“Mummy, I had a dream,” began Master Seven as he crawled into bed with me one morning. “I was driving along in my rocket car and those little yellow men off Despicable Me had turned into baddies and were shooting at me …”
He was interrupted by a shriek from Miss Four upstairs in the kitchen.
“Mum, Jai’s spilt the milk!”
I never did find out if the baddies caught up with him and that was the end of my holiday lie-in as I went to deal with the carnage.
But sharing one’s dream certainly isn’t just a childish indulgence – adults do too.
It’s bad enough getting caught up by “a talker” when you’re in a rush - you know, the kind of people who just love holding the floor while they regale you with all the intimate details of another person’s life of which you have no interest.
But at least that’s real life. Why would anybody have the time to listen to a great elaborate story that someone’s brain has conjured up during its REM phase while it, as one theory proposes, de-clutters their mind? (At least in print you have the option of turning the page.)
I found myself on the receiving end of such a situation the other evening as I was recited with a fictional story of the after-math following the handbrake being let off in a car on a steep hill.
Off they went while I faded out and came to, faded out and came to. Jaded from my busy day, I could all but blink mutely as the drawn-out tale continued.
Perhaps I’m just envious. After-all, I can’t remember the last time I reached the stage of sleep where I could dream.
So with that in mind I took myself off last week to a much-anticipated appointment at the sleep clinic. At $240 an hour, I was after some serious zzz’s.
If I was expecting a magical cure I was wrong. Not only did I come away $240 poorer, but I had my work cut out. Basically, it’s all about re-training yourself, much like teaching an infant to sleep through the night (and I don’t mean ‘crying it out’).
So far I haven’t began the sleep program as the thought of getting up in the cold every 15 minutes does not appeal but I’m determined to get my money’s worth (and some sleep) so will kick-start it one night soon.
So I’ll see you out the other side of that one and, who knows, maybe I will be able to bore you to tears with my own dreams of Despicable Me goodies and baddies and runaway cars.
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