Dreaming

Last year, I woke up in Korea or at least that is the aggregate name of the journals that I kept in Korea. It was a very eventful time; and it was as if I woke up from a period of dreaming and things became real instead of the dreams that I was seeing in front of my eyes. As they say to every visitor in Plum Village in France: "Congratulations, you have arrived." Well, I congratulated myself for I have arrived unto myself. I lived in my dreams. It is a nice place to be and it was a necessary time. Now, it is time to go.

Before many people can get to the reality stage of their life, they have to spend some time in the dreaming state. I saw a movie over the weekend, "Tangled". In it, Rapunzel sings a song about when is her life going to begin. She has been living in a tall tower in which she sees an old woman who she thinks is her mother and no one else and reads a few books and has a lizard for a friend. She wants life to begin. That tower is a metaphor for the dreaming stage so many people live in before their life really begins and many don't seem to leave it. I left it rather late, but as they say better late than never. It was my karma that it would be late.

I was raised in a very dysfunctional environment. I survived by splitting into different personalities and thus became the Zebra that writes the stories and posts. Then a very kind and wise wizard helped put me together and removed the enchantment. I am one person now but still had the dreams that kept me in the tower. I did not know how to get out of the tower. Not everyone has a prince who shimmies up a tower to rescues them and sometimes the princes is not really a prince but a frog in tights. I really believe it is best for each of us to rescue ourselves.

I am out of the tower and onto the ground and it feels wonderful. Each of us has a treasure chest of truths in us that we can open by just wishing for those secrets. The key is in our hand and all we have to do is use it. In the movie, the old woman stabs the young man who is not a prince and Rapunzel agrees to stay with the old lady forever if she would only allow Rapunzel to heal the young man. Although he is dying, the man does not want her to tie herself to the old lady and with a shard of broken glass cuts Rapunzel's hair freeing Rapunzel and killing himself. This is not an ordinary movie. Rapunzel's tears heals him anyhow. Still, he proves that the orphan who is a wanted criminal is really a prince. Rapunzel did rescue herself in the movie. He asked her early in their adventure why she didn't leave the tower earlier. Why didn't I wake up earlier? It wasn't time, I guess.

When all of those people during my lifetime told me that it was foolish to dream, they were wrong. I had to have that time to recover, to heal. Dreaming did that for me. I can't make a blanket statement of everyone's life; but I needed those dreams. It also taught me to be a writer. I also learned to NOT listen to other people. I do think one must listen to oneself. I have found that I have been correct when I listen to my inner spiritual connection. I won't always be around on this earth but it feels good to be walking on it now.