scribblings from an idealistic dreamer: Dream: "If you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write..."

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dream: "If you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write..."

I had a dream last night. My friend says that it sounds a lot like Inception and if I ever watch it, I'll feel like one of the victims. It was like my brain was trying to give me a peptalk, like my brain does want to write.

I was in this room with this person (in the room she was a girl, but later on it was a guy, and then a girl again, so I just say "they" usually) and they wanted me to climb this bookshelf. I tried several times, but all of the books were perched on only half an inch (the shelf was only half an inch wide) so when I would try to grab, several books were in danger of falling off. I told the person that I couldn't get up it and they said it was okay, we'd find another way to get in there. I didn't know where "there" was, but I went with it.

Then I was outside at a gas station and walked up to the person (now a guy) who was filling his motorcycle with gas. He finished and went in to pay, telling me to get on the bike. I did and then he got on behind me, wanting me to drive. I was nervous because I'd only briefly driven once before, but onward we went. The paved street turned into a dirt path and went into the woods. I really didn't know how to navigate now, debating between big rocks like a Maine hiking trail or a narrow dirt path, ended up going with the path. The guy kept saying, "See? This is a dream, if you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write." We kept going and the path kept getting harder, so I was going slower and slower. Finally we reached a drop-off, and luckily I could stop in time because we were going slow enough. He said, "Okay, we have to get in there."

We got off of the bike and slowly slid down the cliff and he said again, "If you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write," and we landed in this little doctor's office type room. One after another these doctors kept coming in talking about how they were going insane and the person (now the girl) would lean over and say again and again, "See? This is a dream, if you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write."

2 comments:

LyndseyMay 25, 2011 at 11:14 AM
Joy! I found your blog! What a strange dream. We learned in Dr. Deardorff's class, the American Novel, that Harriet Beacher Stowe's writing in Uncle Tom's Cabin came to her in a series of dreams -- so I'm not going to dismiss a dream like this as a coincidence or the result of something strange you may have eaten. Hearing stories like this makes me maybe dreams ARE more than I've thought them to be in the past ... but who knows.
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Joy RapierJune 25, 2011 at 10:50 AM
:) Yeah, I told my mom about this dream and she had a whole explanation for it. (She pretty much had a psych major in college.) She said that I was realizing that the way into English wasn't reading (couldn't climb the bookshelf) but rather through the practice of writing (even though it seemed more and more difficult as the road went on) and that the doctor's office was a reflection of how I felt like I was going crazy in pre-med.
Anyway, those were her two cents! Interesting take! :)
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Things I'd like to do:

build a cob house
pick up kitesurfing
Do a 10-day juice reboot
learn to windsurf
learn to surf
buy a stand up paddle board
take a several week bicycle trip
learn how to ride a motercylce
work as crew on a Maine windjammer for a summer
complete an Ironman triathlon
learn to fly a plane
be an emergency relief worker
get a german shepherd puppy
walk across the country
design a house that actually gets built
go to Hawaii
live outdoors
write a book
become a vegan chef
live overseas for a year- at least
refurbish a mansion and open it for everyone to live in peacefully together
make a difference.

Things I have done:

became a lifeguard- spring '08
shaved my head in solidarity with those with cancer- 9-4-10
got Vibram Five Fingers- Dec. '10
went vegan- Jan. '11
paddleboarded to the breakwall and back standing up the whole time w/o falling in- 7-16-11
did a four day juice reboot- Oct. '11 (and a seven day one in spring '12)
became an EMT-Basic- Dec. '11
Ate a raw vegan diet- Dec. '12
became a paramedic- Dec. '12
finished a sprint triathlon- July '13
became a firefighter- Nov. '13
passed the firefighter agility test in under 4:30 (4:23!)- Feb.16 '14

Why Vegan?

I've been vegan since January of 2011 and I've gotten several questions about why I chose to pursue that, so I thought I'd try to answer them here.

To begin with, the idea of meat being, well, meat has always bothered me. Ever since I was two and first figured out where meat came from, I have been vegetarian on and off. (Yes, age two... I have always been a bit strong-willed when I make up my mind about something!) That first vegetarian stint lasted about three months, but then I was won over by a Burger King hamburger. And so began my dichotomy between liking the smell and taste of meat and being repulsed by the thought of where my dinner came from (especially after working with cadavers as a pre-med student... we look pretty similar to that stuff in the meat isle, guys!). But the times of vegetarianism became generally shorter as I trained myself not to think as much about where the food was from and also learned to avoid certain textures and presentations (like when they serve an animal whole, and it just keeps staring at you from the plate?? Yeah, makings for a vegetarian meal there!).

As many of you know, I am very interested in the sport of triathlon and particularly in the Ironman distance. As I read about several different Ironman triathletes, I kept noticing a common theme popping up: they were vegan. Now this is not to say that all triathletes are vegan- they're not. But for some reason, without me purposely searching them out, I kept coming across those that were.

So, my curiosity being piqued, I decided to do a bit of a personal experiment. For the month of December 2010, I gave up milk. I even still ate cheese, just stayed away from the milk you drink. And the weirdest thing happened. Before that, my ears always itched (like the inner ear canal that joins to your throat). I thought it was allergy related, but I figured it was all my other allergies (grass, trees, dust, mold, etc.). But when I stopped drinking milk, my ears stopped itching! That in and of itself, made me think that being vegan might be something worth pursuing more.

In January of 2011, I went full vegan. That jump was way too fast for what my body could handle well and now I recommend people make the transition much more gradually. For about the first two months, I had HORRIBLE stomach pain. Usually I would be fine walking into the cafeteria (I was in college at the time), but by the time I walked out I would be nearly doubled over in pain and the only thing I could do would be to go back to the dorm and curl up in a fetal position on my bed for about an hour and a half and then I'd be okay again. It doesn't have to be like that! Learn from my mistake!

Now that I am adjusted to being vegan, though, I really do feel a lot better. And as I've continued to read and research the vegan diet, I've just become more and more convinced that it is the healthiest fuel we can give our bodies.

So there you go! I'm vegetarian for my personal conscience and vegan for health reasons.

Hope that helps answer some of your questions! :)

Pages- Some of you have asked to see some of the older prayers/songs that I wrote (arr. by year)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dream: "If you can imagine to dream, you can imagine to write..."

2 comments: