Dream Journey

Say, if you were to delve into a person's mind. Now, what would that look like? What would you see? Would you honestly see red muscly veins like that segment in Jimmy Neutron where he goes into brain blast? I doubt it. The human brain is much more complex than you'd ever think, especially when you begin to truly decipher and analyse how your mind works, picking apart how it's structured, and what truly makes it... well, you?

So, what does it really look like in there? Now, I know that everyone is different, but I can tell you for a fact, that for myself; I see a rather dysfunctional, never-ending connected house, that goes on and on. Many doors; portals, that leads to another room, and each room could be a personality, a wish, a perspective, a belief...

...a fear.

Each with guardian protecting its purpose.

Now, each room has their own characteristics, and it doesn't necessarily need to be a literal room. One of my personalities takes the embodiment of my middle school hallway, with each classroom door leading to another room.

And that’s just a small snippet what’s to come.

Now, what about the deeper spots, darker rooms, that you never thought you’d enter?

Who’s there, waiting for you?

Well, why don’t we take a look.

Do you ever wonder, what goes on within the very depths of your subconscious mind? Why you think a certain way, feel a certain way? Your perceptions, your logic. How everything retains in your head, no matter how old a memory or an idea is, if it’s meaningful, it stays.

Your desires, wishes, fears…

Your imagination.

Everyone is the hero to their own story, literally. You create a scenario in your head which puts you in the spot of the protagonist. Depending on how turbulent you can get, your mind creates cases that go deeper and darker into the very depths of your mind, and before you know it, you’re crying in bed, due to nothing but your own thoughts. Is it overthinking? Is it preparation for a possible future? Or is it just mildly insane that you don’t even understand how you could come up with such a thought?

Or could you be so…

…bored.

Too bored of your current life, or perhaps, you don’t have the luxury of living the dream you truly desire, and because of that, you run away. Into your head, your dreams that may not be real, but might as well be, at this point.

Because damn, wouldn’t you think being a superhero is way cooler than this boring life of constant 9 to 5 work? With a boss, that you solely cannot stand, every moment you spend with them, you could picture yourself picking up that pile of folders in your hand and smacking them in the face with it. And be real, your mind can go much more violent than that, I’m just giving an example.

But crime fighting, being a famous superstar, waking up in a beautiful mansion. It could all be real…

‘In your dreams’.

Hah.

It’s rather funny how people use that statement as an insult. Because the reality is, who doesn’t love dreaming?

Daydreaming, nightmares; the thrill of living a completely different life to the one you’re in now. It’s intense, isn’t it?

But how?

How does your mind create such projections in your head, that truly puts you on the spot?

‘It’s just a dream, it means nothing.’

Is it though?

A wise man once said, “Just because it’s happening in your head, doesn’t mean it isn’t real”.

By the way, that was Dumbledore in the Deathly Hallows.

However, it’s true.

Your dreams don’t mean nothing, they’re a reflection of you, the part of you that was never focal. The part you conceal in reality, and only when you are truly alone, they finally unveil.

The more you think about it, the more you begin to question yourself.

‘Why did I dream of that? What did it mean?’

In fact, it’s crazy to think that you never truly remember your dreams, unless they’re intensity level broke the bar, like that one time, I was being chased by a werewolf, or any zombie apocalypse dream I’ve ever had. But again, every person is different, as specific as it is. I’m sure other people have had zombie dreams before, I’ve asked my friends and majority said yes. But funnily enough, when I asked my dad, who’s just as sporadic and turbulent as myself, he admits he’s never had a zombie dream before. Could it be a millennial thing?

And then, comes to the point where you begin dissecting your dreams, because trust me, I know you do. If you don’t, then why are you still reading this? Are you now interested? Has this been something you’ve never put your mind to? I betcha you’re going to start analysing your dreams after reading this, huh?

Just as I do.

I mean, I’ve been doing this for quite a bit now. And before I knew it, I’ve been becoming even more self-aware every time I fall into slumber. My first time, I remember, was strange; not bad, in fact it was exhilarating. But strange. I stood on the roof; little fact about myself, I find security when I’m on the roof. Staring into the stars, how beautiful it they looked, whether that be in reality or in my subconscious mind. It was my safe have, my sanctuary. Up on the rooftop, I was high enough so that no one could touch me, no one could find me. Whether I’m being chased by zombies, or being hunted by a murderer in my dreams, I would always run towards my rooftop, my secret hiding spot.

So there, I stand, feeling rather woozy for some reason. At this point, I hadn’t even realised I was in a dream. I stare into the night skies, mesmerised at the stars, until I suddenly remember the movie Inception, you know, the one staring Leo DiCaprio. Where he could forge and build within his own dreams, using a device that’s hooks up wires into your brain.

I wondered if you could really do that. Could I control my dreams?

That’s when I realised, I was in one.

And so, I closed my eyes, and leaned forward; falling off the roof.

Normally, when you fall in a dream, it automatically wakes you up. I don’t know if this was just me, but instead of waking up, I felt like I was flying; some invisible force picked me up and threw me, as though a catapult flung my whole body into the sky. I started off falling and ended up flying. It was amazing, like nothing I’ve ever experience before, something my body could never experience if I were to do this in real life.

I plummeted through the air, going faster with each second, and as I flew, the skies around me shifted in a cycle of day and night, over and over again, within the span of minutes. Clouds surrounded me; I felt the coolness of the dewy air over my skin. My visions blurred; I could barely see a thing.

But after time, the clouds began to clear, and I could finally see where I was going. There was land, and a few power poles. Trees. Have I been here before? It all seems too familiar, somehow, somewhere. It looked like; my old home? Gravity was lowering my body down, and to be frank, I was afraid I was going to crash. But just before I hit the ground, my body slowed down. I hovered in the air, but before I could even move, it was as if another slingshot flung me back. As though someone pressed the rewind button, my body flew backwards, I had no control. And at the very end, my body flew up, and my feet landed on the very same rooftop. Back at the start.

Why?

What happened?

Was I afraid? No.

Or was it my subconscious telling me something else?

Maybe I wasn’t ready.

But I had to try again.

And so, I jumped.

Let’s give this another go.

And there I was, falling.

Farther and farther.

Deeper and deeper.

But it was never ending. I didn’t stop falling.

And again, I didn’t know where I was. Clouds surrounded me, and just as they began to clear up, the first thing I see is my rooftop, again, but instead of landing on it, I went through it, and through the ceiling of my bedroom. And there I saw myself fast asleep. I drifted towards myself, as our bodies merged together, becoming one.

And I woke up.

Sitting up, I remembered every bit of it.

Every feeling, the aftermath still simulating my senses.

And let me remind you, this was just the beginning of my dream journey.

To be brutally honest, I have no idea on why I’m writing this her right now, all I wanted was to get my experience out into the world for everyone to know of. To show the deeper depths of the human brain, which a lot of people tend to neglect. People don’t realise that your mindset and perspective; how your mental state can literally change your physical state. Ever notice how your eating habits change depending on how you feel, how you can feel tired despite how much sleep you’re getting, trust me, when I’m sad, I can sleep for over 15 hours, and still feel tired. I haven’t even mentioned placebo.

But in hindsight, it’s intense, especially when digging into the many depths and layers of your mind, and I’m slowly unravelling it.

And just last night, I managed to travel through different sections of my thoughts.

Was not particularly expecting it, but I sure was well aware of it.

And I am slowly developing a method of my own on how to do this on command. Trust me, I’ve tried multiple techniques, realising every mind is different, depending on how complex your brain is. Everyone does things differently, and it’s truly up to you when it comes to developing your own methods. But that doesn’t mean I won’t share mine.

But again, disclaimer here, I am not a professional psychologist, however I have studied it throughout high school and university, so I do have a basic foundation, and some knowledge the science. The descriptions I will be giving you are merely my own experience.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s move along.

For this particular series, there’ll be a number of experiences I’ll describe and depict;

How I entered this state; dream within a dream.

Establishing my dream world; how it’s sectioned into multiple memorable places. For instance, my insecurities have a room, my conflictions, my personalities, etc., and of course, my safe spot. The roof. Each room divided by a door that make up an inconsistent and sporadic house in my mind, in which I use to travel. Remember that scene in Monsters Inc, where Sully, Mike and Randall jumped from door to door? Or how in Brave, when Merida met the witch and her door shifted from her carpentry room to her witch’s lair? Something like that.

Not to mention the different people that inhabit the rooms. Yes, there is a representative whom embody a thought or a perspective. Or in fact just as projections of people I know of in real life, however, they are the version I created them to be. How I see them, and not how they truly are. Like when you love someone, you tend to blur their imperfections, and create this whole persona on how you think they are, or how you want them to be, but obviously, it isn’t like that in reality. A lot of those characters retain in your memories, becoming the foundation of how your personality is structured.

Now each character is a different aspect towards my own psychology, and it was interesting enough having to meet them and talk to them, being fully self-aware.

Not to mention, learn from them.

Funny right? If you made them in your mind, and yet you’re learning from them, wouldn’t that mean you’re just learning from yourself?

Yep.

But wouldn’t that mean you already have the knowledge beforehand? And that it’s just embedded into the characters you yourself created?

Correct.

But then how would you learn from it, if you already have that piece of information stored within your brain?

Again. We’re only aware of the ten percent. The rest does lie within our minds, and yet their inaccessible, until they’re triggered. They’re in our unconscious minds, and gotta give props to my man Sigmund Frued for that piece of information. Like when your heart desires something, and yet, you didn’t even know of it yet. Or even worse, fears something.

Your mind can project and create truly anything you could ever possibly imagine.

So, if at this point, you’re still here, still reading, and haven’t lost interest yet, brace yourself. You’re about to witness a snippet of the depths of my mind;

But through the interpretation of your own thoughts.

Stay tuned.

~cakeywriter