I’ve been hearing many stories lately about people having overwhelming dreams that seem to consume them and their minds. Upon waking, they may not recall the dream completely, but its essence seems to linger and cling onto their auras, at the edge of every thought throughout the day. Most of these dreams are memories or fragments of memories intertwined with the indiscernible bristles from that of a dream.

I had a dream about a year or so ago that felt so real. I told my spouse that it truly felt like I had entered another realm. Perhaps I had astral traveled and it was another realm, or I embodied someone else’s life completely. I woke up crying, truly believing that I had lost that life that I had visited ever so briefly. I had a family, a different house, my spouse so lovingly cared for me. Waking up from that life for a few hours after, I was completely rattled. How could these dreams be so intense, feel so real?

Every once in a while I have a dream similar to that one again. I only dreamt that dream once, but there are a couple of dreams on rotation that repeat themselves. Or, I’m in the exact same place, same realm, same people or what have you. I sometimes drive myself crazy delving into what could the meaning of these dreams be? Usually, I just don’t like the common explanations you find. “Dreaming of an ex? You must be unhappy with your love life.” No, that isn’t it. It feels different. It can’t just simply be the most obvious answer. It’s not just the who, what, where, it’s predominantly the vibe. How do you feel? What are you thinking? And perhaps even deeper than that. My conspiratorial brain likes to believe that we actually are falling into other dimensions and experiencing other life paths that we didn’t take. Whether it’s another vein of life from the path not chosen, or it’s another realm or dimension completely. I have experienced what feels like both. And then there are dreams. Just dreams.

Dreams that when you try to tell them back make absolutely no sense at all. Those are when I can tell they really are just dreams. The incoherent, brain-melting, ramblings of the subconscious that are trying to work out some problem our conscious mind can’t seem to logically sort out on its own, dreams.

I really need to start a dream journal. The funny thing is, I remember all of these dreams. I remember the places, what it looked like, what I was doing, how I felt. And I live them over and over sometimes. One of the reoccurring dreams I have starts to feel like Inception. People start to realize I’m conscious (or something) and I have to hide. Hide my consciousness from them. I find that similar to real life, while I can change what I’m doing and control my actions, I cannot control how others behave.