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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Mangoes As Metaphors

Lucid dreaming is all up inside the headlines now thanks to Inception. I've yet to see it (I know, that makes me from planet WTH), but that has not stopped me from trying lucid dreaming. I had thought I might be decent at it given my past woo-woo experiences, but last night's experiment proved I might need a sleep lab. And a Latin assistant named Javier who speaks no English. And a little audio help. Kidding.

If your eyes glaze over when someone says, "I had this dream last night that..." WARNING! Jump to the red line. I was a man, which is weird, but doable, walking in some kind of salt marshes when two Rastafarians in a battered pick up truck stopped and told me about a mango tree just over the ridge. Their instructions? "Tend to da tree, man." Over and over. So I did it, because I'm that kind of girl, man, whatever. Tending to the tree involved running around in circles beneath it gathering mangoes, a never ending endeavor if ever there was one. Once a day, the truck would kick dust up from the road and I'd hear "Tend to da tree, man," hollered from its open windows. Soon, the sleeves were ripped off my Oxford and somehow I knew I'd lost my wife and family and job because I'd tended to this tree. One day, I stood in the road and waited. The men came and endured my stink eye and enough tongue lashing to make them want to bury themselves in a ganja-stupor for decades. And when I was done, the man said, "You tended da tree, man. Look at it now!"

And then someone woke me.

Are you kidding me? I picked up after this tree for a thousand dream-years and I don't get to see the fruits of my labor?

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I know what you're thinking: the prefect opportunity for lucid dreaming, right? Get on it, girl! I have to find out what happened to the tree.

So I tried. Deep, calculated breathing. Visualization. And what did I dream about? I was Kate Winslet in a girdle and lived at home with my parents.

So much for the tree.

7 comments:

Barbara Martin said...

From what I have read of lucid dreaming is it often occurs in relation to a real person or a recent event. You tell yourself that you are going to have a lucid dream re ______, and lo and behold you have one. No deep breathing or visualization. I've had two with this method. It's meant to be used with a good dose of common sense, and not as a frivilous pasttime. There is always the possibility that one may get more than they bargained for.

Charles Gramlich said...

I have lucid dreams on occassion, almost always when I'm sleeping on my back. I think you have to be at a fairly light level of REM sleep to get it, and sleeping on your back helps that.

Jen FitzGerald said...

LOL, L.A.

Never tried lucid dreaming, tho.

Robin said...

Too funny. I've never tried lucid dreaming either. I hate remembering my dreams. Since I was a kid, I've always had yucky ones, so I really try not to remember them. If mine were as fruitful as yours, I may be so inclined. ;)

laughingwolf said...

stooper, that kin to stupor, perchance? ;)

ganja-induced, one never knows!

but that's all too funny, lam :D lol

Marilyn Brant said...

LOL, L.A.
I haven't tried lucid dreaming, but I do want to see Inception sometime. Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on that film after you go...and also on any future dream experiments ;).

Katie Reus said...

Haven't tried lucid dreaming and haven't seen Inception either. I usually dream about animals, like dogs and turtles and dolphins. No idea why. Maybe I'm going to come back as one ;)