Saturday, January 9, 2016

A Valentine Dream, Part 2

In the morning, Sharon woke up from her strange dream.  In a way, she was delighted at being able to observe classmates in their own private sanctuary in the tree Fort.  “I wonder if it’s possible to visit other places in the dream world?” she thought to herself.  “I need to figure out how to remember my dreams. Maybe if I kept a diary of each dream the minute I woke up, I would learn how to remember them.”  Sharon had an old diary book that someone had given her for Christmas, tucked away in the closet.  She opened the diary book and began to write with her new ballpoint pen – the date, time, and a summary of her dream about looking into the tree Fort.
The next day at school, Sharon was excited to tell her best friend Joyce about her new experience with dreaming.  “I’m going to the library to see if I can learn more about dreams,” said Sharon with an excited tone in her voice.  Browsing in the library, Sharon was surprised – there were all kinds of books on dreaming.  Some were about how to learn while you’re dreaming; others explained psychoanalysis of dreams and meanings of dreams.  She checked out three of them and began to read each one at different times of the day.
Each day when Sharon and Joyce met on the playground, Sharon would explain some things she had read in the books.  Joyce was a little concerned about some of the weird stuff Sharon was telling her.  “I don’t know if I would get into all this stuff about dreams and what they mean. It sounds to me like devil worshipping or something to do with evil spirits. And besides, what good will it do for you in real life?”  “I don’t know,” said Sharon, “but I find it interesting to learn about something that I know absolutely nothing about. Don’t you find it interesting?” she asked.  “Have you ever wondered why you have nightmares? It says in one of the books I read that a good way to conquer your fears, especially in a dream, is to confront them.”  “What do you mean?” asked Joyce.  “Well, according to this book, if you’re afraid of water, and have reoccurring dreams about drowning at the beach, you need to confront your dream.”  “How do you do that?” asked Joyce.  “According to the dream book, when you experience such a fearful event in your dream, you simply take control of the dream.”  “And how do you do that?” asked Joyce.  “You confront your fear in the dream world by diving headfirst into the wave. By confronting the fear in your dream, the fear will go away and never bother you again!”  “Wow,” said Joyce, “that is powerful, heavy stuff!”
After further evaluation of the report on Sharon, progress was noted in the spacecraft.  “I believe we’re ready to begin Phase II in the dream interpretation exercise,” said the Star Commander.  We will teach Sharon how to use her dreams to her own advantage, so she will have a grasp on the future,” he said.
Sharon was fast asleep that night, dreaming about a new step in her clogging routine to perform in an upcoming contest.  She could see herself doing the dance steps as if she were looking at a movie screen.  “How strange,” she thought to herself in her dream, “that I can watch myself dancing while I’m asleep.”
The dream suddenly changed, and there was an image before her, dressed in strange clothing.  “Do not be afraid, Sharon. I am your mentor in this particular dream. Together we are going to discover the art of dreaming. I will show you a method to help you remember your dreams; once you perfect this method, you will be able to realize when you are dreaming. First of all, you must be aware that earthlings have not developed these skills to their highest potential, and therefore they are self-limiting in the cognitive realm of higher thinking. It is somewhat of a lost skill that was used many years ago by the ancient disciples of the forethought. These disciples would interpret the meaning of dreams for kings and other important people of power, as a way to guide them through wars and other important matters. You will use your new ability to understand dreams and to interpret the dreams’ true meanings, so that you will have a clearer understanding of the future.”  “What am I to do with this new knowledge?” she asked.  “You will become a mentor to your people as you get older,” said the image before her.  “There are several sequences that you must master before we go much further in this process. Are you ready to learn?”  “I’ll try,” replied Sharon.  “Good; let us begin. The first step is to remember your cue.”  “What is…”  “Do not interrupt; just listen and try to remember. Your cue is to watch your feet while you’re dreaming. The realization that you are watching your feet will be your cue that you are dreaming. Once you have mastered this technique, we will move on to more advanced methods of training. For now, just concentrate on the feet cue. When you realize you are dreaming on cue, you will be ready to advance to the next form of higher learning.”
When Sharon woke up that morning, she went to her diary first thing and began writing what she remembered in her dream.  “Watch my feet. Learn my cue. Remember the results.”  She placed a big star next to the date in the sequence of this dream.  From then on, every night before going to bed, Sharon would remind herself to remember her cue.  She practiced and practiced until she thought she would never be able to accomplish this simple step.  She would dream all sorts of weird things in her dreams, but could not remember or find her cue that she was dreaming.
One night, a dream was different from the others.  Somehow she was performing a dance, and she began to jump higher and higher in the air.  She thought in her dream, “This is impossible – I can’t really jump this high! I must be dreaming,” she thought.  It took several more months of practice before Sharon finally found her cue in her dream.  From then on, she could tell when she was in a dream state.
 “Sir, we’re getting a strong signal from Sharon’s synapse response in her dream state. It appears that she is able to master Phase II, and is aware when she is dreaming.”  “Very good,” barked the star commander.  “Now we will execute the training in Phase III.”


(Part Two of story by George F. Kohn, author of
Holiday Favorites series available on Amazon.com)
To read the rest of the story, order your copy of A Valentine Dream, published for Kindle e-readers and paperback.



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