I realize that I start a lot of our conversations with the phrase: "I'm one of those people, who ..." Interestingly, considering that we are all individuals, it's funny how so many of our characteristics fall into predictable categories. Anyway, I'm one of those people who . . . doesn't remember their dreams. I know that I have them, they aren't particularly scary or prescient, and they generally aren't recurring or cathartic. Or so I think, because (if you're following along) I'm one of those people who doesn't remember their dreams.
I recently had this dream, and though I don't remember the story-line or circumstances, I do remember that in the dream I told someone that I had cancer. They say that:
One widely held theory about the purpose of dreams is that they help you store important memories and things you've learned, get rid of unimportant memories, and sort through complicated thoughts and feelings. Research shows that sleep helps store memories.
Some folks think that dreams are things that our brain makes up - especially the more exotic or fanciful. I mean, how often have you have a dream about some action or circumstance that is so impossible it couldn't possibly be true (for those 'dream rememberers' among you). If there is any truth to this line of thinking, and my cancer was something that I made up in my brain (like any other fantasy concoction), then it couldn't have possibly been real.
Well we all know that it is very real. And science would support that its occurrence in my dreaming state would validate that reality. So ergo - my cancer must be real because I dreamt about it. I acknowledge that this logic is all a bit convoluted (hey, these can't all be Shakespeare), and between my dream state and my ongoing chemo-addled state, it's uncertain what craziness is going on inside my grey matter. But its presence in my dreams demonstrates that my cancer has become another story-line in my life. Dealt with during the realities of my waking life, and managed during the role of my dreaming life. I'm not really sure what it all means (if anything), but I have been encouraged to write about the things that happen to me, and this one stood out as a shareable moment.
