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Essay on My Dream

List of essays on my dream in english, essay on my dream – essay 1 (100 words), essay on my dream – essay 2 (250 words), essay on my dream to become a soldier – essay 3 (300 words), essay on my dream and fears – essay 4 (300 words), essay on my dream life – essay 5 (400 words), essay on my dream to become a doctor – essay 6 (400 words), essay on my dream – essay 7 (750 words), essay on my dream – essay 8 (1000 words).

Every night I dream of living a life of a celebrity. In my dream I see myself dressed up like a model posing for cameras. It is my dream to work in the film industry and become famous. But, for that, I will have to work really hard. My mother always tells me to concentrate on studies and live up to the dream of becoming a model. My father also supports me and he says that he believes in me. Once he told me that I should help others and be in good books of the people to win their heart as it will help me make my dream come true.

Every day I like to take some time aside from my responsibilities to think about my dreams and all the goals I want to achieve. My dream is to become a successful businessman. Business is something that has always intrigued me. As my father is a businessman, since childhood, I had this keen interest to be a part of or to lead a business.

Only having a dream won’t help, I also need to work towards the achievement of my dream. As doing business is not as easy as it seems, first I need to understand the basics of what business actually is. This will the first step towards my dream. So after completing my intermediary, I have enrolled myself in a reputed college to do my Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA). After completing BBA, I will also do my Masters in Business Administration. By then I will have gained the complete knowledge on business and its functioning which will help me reach my dream.

Apart from the theoretical part, I can always count on my father to share with me the practical experiences and advices that will help me shape my dream. This will take me closer to my dream of becoming a successful businessman. I have also started reading magazines about successful businessmen and their success stories in order to gain some idea that will help me in the long. I will put the best of my efforts and work hard towards achieving my dream.

Introduction:

My dream to become a Soldier started on an Army Day (January 15th), when I was still in High School. I witnessed the tribute paid to martyred soldiers at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in India Gate. It was followed by parades displaying Tanks, Missiles, and War Helicopters etc. The impression I received that day motivates me to realise my dream to become a Soldier.

Love of a Soldier:

The history of Indian independence and the life of freedom fighters has always fascinated me. Those who were responsible for the air of freedom we breathe today, loved our motherland and dedicated their lives to its well-being. These seeds in me have developed a sense of love for the country. It has also nurtured my dream to become a soldier and safeguard it.

Spirit of a Soldier:

Apart from academics, I started to collect all details about how to realise my dream to become a Soldier. I began to understand the values that inspire a Soldier to willingly face challenges and responsibly safeguard the nation even at the cost of his own life. This inspired me to study well and keep myself fit to achieve my dream to become a Soldier.

Training of a Soldier:

I also understood about the training before service. The feeling of pride and mutual loyalty is imbibed among the trainees. They are also trained to willing sacrifice for the country’s honour, with a do or die spirit. A sense of fearlessness, fairness and honesty are inculcated during the disciplined training. These components further kindled my dream to become a Soldier.

Lifestyle of a Soldier:

On the one hand, the soldier’s life is a life of self-sacrifice. On the other hand, the lifestyle it offers far exceeds my expectation, and fuels my dream to become a Soldier. Opportunities to advance in ranks, paid study holidays, subsidized housing, free medical coverage and recreational facilities are provided, apart from regular salary and perks. Lifelong pension is awarded after retirement.

Conclusion:

Many young people in the country offer the time of their life to work for big Corporates. But, I am here to pursue my dream to become a Soldier and dedicate my life to the welfare of the nation. I often encourage my friends to follow my dream to become a Soldier, at least for a short service tenure ranging from 10 to 14 years.

At a very early age, my dream was to do something big in life. But along with that I still had some fears also. I want to have a successful career, and for this, I had set an aim. It is quite essential for everybody to get them to establish professionally and successfully. Besides this, few other dreams are also necessary for me like health, relationships, and many different aspects of life. However, I also fear to get fail in achieving all these targets.

Career Dream and Fear:

When I was a kid, my dream was to become a doctor. But during my growing age, the Bollywood industry fascinated me and then my dream of becoming doctor changed to an actor. When I passed my class 12 th , the only goal that hit my mind was becoming an engineer. I always fear of dreaming about big things, but if you have potential then, you can achieve anything in life.

Dream and Fear of Health and Fitness:

When I was young, I was not so much concerned about my health. But now I realized the importance of having good health. My dream of becoming fit and healthy was only achieved due to strong willpower and eagerness of doing regular exercise. With this thought, I managed to lose around 15 kg easily. Now, I don’t fear about eating any food as I compensate that with my daily workout.

Dreams and fear about the relationship:

There is a special place of relationships in my life, and sometimes I fear about losing the important people in my life. But, now I realize that instead of thinking negative, we should try to spend more time with the people. It is as essential as my dream of good career.

Thinking only about the career and success with the little amount of fear might not offer you complete happiness later. It is good to become serious about your career, but you should also try to overcome any fear for a more successful life ahead.

Life is a dynamic process that has its ups and downs. Juggling the disparities of life can be very stressful at times and that is why you get your mind wondering in thoughts. Most thoughts are usually based on what people desire, which we call the dream life. The desires in life may not always be achieved but it is good to have a picture or at least an idea of the kind of life on desires to have. In America, people have the American dream but you as an individual should ask yourself; what is your dream life?

How my dream life looks like:

Socially, I have always imagined myself being a very influential person in my society. Currently in school, I always have the urge to influence someone but I still lack the confidence and resources to do so. I have always wanted to travel the world and explore different cultures of the world through interactions with people. I also imagine of having a great family with whom I can travel the world with.

Career-wise, I want to work at the comfort of my own home and be flexible so that I can always have time for my family. Spiritually, I have a desire to always be in good terms with God and follow the doctrines of my religion.

Economically, I want to be self-actualized at an early age so that I can focus on my influential personality, having all the resources I need. I want to be satisfied with what I will have achieved and work on living a happy life.

How I plan on living my dream life?

Living the dream life can begin any time that you chose to be as an individual. For my dream life, the things that I can achieve while still at school is the ability to have a spiritual wellness and flowing the doctrines of my religion. I can also start learning to appreciate whatever I have and living a happy life.

For the desires that I cannot achieve at the moment, I will work towards achieving them by shaping and redirecting the pathway. For example, my career, I will pursue something in the university that will allow me to work from home without necessarily going to work.

A dream life is basically the desired of one’s heart inform of an imagination. A dream life does not affect the reality in any way.

A dream is something that helps you to mold your future and aim your life to an appropriate goal. Dreaming big will help us to work for it harder and finally achieve it. Without desire and aim in life, we cannot focus and work hard to fulfill our dream.

My Dream to become a Doctor:

The biggest dream of my life is to become a doctor. I have seen many doctors, who save other people’s lives and they feel happy in the satisfaction they get through this activity. I want to be a doctor, who will serve good for this society and help poor to get good medical care without expecting big money in return.

Doctors are respected in all places and among all types of society. In spite of being different in many things like wealth, religion, etc., everyone will be in need of the best doctor to treat them honestly. I dream of being one such doctor to whom anyone can come without any doubt and fear of being tricked.

I don’t want to be a doctor who just works for money. I want to help others who can’t afford big budget treatments and choose their fate due to their lack of money. When a person is cured of their illness, the smile that appears on their face will be the greatest reward I will ever get. My dream is to become a doctor, who is praised for the kindness and get rewards through others blessings.

How to become a Doctor?

To get the admissions in a medical seat is not that easy. But I will work hard and crack the competitive exam to get a merit seat in the college. I will work hard from the beginning to end to improve my knowledge and keep updated about every upcoming and ongoing development.

I would like to choose the specialization when I can actually decide which one will suit my desire. I have an aim to serve the people in their needs and once I grow big enough to decide the correct career to fulfill my dream, I will work harder to achieve that as well.

After achieving My Dream:

Once I complete my whole medical courses I would be looking to practice in a well-reputed hospital to perfect my job. With this perfection I will start my own clinic and serve people for the rest of my life along with this I will help other students also to get trained to become a good doctor. I will make sure that my dream will come true at the best time.

We all have some sort of ambition or dream. My dream is to become a world class chef. Dreams play a very important role in moulding our future. There is a saying that “if you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it”. This saying implies that if you can work hard and put in your best to achieving your dream, it is very possible to live your dream. Working hard to achieve ones dream is easier said than done but if you put in your best effort and never give up, dreams are achievable.

In the path of achieving my dream, it is important that I take one step at a time. Even if I have a very big dream of becoming a word class chef, it is best for me to take steady and small steps by setting both long term and short term goals, by doing this, I am always working towards achieving my dream. When I take one step at a time, it helps not to rush into decisions and take things easy.

I know becoming a world class chef is not very easy and can only happen if complete and proper training from a very reputable institute and there isn’t much I can do at the moment to speed up the realisation of my dream since I am still in school. However, I still do my best to set my dream rolling, I follow a lot of cooking websites and blogs, watch cooking shows, read culinary books and I practice my cooking to sharpen my skills every time. These are all little steps I am taking towards achieving my dream. Though my goal is to become a world class chef, I have small goals in place for each month and year to come so that I can reach my dream.

A major hindrance to achieving my set goals and my dream is the lack of inadequacy of motivation. A lot of people have given up their goals and dreams just because they got tired on the way. It is extremely important to remain motivated and only stop is when the dream has been achieved. Highlighted below are some useful tips that I have used to keep myself motivated on the journey to reaching my dream:

i. Anytime I see that I am running out of drive and energy and I am becoming too tired to stick to my set goals, I try to remind myself of what my dream is and the feeling of pride and joy I will experience when I achieve it and become a world class chef. It feels like pressing a reset button and starting with a refreshed mind again and working harder towards achieving my dream.

ii. Long term goals and short term goals are set towards the ultimate goal of achieving my dream and as I reach these short term goals, I try to reward myself for my achievement. The reward can vary from eating dinner at my favourite restaurant or buying myself a new phone I wanted or going out with my friends. Rewarding myself is a very good way to remain motivated towards the achievements of my goals and ultimately my dream.

iii. When I work too much and have no time to relax and play, my productivity drops and I become dull. Therefore, it is a good idea to have some time for myself away from work to focus on something fun that I love. I find time in my schedule every day to engage in some form of leisure activity or sport.

iv. Having people who believes in my dream and support my goals around me makes all the difference. Having positive people helps me find the strength and courage to push on and not give up on my dream. They motivate me to work hard and do the best to achieve my goals and my dream.

v. A mistake is nothing more than an experience and an opportunity to try again and do things much better. So, instead of getting heartbroken and disheartened to the point of wanting to give up on my goals and dream when I face a tough time or make mistakes, I learn from the mistakes and move on as the tough times and mistakes make me a lot stronger.

I will keep working hard towards achieving my dream and I believe that I will become a world class chef one day.

Who in this world does not have a dream? A dream to buy a car, a dream to be a scientist, a dream to do something for the society, or just a dream to live a life with contentment. Something or the other, but surely every person has a dream. It is this dream that drives you to work hard, achieve your milestones and ride towards success in your life. Success need not be becoming the wealthiest person on the earth. Achieving even your smallest dream can be a huge success for you. Since childhood, you come across various fields which often you think of as your ultimate targets. However, most of them are just fantasies and fade away with time. Still, there are some things which just stick on to your minds and these very things eventually go on to be your dreams.

My Dream – My Passion:

Like others, even I have a dream. My dream is to join the intelligence unit of the country and serve my country with pride. Usually, in order to serve the country, people think of joining the armed forces. However, I have a different point of view. I dream to join the intelligence unit and provide inputs to these armed forces so that they can protect the country in a good way and not many lives are lost fight battles with our neighbours.

Where did it all start?

Since my childhood, I have been fascinated by the role of intelligence and the methods of work they are used to. I had got a chance to be with a couple of people early in my life who were in the same field and it is from here that I got so much stuck up with this profession that I have dreamt day and night to be a part of this elite team. Moreover, I feel that I have it in me to research about things as well as people and am known in my circles to extract information from nowhere. I feel that this talent of mine can prove helpful for the country as well. Intelligence plays a crucial role in the security establishment of the country. The inputs gathered from intelligence units help the government and the forces to plan their steps both at diplomatic and at the level of securing the borders.

Another thing which excites me about this dream is that it is not a conventional field such as common occupations which are sought after by most of the youth of our country. Another very important thing to mention here that you need not formally join the intelligence to realise this dream. By keeping a check on your surroundings and providing proper information to the police in case you notice an unfavourable incident is also a form of your contribution to the security agencies of the country. If everyone remains active, a lot many incidents such as terrorist attacks can be averted.

Why having a dream is so important?

Dreams are very important for everyone. Without dreams, there will be no desire to pursue. There will be no objective to reach. We will all be nothing without dreams. Not having dreams resembles pursuing a traceless homicide. It resembles following an undetectable shadow. It is a loathsome goose pursue. We should comprehend what we need to do and pursue that desire.

A great many people have dreams. Successful ones or little ones. Indeed, even the best individuals had dreams and that is the thing that has made them what they are today. Envisioning is basic for a person. Without dreams, you will lose enthusiasm forever lastly prefer not to live. You will be exhausted and tired of the equivalent dull schedules of your everyday life and won’t discover an enthusiasm for the most energizing things. Just with dreams, will you discover a reason to carry on with your life? You will begin buckling down towards the fantasy and will never lose enthusiasm forever. You will never tire and dependably be spurred. This is the most ideal approach to end up effective. So, dream and dream big. It is the only way to achieve contentment in life.

Be that as it may, with dreams, comes extraordinary duty. It is not just sufficient to dream and disregard that fantasy. Numerous individuals dream, however just some wake up and work for it.

It is basic to buckle down for your fantasies. Without this diligent work, a fantasy will just remain a craving in the subliminal personality and will never be accomplished.

On the off chance that you don’t have a fantasy, you can never appreciate the extravagances of life or all that life brings to the table. You will never feel that delighted sentiment of accomplishment. You will never get pride in what you do and what you have accomplished. Every one of these things is vital for people and without these emotions, there is no inspiration.

In the event that you don’t have inspiration, you will be a disappointment throughout everyday life. You won’t have the capacity to accomplish those objectives and will have a hopeless existence. You will never appreciate the extravagances of life and you will never feel glad. You will be a disappointment and you will be nothing throughout everyday life. We should go that additional mile to achieve our objectives. Disappointments may come, however a state of mind to continue proceeding onward and attempting to enhance is completely accomplished by dreams. Dreams are the fuel that continues invigorating you to go further. Regardless of whether there are numerous snags throughout everyday life, you will, in general, continue moving further and attempting to be superior to anything your identity. Consistent and endless enhancement is extremely imperative in advancing throughout everyday life. It improves your identity and furthermore whatever you need to advance in. It causes you to gain from your missteps

Only having career objectives and succeeding professionally can disregard you after one point throughout everyday life. Work as constantly to accomplish these as you do to understand your ultimate dreams. Having a dream is not important. What is important is striving continuously to achieving it. The sense of satisfaction you acquire once you have attained your goals cannot be explained in words and has no alternative in life. So, strive hard and live your dreams. Who knows, what is there in store for you?

Ambition , Doctor , Dreams , Goal , My Dream , Soldier

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Essays About Dreams In Life: 14 Examples And Topic Ideas

Dreams in life are necessary; if you are writing essays about dreams in life, you can read these essay examples and topic ideas to get started.

Everyone has a dream – a big one or even a small one. Even the most successful people had dreams before becoming who they are today. Having a dream is like having a purpose in life; you will start working hard to reach your dream and never lose interest in life.

Without hard work, you can never turn a dream into a reality; it will only remain a desire. Level up your essay writing skills by reading our essays about dreams in life examples and prompts and start writing an inspiring essay today!

Writing About Dreams: A Guide

Essays about dreams in life: example essays, 1. chase your dreams: the best advice i ever got by michelle colon-johnson, 2. my dream, my future by deborah massey, 3. the pursuit of dreams by christine nishiyama, 4. my dreams and ambitions by kathy benson, 5. turning big dreams into reality by shyam gokarn, 6. my hopes and dreams by celia robinson, 7. always pursue your dreams – no matter what happens by steve bloom, 8. why do we dream by james roland, 9. bad dreams by eli goldstone, 10. why your brain needs to dream by matthew walker, 11. dreams by hedy marks, 12. do dreams really mean anything by david b. feldman, 13. how to control your dreams by serena alagappan, 14. the sunday essay: my dreams on antidepressants by ashleigh young, essays about dreams in life essay topics, 1. what is a dream, 2. what are your dreams in life, 3. why are dreams important in life, 4. what are the reasons for a person to dream big, 5. what do you think about dreams in life vs. short-term sacrifice, 6. what is the purpose of dreaming, 7. why are dreams so strange and vivid, 8. why do dreams feel so real, 9. why are dreams so hard to remember, 10. do dreams mean anything, what is a dream short essay, how can i write my dream in life.

Writing about dreams is an excellent topic for essays, brainstorming new topic ideas for fiction stories, or just as a creative outlet. We all have dreams, whether in our sleep, during the day, or even while walking on a sunny day. Some of the best ways to begin writing about a topic are by reading examples and using a helpful prompt to get started. Check out our guide to writing about dreams and begin mastering the art of writing today!

“Everyone has the ability to dream, but not everyone has the willingness to truly chase their dreams. When people aren’t living their dreams they often have limited belief systems. They believe that their current circumstances and/or surroundings are keeping them from achieving the things they want to do in life.”

In her essay, author Michelle Colon-Johnson encourages her readers to develop a mindset that will let them chase their dreams. So, you have to visualize your dream, manifest it, and start your journey towards it! Check out these essays about dreams and sleep .

“At the time when I have my job and something to make them feel so proud of me, I would like to give them the best life. I would like to make them feel comfortable and see sweet smiles on their faces. This is really the one I like to achieve in my life; mountains of words can’t explain how much I love and appreciate them.”

Author Deborah Massey’s essay talks about her dreams and everything she wanted to achieve and accomplish in her life. She also tells us that we must live our values, pursue our dreams, and follow our passions for the best future.

“Fast-forward 5+ years, and my first published book is coming out this May with Scholastic. And now, let me tell you the truth: I don’t feel any different. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity, proud of the work I’ve done, and excited for the book’s release. But on a fundamental level, I feel the same.”

In her essay, author Christine Nishiyama shares what she felt when she first achieved one of her goals in life. She says that with this mindset, you will never feel the satisfaction of achieving your goal or the fulfillment of reaching your dream. Instead, she believes that what fulfills people is the pursuit of their dreams in life.

“My dream is to become a good plastic surgeon and day after day it has transformed into an ambition which I want to move towards. I do not want to be famous, but just good enough to have my own clinic and work for a very successful hospital. Many people think that becoming a doctor is difficult, and I know that takes many years of preparation, but anyone can achieve it if they have determination.”

Author Kathy Benson’s essay narrates her life – all the things and struggles she has been through in pursuing her dreams in life. Yet, no matter how hard the situation gets, she always convinces herself not to give up, hoping her dreams will come true one day. She believes that with determination and commitment, anyone can achieve their dreams and goals in life. 

“I have always been a big dreamer and involved in acting upon it. Though, many times I failed, I continued to dream big and act. As long as I recollect, I always had such wild visions and fantasies of thinking, planning, and acting to achieve great things in life. But, as anyone can observe, there are many people, who think and work in that aspect.”

In his essay, author Shyam Gokarn explains why having a big dream is very important in a person’s life. However, he believes that the problem with some people is that they never hold tight to their dreams, even if they can turn them into reality. As a result, they tend to easily give up on their dreams and even stop trying instead of persevering through the pain and anguish of another failure.

“When I was younger, I’ve always had a fairytale-like dream about my future. To marry my prince, have a Fairy Godmother, be a princess… But now, all of that has changed. I’ve realized how hard life is now; that life cannot be like a fairy tale. What you want can’t happen just like that.”

Celia Robinson’s essay talks about her dream since she was a child. Unfortunately, as we grow old, there’s no “Fairy Godmother” that would help us when things get tough. Everyone wants to succeed in the future, but we have to work hard to achieve our dreams and goals.

“Take writing for example. I’ve wanted to be a professional writer since I was a little boy, but I was too scared that I wouldn’t be any good at it. But several years ago I started pursuing this dream despite knowing how difficult it might be. I fully realize I may not make it, but I’m completely fine with that. At least I tried which is more than most people can say.”

In his essay, author Steve Bloom encourages his readers always to pursue their dreams no matter what happens. He asks, “Would you rather pursue them and fail or never try?”. He believes that it’s always better to try and fail than look back and wonder what might have been. Stop thinking that failure or success is the only end goal for pursuing your dreams. Instead, think of it as a long journey where all the experiences you get along the way are just as important as reaching the end goal.

“Dreams are hallucinations that occur during certain stages of sleep. They’re strongest during REM sleep, or the rapid eye movement stage, when you may be less likely to recall your dream. Much is known about the role of sleep in regulating our metabolism, blood pressure, brain function, and other aspects of health. But it’s been harder for researchers to explain the role of dreams. When you’re awake, your thoughts have a certain logic to them. When you sleep, your brain is still active, but your thoughts or dreams often make little or no sense.”

Author James Roland’s essay explains the purpose of having dreams and the factors that can influence our dreams. He also mentioned some of the reasons that cause nightmares. Debra Sullivan, a nurse educator, medically reviews his essay. Sullivan’s expertise includes cardiology, psoriasis/dermatology, pediatrics, and alternative medicine. For more, you can also see these articles about sleep .

“The first time I experienced sleep paralysis and recognised it for what it was I was a student. I had been taking MDMA and listening to Django Reinhardt. My memories of that time are mainly of taking drugs and listening to Django Reinhardt. When I woke up I was in my paralysed body. I was there, inside it. I was inside my leaden wrists, my ribcage, the thick dead roots of my hair, the bandages of skin. This time the hallucinations were auditory. I could hear someone being beaten outside my door. They were screaming for help. And I could do nothing but lie there, locked inside my body . . . whatever bit of me is not my body. That is the bit that exists, by itself, at night.”

In her essay, Author Eli Goldstone talks about her suffering from bad dreams ever since childhood. She also talks about what she feels every time she has sleep paralysis – a feeling of being conscious but unable to move.

“We often hear stories of people who’ve learned from their dreams or been inspired by them. Think of Paul McCartney’s story of how his hit song “Yesterday” came to him in a dream or of Mendeleev’s dream-inspired construction of the periodic table of elements. But, while many of us may feel that our dreams have special meaning or a useful purpose, science has been more skeptical of that claim. Instead of being harbingers of creativity or some kind of message from our unconscious, some scientists have considered dreaming to being an unintended consequence of sleep—a byproduct of evolution without benefit.”

Author Matthew Walker, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, shares some interesting facts about dreams in his essay. According to research, dreaming is more than just a byproduct of sleep; it also serves essential functions in our well-being. 

“Dreams are basically stories and images that our mind creates while we sleep. They can be vivid. They can make you feel happy, sad, or scared. And they may seem confusing or perfectly rational. Dreams can happen at any time during sleep. But you have your most vivid dreams during a phase called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when your brain is most active. Some experts say we dream at least four to six times a night.”

In his essay, Author Hedy Marks discusses everything we need to know about dreams in detail – from defining a dream to tips that may help us remember our dreams. Hedy Marks is an Assistant Managing Editor at WebMD , and Carol DerSarkissian, a board-certified emergency physician, medically reviews his essay.

“Regardless of whether dreams foretell the future, allow us to commune with the divine, or simply provide a better understanding of ourselves, the process of analyzing them has always been highly symbolic. To understand the meaning of dreams, we must interpret them as if they were written in a secret code. A quick search of an online dream dictionary will tell you that haunted houses symbolize “unfinished emotional business,” dimly lit lamps mean you’re “feeling overwhelmed by emotional issues,” a feast indicates “a lack of balance in your life,” and garages symbolize a feeling of “lacking direction or guidance in achieving your goals.” 

Author David B. Feldman, an author, speaker, and professor of counseling psychology, believes that dreams may not mean anything, but they tell us something about our emotions. In other words, if you’ve been suffering from a series of bad dreams, it could be worth checking in with yourself to see how you’ve been feeling and perhaps consider whether there’s anything you can do to improve your mood.

“Ever wish you could ice skate across a winter sky, catching crumbs of gingerbread, like flakes of snow, on your tongue? How about conquering a monster in a nightmare, bouncing between mountain peaks, walking through walls, or reading minds? Have you ever longed to hold the hand of someone you loved and lost? If you want to fulfill your fantasies, or even face your fears, you might want to try taking some control of your dreams (try being the operative). People practiced in lucid dreaming—the phenomenon of being aware that you are dreaming while you are asleep—claim that the experience allows adventure, self-discovery, and euphoric joy.”

In her essay, Author Serena Alagappan talks about lucid dreams – a type of dream where a person becomes conscious during a dream. She also talked about ways to control our dreams, such as keeping a journal, reciting mantras before bed, and believing we can. However, not everyone will be able to control their dreams because the levels of lucidity and control differ significantly between individuals.

“There was a period of six months when I tried to go off my medication – a slowly unfolding disaster – and I’d thought my dreams might settle down. Instead, they grew more deranged. Even now I think of the dream in which I was using a cigarette lighter to melt my own father, who had assumed the form of a large candle. I’ve since learned that, apart from more research being needed, this was probably a case of “REM rebound”. When you stop taking the medication, you’ll likely get a lot more REM sleep than you were getting before. In simple terms, your brain goes on a dreaming frenzy, amping up the detail.”

Author Ashleigh Young’s essay informs us how some medications, such as antidepressants, affect our dreams based on her own life experience. She said, “I’ve tried not to dwell too much on my dreams. Yes, they are vivid and sometimes truly gruesome, full of chaotic, unfathomable violence, but weird nights seemed a reasonable price to pay for the bearable days that SSRIs have helped me to have.” 

In simple terms, a dream is a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal; is it the same as your goal in life? In your essay, explore this topic and state your opinion about what the word “dream” means to you.

This is an excellent topic for your statement or “about me” essay. Where do you see yourself in the next ten years? Do you have a career plan? If you still haven’t thought about it, maybe it’s time to start thinking about your future.

Having dreams is very important in a person’s life; it motivates, inspires, and helps you achieve any goal that you have in mind. Without dreams, we would feel lost – having no purpose in life. Therefore, in your essay, you should be able to explain to your readers how important it is to have a dream or ambition in life. 

Dreaming big sounds great; however, it’s easier said than done. First, you’ve got to have reasons to dream big, which will motivate you to achieve your goals in life. If you’re writing an essay about dreams in life, mention why most people dare to dream big and achieve more in life. Is it about freedom, money, praise from other people, satisfaction, or something else entirely?

For example, you could watch movies, play video games, relax every night, or give up all of them to learn a complex skill – what would you choose, and why? In your essay about dreams in life, answer the question and include other examples about this topic so your readers can relate.

There are many answers to this question – one is that dreams may have an evolutionary function, testing us in scenarios crucial to our survival. Dreams may also reduce the severity of emotional trauma. On the other hand, some researchers say dreams have no purpose or meaning, while some say we need dreams for physical and mental health. Take a closer look at this topic, and include what you find in your essay.

Weird dreams could result from anxiety, stress, or sleep deprivation. So, manage your stress levels, and stick to a sleep routine to stop having weird dreams. If you wake up from a weird dream, you can fall back asleep using deep breaths or any relaxing activity. You can research other causes of weird dreams and ways to stop yourself from having them for your essay about dreams and sleep.

The same areas of the brain that are active when we learn and process information in the actual world are active when we dream, and they replay the information as we sleep. Many things we see, hear, and feel in our everyday lives appear in our dreams. If you want to write an informative essay about dreams and sleep, look into more details about this topic.

Tip: When editing for grammar, we also recommend taking the time to improve the readability score of a piece of writing before publishing or submitting it.

People may not remember what happened in their dreams. Studies show that people tend to forget their dreams due to the changing levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine during sleep. This will be quite an exciting topic for your readers because many people can relate. That being said, research more information about this topic, and discuss it in detail in your essay. 

Although some people believe that dreams don’t mean anything, many psychologists and other experts have theorized about the deeper meaning of dreams. Therefore, your essay about dreams and sleep should delve deeper into this topic. If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our round-up of essay topics about education .

FAQS on Essays About Dreams in Life

There are many great short essays about dreams; you can write your own too! Some great examples include Do Dreams Really Mean Anything? by David B. Feldman and  Dreams by Hedy Marks.

Writing about your dreams in life is a fantastic creative outlet and can even help you plan your future. Use a prompt to get started, like “What are your dreams in life?” or “What do you aspire to be in ten years?” and begin writing without thinking too much about it. See where the pen takes you and start mapping out your future with this writing exercise.

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

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Seven brilliant student essays on your wildest dreams for 2020.

Read winning essays from our spring 2020 student writing contest.

For the spring 2020 student writing contest, we invited students to read the YES! article “ Alicia Garza: How to Prepare for 2020 ” by Kate Werning. Alicia Garza, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter offered this advice, “Clarity inside of chaos can help us find direction when it seems like everything around us is unstable.” Lots of things may keep students up at night or make them anxious. Students wrote about what they might accomplish in their wildest dreams for themselves or for this nation—and the steps they would take to make this vision a reality.

THE WINNERS

From the hundreds of essays written, these seven were chosen as winners. Be sure to read the author’s response to the essay winners and literary gems that caught our eye.

You can hear four students read their winning essays on the Irresistible podcast. Be prepared to be inspired! Thank you to author and Irresistible’s founding director Kate Werning for sharing these powerful stories.

Middle School Winner: Theo Cooksey

High School Winner: Kira Walter

University Winner: Athina Amanor

Powerful Voice Winner: Sary Barrios

Powerful Voice Winner: Avery Chase

Powerful Voice Winner: Daniel Cook

“Can I Dream?” Winner: Maitreya Motel

From the author Kate Werning: Response to Essay Winners

Literary gems, middle school winner.

Theo Cooksey

Brier Middle School, Brier, Wash.

Looking Back to Move Forward

I’ve never really looked at long-term goals for myself, as Alicia Garza suggests in the YES! article “How to Prepare for 2020” by Kate Werning. Other than my goal of reaching Eagle Scout before I turn 18, I tend to live day to day. I’m 13, so shouldn’t I just, well, be a kid? Isn’t goal planning and future planning something adults do? To be honest, when I read the article and learned what the topic was, I locked up like a clam. Sharing dreams of how I could positively change the world makes me uncomfortable. Why would I open myself up to that level of critique, especially in middle school? Although I would love to see advancements to reduce the effects of climate change and uneven wealth distribution, I can’t visualize myself impacting these issues right now.

This led me to wonder why I stopped thinking about my ability to influence the future in a way where anything is possible. What made me narrow my scope and start looking down, rather than seeing my potential? I believed I couldn’t possibly change the world if I could hardly impact myself. If you’re always working hard at fitting into a world by other’s standards, how do you have time to dream of your possibilities? This made me ask, “When did I allow this box to contain me?” When I realized I wasn’t accepted as myself.

When I was young, I possessed an immense personality that couldn’t be contained. I was a giant, perpetual motor hurling questions, wanting answers, always moving. However, over years of school, my personality withered, and my motor followed suit. Going from a storm to no more than a summer breeze, my motor was barely able to push paper. Why did that happen? I quieted my voice, so I wouldn’t be told I was too loud. I suppressed my motor, so I wouldn’t be told to stop moving. I spoke less so I wouldn’t constantly be told to stop talking and stop interrupting. 

After spending so much energy shrinking my personality, I hardly had time to look up and think about what I wanted to do. How do I get back to looking up and out into the world? I believe that this assignment has given me the chance to start doing just that. As I uncoil the past, undo the steps and remember the moments that quieted and contained me, stole my voice, and seized my motor, I am determined to recreate what I lost. I will slowly rebuild my motor into an impervious hurricane that will break out of the box that limited me. My opinion will not be hidden from others.

As I lift my head up, I will start with the small things and my familiar spaces. For me, these are working on what affects me directly, like school and what I enjoy outside of school. I will build the forge in our backyard with my dad to pursue blacksmithing together. I will continue to hone my skills in archery. I will dust off my trumpet and give myself the chance to hit the high notes. I will earn Life Scout rank to put me one step closer to Eagle Scout. By keeping my head up and moving forward with a plan, I no longer need to be the kid who internalized everything.

Becoming a better me now, at 13, will make me a better person who may just be able to influence climate change and build a more equitable wealth distribution system when I get older.

Theo Cooksey, an eighth grader from Lynnwood, Washington, is an avid reader and video game player. Theo plays the euphonium and trumpet, and is an expert in Star Wars movies and music. During the COVID-19 quarantine, he is learning to bake and is building a forge.

High School Winner

Kira Walter

Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck, N.Y.

Turning Flowers to Trees

 Maybe we used to be trees. Rainforests of friendly monsters, scraping the sky, communicating, and reaching the sun. Maybe roots used to run where we couldn’t see them, connecting us to each other and spreading through the world like telephone lines across our continent. But somehow, though the earth stayed warm and the rain fell on our soil, we evolved from trees into flowers. Flowers alone in our own empty fields, roots too short to reach anything. 

At a high school with over 1,000 students, I notice how we pass each other on the street, in the hallway, lucky if our eyes meet for a moment, if our hearts touch for a second. We are isolated. Although I hope for a world where none go hungry, where violence is absent, where rivers breathe with cold clean life, and wild creatures run through lush green forests, I first hope for a world where we can connect. A world where America’s youth doesn’t have to contemplate whether it is better to live in the light or commit suicide in the darkness. 

My wildest dream for this nation is that people will reach out to those suffering, to America’s youth whose second leading cause of death is suicide. It was not too long ago that a friend approached me about trying to take her own life; she locked herself in a bathroom filled with poisonous gas, waiting for her breath to go soft and blow out like a candle in the wind. We had always been distant, but she chose to share her secret with me because she had no one else to share it with.  

According to the Jason Foundation, 3,069 high schoolers in the U.S. attempt suicide every day. Among this group, four out of five leave clear signs of depression. So why do so many signs, such as drug use, sleep shortages or extreme mood swings, go unnoticed? The answer is isolation. People are so separate from each other that the chances of being discovered are nearly impossible. Although many try to ascribe teen suicide to the pressures of excelling both academically and socially, overcoming these obstacles can be easier than they seem. Easier as long as students have someone to support them through struggles. 

Many teenagers who take their lives are members of healthy families and are surrounded by friends, but they feel as if they can’t share their troubles with them. They fear that this would be a burden on those they care about and so they remain silent. Teens let dangerous secrets collect like water droplets in a jar. One day, this jar reaches its capacity, problems overcome them, and alone, they surrender. In Kate Werning’s YES! article “How to Prepare for 2020,” Alicia Garza explains that “clarity inside of chaos can help us find direction when it seems like everything around us is unstable.” I dream our community will teach suffering teens to find that clarity – that we will help them blossom on a path to success. 

In modern-day society, too many people shame others for attempting suicide. They identify them as troubled and accuse them of being too weak to deal with life’s challenges. To combat suicide, I’ll make sure to do the opposite. I’ll reach out, check in with, and cheer up my peers. I’ll try to comfort those in need of comfort. Because in an ever-changing world of frightening dangers and darkness, we need to be trees with roots linked together in harmonious peace. We need to support each other into a new decade, out of the shadows and towards the sun.

Kira Walter is a sophomore at Mamaroneck High School in New York. Kira writes for the school newspaper and plays on the varsity tennis team. She has enjoyed studying classical piano since she was five years old and volunteers for the American Legion in her free time. When she grows up, Kira aspires to continue her passion for writing.

University Winner

Athina Amanor

Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.

Woman with No Nation

“You sound like a white girl.” “You’re an American baby now.” “Wow, you actually speak very good English.” “Did you live in a tree?” 

As a Ghanaian immigrant living in the United States, I’ve heard it all. Statements from my own family members living back home and from friends I’ve made in this foreign land serve as reminders that there really isn’t a place for me. I’m too American to be African, yet I am too African to be American. Even college professors have laughed while a fellow student mocked a group of African languages by clicking his tongue at me and asking,  “What did I just say in your language?” disregarding my offense and reinforcing ignorance. Many of my anxieties and doubts about self-worth stem from these types of interactions. I have adapted, self-monitoring to the highest degree, in order to be more palatable and to fit in. 

As an outwardly appearing “African American,” I fight negative stereotypes when interacting with white people, striving for excellence in both academics and athletics and hoping to outrun stereotypes and shatter prejudices. Within the African American community, I appear as a poser. I walk, talk, and think too differently to be welcomed there either. For my relatives, I speak too “American,” too fast, and I stress all the wrong syllables. I’ve carefully created so many personalities, slipping out of one skin and into the next to appease others, that I hardly recognize my true self. So, when I hear words like,” go back to your country,” a tidal wave of confusion hits me. Sometimes I wish I could, but I know the same alienation I feel here would be waiting for me in Ghana because I would still be seen as an outsider. I am a woman with no nation. I worry about being viewed as second class, about not being awarded the same rights and freedoms, about losing my culture, and about losing irreplaceable familial relationships. 

So, what in my wildest dreams do I wish for this nation? I wish for acceptance. I wish for understanding. I wish for kindness and an egalitarian mindset for all. I wish for the extinction of xenophobia and the predominance of support. I wish for a community in which I do not feel the need to prove I am not a threat, where my culture is not a trend, and above all else, where being me is enough. My wishes may seem far-fetched and on par with beauty queens claiming to want nothing more than world peace, but I am aware that I must make efforts on my own behalf and not simply put wishes out into the world.

In this new decade, I continue to fight for my dream by working with refugees and  building bridges between them and other volunteers as both groups work together to create a safe space filled with the same friendship and sense of belonging that I’ve craved for myself. I continue to make strides towards my dream by rejoicing in differences and staying open to immersing myself in new experiences without judgment. I continue to make leaps in my effort to make my dream a reality by engaging in intercultural, interreligious, and interracial dialogues, fanning the flames of mutual understanding.

And, as I look at the next ten years, I plan to make bounds towards realizing my dream by doing something we all struggle to do in life:  to discover who I am outside of the carefully curated personalities I put on and give that person all the support and acceptance I so willingly give to others yet constantly deny myself. This new decade demands that I stop viewing my self-ascribed status as a woman with no nation as weakness, and make way for the potential it holds. 

Athina Amanor is a Ghanaian immigrant who recently completed her undergraduate coursework in cellular and molecular biology. As a recently retired student-athlete, Athina enjoys staying active by taking long walks, going for short runs, and playing tennis with her older brothers. She hopes that her concern for the human condition and openness to helping others serve her well as she pursues a career in pediatric cardiology.

Powerful Voice Winner

Sary Barrios

A Borderless World

As I walk into the kitchen, I see both of my grandmas stirring the masa and my mom putting the tamales de carne on the stove and cutting different fruits to boil in the pot for caliente . It’s Noche Buena and my dad, my siblings, and I are hanging ornaments and lights. At the bottom of the tree, we arrange the Three Wise Men and the animals on one side, Mary and Joseph on the opposite side of each other, and place Jesus in his manger at the center of them all. Lastly, we put the star on top of the tree, and turn on the beautiful lights. At 8 p.m., we gather around the table to eat. We pray to God for all the good things he has brought to us in the past year. Then, we pass the tamales de carne around, talk about our family in Guatemala and how they’d decorate their tree with clementines and light fireworks at Christmas, and laugh at my brother’s jokes. Everyone is together in one place, one day, one moment. But that’s all a dream.

Instead, it’s only my parents and me at the table. Some people are able to see their family every single day or at least once a week, but my parents are forbidden to see their relatives. They went through a lot to get here, and they’ve never gone back to Guatemala. While they are grateful for the opportunities here, the borders they crossed are like a cage, keeping them from seeing their loved ones. So when I dream of a better future, I dream of a world without borders.

These boundaries keep our families apart. A few months before I was born, my dad received a call: my grandpa had passed. My dad had a hard time dealing with not being able to see his father during those last few days he was alive. This was devastating. I see other kids with their siblings, playing soccer, bonding, and telling each other jokes, but I only see my siblings every two years if I’m lucky. I can’t imagine how I would feel if my siblings were here. I know I wouldn’t feel as lonely as I do now. 

It’s not easy to be a child of immigrants, feeling scared every second of your life, and constantly thinking about “what ifs.” Last summer, when I was at camp in Maine, miles away from my parents, immigration police arrived on my first day. I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone, and I had a meltdown. It was heart-wrenching to think about being separated from my parents, and yet these borders have stopped my parents from doing the same—seeing their mothers forever. Can you imagine not being able to see your mother?

A borderless world is like an eagle soaring through the sky, completely free. In a borderless world, families would be united and everyone would live without fear of someone searching for them. In her YES! article “Alicia Garza: How to Prepare for 2020, author Kate Werning says, “We are often called to reflect on our lives, and how we want to mobilize for ourselves and our communities.” I often reflect on this beautiful dream that one day our world would be borderless, a dream that I will fight for.   

At the camp in Maine, I learned about the Hawaiian word ohana . Ohana is the spirit of family togetherness. It means that no one is ever going to be forgotten or left behind; they are stuck with each other no matter what. Ohana can also mean “nest,” which is where birds go to be safe with their families. Just like birds, immigrants want to be with their families in a safe space. Everyone together in one place, one day, one moment. 

Sary Barrios is a Guatemalan American student at Mamaroneck High School. Sary’s passion is to help others and give back to those who are in need of more. She has a huge love for her heritage and family.

Avery Chase

Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Mo.

There is a French photographer who said: “I will never be able to take a picture as beautiful as I see it in my eyes.”

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a rare disease—there are less than 200,000 patients in the U.S. I was a competitive gymnast at nine years old. At a tournament,  I awkwardly dismounted from the bars and landed on my ankle. That moment changed my life. For the next eighteen months, I saw six doctors, four therapists, and three psychologists, took three  trips to different pain clinics, and missed about 100 days of school to search for answers to “the sprained ankle that could.” I was one of the “lucky” ones. That summer was a revolving door of experts dismissing me one after another.

The pain I experienced was beyond my ankle. I understand that I grew up differently, that most kids don’t divide their family moving cross-country for chronic pain rehabilitation. I have been living with CRPS for nine years—with a brief remission circa seventh grade—and a prognosis of “years to a lifetime.” Some days I’m better at accepting what I know and what I don’t. Other days it’s easier to lie in bed complacent to the pain. No matter what type of mindset, I must constantly strive to recover and hide disappointment every day that wasn’t pain-free. Outsiders haven’t seen the pictures I’ve seen—not through my eyes. Outsiders don’t know what it’s like to watch a 70-year-old squat better than you or realize that the only “record” you hold is “Longest-Stayed Patient,” not “Highest All-Around Score” in a gymnastics meet (where I really wanted to be).

It’s difficult to paint a picture of when my body physically shakes uncontrollably. My eyes scan it slowly, realizing my helplessness. Or the picture of mornings I wake up with a split lip after having habitually chewed it. Or the days I wish I wasn’t a breathing mortgage for my parents. Or the nights I spend praying for the safety switch, trusting my body will scientifically pass out if pain exceeds a threshold. There are still stories that I can’t tell and stories I don’t want to remember.

In psychologists’ offices, I go mad trying to cling onto any word I can to describe my pain, and, too often, I fail. In my wildest dream, I’m able to paint the masterpiece that finally allows people to understand the years and tears. Currently, I am trying for a picture-perfect life. I’m taking steps to overcome my highest anxieties by listening to doctors, pushing through compulsions, getting out of bed, and challenging cognitive distortions. I am living the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I know that the steps to overcome Chronic regional pain syndrome don’t necessarily mean a pain-free life. I can’t change the existence of the problem itself, but I can change the way I deal with the problem. In my wildest dream I can accept myself and whatever I accomplish, even if it is not perfect.  I can learn to accept that CRPS and everything it comes with will always be a part of my life, my disappointments, and my triumphs.

The pain translates to today. Every day, I make decisions based on that gymnastics meet nine years ago and the hundreds of hours of doctor’s appointments and clinic visits throughout the years. I wonder who I’d be if I skipped gymnastics that night. If Boston is simply a city with smart colleges, not just medical treatments. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand a life without my pain. What I do understand though is that being healed won’t change me. I know how it has influenced me, but I doubt I will ever stop learning either. For that reason, my life is a life with CRPS, with and without pain. I am who I am because of these experiences and the circumstances I have yet to face.

Avery Chase lives in St. Louis, Missouri, the city with the most neurotic weather in the country. Avery coaches gymnastics in her free time and has an irrational fear of cats. She plans to attend Kansas University and study social work.

Daniel Cook

Fighting the Undertow

Have you ever been caught in an undertow? Imagine swimming through waves—feeling the cool rush send a shock through your body— when a force begins pulling you away from the shore. You try swimming back to the beach but feel the current’s grip dragging you farther out to sea. After a minute, your arms and legs begin hurting. You start choking on water as you gasp for air. You attempt to yell for help only to be choked on by more water. Your mind is in a state of panic as your body begins shutting down. Suddenly, you remember what your parents told you, “Swim parallel to the shore.” You turn and start swimming again. Every muscle screams in agony, but you keep fighting. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the force stops. Relief floods your mind. You slowly swim to the shore and crawl onto the sand. Falling flat on your back, you breathe peace back into your soul. 

Life is full of undertows. Today we are faced with so much political and social injustice that many people feel as if they are caught in an undertow of emotions. I was caught in this particular undertow for a while. As a gay male living in the Deep South, I have struggled with finding my place in society. I have often asked myself questions such as  “Who do I want to become?,” “What do I stand for?,” and “How can I help others?.” With the start of the new year, I have decided it is time to face these questions. 

I am an activist at heart. It is my purpose. With the help of the YES! article “How to Prepare for 2020” and Alicia Garza, I was able to pinpoint objectives that I should focus on instead of aimlessly treading through life, being swept further away from my goals. I want to be able to hold my husband’s hand in public without eyes glaring in our direction. I want to have a place of worship that accepts me. I want to be able to enroll my children in school without the fear of them being bullied for having gay parents. I want a job without having the fear of being dismissed because of my sexuality. I want to be seen as an equal instead of as an “other.” And most of all, I want to live in a world where I don’t have to fear being murdered like Matthew Shepard. 

In order to achieve all of this for myself and people like me, I have to be more active. The article helped me outline steps I can take within the next year to help myself and others in the LGBTQ+ community. These steps include getting involved with a local LGBTQ+ activist organization, getting trained in how to provide safe spaces for people to freely discuss issues affecting them, and reading more literature and research on LGBTQ+ issues while  making these resources more available to the public. If I can conquer these steps, I will have made 2020 worth wild. 

2020 is the year I have decided I will no longer be a victim of the undertow. By focusing on my goals and following steps to achieve them, I will have the knowledge and ability to get out of the treacherous current of fear and anxiety about being who I am. I will no longer drown in the self-doubt accompanied by not knowing what I stand for. I will glide through the waters of hate and social injustice and hopefully arrive one day on the shores of equality, love, and acceptance. 

Daniel Cook is a proud gay man. Daniel was born and raised in Alabama and embraces his Southern roots while also advocating against the social injustices around him. He wants to use his privilege to help others have their voices heard and dreams of a world where all lives are valued and no one is considered an “other.”

“Can I Dream?” Winner

Maitreya Motel

High Meadow School, Rosendale, N.Y.

Can I Dream?

How do you dream in a nightmare? How do you solve a puzzle when half of the pieces have been stolen? I remember being barely twelve years old when the shooting happened at Parkland. My dad held onto me like I would vanish any second, sobbing while we listened to the news. 

When you’re 12 years old, you’ve thought about death a lot in theory, but rarely in a way that’s grounded in reality. You normally aren’t considering, “Oh, it could happen like this. Someone could have a gun and you could be in the bathroom at the wrong time. Someone could have a gun and your sixth-grade classmates could sneeze at the wrong moment. Someone could have a gun and shoot you. And you won’t be able to say goodbye to your mom and dad or tell them how much you love them. When’s recess?” 

I guess kids used to dream about being movie stars and star football players and millionaires. Now, I look around and we’re praying to make it through high school. And beyond that? Will the planet be liveable? Will our kids be okay? We want answers and guarantees. Are there any guarantees anymore? Our dreams are survival based. How much can you dream before waking up again? 

But I do have a dream.

My dream is to have the luxury of dreaming. My dream is to live in a world where what matters most is that new movie or first date. My dream is for us to be kids again instead of feeling like the future is on our shoulders. If I lived in this world, I could breathe again. Maybe, just this once, I’d get to sleep.

Maitreya Motel, an eighth-grade student at High Meadow School in New York, has been writing and producing her political Vlog “Eye On Politics” since age 10. Maitreya has been a featured speaker at women’s marches, climate change events, and political rallies, and is a member of her town’s youth commission and her county’s climate-smart commission. Her best pals are her two rescue dogs, Jolene and Zena. 

Dear Theo, Kira, Athina, Sary, Avery, Daniel,  Maitreya,

Thank you so much for sharing your writing with all of us (and some of you have shared your essays in your own voice on the podcast, too!). It takes guts to be real and vulnerable in public—to share your struggles and to be audacious enough to have dreams & compelling visions in a world where there is so much suffering.

At Irresistible , we believe that healing and social transformation are deeply connected— and that a critical foundation for both is radical honesty. To face where we feel vulnerable and afraid and powerless. Where we’ve been humiliated, shortchanged, discriminated against, or told to give up. To really feel into those places, because our deepest truth is what connects us and can become the source of our greatest power. We have to be real with ourselves about what hurts and scares us most, and connect with others’ heartbreaks and fears to move in a journey toward change together.

I see that courage in each of you. Avery, we feel you so deeply when you say “It’s difficult to paint a picture of when my body physically shakes uncontrollably. My eyes scan it slowly, realizing my helplessness.” Athina, we connect when you talk about feeling like a “woman with no nation.” Theo, I remember when I’ve been there too when you say “Sharing dreams of how I could positively change the world makes me uncomfortable. Why would I open myself up to that level of critique, especially in middle school?”

Yet despite the discouragement and pain, you still have big dreams—and I want to live in these worlds you are visioning! Maitreya’s world, where kids “have the luxury of dreaming.”Sary’s “borderless world [that] is like an eagle, soaring through the sky, completely free.” Daniel’s world where he is “able to enroll [his] children in school without the fear of them being bullied for having gay parents.” I want to follow your leadership and the leadership of youth organizers all over the country—you truly are “ Generation Transformation .”

As Kira paints for us, “Maybe roots used to run where we couldn’t see them, connecting us to each other and spreading through the world like telephone lines across our continent.” I see each of you growing those intertwining roots through your commitments to working with refugees, volunteering with your local LGBTQ+ activist organization, and training your bodies and minds toward your goals.

Especially now, as 2020 is turning out so completely differently than any of us could have imagined, the moves you are making toward your visions are critical. I’ve often felt like my hard work trying to contribute to liberation movements has been futile, that the world is getting crueler in so many ways. But I also remember that even though I’m only 32 years old, I am amazed at how much has already changed radically in my lifetime— toward a world of more racial justice, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ & gender liberation, disability justice, and so much more. It does get better.

adrienne maree brown teaches us that in every small action we take, we shape change. Even under the intense conditions we currently face, this remains true. With our big visions as a strong north star, we find the next right move we can make toward freedom.

Keep dreaming, keep taking action, and keep sharing your story with powerful honesty. I’m right next to you on the journey.

—Kate Werning

We received many outstanding essays for the spring 2020 Student Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye:

My wildest dreams would be a world filled with non-judgmental people, self expectations—not anybody else’s expectations of me—being me and loving it, less school stress, and, of course, free puppies! —Izzy Hughes, The Crest Academy, Salida, Colo.

I want to imagine a place where I can go wherever I want without having to worry about another person violating my body. No one should ever touch another person without their permission. That is what I want.  —Ruby Wilsford, Goodnight Middle School, San Marcos, Tex.  

Type 1 diabetes is not a choice or a result of poor life decisions. It is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks itself. How can Americans justify that it is acceptable to pay seventy-two times the worth of a life-or-death product? —Elise Farris, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.

I was born on April 26, 2005, in a hospital in Appleton, Wisconsin, the home of the first hydropower plant and the “world-famous” Harry Houdini Museum. Then, at age three, my family moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, a town on the board of Wisconsin and Illinois. My parents sent me and my siblings to a Catholic school 12 miles north in a town called Janesville, Wisconsin. It was like living in two cities at once. My family lived in one and my friends and their families lived in the other. I thought the situation was fine, but as I got older, I started to notice things. I noticed how my friends felt uncomfortable when we went anywhere else in Beloit besides my house. I noticed how adults grimaced when I said I was from Beloit. And, suddenly, I felt my situation wasn’t fine. —Charlotte Mark, Craig High School, Janesville, Wis. 

Pandemics happen when we fail to be aware of how interrelated we really are—when we fail to note the doors we open, the hands we shake, and the spaces we share every day. Mindful of these connections, we realize that the health of one of us affects the health of all of us. We must care for our fellow beings, even if it means personal sacrifice. —Donald Wolford, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

I can help others, but I also need to know what to do when dark thoughts manifest in my own mind. —Natalie Streuli, Brier Middle School, Brier, Wash.  

If I’ve learned anything in the past 13 years, it’s that things never go as planned. Having a rough draft of your life is okay, but never expect it to turn exactly how you imagined. —Emerson Reed, The Crest Academy, Salida, Colo.

There are about 40 million food-insecure people in the United States and 13 million of those people are children … I want these people to go to sleep full and knowing that they will get another three meals tomorrow. —John Francis, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

… I was floating, levitating in midair when the voice began slowly whispering. His voice washed over my body like warm sunlight on a summer day. “This is what inner peace feels like. You tried your best and did the most you can, but to achieve this, you must continue on.” He disappeared and the world collapsed on itself. I was motivated to do better but now looking back I wish I had started sooner.   —Nicholas Tyner, American School of The Hague, Wassenaar, Netherlands

Failure isn’t a dangerous monster we should run from. It is a beautiful seed of a flower yet to blossom. —Jarrod Land, Mamaroneck High School, Mamaronec, N.Y.

I’ve yet to figure out how to complain about my perfectionist nature without it sounding like a twisted form of bragging. As it turns out, whining about being tired of trying so hard just makes it look like you’re fishing for praise. Ironically, you rarely get either.  —Claire Beck, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Mo.

I can never talk to my parents about my feelings directly because what goes into the pot is an argument and what comes out is unsolved problem soup with a side of tears. —Tracee Nguyen, President William McKinley High School, Honolulu, Hawai’i

I’m not exactly sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I am certain that it’s not going to require me to know how to find points on a graph or to understand slope intercept form, well at least not to the point that I need to study the subject for months on end, and why do I need to know how to find the cubed root of a six-digit number on paper? Who doesn’t have access to a calculator? —Lauren Ragsdale, Lincoln Middle School, Ypsilanti, Mich. 

I can’t truly say how many nights I’ve spent tossing and turning because something was crawling around in my head. The anxiety smothering any free thoughts I had, forcing me to stay awake, and to start questioning every choice I’ve ever made. Those nights are always the hardest considering who I want to be: somebody who believes without fear of judgment, somebody who loves who they are, somebody who helps without prompting. —Daniel Heineman, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

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Essay on My Dream for Students and Children

500+ words essay on my dream.

Everyone has a dream in his life which they want to achieve when they grow up. Some kids want to become rich so that they can buy anything and some want to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. But only you know that for achieving these goals you have to work hard and stay attentive to it. In this essay on my dream, we are going to discuss the basic things that will help in achieving my dream .

Determination

For turning a dream into reality the first thing that you need is determination. This will help you in a lot of ways. Firstly, it will help you decide the course of action for doing anything. Besides, it will also help you to plan the journey ahead. Also, it will help to take things slow and maintain a steady pace towards the dream.

Moreover, no matter how big my dream planning and setting short term goals will always help. This is important because rushing to your dream will not going to help you in any way. Besides, there is some dream that requires time and they follow a process without following it you cannot achieve that dream.

Staying Motivated

Lack of motivation is one of the main causes that force a person to leave his dream behind. So, staying motivated is also part of the goal. And if you can’t stay positive then you won’t be able to achieve the dream. There are many people out there that quit the journey of their dreams mid-way because they lack motivation .

Keep Remembering Goal

For completing the dream you have to keep your dream in the mind. And remind this dream to yourself daily. There come hard times when you feel like quitting at those times just remember the goal it helps you stay positive . And if you feel like you messed up big times then start over with a fresh mind.

Reward Yourself

You don’t need to cover milestones to reward yourself. Set a small target towards your dream and on fulfilling them reward yourself . These rewards can be anything from toffee to your favorite thing. Besides, this is a good way of self-motivation.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Take Some Breaks

Working towards your goal not mean that you work day and night without stopping. Apart from that, due to continuous efforts, people soon start to become de-motivated. So, taking a break will help your body and mind. For doing so, take a break in between your schedule for some time an engage yourself in other activities.

Stay Among Positive People

Your company affects you in a lot of ways than you can imagine. So, be with people who appreciate you and stay away from people who distract and criticize you.

Don’t Hesitate to Make Mistakes

To sum it up, we can say that dreaming of a goal is far easier than achieving it. And for fulfilling your dream you need a lot of things and also have to sacrifice many things.

Above all, for fulfilling your dream plan and work according to it because it will lead you to the right path. And never forget to dream big because they help in overcoming every obstacle in life.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [{ “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What’s the best way to achieve a dream?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “There is no best way for achieving your dream. However, there are certain things that can help you in achieving your dream like being clear to your goal, keep trying, being determinant and several other qualities.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What can be the biggest dream of anyone’s life?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”:”From my point of view being healthy and happy can be the biggest dream of anyone’s life. “} }] }

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Do you use your dreams as inspiration?

I don’t usually have inspiring dreams – at least nothing I could write about but a few days ago I woke up after a long event-filled dream.

I had gone to bed early as I was feeling under the weather.

Instead of the sleepless night, I feared I might have had, I actually slept for almost ten full hours.

This is not like me as I usually get about six – to seven hours and any occasional early night is usually spent wide awake reading, or listening to audio-books.

This night was different and I woke up with my earphones still in my ears and my kindle under the covers with me.

The book I had been listening to was a non-fiction book and not particularly exciting as it was something I was reading for educational purposes rather than entertainment.

The book had simply played on until the end.

FULL-LENGTH DREAMS

I frequently have quite long drawn out dreams, but the dream I remembered after this night was like a full-length movie.

What was a bit strange was that I personally was in the dream.

What was even stranger was that I was watching the dream at the same time.

But, what was really, really strange was that the ‘full-length movie’ I was watching in the dream was a dystopian one.

I DREAM OF DYSTOPIA

The people in my dream society were divided into two distinct types with a large majority of one very particular type of person (in appearance and personality) and a tiny minority of others.

I was part of the minority of people and was trying to get to a place that I personally have never visited in my life unless you count television and movies, in which case I have visited this particular location quite often.

The dream was a lot more detailed than I am describing here, but I won’t get into those details because since that dream I have been experiencing a very strong urge to write a book based on the dream.

PLAYING TO MY STRENGTHS

Except for a film treatment which never actually got made I have never before written in the dystopian genre, having decided long ago to play to my creative strengths.

I don’t feel as experienced, or confident in this genre as I do in others, despite the fact that it is one of my favourite genres – to read.

Yet my dystopian dream story is turning into one of those ideas that never quite goes away.

My thoughts keep turning to this dream, even during swimming, which is one of the activities I use to ’empty’ my mind and relax.

In fact, I am thinking that another few hundred lengths down the swimming pool just might finish this story…

So what should I do? Take a chance and write something completely different? or not?

While considering the idea I googled ‘ books based on dreams’ and found this site  which lists Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight , Stephen King’s Misery, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein among other books which were inspired by their author’s dream.

These authors seem to have been very inspired and highly motivated by their dreams and I must say following their dreams has certainly paid off for them.

I am still not sure – my gut is telling me I should write it but my brain is telling me not to waste my time on a project I may not be able to finish. I usually go with my gut, but…

Given my current indecisiveness what I will probably do is write a short outline and see how far that gets me.  In the meantime, I will dream on…

Best wishes

If your dreams don’t inspire you,  click here  for some other ways to be inspired.

For some quick and easy creative writing exercises to help you get new ideas click here.

If you are feeling a bit blocked click here to learn how to beat the block.

PRACTICAL CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISES

Suffering from writer’s block? Stuck for ideas?

You won’t be able to stop writing because these beautiful and inspiring exercises will banish your writing block right now.

Never Be Stuck Again!

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Journal Prompts for Dreamers

by Melissa Donovan | Jun 16, 2020 | Journal Prompts | 22 comments

Dreamy journal prompts.

Where do dreams come from? Many philosophers, psychiatrists, and other experts, as well as everyday people, have made conjectures about the sources of our night visions. But they remain a mystery.

Some dreams are obvious, of course. We’ve all experienced dreams that are clearly relevant to what’s going on in our lives or dreams that are some reflection of the past. Some people claim they’ve dreamed events before they actually happened — precognitive dreams that allow a dreamer to peer into the future.

Some of us remember every single dream we have. A few of us may even take time to jot down our dreams in a dream journal. Others cannot remember any of their dreams and will claim they don’t dream at all. There are those whose dreams are so vivid that they are induced into sleepwalking, and there are those whose dreams carry the essences of their greatest fears — nightmares.

Dreaming for Inspiration

Dreams may unlock mysteries, answer questions, or give us new insights. They inform artists’ work, help scientists solve complex problems, and give writers plenty of fodder for fiction and poetry.

In fact, many famous works of art and inventions were inspired by dreams. In an article titled “ Dream Art ,” Wikipedia provides a list of artists and their works that came directly from dreams. Some of the most notable artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers who have captured dream material to produce great works of art include William Blake, Salvador Dali, Clive Barker, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Stephen King, Carlos Castaneda, David Lynch, Rush, Paul McCartney, and Roger Waters, to name a few.

Dreams can even provide the answers to complex technical or scientific problems. Sewing machine inventor Elias Howe was having trouble figuring out how the needle on his machine would work, until one night he had a dream in which he was imprisoned by a group of people who were dancing around him and holding spears that had holes near their tips. This image finally gave Howe the idea he needed to make his invention work: a needle with a hole at the tip, which was designed much like those spears.

Journal Prompts and Dreams

If you’ve ever kept a dream journal, then you have some experience with exploring your dreams during waking hours. When you keep a dream journal, you learn to pay more attention to your dreams, and you start remembering your dreams better and in greater detail. Dream journals are ideal for generating raw creative material.

Today’s journal prompts aren’t based around a dream journal, and they don’t ask you to keep one. If you happen to keep a dream journal, then you’ll have an advantage here, because these journal prompts require you to remember a dream or two. Yet the main goal with these journal prompts is to add another tool to your writer’s toolbox, to leverage a little more of your imagination by paying attention to the messages, images, and signals that your subconscious is broadcasting when you’re sound asleep.

To complete these journal prompts, you do need to be a dreamer. If you don’t make a habit out of remembering your dreams, or if you rarely remember them, then you might try keeping a dream journal for about a week. As you fall asleep, remind yourself that in the morning your first task will be to write down your dreams. Promote dreaming and remembering dreams by repeating affirmations such as “I will dream” and “I will remember my dreams” as you’re falling asleep. Then give these journal prompts a try.

Journal Prompts

• Write down a full account of a dream you’ve had recently. Try to include as many details as possible.
• Think back over some of the dreams you’ve had and try to identify recurring themes. Perhaps you’re often being chased in dreams (or doing the chasing), or maybe a lot of your dreams are set in nature or feature animals.
• Identify the people, creatures, and animals in your dreams by describing them. Could they become characters in your next short story?
• Do you ever notice minute details in your dreams? Elias Howe noticed that in his dream, the spears had holes in them. Try to pinpoint seemingly minor details that appear in your dreams and write descriptions of them.
• Do your dreams ever stick with you throughout the day? Are images from your dreams haunting you as you go about your business? Why do you suppose this happens with some dreams but not others? What are the images that linger?
• Have you ever felt like a dream was trying to tell you something or send you an important message? What was the dream? What message did you come away with?
• If you could construct a full, vivid dream, which you will have tonight and remember in full tomorrow, what would happen in the dream? Who would be there? Where would it take place?

Interesting Facts About Dreams

• The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology.
• Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his assassination.
• At one time, some experts believed that dreams only happened in black and white. Most people actually dream in color.
• “Famous Dreams” (includes source material) [Note: site is now down]
• Wikipedia: “ Dreams “

Good luck with these journal prompts! Now let’s talk about dreaming and how we can use dreams to inspire our writing!

22 Comments

Very cool! That would be very cool to have prescriptive guidance on how to dream. It’d be even cooler to have prescriptive guidance on how to make your dreams come true 😉

There are a lot of books on dreaming and how to control your dreams while you’re having them (lucid dreaming). I’m pretty sure there are also lots of books about making your dreams come true!

This is fascinating , Melissa! I had forgotten that tidbit about Abe Lincoln!

And I love these prompts. 🙂

I’m a pretty vivid dreamer–sometimes it feels like I didn’t even sleep! LOL

*smiles* Michele

It’s funny — sometimes I remember all my dreams in detail. Then weeks (or even months) will go by, and it seems like I haven’t been dreaming at all. Dreams are fascinating, and that’s why they’re great for writing inspiration.

Journaling my dreams has been on my list for quite a while – you’ve given me a jumpstart and the inspiration to get going! Thanks for sharing!

I have kept a dream journal off and on throughout the years. I find that the more you try to remember your dreams so you can write them down, the more you actually do remember. Like anything, practice makes perfect.

Dreams are so fascinating. I often find I work out things that are troubling me via dreams, and that the solutions stay with me when I wake up. Sometimes, the dreams are relevant to something I’m writing — or, last week, to something I’m not writing, but perhaps should write.

I find I get nightmares right before a major life transition –even if I don’t know consciously it’s coming.

Dreams are pretty bizarre. Sometimes they’re so soothing, other times so troubling. Keeping a dream journal has helped me better understand my dreams, and sometimes things show up in my dreams that make it to my writing, and I find that happens mostly when I’m writing them down.

my sister writes from her dreams. I am “inspired” by dreams sometimes, but my final idea is almost never anything what my dream was like.

P.S. I have a theory about dreams: There’s the “Dream Universe” and our Universe. If the Dream Universe was 2.0 and we were 1.0, when we go to sleep and dream, we’re somewhere between those realities, i.e. Level 1.6

There has been much written about dreams existing on another plane, and that in some dreams we actually travel to a different dimension. I don’t know if that’s true, but the idea definitely intrigues me!

Dreams are actually our thoughts that are in the sub-conscious and will manifest in our minds. Often we dream about with problems and wake with new ideas. It seems our inner workings of the mind is something we seldom explore or should think about while awake.

Melissa, thanks for stopping by to comment on my blog. I make my living writing, so of course I check the legitimacy of every anthology to which I even consider a submission. This is a perfectly legitimate anthology from a perfect legitimate publisher; but something felt off as far as being the right fit for me; I’m glad i went with my gut — it was a huge burden lifted from me.

Hi Devon. That’s a relief. I worry too much about those scam sites. Yes, a publication definitely has to be the right fit.

Good stuff.

Maybe I should wait for my G or at least PG rated dreams.

I always enjoy your prompts.

Heheh, don’t let that stop you from writing!

I’ve had many amusing dreams. The most amusing usually takes place in the Chin (Qin) Dynasty of China. The dynasty ended in 1911, and I always thought they are goofy looking, because this is a period of transition where you can see people wearing traditional clothes, but using some relatively modern gadgets (such as eye glasses). Of course, in my dreams it’s taken up a notch. I would see horses and carriages pulling into a parking lot, turn into a space, and just stand there until the drives come back. There are also valet guys standing in front of an inn to park these horses and carriages for patrons. And then they also have problems parallel parking these things. These are the kind of dreams that I wake up laughing from because they just look so ridiculous to me. Juxtaposition of the modern and ancient is a common theme for my amusing dreams.

And then there’s the one that I have many times of missing a big final exam. I would just be wondering around the campus and then when I look up at the clock, I think, “Hey, isn’t there a test going on? Hm, I am missing it.” Maybe that should be making me nervous, but I really don’t feel any of that. It’s like, meh, I don’t really care.

Wow, you have historical dreams? That’s wild. I don’t think I’ve experienced that before, but it would be very cool, albeit bizarre. I think I used to dream about tests and due dates when I was in school and I’ve definitely had jobs that leaked into my dreams. Sounds to me like you take your schooling very seriously, and that’s not so bad.

What a great way to ride on the magical worlds you find in your dreams. It’s neat to take the concept of the dreams further and reflect upon how they change you during your daily going ons. Adds another layer to the dreams.

I just found out about yet another author whose work derived from a dream she had: Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series. The key, of course, is listening to your dreams, writing them down, and letting the story unfold. And it definitely adds another layer to your dreams.

writing creatively

Whats funny is that my dreams are really slow paced; as if it’s just waiting for me to make a move. there are some times where I got to actually play a part in that dream, but like it rarely happens! To top things off, I only remember about 2 of the dreams I have each night, and then those dreams get continued the next! It does help me remember what dreams and ideas I do have for stories though, because its just sitting in my mind almost half of the night. It’s honestly really weird..

It’s interesting that your dreams continue the next night. That’s pretty cool.

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What, to the Writer, Are Dreams?

Lauren acampora on the mythic links between dream life and creativity.

“Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream.” –Joseph Campbell

One morning, when I was younger, I gave a detailed description of my previous night’s dream to my mother. When I finished, she said, “I’m going to tell you something. Don’t ever share your dreams with anyone except your spouse. It’s boring to listen to other people’s dreams.”

I was offended at first. How could anyone, not to mention my own mother, fail to find my dreams as fascinating as I did? But of course she was right; it’s almost always deadly to hear other people talk about their dreams. As a rule, dreams die in the glare of the waking world, their shimmering aura evaporating in the harsh air outside the psyche. And yet, paradoxically, it’s the emotional aura of dreams that makes them feel so urgently worth sharing in the first place.

Needless to say, I didn’t listen to my mother. That is, I still share my dreams promiscuously—just not verbally.

Like so many other writers and artists, I employ dreams in my creative work. They’re an engine, a lending library. It’s a thrill to awake with a strange, arresting image in mind, or still grasping the thread of an allegorical dream story. Sometimes, a vision or scenario arrives as a package deal: the story is encased within the vision, packed up tight with a certain mood. For me, entire short stories have sprung from such vision: a woman alone in a pool, a finger touching a brain, a blindfolded child. A haunting dream of orange curtains in a hotel room has rolled into an entire novel (in which orange hotel curtains do not ever appear). And the power and mystery of dreams themselves inspired my novel The Paper Wasp , in which the narrator illustrates—and ultimately enters—her vivid, seemingly premonitory dreams.

There’s no shortage of literature and art that we know to have sprung from dreams. As legend has it, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge transcribed the first lines of “Kubla Khan” from a dream; the idea for Frankenstein came to Mary Shelley in her sleep; Robert Louis Stevenson conceived of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a consumptive fever dream; Stephen King came up with the idea for Misery while napping on a plane ; William Styron had a dream that inspired Sophie’s Choice . One of the most prolific dream miners of all was Edgar Allen Poe, who used his frequent nightmares in much of his work. And famously, Paul McCartney dreamed the tune for the song “Yesterday.” Upon waking, he asked his friends if they knew it. “It’s a good little tune,” he said, “but I couldn’t have written it because I dreamt it.”

Dreams can feel like messages from another place, so it’s no surprise that many ancient cultures believed dreams to be transmissions of divine knowledge. The Ancient Egyptians considered dreams to be oracular and held vivid dreamers in high regard. They practiced dream incubation and lucid dreaming, and employed dream guides called the “Masters of Secret Things” who lived in dream temples. The Greeks, too, incubated dreams, and thought that gods came to dreamers through a keyhole to deliver messages. The Aboriginal Australians and the Iroquois started their day by sharing dreams, which were considered a source of guidance for both the individual and the community. The Hindu religion, too, believes that in dreams one is given a glimpse of Vishnu, whose own dreaming mind creates our reality. It isn’t difficult to understand where such beliefs come from if you’ve ever dreamed of reading a book, sentence after lucid, elaborate sentence. “I couldn’t have written it,” you might think, “because I dreamt it.”

Brain science validates this phenomenon. Dreaming occurs during REM sleep, when the frontal lobe, the executive area of the brain, is shut down. Dreams are the mysterious activity of another part of the brain, beneath the scrutiny of the frontal lobe. Neurologically speaking, we really are receiving transmissions from a foreign entity; the unconscious, unobserved self slips through the keyhole when the guard is off duty.

Even during waking hours, the human brain is divided: the executive-desk frontal lobe and the inscrutable, intuitive limbic system are strangers to each other. In sleep, they are incommunicado. Because of this deep rift, the great majority of our dreams go unremembered, except on a buried emotional level. It’s difficult, even paradoxical, to try to bear total witness to them, akin to pinning down the present moment, halting the slippage of time. Just as the present can only be considered in retrospect, the unconscious mind can only be discerned via the remembered scraps of dreams. Any glimmers of awareness that may come during sleep, when a dream is fleetingly apprehended, are instances of the conscious half of the brain briefly observing and translating the activity of the submerged half: interpreting the enigmatic message of a stranger. These glimmers are rare and fleeting, occurring only during the hypnogogic and hypnopompic states, the liminal states between wakefulness and sleep.

In siphoning dreams for their work, writers and artists are tapping a valuable well. Dream logic and imagery carries an uncanny, allegorical quality that resonates deeply with readers and audiences. And it’s possible that dream recall actually enhances artistic output during waking hours. Scientific studies have confirmed a correlation between dream recall and creativity; those who recall dreams actually perform better on creativity evaluations. This may be because creative people are naturally better at recalling their dreams. It’s a chicken or egg situation: do creative people have more vivid and memorable dreams because they are innately creative, or can a brain become more creative through strengthening dream recall? Whatever the case, making use of dreams in art is a powerful way to reflect our foreign selves back to ourselves, while projecting that mystery self out to the world as archetypal image and story—dream as personalized myth, myth as depersonalized dream.

For writers, plugging into the unconscious provides a direct line to the human imagination in all its splendor and darkness. Indeed, in the midst of composing, it’s often unclear where the words are coming from. Sentences and imagery sometimes bubble up from a hidden well that surprises the conscious, transcribing mind. Some writers will tell you that they write in order to exorcise their demons, cleanse their psyches, to bring their fears and darkness into the light. Some will tell you that it’s better than therapy.

Writing at full tilt can be a euphoric state, tantamount to lucid dreaming. It’s half-awareness—one foot in, one foot out—a balance on the brink of consciousness. It’s not just in dreams that we can experience the ecstasy of flight and the exhilaration of omnipotence, but also when writing, when the words are flowing, the images appearing. Just as in a lucid dream, this exhilaration is paired with the knowledge that it can’t last, that it’s a temporary spell. Soon, we’ll become too aware of flying, and the spell will break and drop us to the ground. Still, we endeavor to capture and recapture this ecstasy of creative freedom, the ability to travel lightly anywhere at will, the bliss of floating to the treetops.

If writing fiction is analogous to dreaming, the experience of reading fiction can be, too. When we’re reading, another person is able to intrude into our psyches through the use of words alone, remotely projecting imagery onto the screens of our minds, suffusing them with atmosphere and mood. We are, in a way, sharing a dream with a stranger. And fiction, at its best, places a mirror before us, evoking terror and wonder. It affects us on an emotional level beyond language, and brings a frisson of recognition. There’s a momentary astonishment to encounter the familiar within the strange, something of our own inner lives on the page. There’s the eerie sense that the author has somehow entered and seen into us. The best art carries this sense of inevitability, of allegory, myth, dream—a truth that has always been there, that we already know in some deep part of ourselves.

This flare of astonishment is arguably the purpose of art. It’s the sudden thinning of the distance between us, the erosion of barriers that have been built and propped up by our conscious, waking lives. Like a flash of lightning, great art illuminates the human landscape in its breathtaking entirety and shows that the barriers are flimsy, false, only temporarily there. All at once, we are taken outside ourselves and given a glimpse of the Jungian collective unconscious, the subliminal wholeness of life, the enveloping dream of Vishnu. What is the purpose of all art, if not to puncture the illusion of fragmentation, to reveal the commonality of human experience, to return us—if briefly—to those collective waters?

__________________________________

The Paper Wasp   by Lauren Acampora is out now via Grove Atlantic.

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Free Creative Writing Prompts #74: Dreams

Here are 10 free creative writing prompts about your awesome and scary slumbering dreams. When most people have a dream of interest, they do their best to try to figure out what it might mean. Why was I with this person from my past in such a random location? Why was I upset to be doing this activity when I usually love doing it? There are dream interpretation guides, dream classes and there even those who teach lucid dreaming so that you can craft your dreams at will. This much about dreams is true, when you have an extremely wacked out or seemingly prescient dream, it can stick with you for a lifetime.  Free Creative Writing Prompts: Dreams

1. You've just witnessed it. The end of the world. These kind of dreams are the ones you like to push out of your mind, but there's only one problem. Everything that happened in the beginning of your dream, from your trip to work to your conversations with co-workers, are word for word in line with the apocalyptic dream you just had. What happens next and what do you do about it?

2. Imagine that you had the chance to get your "dream" everything. Your dream job. Your dream partner. Your dream house. What would it be like if everything and person in your life was dreamily ideal? How would your typical day change?

3. Think back to all of your most memorable dreams and single out the scariest recurring dream you ever had. What do you think it symbolized? If you had complete control over the dream, how do you think you would have conquered such a fearful night of slumber?

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that all people, regardless of race and creed, could come together as one. If you were placed behind a podium in front of thousands of people with the entire world watching, what do you think your dream would be for a better tomorrow and why?

5. Upon working for a mad scientist, you realize that you've been helping him to create a device that lets you go into other people's dreams! You take the technology out for a test drive one night. Whose dreams do you go into and what do you do while you're in there?

6. We've all had them and whether or not we talk about them, we probably enjoy our naughty dreams thoroughly. Describe your first risqué dream, why you think you had it and what your reaction was afterward. Did it cause you to feel happy, ashamed or a completely different emotion?

7. The world has been plunged into one large collective dream, with every person having the ability to control everything that affects his own skills, appearance and persona, but with no control over other people. How would this new order of things change your life in particular?

8. Have you ever had a dream that felt so completely real, you even convinced yourself that it was reality? What felt so genuine about the dream and what do you remember the most about it? What would it take for such an event to happen in real life?

9. Joseph, famous for his Technicolor dream coat, was also a killer dream interpreter. List five of your most confusing dreams and do your best to write an explanation of what they might mean. Which of these dream interpretations is the most important to your life and why?

10. Imagine that in your dream you could have a one-on-one meeting with the true inner-you: your subconscious. You can ask this inner-you any questions you want to find out about your identity, your desires and your destiny. What questions do you ask and how does your subconscious respond?  Done with Free Creative Writing Prompts about Dreams? Go back to Creative Writing Prompts.  

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24 Writing Prompts About Dreams

Let’s talk dreams!

Those crazy stories our minds cook up while we’re snoozing. They can be awesome, weird, or even downright scary, but they’re always interesting.

This post is all about writing prompts focusing on our dreams – the little ideas that spark a story within our minds.

So, if you’re a writer who needs a fresh idea or you’re just curious about dreams, buckle up!

We are about to dive into the wild world of your subconscious and see what weird and wonderful stories we can find.

• A Dream That Comes True: Imagine a world where your dreams accurately predict the future . Your protagonist begins having a series of extraordinarily vivid dreams, each one becoming reality in a couple of days. However, one night , they dream of a catastrophic event. How will they handle the knowledge of this impending disaster , and how will they use their unique ability to alter the course of events?
• The Interpreter of Dreams: Your main character is a therapist with an uncanny ability to interpret dreams with stunning accuracy. They’re well-known in their community , and people often seek them out for advice. One day, a client recounts a disturbing dream that seems to predict a major tragedy. How does your character deal with the ethical implications of this discovery, and what actions do they take?
• A Lost Dream: In this story, the protagonist can no longer dream. They used to have the most vibrant and inspiring dreams which they turned into successful book plots. But one day, they just stopped. Explore how they cope with this loss and what lengths they are willing to go to retrieve their dreams.
• A Shared Dream: Consider a world where two people can share the same dream. Your main characters have been best friends since childhood , experiencing shared dreams every night. One night, one of them dreams alone, discovering a secret the other had been keeping. How does this revelation affect their relationship in their waking lives, and what happens to their shared dream space ?
• The Forgotten Dream: Your character wakes up from a dream that gave them an incredible idea or solution to a problem they’ve been struggling with. But they can’t remember it. They’re desperate to recall the dream because they know it holds the key to their troubles. Dive into the lengths they will go to uncover their forgotten dream and the effect this obsession has on their life .
• Dreams as Escape: In this world, dreaming is a form of escapism, a vacation from reality. Your protagonist, a tired office worker , dreams of a magical world each night, full of adventures and exciting stories. One day, they find a hint in the real world pointing towards their dream world. How does this discovery blur the lines between their dreams and reality, and how do they reconcile their daily life with their dream escapades?
• A Dream within a Dream: Your protagonist has a recurring dream where they meet a stranger who offers them life-altering advice. Each time they follow the advice, their life improves significantly. However, the stranger warns that the last advice they give will be the most critical but also the most dangerous. Explore the dilemma your character faces when they receive this final piece of advice, and whether they choose to implement it.
• The Dream Healer: Imagine a world where healing and therapy take place in dreams. Your main character is a renowned ‘Dream Healer’ who enters patients’ dreams to help them overcome trauma. However, they must face their most challenging case yet, a patient whose dreamworld is so nightmarish, it threatens the healer’s sanity. Explore how the healer navigates this perilous dreamscape and the impact it has on them personally and professionally.
• Dreams of the Past : Your protagonist has a peculiar ability to see their ancestors’ lives in their dreams. They’ve been using this as a means to understand their family history and roots better. However, one night, they witness a dark secret from the past that could disrupt their family’s harmony. How do they grapple with this newfound knowledge, and what decisions do they make moving forward?
• The Dream Shop: In this world, dreams can be bought and sold. Your protagonist is an owner of a shop that sells these dreams. But when a dangerous criminal buys a dream that could potentially cause harm, the protagonist is faced with a moral dilemma. How does your character handle this situation, and what are the ramifications of selling dreams?
• Dream Weaver: Your main character is a ‘Dream Weaver’, an individual who can manipulate dreams to change a person’s perspective or thinking. However, they become conflicted when asked to change someone’s dream for reasons that conflict with their ethical beliefs. What is the internal struggle they face, and what decision do they make?
• A Dreamer’s Gift: In your story, people have lost the ability to dream except for your protagonist. Their dreams are vivid and meaningful, inspiring them to create beautiful works of art . Explore the protagonist’s journey of sharing their dreams through their art and how the world reacts to these ‘forgotten visions.’
• In the Dream Realm: Consider a world where a parallel universe exists within dreams, an exact replica of our world but with different rules. Your character accidentally discovers a way to bring objects from the dream realm into reality. What consequences does this discovery bring, and how does this ability change their life?
• The Dreamless Child: In a world where every child is born with a unique dream symbolizing their destiny, your protagonist is the only child born without a dream. Explore the challenges they face being ‘dreamless’, and how they strive to create their own destiny despite the societal norms.
• The Night Terror: Your main character starts experiencing a night terror that seems too real to be just a dream. As the line between their dreams and reality begins to blur, they are forced to question their sanity. How does the character deal with this psychological horror , and what is the real truth behind these night terrors?
• Dream Time Capsule: Your protagonist has a unique ability – whatever they dream of, they can send it back in time to their younger self. But when they dream of an upcoming disaster, they have to deal with the complexities of time manipulation and the potential paradoxes. How does your character navigate through these complexities, and what impact does this have on their timeline?
• The Dream Portal : Your protagonist has a unique gift: every dream they have serves as a portal to a different time or place. However, they find themselves trapped in a dangerous era in history after a particularly vivid dream. What measures do they take to navigate this time and find their way back to their own reality?
• Dream Detective: In this narrative , dreams can serve as crucial evidence in criminal investigations. Your protagonist is a detective who specializes in interpreting these dreams to solve otherwise baffling cases. How does your protagonist navigate through the complexities of such dream evidence to uncover the truth behind a high-profile crime?
• The Recurring Nightmare : Your main character is haunted by a recurring nightmare involving the loss of a loved one. This dream is causing significant distress and begins affecting their personal and professional life. How does your character attempt to understand and overcome this nightmare and its emotional consequences?
• Dystopian Dreamers: In a dystopian society where dreams are controlled by the state, your protagonist has an illegal dream, a vision of a free world. How do they react to this forbidden dream, and how do they use this vision to spark a rebellion against the controlling regime?
• The Dream Architect: In this world, there are professionals known as Dream Architects who can design and implant dreams in people’s minds. Your main character is one such architect. When they’re commissioned to create a harmful dream, they’re faced with an ethical dilemma. What decision do they make, and what are the consequences of their actions?
• Dreams and Reality Swap: In a strange twist of events, your protagonist wakes up to find that their dreams and reality have swapped places. Their dream world, full of magical creatures and extraordinary adventures, has become their new reality, while their mundane life is now only experienced in dreams. How does your character adapt to this new reality, and what challenges do they face?
• The Last Dream: Your character lives in a world where everyone knows the dream they have on their 18th birthday will be their last dream ever. These dreams often carry significant meaning. On the eve of their 18th birthday, your protagonist is nervous and excited. Describe their last dream and how it influences their life choices and direction.
• The Infectious Dream: A dream virus is spreading across the world, causing everyone to have the same disturbing dream. Your protagonist, a renowned dream scientist , is tasked with finding the cause and the cure. How do they approach this unprecedented situation, and how does this shared dream experience change society?

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How to Describe a Dream in a Story

By Isobel Coughlan

The topic of this article is how to describe a dream in a story. Read on to learn about 10 adjectives you can use to illustrate a dream a character in your novel is having.

Something that makes people anxious or worried because they don’t know what’s coming next.

“The dream was tense . Every time she woke up, her heartbeat was raised, and her thoughts were jumbled.”

“The tense dream left him wondering about the future. It didn’t seem so bright anymore.”

How it Adds Description

If you want to show worry or anxiety in connection to a dream, “tense” is a helpful adjective to use. This word explains your character’s mindset and hints that the events of the dream were unpleasant. A “tense” dream can also foreshadow negative future events, especially if these events are featured in the dream.

Something that lacks details or confuses people.

“He expected another hazy dream, the kind that lacks any focus or sense.”

“She was tired of meaningless and hazy dreams. She wanted to visit new lands while asleep.”

Not all dreams are clear and detailed. If you want to showcase how mundane or unclear your characters’ dreams are, “hazy” can help. This adjective shows the characters forget aspects of the dream when they wake up, and it also shows the dreams don’t involve any excitement.

3. Exhilarating

Something that makes characters feel extremely excited or happy.

“She rushed to bed in the hopes of another exhilarating dream.”

“It was an exhilarating dream. As soon as he shut his eyes, he could fly, speak to animals, and was rich beyond belief!”

“Exhilarating” gives a clear image of an exciting dream, and these positive connotations can imply that the character wishes they could experience it again. A character with “exhilarating” dreams might be more likely to try to escape reality in favor of their wonderful dreamland.

Something that is mysterious, wondrous , or produces magic-like effects.

“He laid in bed and wished for a magical dream to take him far away from the real world.”

“In her magical dreams, she was a fairy princess with control over a whole kingdom. But in real life, she was a shy student with only one friend.”

Dreams are often described with mysterious or fantastical qualities, and the word “magical” emphasizes these characteristics. If a character has “magical” dreams, they may even have special insights or other magical abilities, which can help to build the wonder of your fictional world.

Something that makes people smile or laugh .

“In his amusing dreams, all colors were inverted, and you could taste sounds.”

“She awoke from another amusing dream, and she couldn’t stop giggling as she ate breakfast.”

Some dreams are light-hearted or funny, and you can show this to your reader via the adjective “amusing.” This word shows the dream was funny or entertaining, and it could put your character in a good mood. “Amusing” also has connotations or humor, and you use these dreams to show your character’s positive attitude.

Something that’s strange or odd.

“Ok — that dream was bizarre . Why was everything orange and fluffy?”

“His bizarre dreams weren’t funny anymore. Their odd plots were starting to creep him out.”

“Bizarre” describes dreams that are strange and different from normal. If a character experiences “bizarre” dreams, it might imply that they’re going through some personal conflict or have doubts about the future. “Bizarre” dreams may also scare your character or leave them feeling unsettled when they wake up.

7. Soothing

Something that has a relieving or calming effect.

“She slipped into a soothing dream about tiny animals and love. It was exactly what she needed after a long day of work.”

“I drink lavender tea every night for soothing dreams. It does wonders, I promise!”

Sleep should be restful, and “soothing” dreams can help your characters rest and repower after a stressful day. “Soothing” also has connotations of pleasant subjects, hinting that your character doesn’t suffer from nightmares. A “soothing” dream can also show your character is an overall calm person.

8. Passionate

Something that involves strong feelings or beliefs about a particular subject.

“He had passionate dreams for the future, and it was his life’s goal to make a change in the world.”

“Her secret, passionate dream was to be a world-renowned artist. But she had no clue how to get there.”

If your character’s dreams are meaningful, the word “passionate” can show their desire to make the dreams a reality. A character with “passionate” dreams might be strong-willed and determined, which can make other characters look to them for strength and inspiration. This shows your reader they have great leadership skills and a will to make things happen.

9. Chilling

Something very frightening .

“She didn’t dare to go to sleep. Her chilling dreams were painful experiences that left her feeling glum all day.”

“He feared another chilling dream. He cursed his mind for torturing him with such horrible thoughts.”

If you want to portray a nightmare or scary dream, “chilling” can showcase the negative nature of the dreams to your reader. “Chilling” also emphasizes how unpleasant the dreams are for your character, and this can evoke pity or sympathy from other characters in your story.

10. Prophetic

Something that describes events that happen later in time.

“She was sick of prophetic dreams. Why did she have to be the chosen one?”

“As he grew older, his prophetic dreams became more accurate. He dreaded sleeping every night in case he saw a loved one in peril.”

If your character’s dreams are predicting the future, “prophetic” is a great adjective to use. This signals that your character might have special abilities, and it draws attention to the contents of their dreams. In addition, “prophetic” dreams might cause other characters to seek them out for advice.

Do Lucid Dreams Promote Creativity?

Research suggests narcolepsy—and lucid dreaming—are linked to higher creativity..

Posted August 2, 2019 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

We constantly hear that dreams spark creativity. There are reports of scientific breakthroughs appearing in dreams, as well as of artistic masterpieces appearing ready-made to the dreamer (the song “Yesterday,” for instance, reportedly came to Paul McCartney in a dream). But what do we have beyond anecdotal reports of dream creativity?

In fact, recent scientific work on the issue has begun to provide very consistent support for links between REM sleep, dreaming, and creativity—with dreaming per se looking like the key ingredient.

Dream recall frequency, narrative complexity, and certain dream content indicators have all been correlated with various creativity measures in research. People who learn to "incubate" a problem in their dreams are often able to reliably dream up a solution—one that may not always solve the problem immediately, but that they later judge to have been significantly helpful in devising a "real" solution. Lucid dreaming , in particular, has been positively linked both with creativity and with problem-solving successes. But while all of these clues are suggestive and interesting, it would be beneficial to have some controlled studies on dream creativity.

A recent report by Lacaux et al. [1] comes close to that. The researchers took a novel approach to the study of dreams and creativity. They looked at people who spend a lot of time in a dreaming state and who frequently experience lucid dreams—namely, people with narcolepsy.

Narcolepsy is essentially a disorder of disinhibited REM sleep. The waking life of these individuals is frequently interrupted by full-blown, unpredictable episodes of REM. Patients report feelings of dreaminess and hallucinatory states when REM interrupts their conscious life. If cataplexy (the body paralysis that accompanies REM sleep) occurs alongside dreaminess and hallucinations, the individual may suddenly lose motor control and drop, paralyzed but conscious.

Interestingly, people with narcolepsy report a large amount of lucid dreams. They are more often conscious of dreaming in REM sleep than other people appear to be. In short, as the authors put it: Relative to the rest of us, people with narcolepsy exhibit a privileged access both to REM sleep and to dreams. Thus, they are a perfect group to study if one is interested in dreams and creativity. If dreams promote creativity, then narcoleptics should, in theory, evidence greater creativity than control populations.

Of course, one problem with this straightforward hypothesis is that you could just as easily predict that narcoleptics would be less creative, given the fact that the disorder is associated with fragmented REM sleep, poor sleep quality overall, and other neurologic and cognitive problems. In addition, these individuals are typically on medications that may impact cognitive functions. Despite these problems, the authors found some interesting evidence for unusual creativity in narcoleptics.

They administered creativity tests to 185 persons with narcolepsy and 126 healthy controls who were matched for age, gender , and laterality with the subjects from the narcolepsy group. Participants completed several assessments of creativity, including the Test of Creative Profile (TCP), the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ), and The Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC)

The TCP contains 57 yes/no questions, examining three different types of creativity: "Innovative," "Imaginative," and "Researcher." An Innovative person, for instance, tries to change situations into better ones, while an Imaginative profile indicates persons interested in imaginary realms. The Researcher profile generally consists of scientists or inventors who are guided by a specific subject.

The CAQ, on the other hand, is an assessment of creative achievement across 10 domains (visual arts, music, dance, architectural design, creative writing, humor , inventions, scientific discovery, theater/film, and the culinary arts). The EPoC test battery assesses two key modes of creative thinking : divergent-exploratory thinking (i.e., finding the greatest number of solutions based on a given stimulus) and convergent-integrative thinking (i.e., integrating several elements into a coherent synthesis) on two different domains of expression (graphic and verbal).

Results showed that subjects with narcolepsy obtained significantly higher scores than controls on the creativity tests (for example, they scored higher on all three TCP creative profiles: Innovator, Imaginative, and Researcher). In addition, all symptoms of narcolepsy other than cataplexy—including sleepiness, hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder—were significantly associated with higher creativity scores. Lucid dreaming, in particular, was strongly associated with measures of creativity. Notably, 43 percent of the 185 subjects with narcolepsy were frequent lucid dreamers, compared to just 3 percent of the 126 normal controls,

Medications were not associated with creativity scores. Nor could something like differences in the subjects' IQs explain the results. Indeed, education levels (arguably a proxy for intelligence ) were lower among narcoleptics. Remarkably, despite these lower overall education levels—and despite the disabilities associated with a chronic neurological disease such as narcolepsy—the narcoleptics nevertheless evidenced more creativity than healthy controls. In short, these findings strongly suggest that something about REM sleep and dreaming appears to enhance creativity.

It would have been useful if the authors had collected dream reports from the participants in order to assess the extent to which dream content patterns predicted differing levels and patterns of creativity. In addition, it would have been beneficial if the authors had analyzed the creativity data as a function of those who reported lucid dreaming vs. those who did not. We would have then been on firmer ground to assess the extent to which lucid dreaming per se (rather than REM sleep or dreaming more generally) enhances creativity.

There are several theories concerning REM sleep and dreaming that could account for links between dreaming and creativity. One idea is that while non-REM slow wave sleep consolidates memories, REM combines and recombines disparate memory elements and traces in novel—and sometimes random—ways, thus resulting in unusual cognitive effects. That account strikes me as potentially correct, but it is more descriptive than explanatory. Why dreaming promotes creativity remains a mystery.

Whatever the mechanistic reasons for the dreaming-creativity connection, the accumulating research is making me more and more confident that the connection is real—and substantial.

( Lacaux C, Izabelle C, Santantonio G, De Villèle L, Frain J, Lubart T, Pizza F, Plazzi G, Arnulf I, Oudiette D. Increased creative thinking in narcolepsy. Brain. 2019 May 29. pii: awz137. doi: 10.1093/brain/awz137. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31143939 )

Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. , is Associate Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and the author of numerous books and articles on the science of dreams.

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19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

dream - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

• a perfect wish
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In the twilight yawn of heaven's black rose two tall trees of sombre peeking green, their tops a round as if drawn in mathematical precision. And as I gazed at them for a blessed moment, the kind that could be any length at all in the twinkle of eternity, I saw the eyes of an owl, great and wise. Before I could breathe another, before my brain was capable of any other notion, I was behind those green owl eyes in the sky looking down upon the black-cradled ground. For these were the eyes that watched all the galaxies in the dominion of love, the ones that belong to our guardian, our God. And to them I was a speck, safe and happy, so at home there in the sky, there in a place that touches our reality and yet belongs to another.

From the beauty of the dreamscape, in the place between the thoughts and the movies of the nighttime, came striding an elephant with butterfly ears. Each ear was as a great wing in pinks and baby blue, shimmering, and moving in the way butterfly wings do. When the great elephant had passed, there came a snake into view whom morphed into an eel, then grew fins down the length of its body and soon became a fish. And so the dream spoke of victory, of beauty always remembered and how the selfish snake self became beautiful too.

In the dream I am standing in a puddle, I am normal. Yet my reflection in the puddle, in the world of the upside-down, is a zombie. It is as if all this while I have been trying to achieve this very thing, to separate the good parts of me from the rotten.

To dream so snug within a cottage-cocoon, to feel the sunlight that comes in welcome soon-ness to the budding day, births dreams of Iron Man made butterflies.

Every wise hero realises that dreams come with price tags that have nothing to do with money. If heroic dreams were easy, if capes were free, everyone would have one and this world would be better already.

There are dreams that feel as nightmares yet are the way to a heavenly victory, and it feels as if this lifetime could be one of those. For the dream of the warrior is to fight the good fight, to take on any necessary suffering so that others have a greater chance at good health and wellness.

If I die in battle yet the ones I love are safe, then it is a greater dream than ever-safe while others suffer.

In my dream we were soldiers, you and I. We were dressed as soldiers are, in combat camouflage, guns at the ready. It was nighttime and we stared up a mighty cliff face, yet as we tried to climb the bullets came from all around. Together we fought them, shot dead each one, then resumed our task of reaching the higher ground.

I dreamt of a coin, old and covered in dirt, the engravings worn and the head of the king so tarnished as to be stolen from view. I held it in my left hand, watching the mud dirty my skin. So close to my face the coin had the aroma of stale blood. I turned to my right hand and in the palm was a new spring leaf, crowned by a perfect sphere of dew, reflecting an image of my face, softened and relaxed. When I turned back to the coin, the image of the king had freed himself and journeyed over to the leaf, igniting the growth of strong roots and new foliage that reached for the sunlight, robust, virescent.

The stain had vanished like it was never there in the first place, like the whole thing had been a visual joke. Tyler ran his hands over the fabric before holding it up to the brilliant early morning sun. There was no trace of red, black or any other colour. It was as clean as the day it was created and just as supple, just as beautiful. What had been there yesterday was already fading from his memory, as if it wasn't just erased from the silk, but from history all together. It had been words he was sure, but now that they were gone he felt himself begin to relax. Casting his eyes around him at the trees, listening to the birds, he quite forgot the fabric for a moment. Then when recalled he was holding something he looked down to find only white petals, which he instinctively released into the breeze and watched them float away.

After so long in the maze Shelly was confused as to which path to take. She'd sat there all day, lost, figuring she'd never get out, when Jess just walked right through the walls. She sat and stared as he passed through the maize stems into the still sunlit path. He smiles and beaconed her to come. "Follow me," he said with one of his sheepish grins. Shelly wrapped her fingers into his loose cotton shirt, her heart flooded with relief. She could have walked through them herself she supposed, but it was wonderful to have a guide.

I had thought my jail cell as real for so long that I never even checked to see if the walls were solid. I heard screams from other cells and they paralyzed me from even pushing on the door. Then one spring day when the brilliant light of dawn shone in, I stood and put my hand on the bars. With a prayer I pushed with all my might and a after a brief flash of pain the prison cell itself was left behind me on a hill. From the outside it was tiny, pathetic. After so long crouched in the dark I stood up and let the light warm my skin, my black hair flowing in a heavenly wind. Upon the walls written in stone were the words "fear" and "guilt." I threw my head toward the sky with relief, all I had to do was conquer those bullies all along, conquer them and be free.

In the dream I am sitting in a field of green wheat, the stalks bend lazily in the wind and I marvel at the grains. Each one is distinct and though different from the others, still perfectly formed. I run my hand along the edge to feel the combination of rough and smooth and then hold my face upward to feel the warm light of the mid summer day. The air smells just right and the birds fly in an almost cloudless sky. I start walking, the filed goes on forever and after a while my feet become roots, digging into the soil. My hands become green, soon I am also wheat, and I wave happily in the wind.

In the dream the sky is blue, the birds sing and there is a bee on clover nearby. The streams run clear and there are fish in the river. Next to me is a small boy and he tells me how he sees the world. His answers to my questions are so precious. I ask him if we should care for the world. He says "Yes" like he's surprised I should even have to ask. I ask him if we should be nice to animals, his response is the same. I ask him if we should kill or harm animals and his eyes fill with tears. I ask him if humans should kill one another and he runs, runs like he just saw a monster. I call after him but he won't return. He's a child, and like all children he's still able to see through the light of the creator - he was never taught the answers, he feels them within.

Have you ever had a dream so real you were confused when you woke up? Once when I was a little girl I dreamt that the grass in our backyard was blue. The blue grass rose up into the sky leaving perfect green grass underneath and painted the sky the same perfect shade those soft blades had been. That morning I didn't wake up sleepily, but instead like a switch had been flicked. I ran from my bed to the back yard. And you know what? The grass was green and the sky was blue. I told everyone where the blue grass had gone, but since I was five there was no suggestion I was crazy, just knowing smiles and nods. No-one could tell me it wasn’t real, I’d “seen it” happen and outside was the proof. Seeing is believing right? I guess that’s why I’m so comfortable talking to you. I can see you here with me. You aren’t quite solid yet, I don’t think you can be for a while, don't ask me why yet because you won't like the answer.

Authored by daisy , here .

The dream comes often and only the ending changes. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose. If I loose it's because I betrayed of love and trust of someone I love more than myself. So long as I do what I know is right, the dream turns out well. I have woken up from the dream many times feeling wretched for my mistakes, only for the blessed relief to come that I didn't really do those things, it was just a dream. Then though my heart feels wretched at least I can face the day. When the dream turns out well I'm never elated, just cosy, happy to stay at home and potter. I don't fear the dream, even when it's bad I welcome the message it brings. Stay true to the ones who love you and the ones you love back.

In my dream there are lights, too many to count, dancing on an ocean too vast to envisage. Each one is brilliant, each one unique. I want to look at each one for the marvel it is, for no matter how many there are no two colours are the same. The light that comes from within is more pure than gold, more light than air - each one a small piece of heaven. I try to reach out to them, who wouldn't want to touch something so pure. But the lights recoil in fright, they don't even know who they are. They chant that they feel ugly on the outside and worse on the inside. I can't understand until I take a look at the water, it looks fine but smells like something I wouldn't want to drink. But they're swimming in it, bobbing in it like it's a fine day at the beach. I want to tell them it's poison but they'll never listen. They laugh and carry on just as before, each one just as beautiful as the last but disconnected even from their inner light and beauty.

In my dream I saw a building grow into the sky, many strands of steel and glass like the stems of a wild plant, organic in shape, coming together and parting. It was a vertical city. Standing underneath and looking left and right, with only soil beneath my feet, it was at least three football stadiums wide and went up as far as the eye could see. All around was nature, just nature... and it was beautiful.

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