For Granted

The luxury of having and acting on an opinion or any notion is all that makes a difference. In the current times, with the unrequited claim of choosing, we are stuck indoors, indefinitely. In any other scenario, sleeping for a couple of days and watching time actually slow down would have been ideal – had it been a choice.

Last night, as I started out my window watching the lightening shake the city and the rain pour down – realization of how for granted I’ve taken things deemed upon my mind. After what seemed an internal debate for an hour, my subconscious concluded that the luxury of having a choice makes all the difference, just as I drifted off to slumber.

The option of doing nothing as opposed to having a day full of things as opposed to something and some nothings, that is what made all the difference. Even if in my mind I wanted to enjoy the luxury of doing nothing. Today, I have that opportunity – but I can’t bring myself to take afternoon naps that I so fondly love, or stay up until 3 AM watching silly movies and shows. It isn’t an option anymore – it’s the reality I’m caught up in. Time is slowing down, maybe we should too?

I hope as we come out of this stillness (and hope that it’s soon), we realize the things we have taken for granted – fresh hair, toes full of sand, the smell of fresh flowers, the fireworks in the sky, favourite meals in that corner restaurant, a crowded concert and the noises of the daily that are now very low.

I hope we remember the activities we have partaken, hope our wardrobes remain organized, our bookshelves full of life and let the dust never settle – on the water paints and the brushes.

Ouroboros

I can’t watch you lounging in your chair

in only a vest and boxer shorts

and not feel like

this is it.

 

I am made of desire

and it swallows me whole.

It never ends. 

 

 

Do you remember your dreams?

Is it just me, or within minutes of waking up- the dream I had just completely evaporates from my memory? Unless it’s a nightmare- those I often remember vividly. Especially, when the alarm on the phone rings, and while you grab it to turn it off, most of the time you end up scrolling on whatever social media platforms, news apps or anything. And then we really do forget what we were dreaming about less than maybe 20 minutes ago.

Let’s start from the scratch. Where do dreams come from? I mean sometimes I dream of bizarre things- that I probably have never even thought about on any subconscious level. There are a few reasons, which scientists can never seem to agree on:

1. We dream to express and solve our problems
2. It’s just our brain being super random and firing neurons around and doing basic brain maintenance
3. If any of you have seen Inside Out, you’ll probably agree that it’s just our emotions playing a random movie while they catch a nap.
4. Dreams help us sort through memories of the previous day, and basically, process all the information

Studies say that we see roughly 3 to 4 dreams every night in our REM cycle. And most of the time, even if we do remember, we only remember the last one- and if stats are too be believed we only remember like 5% of our dreams. So the 1/3rd of our life that we spend sleeping, we don’t even remember properly.

To improve dream awareness, Lauri Loewenberg, author of Dream on It: Unlock Your Dreams, Change Your Life says, that all it needs is time and attention. Within the first 90 seconds of waking up is the best time to remember your dreams, especially if you stay in the same position that you were sleeping in- basically, don’t move a muscle, and definitely, don’t grab your phone.