Where was I?

When I wake up in the morning, before anything else happens, I ask myself, Where was I? It's a technique I learned a long time ago that helps me remember my dreams. I love my dreams. They're so weird, also very creative.

I can't say I'm thrilled when I've had one of those horrifying nightmares from which I wake up all of a sudden, heart pounding with fear, though it is great to wake up from those dreams. Nor do I enjoy the sad or scary dreams that stick with me through the whole day. However, the things I learn from remembering my dreams, the way they point me in the direction of mental, emotional, and spiritual healing and balance, makes them well worth remembering.

I have a lot of repeating themes in my dreams, like the house - my house - the one high on a cliff overlooking a place where fresh water meets the salty sea. I dream about that place all the time. There's another place I'm often lost within, a huge structure that's kind of like a shopping mall, kind of like an office building, also like a hotel. It's huge. I'm either trying to remember where my room is, or wanting to get out of there and go home, but I can't get a cab and have no idea where the closest subway stop might be.

Based on the above, you might wonder what it is about my dreams that I find so compelling. Ha. Well, I also have incredible dreams in which I can fly. Sometimes I dream that the planets are huge in the sky. In those dreams the awe I feel is palpable. When I'm at my house on the cliff I often gaze at the place where fresh water meets salt water. It feels profound though I can't explain why.

Jake is often in my dreams, as well as my parents and other people I loved who have died. It's always nice to hang out, even though they no longer inhabit bodies in the "real" world.

Not every dream is repetitive. Not every dream is a challenge. Some dreams are just fun. I love those dreams!

This morning when I woke up I couldn't bring to mind any scenes or characters from my dream. When I asked myself Where was I? all I "heard" was Everything is better in Israel!

That's interesting, hey? I wonder if parts of the dream will emerge later today. Sometimes I'll see someone on the street or hear a bird or just as I'm handing money to the guy behind the counter at the corner market, a snip or bit of the dream will come back to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

I am intrigued! Everything is better in Israel? Everything? Well, then, ok.