CONTROL YOUR DREAMS

CONTROL YOUR DREAMS.<br />
<br />
Dreaming and thinking are the same.<br />
But each has its own dimension.<br />
Controlling both has been my aim.<br />
And my ongoing intention.<br />
<br />
I learnt so quickly as a child.<br />
How to control my dreams.<br />
For in real life I was defiled.<br />
And no one heard my screams.<br />
<br />
Through dreaming I escaped the fate.<br />
Of many of my peers.<br />
Through verse I&rsquo;d like to illustrate.<br />
Those fears from younger years.<br />
<br />
When I was young abuse was rife.<br />
We saw it everywhere.<br />
War saw no value in a life.<br />
And no one seemed to care.<br />
<br />
Adults came home brutalised.<br />
So brutalised their own.<br />
Although it seemed uncivilised.<br />
They brought their problems home.<br />
<br />
War demands aggressive ways.<br />
The enemy to show.<br />
The harvest of those wartime days.<br />
Was what I came to know.<br />
<br />
All the beatings and the pain.<br />
Might have broken me.<br />
But I learned a little game.<br />
That helped to set me free.<br />
<br />
I split my body from my mind.<br />
My thoughts would drift away.<br />
It&rsquo;s this technique that I still find.<br />
Is helpful still today.<br />
<br />
It mattered not what people did.<br />
Or what they said to me.<br />
For in my dreams I ran and hid.<br />
And there I stayed carefree.<br />
<br />
In dreams the problems of the world.<br />
Were taken in my stride.<br />
In dream world they were all unfurled.<br />
And nowhere could they hide.<br />
<br />
In dreams it seems there is no pain.<br />
And problems are all small.<br />
There is an air of sweet refrain.<br />
And I control it all.<br />
<br />
I love that time of in-between.<br />
When sleep and wake will merge.<br />
It is a dreamer&rsquo;s perfect scene.<br />
Where creative thoughts emerge.<br />
<br />
I can hold on to this state.<br />
Of floating animation.<br />
I can guide my dreamer&rsquo;s fate.<br />
By my anticipation.<br />
<br />
My dreaming is original.<br />
Where I can think things out.<br />
Just like the aboriginal.<br />
When they go walkabout.<br />
<br />
The British did not understand.<br />
They simply could not cope.<br />
No way could they control dreamland.<br />
It was a forlorn hope.<br />
<br />
There is no place for bullies there.<br />
My dreams will keep them out.<br />
The world out there is my nightmare.<br />
And nothing to shout about.<br />
<br />
I sort my problems one by one.<br />
And have the ways and means.<br />
There&rsquo;s nothing I can&rsquo;t overcome.<br />
When I control my dreams.<br />
<br />
If I no longer had my dreams.<br />
I would not want to live.<br />
For dreaming is my life it seems.<br />
And life&rsquo;s what my dreams give.<br />
<br />
Many others in their time.<br />
Have utilised their dreams.<br />
In art and science, wit and rhyme.<br />
We see the dreamer&rsquo;s themes.<br />
<br />
I would urge you one and all.<br />
To use your dreaming well.<br />
So that one day we might all fall.<br />
Beneath that dreaming spell.<br />
<br />
B. Withers 2011<br />
<br />
<br><br>

Oh, I have tried to control my dreams with a topic to start with, but the nightmares continue. Argh... I have been bad of late, especially last night with Dad's passing. My first spooky dream of him. I turned the TV on to go to sleep!!!!!! ;(

Hello Mooza,Controlling my dreams is a 'skill' that has taken a long time to develop. I do believe that it consists of the same skills necessary to control the conscious thinking processes. It is not easy to be independent and not let others interfere with or control your own thinking too much. Just so with dreams. It is not easy but it can be achieved with practice. I facilitate regular, self-help sessions for people to practice controlling their emotions by thinking logically. This process coincidentally also helps with the control of dreams. The process of bereavement is a very difficult time emotionally and I would not presume that any 'technique' would be either be useful or appropriate in these circumstances. There are some things that simply need to be 'lived' through and this takes time. Mind you the processes of living , thinking and dreaming don't stop just because we are grieving. Indeed they are part and parcel of that experience.I'm sure this thread will continue in various forms and I hope to join you in conversation about it again. Best wishes Bill

Hi Bill, loved your poem once again, and your ending was a positive thought. It gave me something to think about, as right now in my life I'm under a lot of stress. I'm trying to find a good way of controlling my state of mind with stress. It would be good to lose it in a dream state. There's always something positive in your poems. Thank you. - Ambies

We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep (The Tempest). I am not sure controlling our dreams is as urgent as bringing some order into our own lives where needed. Dreams run the gamut of human feeling. Consider what Ray Orbison had to say about beautiful dreams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raB1K0-qz9Afeature=related Also, consider what the Bard felt as their downside: To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.... (Hamlet) Dreams are essentially very personal and solitary journeys reflecting our response to the gift of existence. For better or worse, we may find wastelands, intimations of immortality or even guidance in our dreams. (I think poor Ebenezer Scrooge saw the whole shebang in one night.) For me, dreaming is essential to living. With that said, night all!

Hello Primeboy,Thanks for your comments. As with yourself, most creative thinkers are acutely aware of the importance of dreams. The 'order' in our own lives is often circumscribed and guided by other people and 'systems' over which we have little or no control ourselves. Whereas in dreams we can free ourselves from those worldly constraints. I do like Roy Orbison but I could not get to him through the link you gave. My own preference for quoting are people who dream of a better future and make their suggestions to the rest of the real world in the (vain) hope that they might listen and move in that direction. suggestions such as in Martin Luther King's, I have a dream speach and John Lennon's Imagine. Much of my own rhyming verse emanates from my dreams and sometimes it has a practical and pragmatic message for the 'controllers' and planners in our society. One such poem - If I were the king is seemingly being enacted much more now that when I wrote it. I will post it after the ones entitled 'A Dream' and 'In My Dreams'. I hope you like them.Best wishesBill