(A “Notes to Self” Series)

Quote for Thursday, 28 February 2019

“Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming – well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate. Isn’t that true?”

― Amy Tan, The Hundred Secret Senses

Without searching the net, I could readily say that there are at least two types of dreams – the ones when we’re asleep and those we have even if we’re awake.

There are obvious differences between the two. One type is when we’re not conscious while the other is something that we could conjure out of our own free will. Some psychologists will emphasise the theory if not the fact that the thoughts we have during our beta state are a by-product of our hopes, fears, pains, joys, and whatever it is that our psyche had been able to grasp or experience in the past. On the other hand, the latter kind would be something we look forward to in the future.

Notwithstanding the demarcation lines, both dream classes come from ourselves and our minds. The better thing is that whereas we couldn’t control the first, we could be masters of the second one if we choose to.

Forward-looking dreams are not only for kids. I’ve got a reason to believe they are for the young-at-heart, too.

More than a decade ago, it had been my family of four’s dream to migrate here in Australia. We’ve now got that dream materialised. There are heaps of better things that we are looking forward to that, if you’d know our true story, you would never say we are ungrateful nor unsatiable.

It’s sad when people would still say something when honest thoughts are uttered. Others could even scorn, judge or even humiliate one beyond tolerable limits. Is it really a sin to dream of a better life? Should we stop dreaming? Will you stop someone who does? If one wants to work hard to earn an honest living, would you stop that person?

If a person isn’t perfect, would you be the cause of that person to become the worst version of himself or herself? If a person wants to live a peaceful life, would you continue coming up stories and set up situations to make sure that person would be off on complex quandaries?

If a person is already trying to recover from past trauma, would you choose to cut the same wounds again and add some more pain? If a person is trying to forgive, would you still create further animosities and conflicts to ensure reconciliation and amity wouldn’t materialise? If a person is trying to go beyond what’s normal and human to become a better person, would you be the cause of greater and more insurmountable obstacles to prevent that from happening? If a person tries to hold to that one uplifting thought, would you desecrate, denounce or declare it invalid, unbeneficial, and unhelpful?

Would you be the cause of one’s nightmares or should you, instead, be a reason for the good and innocent dreams to come true?

I’d like to believe that there’s goodness in each and every person and that I could be good and able to do good, too. I do hope I’m not and won’t be a burden to anyone. I prefer that I’d be able to uplift someone and help someone else be better and in better stead than before. If this post could do that, I’m happy you’re reading this. If it can’t, I hope you’d find a reason to dream and hope perhaps even if it’s through a means other than this blog.

Yes. “I am a dreamer. I think I’m not the only one.”

---

(For more quotes about hope, check out Goodreads. )