My Life-Changing Dream Guide
• Non-Dream • Dream • Lucid • Questions •
The following is a blog I wrote on May 15th, 2007.
It’s pretty long, so I’ll put my questions up the top in case you don’t make it through.
It’s a detailed recollection of a recurring dream I had as a child, as well as the reappearance of a very memorable character, years later.
The latter was a life-changing dream for me, as it inspired me to make a huge decision in real life – to move interstate and begin studying film production like I’d always dreamed of doing.
I had never heard of “Dream Guides” before reading about them on DV recently but I’m sure this character is mine.
Questions:
• Do Dream Guides often change their appearance?
• How do I get in touch with this character in my lucid dreams?
• How was this character able to describe my dream-signs in such detail when my conscious self did not know their meanings?
• Why do you think the character disappeared for so many years?
[Old Blog Entry]
“THE PLACE I GO”
When I was a kid, there is a place I would go where I could be free to explore and not have a care in the world.
It was the place where my mind was at its most creative.
I went there very often, and each time I did, I seemed to experience new things; new emotions.
I loved that it was never quite the same.
One day when I went to my special place, I noticed a dirt path that I had never seen before.
I felt drawn to it, so I followed it to the end where I found a little cottage.
There was a man waiting at the door for me with brown curly hair and a moustache, in about his late 30s.
He looked kind, and gave off this amazing vibe that I cannot possibly explain.
I could do nothing but look at him in awe.
"Hello Amity," he said.
I wasn't at all startled that he knew my name, as I felt an odd connection to him.
It was an incredible feeling and I didn't need to understand it.
I just smiled at him.
He invited me inside and showed me through his house to a lounge room with clean cream carpet, a TV to the right, a table with a lamp on it, and two white single seat leather couches sitting opposite each other.
He sat down on the far one next to the lamp, and I sat on the near one.
To one side, there was a round coffee table.
On it was a delicious looking chocolate cake and two cups of tea.
The kind looking man offered me the tea, so I accepted and started sipping at it.
It was lovely and warm: freshly made.
He cut two slices of chocolate cake and handed me one on a plate.
Then he started talking to me like you would a friend – and I spoke back, telling him everything that was on my mind.
We chatted for hours, ate our chocolate cake and drank our tea.
I was filled with more and more admiration with every word he spoke, and I felt like I could tell him anything and he would lift the weight of the world off my shoulders.
I felt that this house was my sanctuary.
When it was time to go home, he showed me out and smiled at me as I left.
The next day, I couldn't wait to go back to my special place and talk to the chocolate cake man again.
But when I went there, I couldn't find the path to his house anywhere.
I would often search for it, but as time passed, I stopped looking and continued to enjoy my place as I had before, with fond memories of the chocolate cake man.
Then one day, out of the blue, I went to my place as I always did and saw a familiar dirt path.
I was overcome with that same peaceful feeling as the first time and strolled down the path to meet the chocolate cake man at his door.
We sat down again and ate chocolate cake and drank tea, and talked and talked, and then I went home.
As I suspected, the next day when I went looking for the path, it was nowhere to be found.
Over the next few years, I kept visiting my place and occasionally, I would spot the chocolate cake man's dirt path and go to visit him.
He would teach me things and help me to understand myself, and inspire me to live my life in the best way.
Then once, when I was eight years old, I saw the dirt path, but something was different.
When I sat down with the chocolate cake man, I saw him cut the very last slice from the cake.
When we had eaten and drank and talked for hours on our little single seat leather couches, he told me with a kind face and heart that he wouldn't be seeing me anymore, and I didn't ask any questions.
He gave me a huge warm hug and I cried a little because he was the kindest man I had ever met and I had enjoyed the time I spent with him so much, I didn't want to let go.
A short time later, my family and I moved out of the state.
It's now almost 10 years later and I still speak fondly to the people closest to me about the chocolate cake man.
I still have a special place I go that's not so different from my old place.
And a couple of days ago, the most amazing thing happened:
I was at my place and saw this parade being held on a road nearby.
I felt intrigued by it so I went to check it out.
The first thing I noticed was that there were traffic lights set up that were actually on the footpath - for the people, not the vehicles - on either side of the road.
There were a lot of people running along the footpath, but they didn't seem to pay attention to the red lights and just sped straight through them.
The strangest thing was that all the people were running along the same path on just one side of the road - the other pathway was completely empty.
I saw a man in the middle of the road, struggling to carry a heavy load of equipment for the parade.
I went up to him and asked if he'd like some help.
He looked at me with gentle eyes and said that would be wonderful, and thanked me for my kindness.
I got the strangest feeling when I locked eyes with him, because although he had short blonde hair and was only in his mid 20s, he was abound with the essence of the chocolate cake man.
Once again, I found myself in awe of every word this man spoke.
After a few minutes, we arrived at a shop on the side of the street where he thanked me for my help and said he could take it from here.
I was a little overwhelmed as I walked away, and wandered about the street seemingly forever, until the parade had finally finished.
The path on the one side of the road was still hectic and the remaining people continued to run red lights.
I noticed a poor man on the side of the path, trying to direct the traffic.
I ran up to him and asked if there was anything I could do.
As he turned to look at me, to my absolute surprise, I saw that it was the blonde man from earlier!
"Oh, hello again!" he grinned. "You are quite the helpful one, aren't you? I was about to call it a night actually - there's not a lot more I can do here. But would you like to take a walk?"
I said absolutely – I was completely fascinated by this man.
I assumed we would be walking down the same footpath everyone else was on, so I was surprised when he led me across the road, away from the footpath and to a steep, painful looking hill.
He began to walk up it with such ease.
I thought to myself, there is no way I can climb this slope.
He must have seen the doubt in my eyes because he said, "Trust me."
So I followed him up the hill, which turned out to be the most amazingly simple task, and I felt good that I had conquered something that looked to be so difficult.
I followed him to a most uninviting mud patch and was disgusted when he walked straight through it and expected me to do the same.
I looked down and realised that I didn't even have any shoes on.
He was looking back at me from the other side and said, "I know it looks gross, but just give it a go."
I was so amazed by this man that I just had to follow him.
So I stepped with my bare feet into the slimy-looking mud, and I was astonished when my body was filled with a warm, relaxing feeling, and I very much enjoyed walking through it.
Even more amazing: when I came out the other side, my feet were perfectly clean.
We walked on a bit and came to a pile of hay that looked harsh and sharp, but the man walked straight over it and stood on the other side, waiting for me.
Looking down at my bare feet, I shuddered at the thought of the pain I was about to endure.
"Remember you will always be okay," cooed the man.
So I took a deep breath and began to walk over the hay.
I smiled at the soft comfortable feeling beneath my feet… it was a wonderful feeling.
We reached a clearing on the hill where we sat down and had a talk.
We talked about anything and everything for a long time.
I felt, for the first time in so long, that the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders once again.
We then stood up and I followed the man down a pathway that led back down to the road.
As we walked side by side along the footpath, I watched as the people on the other side of the road raced along, not bothering to stop at the red lights.
Then the man and I came to a point in the path where there was a red traffic light facing in our direction.
I looked around but couldn't work out why we had to stop when there was no one on this side of the road but us.
The man stopped though, so I stopped with him.
I looked over to the other path as everyone ran the red light.
The man and I waited, and on appearance of the green light, we continued to move forwards.
By this time, I was very confused, so I asked the man what it all meant.
He pointed to the people on the other side.
"The people on that path are moving straight forwards and reaching their destinations, and that works for them. But have a look at this:"
He walked across the road and beckoned for me to follow him.
We stood right on the edge of the other people's path but the people kept moving straight ahead, running their red lights, and didn't even seem to notice us.
I was completely bewildered.
The man continued,
"They can't see us because they have chosen to stick with the path they're on. You were scared to follow me up the hill because the slope seemed too great for you to manage. You were worried the mud would feel unpleasant and leave an ugly mark on you, and the hay would be painful and hurt you. Because you were scared, you would have chosen the straightforward path and missed out on those wonderful new experiences."
It all started to make sense.
"These people have taken the path that seems to be the simplest – and they might be right. Perhaps it would have been far easier to follow this path, as it seems we would have arrived at the same place. But what have they gained from walking in a straight line? You chose to follow something that interested you and ended up on a far more stimulating path."
I understood now.
But what about the traffic lights?
The man beamed.
"Ahh, the traffic lights." he said.
"I noticed you looking around when we stopped at the red light. You didn't see much point in stopping when we didn't have to, right? …Sometimes when we want to get things done in life, we make the mistake of just rushing through things to get it over with. But even when you have things to do, you don't need a reason to stop, look around and take in the beauty of the world. You miss out on so much if you just race through. Just take things slowly and go at your own pace. Move forward when you are ready to."
He looked at his watch.
"Oh, look at the time. I've gotta get going. It was nice to talk to you, Amity. Thanks again for your help!"
As he started to walk away, I called out, "But I only trusted that the path would be nice because you went there first! How do I know which ones to take?"
He turned around and smiled.
"You don't! You have to take chances and choose your own path. But I've found the more creative ones are usually the most exciting."
He continued to walk and disappeared in the distance.
I knew in my heart that the chocolate cake man had come back for me.
At this point, I woke up from the continuation of a recurring dream I had had so many times as a child and decided that I'm going to start working towards creating my 'dream life'.
I have already started making arrangements so I can begin a film course I've always wanted to do in South Australia starting next year.
I don't know whether the blonde man in my dream was the chocolate cake man in another form or if he had sent someone to give me his message, but I have confidence that we will meet again in my special place - my dreams.
And I don't mind how far in the future it might be, because I know it will be at the right time.
Today, I was asked for an interesting fact about me.
I said that the most inspiration I ever get comes from my dreams.
