I am curious to know why we dream what we dream.

Sometimes, dreams are pleasant; at times, they are scary, or tiring, or lonely.

I’ve had so many dreams but I will share a few, starting with one that I wrote on my FB in 2022:

________________________________

Dream 1 (Jan. 8, 2022)

I woke up early last Wednesday, still feverish with every bone of my body aching, after a few hours of sleep, which I finally succumbed to after hours of getting so tired from coughing intermittently.

A few minutes later, my eyes widened as I realized, “What did I just dream about?”

It was a dream I had during the dawn. I know it was dawn ’cause it was past 2AM when I was finally able to sleep. My dream was full of natural disasters in this order–a landslide (I saw bodies covered in mud), a store with very few supplies and when I went out, the ground was cracked such that the depth of the street was much deeper than the sidewalk, electrical posts that toppled down (a half-dressed man was being rescued because he broke his back; I guessed it was the post that fell on his house as he was sleeping). The last part wasn’t a natural disaster but a street with wild grasses on both sides which was getting narrower as I ran, when suddenly something touched my foot…and I woke up.

My dream defied geography and time. The landslide was in a province, the store and cracked ground was in Paris, the electrical posts were in Taft Avenue, Manila. In the store, there was a mom and her young son who wanted to buy a pack of goods that I also was thinking of buying but a moment’s hesitation made both of us lose the chance as it was gotten by another and we were requested to wait in the store.

In my dream, I wasn’t afraid and I wasn’t sick. It was as if I was transferring quickly from one scene to another. In fact, I remembered jumping from the pavement to the street below. Also, there was no evil entity in my dream.

I don’t know. Maybe, it’s just a reminder to be prepared. Or to be calm when the inevitable happens. Or perhaps, it was just the effect of having a high fever.

(There were two details which I cannot connect to the story: (1) Actress Alessandra de Rossi was in the area of the landslide scene; (2) There was a man wearing something like a “bahag” towards the end of my dream.)

________________________________________

I’ve once dreamt of angels as tall as trees, majestic, beautiful human features, with a mysterious light emanating from them, near our backyard, at the gate of our male neighbor who was in his teens, who was battling cancer then. I got goosebumps when learned the next day that he succumbed to his illness.

_________________________________________

A scene from my high school life crept into my dreams a few years ago. It was examination time then. While most students were busy rushing to their classrooms to take their exams, I saw one of my batchmates seated at the lowermost part of the stairs, crying her heart out. I don’t remember anymore if I approached her, but I learned that she wasn’t able to pay the whole tuition and thus, wasn’t allowed to take the test.

In my dream, it wasn’t the tuition fee that I had a problem about, but that I didn’t have a calculator I really needed for my Mathematics exam. I was waiting for a promised calculator that didn’t arrive. Although my life wasn’t in danger in my dream, but I felt that the anxiety was real, and I had to calm myself down after waking up.

_________________________________________

In 2002, on a bus ride home from Manila to Albay, I had a really sad dream.

In the dream, I was walking in a dimly lit bus terminal with very few people. The atmosphere wasn’t frightening, but dreary. In my dream, I came across a former high school classmate. She asked me “Where are you going?” I replied softly, “I’m going nowhere,” and continued trudging with my luggage.

I then woke up and realized that the dream mirrored my emotion. I was a few months pregnant then, and just 2 days prior, my older sister learned about my pregnancy, and urged me to go back to Albay. My mind was troubled then and I was seriously worried where my life was heading.

_____________________________________

In 2019, I was having a difficult time at work. But I was somehow able to relax every time I go home to my 50 sqm apartment. which was well-ventilated, with classic Parisian windows.

However, one weekend, I woke up to a scene of a meeting in my sala. There were many people seated and one of my bosses was there, stern-faced, arguing about something. Eventually, I woke up and realized I was just dreaming.

That dream happened on a Saturday and I wasn’t too happy about it. But I still went on with my day, and did the things I planned — a homecooked meal, a stroll, a bit of work, a documentary.

___________________________________

Sometimes, I do look up the meaning of my dreams just for fun. Like what does a white rose mean? What about seeing snakes? What about flying? How about thunderstorms? Or seeing a particular person. But most of time, I shrugged about them, and go on preparing for another busy day upon waking up.

I’m glad that I don’t have trouble sleeping. I can’t have the complete 8hrs. of sleep because of my work and because of habit, but once I feel sleepy, I don’t have trouble drifting off to sleep without chamomile tea, warm milk, or a soothing balm.

It’s a marvel to be in a dream world. It might not be considered as important as reality, but it does make our life more interesting.