It is a constant battle but I am overcoming because I refuse to be a victim of anything negative. Faith is so powerful, it's something we have been blessed with.

Triana ! said...

Wow thankyou
so much and thats very true i agree ... You make a decision nothing can stop you!!!