My Sleep Resolution is My Dream Resolution

The countdown begins…10, 9, 8…is it really almost another new year? 7, 6, 5…wow it went by fast…4, 3, 2,1 and HAPPY NEW YEAR! My alarm goes off. It’s midnight in the year 2022. A whole new year has begun. I grab my notebook and a pen lying next to me and quickly jot down my dream before it’s forgotten. I think I was at a New Year’s party and there were ranch animals wearing party hats. We were inside a small house with giant windows. I remember looking at the moon, which was full and glowing a deep orange hue. We did the New Year’s countdown and then…what happened? I feel groggy. Am I half awake? Or am I half asleep? I smile and yawn, “Un rêve est la moitié d'une réalité,“ A dream is half a reality, my favorite quote that has inspired me since my late teens. I even had it tattooed on me. This year I decided to dive deeper into the dream world, the other reality. Since this was going to be my New Year’s resolution, I thought there would be no better way to kick it off than do just exactly that, dream. So, I prepared for sleep and set my alarm for midnight to awaken in the New Year with a dream. The trick I learned to remember dreams is to wake up during certain brainwaves of sleep. Einstein used to do exactly that. He would hold a metal ball so when he dozed off it would fall and wake him up. He had some of his most insightful dreams and ideas doing this. I didn’t have a metal ball, but I did have an iPhone alarm, which would work just the same. My dogs stirred next to me. Coyotes were howling in the distance and in response they howled back. It was then I remembered the last part of my dream. That’s right! Before I woke up all the ranch animals started howling at the moon once it was midnight and then the scene changed from inside the house to on top of a mountain landscape with fairy lights decorating it as if it was covered in twinkling stars. I noticed I was hungry and looked up at the moon, which had turned into a delicious looking orange ready to be peeled. I floated up to take a bite, but as I got closer the orange grew enormous in size and engulfed me. It was beating as if it was a heart, and I was pulsating with it. I closed my eyes, and all became dark. I was a child in the womb of the Mother Earth. I was warm and comfortable here. I wanted to stay here forever. But then I saw a small bright white light straight ahead. It called to me in angelic song. I felt pulled towards it. The light became brighter and brighter and came closer and closer until I was completely emerged in it. The sound of howling filled my ears. Then I woke up. I finished writing down the last part of my dream, stretched, and nestled deeper into the layers of warm blankets sinking further into the loving embrace of my bed. I yawned. Time to go back to sleep. I would analyze my dream in the morning to figure out what my subconscious was trying to tell me.

I continued to have similar themed dreams of oranges and my rebirth. I wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant, so I went to the expert of dreams, Carl Jung. I bought all the hardcover books and audiobooks I could find of his work. As I started reading and listening, I realized it was not a simple matter of picking up a dream book and using the generic definitions of symbols to understand my dreams. As the month unfolded, I found my answer and it surprised me. I had gotten sick, probably the sickest I had in years, and was left bedridden. From the comfort of my bed, I looked at the orange glow of the full moon remembering my dream from New Year’s and then it hit me, eat more Vitamin C! I started laughing uncontrollably. All those different dreams about oranges. My subconscious knew I was getting sick and was trying to tell help me heal by eating Vitamin C through showcasing my desire to eat an orange in the dream world. The very next morning I ate an entire bag of oranges and felt my body come back to life. With the realization of this part of the dream, I had an even stronger desire to figure out the rest of the dream and its messages. Figuring out one part of my dream opened me up to understanding the rest. The other theme was rebirth. It was talking about my move from the city to the Ranch which was nestled in mountains. It was showing me by choosing an unconventional path that was in alignment with what I wanted, I was creating a new beginning for me. I smiled. I was going to like this New Year’s resolution of mine. Not only was I going to get more sleep, but learn another language (the language of dreams) and in turn learn more about myself by peeling back the layers into the depths of my subconscious to reveal its hidden treasures.