dream

I had the greatest dream the other night. Usually my dreams race along, very plot-driven, no time to stop and smell the flowers. But last night, possibly influenced by the pleasant little company barbecue we’d attended, I had a very leisurely, wonderful dream. It was around sunset and I was in a very beautiful place, having dinner outside at candlelit table with friends and family in the courtyard of an adobe building—arches around the edge. At some point I became lucid (realized I was dreaming) and decided to just be aware of everything this dream had to offer. The sky was beautiful, darkening and streaked with pink and yellow, the wind was rustling in the trees (some were eucalyptus, I think,) and I was with people I loved. I focused on the sounds, and the individual beauty of the leaves in the trees. This was a bit overwhelming, as mindfulness can be, but of course, worth it. Can’t wait to ask my dharma teacher if one can be mindful in a dream! That’s kind of a brain-twister for me. After dinner, I decided to go flying. At first I just scrunched up my eyes and thought about shooting into the air, but it didn’t work. But when I gently flapped my arms up and down, I rose into the air. That feeling of flapping and rising, the air pushing up on my arms--like when you stand in a doorway with the backs of your hands on the jamb and push out for a few minutes and then step out of the doorway and your arms rise by themselves--that was the most vivid sensation of the dream. After rising straight up, I started soaring and swooping in big circles over the building and the land around. It was euphoric. Just as much fun as you would imagine flying to be. I was accompanied by the song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from “Mary Poppins.” When the song came to an end, so did my flight and my dream. :)