New Year’s Dream Resolutions
Okay gang, it’s back to work. I have spent the past couple days reading through the morass that was 2008, as written in my journals. And I am happy to report that while the year was no picnic, from it I did end up with pages and pages of really interesting dreams. It was hard to choose the best moments from these dreams to turn into resolutions for next year, but I think I’ve got 10 solid contenders.
Why make New Year’s dream resolutions? As I wrote last year, making regular New Year’s resolutions is just awful. The one resolution I made this past year was to have more fun of all types. And while I did have more fun, it didn’t prevent lots of really tough things from happening too. So why go through the motions in the first place?
Dream resolutions, on the other hand, have nothing to do with the calculus of daily life—they are solely concerned with having the best dreams possible. Anything you like that happened in a dream, make a resolution to do it again. Anything that didn’t turn out quite right, you can do differently next time.
There is no room in dream resolutions for moralizing or resolving to be a better person. Dreams love to break taboos, and revel in exposing the stuff we try to keep out of sight. The best attitude for making your own New Year’s dream resolutions is honesty and acceptance, with a good splash of humor.
So with all that, here are my official 2009 New Year’s Dream Resolutions.
1. When you have turned your bathroom into a spiritual purification chamber, you have to let people use the shower even if it gets water on the floor.
2. Rule of thumb when moving into old Victorian ballrooms with 58-foot ceilings: very long swings hanging from the rafters. Filtered water at the bar also makes up for the fact that there is none in the kitchen.
3. Sometimes your friend gets the hot new boyfriend and you just get a glimpse of a very old, very married fling. Be patient, your day will come.
4. Even the most beautiful boathouse and pavilion will not become a stop on the steamboat route if they are set too far up the hill from the water.
5. If a child in your dream has a dream that she should leave her favorite doll in the road for the fairies to take, let her do it.
6. Burn the candle all the way down—no shortcuts. These things take time.
7. If you’re wearing a beautiful dress to a prom, make sure you’ve got a sexy bra on under it—not that stretchy gray sportsbra.
8. When called on to facilitate a day-long meeting with lots of people, be gracious and engaging and the meeting might take only a couple hours.
9. On those long car rides through Texas, any frozen food in your backpack will probably not stay frozen very long. On the other hand, it may make it all the way to the state line.
10. If you’re going someplace you’ve been before and you sort of know the way, just follow your instincts. You don’t need to stop and ask for directions.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
My friend Hecate told me that “Anne Hill’s doing New Year’s Dream Resolutions.” and suggested that I post this dream on your blog. I told her about this dream because she is a witch and this dream featured a witch.
Here is the dream:
On the night of January 1st I had a dream about a very pleasant witch. I was sitting next to her in a library/coffee shop bench. We had been talking earlier. She wasn’t dressed like a traditional Witch, just a pleasantly dressed woman who was middle aged. We talked for awhile. I got sleepy. I laid down on the bench. She bent over me and with a small hand turned mixer put it in my open mouth and while turning the mixer she recited some sort of incantation. The mixer didn’t touch my tongue or sides of my mouth, but it was inside my mouth.
I was confused because I couldn’t make out the words she was saying; they seemed to be in some foreign language, but I wasn’t scared. My over all experiences with the witch during our earlier conversation was very pleasant even flirty.
In real life I have been struggling with a letter I’ve been writing and the meanings of and power of words on the radio. Also I’ve been worrying a lot about money, career and the future a lot.
This was my first dream of the new year.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi Spocko, thanks for posting.
It sounds like you’ve been busy dreaming already this year. I don’t quite know what to say about it, or whether you are posting it to get reactions, but if this were my dream I might think of all my struggles with words and goals as the froth being whipped up by the mixer in my mouth. So my resolution might be something like: If you find your mouth filled with someone else’s words, sink down into your stomach and see whether that’s really what you want to eat first.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hilarious and inspiring, as always! I’m headed back to my journals to make my resolutions!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:53 am
So much fun, and inspiration,too. I’ve been going through last years dreams to find common themes, but your way is much more entertaining. Thanks!
January 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am
[...] 20, 2009 Anne Hill from Blog O Gnosis‘ posted the following, turning dreams from 2008 into resolutions for 2009. 1. When you have [...]