Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Follow Your Dreams


Who's Driving Your Car?


Do your dreams ever make an impression on how you are living your life? I had one the other night that really made me think.

In it, I was parking my husband’s car, two cars behind the one I normally drive, a Jeep. I tapped the bumper of the car parked in front of me, sending my Jeep running off down the street. I got out and ran after it. It wasn’t going that fast, but I was amazed that it wasn’t damaging anything in its way.

When I reached it, it was resting at a standstill on a level street, as though it was waiting for me to climb inside.

In dreams, cars symbolize your life. So it would seem that I am not driving my own life. It is unmanned, driverless, and although it isn’t hurting anyone or anything in its path, it is traveling alone, without me at the wheel.

My life is being driven by my husband’s inconsistent work hours and the unpredictable schedules of my children. Furlough days, early dismissal days, baseball practice that is never at the same time from week to week.

I’m not complaining, mind you. I love everything they are and do.

I’ve learned to work around their schedules. I carry my Nook or projects with me wherever I go. I am never without a book or journal. I’m getting better at juggling. I never stop thinking about writing.

I do have plenty of weaknesses though. Organizational skills. Feeling guilty about taking an occasional Saturday class away from the kids. And more.

I’d really like to drive my own life rather than run after it in a frenzy, watching it roll away without me.

So it would seem that I’ve been internally "running" in my waking life, chasing after the life I’m “supposed” to be driving. I realize now, I can stop running. In my dream, it was when I walked calmly and in the direction I needed to go that I became the driver once again.

What about you? Whose “car” are you driving?


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Read more about dream interpretation at WebMD.

Dreams About Cars: Dream Meanings Explained

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14 comments:

  1. I keep riding a "work" car. I schedule everything I do around undefined work hours. This includes reading and responding to emails from my phone at the grocery store. Sometimes I'm too caught up with things that I don't get to write as much as I want. But like in your dream, I just calm down and gravitate toward more writing in a day. It's a little bit, but a little bit goes a long way.

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    1. I think what you describe is common in our modern, technology-ruled world. But hey, at least you are squeezing in your personal writing time to your satisfaction!

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  2. Wow, this is a beautiful piece, Linda. I really like the realization in the dream that you needed to stop running and walk calmly. Sometimes when we feel we need to go faster, we really need to slow down a little bit. We need to try easier instead of harder.

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    1. Thank you so much for reading, Michelle. I'm not sure I've slowed down since this post. My life has progressed to the "dropsies." (No, I'm not talking about edema or an infectious disease of fishes . . . I'm literally dropping things everyday!) :-D

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  3. I just freed myself from a couple of time eaters that were keeping me from my studio: a part time free lance job, and a volunteer commitment. I had taken on both obligations a few years back for reasons that were valid at the time, - I was desperate for the extra income and I wanted to gain some arts management skills, but they had both simply outlasted their usefulness. I now had the management experience, and I also earn enough from a regular employer so I don't need the extra money. But I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize that it was time to let go of those 2 obligations until I found myself completely frustrated by the fact that my own creative time was taking a "back seat" that I mustered the energy to quit those commitments.

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    1. Good for you! And I see freeing up that time has paid off with your blogging!

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  4. Great piece, Linda! It is important that we feel that we are in some form of control - especially when we aren't!

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    1. Thanks for reading, Carol. Hmmm . . . your comment makes me think of that other post I wrote about control. I think the magic is when we reach a balance of control and letting go.

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  5. In my dreams, I'm often sitting in the backseat of the car, reaching for the steering wheel and trying to control the car. Just the steering wheel; can't even think about the pedals.

    I was talking to someone about dreams not to long ago and she suggested that we try to control our dreams. She told me that if we can learn to deal with the issue while we are dreaming, we can move forward and might not have to deal with that issue in waking life.

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    1. I totally agree and believe in this! I was working on lucid dreaming for a while. I got to the point where I had dreams within dreams, but I never reached the point of controlling the outcome of a dream. I like that idea though.
      Thanks for reading, Gail!

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  6. Wonderful post. I'm on cruise control sometimes - and that's not necessarily a good thing. ~TALU

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    1. Hey, it can be good if you know how to turn off the cruise control when you need to! It sounds meditative.
      Thanks for visiting, Kenya!

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  7. Good post. I wish I knew what car I was driving right now. :-) #TALU

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    1. Hmmm . . . maybe it's good not knowing.
      Thanks for reading, Maegan!

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