My Philosophy of Life - Live Your Life as if it were a Dream.
Power of dreams
We all dream …consciously and subconsciously. Dreams have been interpreted by many across the globe; countless attempts have been made to decode the sign language and those bizarre situations and places we find ourselves in, while in sleep. Some say that ‘dream state’ affords us an opportunity to dig into deeper layers of our subconscious mind while others say that it is the time during which our consciousness travels in cosmos and meets other souls. It is also said that spiritual growth takes place during dream time as our soul experiences those subtle elements which our conscious mind is not able to perceive. Many soothsayers, fortune tellers and psychics have been said to have attained a sneak peek in the past and future events, in their dreams. Dreams are, as we all know, primarily of two types – a) involuntary-over which we have no control and b) lucid dreams- where we can control and change situations and events we experience. Sleep studies have shown that dreams, on an average, last only for a few minutes but those few minutes appear to be like a lifetime in the dream state. Why this disparity in time frame? It’s because our physical body exists in a different time zone and on a different level of consciousness as compared to our subtle and non-ethereal subconscious mind. Better still...perhaps there is no such thing as ‘time’. After all who coined the word ‘time’? Man did.
Gaining control means having more power
The time that we spend dreaming, can either be blissful or nightmarish, depending on the type of situations manifested in the dream. A horrifying dream rattles our brain to the extent that we heave a sigh of relief the moment we are catapulted to our conscious state. I am sure you can recall such instances when you might have woken up with a start from a scary dream and instantly felt relieved, realizing that it was ‘just a bad dream’. Remember how painful it had seemed to be a part of that reality which you had lived in your dream? Well, that seemingly endless saga of pain and horror that you had experienced in your dream, had in fact, lasted only for a few minutes. Point is....the intensity of our pain is time related- longer the duration of time, greater seems to be the sufferance. Again, it’s just a perception. We tend to respond to our situations in different ways, depending on where we stand and from where we look at it. (Like I mentioned earlier, a few minutes of dreaming feels like hours in a dream state) For instance, in a lucid dream, where we know that we are dreaming, we are aware that all that we are experiencing is not real and consequently it becomes easier to live that dream. When our mind knows that everything around is not real and can be altered the way it wants to, it sends positive signals to our body and we instantly gain control of our situation and our fear disappears. It’s the thought of having little or no control over our situations that makes us feel powerless and vulnerable to negative thoughts and influences. Needless to mention what negativity leads to.
Live your life as if you were living a dream
It happens in life as well. We all want to be in control but do we really ever gain control of our lives? No, we don’t. Things that are not supposed to happen do happen anyway, no matter how hard we try to evade the possibility of their occurrence. The only thing that we can control is, not getting hurt or burnt up when such terrible things do actually happen. Now that seems unrealistic. You might say that it’s beyond the power of human mind to stop responding to pain. Well, it’s possible only if you live your life as if you were in a lucid dream and perceive each and every event as an occurrence in your dream. It is a huge consolation to realize that everything happening around you is short lived and will fade away soon like an old memory. Besides, if you believe that you are living in an unreal world which is a manifestation of the reality that you created, all your pain will ebb away and your gruesome situations will stop affecting you the way they do now. It might sound crazy but if you do this, consider yourself having taken the first step towards the path of self-realization and transformation. After all, self-realization, primarily, means understanding the purpose of your existence, besides realizing the difference between the real and unreal. Do I have to mention that the world we live in is not the real world? Since the day we humans set foot on this planet, this world has become a mirror image of our perceptions, our aspirations, ambitions, complexities and negativities. It’s, in short, reflecting the reality we created for ourselves. So why fret and fume for something which is not real in the first place. Someday we might just wake up and heave a sigh of relief for having been released from the tormenting clutches of this nightmarish life and after stepping in to the light, we might whisper…”Thank God it was just a bad dream. It feels good to be home".
My Life Philosophy
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Comments
Thank you for such an interesting hub Anjali!
Tibetan Dream Yoga teaches that in order to make the time we spend dreaming more meaningful, we must first recognize that we are dreaming. That is the initial exercise. The next step is called transforming the dream; the third is known as multiplying. The fourth practice is to unify the dream with the clear light. Recognizing, transforming, multiplying and unifying the dream with the luminosity of the true nature; these four outline the essential applications of dream yoga.
Here is a link for anyone interested in Lucid Dreaming.
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Perfumer: I just read an e-mail sent to me by one of visitors to this hub. He explained the same thing as you did but in much more detail. I might copy paste his content herein later. I admire your knowledge about this subject. Thx very much for sharing that link.
Tibetan Dream Yoga is described by Evans-Wentz in his book Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines as one of the six subtypes of yoga elaborated by the Tibetan guru Marpa and passed down by his disciple Milarepa.
The author describes six stages of dream yoga. In the first stage, the dreamer is told to become lucid in the dream. In the second stage, the dreamer is instructed to overcome all fear of the contents of the dream so there is the realization that nothing in the dream can cause harm. For instance, the lucid dreamer should put out fire with his hands and realize fire cannot burn him in the dream.
Next the dreamer should contemplate how all phenomena both in the dream and in waking life are similar because they change, and that life is illusory in both states because of this constant change. Both the objects in the dream and objects in the world in the Buddhist worldview are therefore empty and have no substantial nature.
This is the stage of contemplating the dream as maya, and equating this sense of maya with everyday experience in the external world. Next, The dreamer should realize that he or she has control of the dream by changing big objects into small ones, heavy objects into light ones, and many objects into one object.
After gaining control over objects and their transformations, in the fifth stage, the dreamer should realize that the dreamer's dream body is as insubstantial as the other objects in the dream. The dreamer should realize that he or she is not the dream body.
The dreamer who has gained complete control over dream objects could, for instance, alter the body's shape or make the dream body disappear all together. Finally, in the sixth stage, the images of deities (Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or Dakinis) should be visualized in the lucid dream state. These figures are frequently seen in Tibetan religious art (thangkas) and used in meditation.
They are said to be linked to or resonate with the clear light of the Void. They can therefore serve as symbolic doorways to this mystical state of being (the Void or clear light). The dreamer is instructed to concentrate on these symbolic images without distraction or thinking about other things so that the revelatory side of these symbols will become manifest.5:36 pm
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Hi Dusty! That was amazing. I didn't know that those jumbled words which popped up in my head out of nowhere had roots in Tibetan scriptures. I thought my words wouldn't make sense to the readers but I still ventured to express my thoughts. Thanks for enlightening me on Tibetan yoga. You always have something new to share with me. I just wish I could have even 1/3rd of your knowledge. Due to lack of knowledge I find myself always searching for answers. I see and hear a lot of things but most of the time I don't know what they mean. Nevertheless, I try to keep an account of all that comes to my mind. Thx a lot once again for sharing such beautiful excerpt.
Anjali: I always enjoy getting an announcement that you wrote a hub because I know I am in for an enlightening hub. I have had lucid dreams, perhaps 2 or 3 times in my life, and earlier this year, I came out of my body; my body was trying to wake up, but my double was observing and walking around the room, so weird, as the real me seemed to be the one observing and not the body desperately trying to wake up. I have always wondered if one can heal while lucid dreaming or get answers to life's mysteries in this state. Read your comments, and I too sometimes come up with things or hear about them, but don't always know what they mean. However, when the timing is right, the seed that was planted becomes a knowing.
Amazing that your thoughts are rooted in Tibetan scriptures and you were not aware, this means there was a connection with spirit.
Hugs,
Marie
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Hi Marie! I hope there was a connection.. as you pointed out. It feels good to presume that there was one. I really don't know where this life philosophy subject came from. Like I said in my earlier post, I get these ideas, generally, in my sleep. I never know the source but until I put my thoughts in black & white, my mind doesn't rest. It's as if someone / something forces me to write and doesn't let me focus on anything else till the time I do it. Weird!!!
Regarding healing in lucid dreams, I believe that our mind has to be substantially powerful to understand the dream projection. Our third eye plays a vital role in distinguishing real from unreal. So to say, once we know for sure that we are in a dream that can be altered, our fears and related problems disappear. However, to reach that stage is not so simple. It may take a whole lifetime to dive in to deeper layers of subconscious and heal the wounds deep inside.
I don't think you need to know such things from me. You already know more than most of us. Thx for your love and support (Hugs)
Hi Anjali,
Hope all is well! "Live Your Life as if it were a Dream." Wow really deep! I love it. Dreams seem so real when they are happening until we wake up. I thought for a long time could what we perceive as the awakened state simply be a higher state of consciousness that we just haven't woken up from yet?
"Besides, if you believe that you are living in an unreal world which is a manifestation of the reality that you created, all your pain will ebb away and your gruesome situations will stop affecting you the way they do now." Brilliant! I always believed in creating your own reality.
"Since the day we humans set foot on this planet, this world has become a mirror image of our perceptions, our aspirations, ambitions, complexities and negativity's. It’s, in short, reflecting the reality we created for ourselves. So why fret and fume for something which is not real in the first place." HMMM very intriguing thoughts! I agree that much of are frustrations and challenges result from the reality which we create for ourselves. This reality which is manifested by us isn't necessarily an accurate refection of what is occurring in the universe if it really exists at all.
With Love,
Jim
PS I almost forgot. For some
strange reason I have been talking
about dreams lately and thinking about
doing a Hub on this. Hmmmm intriguing
Interesting. Voted up.
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Hi Jim: Thx so much for your support and encouragement. If you've been thinking about dreams then why not write about it?
daydreamer: Thx very much for stopping by.
Hey Anjali,
That's a great idea. I wanted to write about dreams for a while but I have other Hubs on my mind too. So you will probably see a Hub on dreams from me, I'm just not sure if it will be my next one.
Take Care.
Hi Anjali,
Good to read a new hub from you.
I love to dream both awake and asleep or is there any difference?
What was most helpful to me was taking control of my dream. If you asked me, I would say I do NOT just let life happen to me, but there is still a part of me that does and maybe a bigger part than I want to acknowledge. So taking "control" of my dreams was a big knudge to me. I have very wonder filled and juicy dreams right now, and some seem impossible, and when they seem impossible, I tend to sit back and wait to see what God has in store for me when perhaps God is "waiting", so to speak to see what I have in store for my life! I have a tall guy inside of me who seems to know how to "control" my dreams, but it seems that he gets scared at times, shrinks into a little kid and often just runs away!
So you have given me much food for thought here today, and I thank you. Namaste.
Vern
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Hi Jim: Take your time. I guess we all have to wait for the best things to happen and your hub is going to be one such thing. :) Take care.
Hi Vern! Why do your words sound familiar to me? Possibly because these are my words too. :) I put up with the same kind of conflict inside me. That 'tall guy' thing you mentioned...relates to people who are 'survivors'. Undoubtedly both of us belong to that category. It's always a great pleasure to have your thoughtful posts on my hubs. Thx so much.
I like your Philosophy of Life! We do have a great and vast ability to make life so rich and wonderous!
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Katiem2: Good to see you here and thx for your wise words. Keep coming. :)
Thank you for publishing this extraordinary article. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will confide in you something: Life has never seemed real to me.
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Hi James!
"Life has never seemed real to me".
LOL. Likewise. I guess that's how we are able to put things behind us and move forward. Its very essential if one wants to live in the moment. Thx very much for your wonderful presence and encouraging words.
So soothing Hub, Anjaly, thank you...
Hello Anjaly. It appears you've thought quite a bit about dreams, how they affect us, whether they be nightmare of revelation, we can learn a lot about ourselves. I better get some of that sleep, so I can read my dreams. Blessings, Debby
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Hi Tatjana: Thank YOU for stopping by and for your lovely words. :)
Hi Debby: Lol. You better do and when you find out something, please do share it with us here. :)Thx so much for your kind comments.
today is all we have got and your hubs puts that well.(as usual)
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@ Neelesh: Thank you for all your wonderful posts. :)
Anjali,
Nice to be back and I see you have written a lot of spiritual hubs. Hope I finish reading all of them.
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countrywomen: Hi! Its so good to have you back. I sent several e-mails to you but didn't get any response. Not that I don't understand. :) So how are things at home. Do you feel comfortable now? Lot to catch up with. :) Write to me when you feel free. Take care.
Anjali- I am sorry I haven't been checking the HP emails especially ever since I had subscribed to notifications which I later switched off. Life has been full circle there was a time I used to get bored after coming home and spend 3/4 hours online on HP and now I wish I get 3/4 hours a week to spare. I will email in detail soon.
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countrywomen: I perfectly understand. I'll wait for your e-mail...eagerly. :)
Gosh totally fascinating. I shall be back to read more of your hubs as soon as I am able. Voted up and pressing your buttons too.
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acaetnna: Thank you so much for appreciating my random thoughts. :) I don't think my hubs are worthy of so much praise. I feel guilty for not being able to find time to read hubs of my very dear online friends like you. Will try to go over to your hubs over the weekend. I don't know why but I feel like calling you 'sunshine'. Must be something about the energy field around you. God bless.
I practiced 'lucid' dreaming for a few months until I had my first successful one. It was AMAZING! Nice hub :)
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Cranfordjs: Thank you very much for such kind words. Feel free to c0me back....and Good luck with lucid dreaming.
I dream every night, but my dad however cannot remember the last time he had a dream. That makes me sad. It is awesome to dream. Thanks for this great hub!
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@ Sunshyne1975: Most people have difficulty in remembering dreams. I, however, believe that we always remember those dreams (and the messages in dreams)which are important to us. Its so to say an effortless process. So if someone doesn't remember a dream, it probably was not meant to be remembered. :) So relax. Thank you for taking time to read and for your lovely comments.
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