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The Write Way 6 January 2006 And in that Sleep ... What Dreams May Come? Greetings, Lavinia and Raoul have been off gallivanting for the past few weeks, and so I was looking forward to catching up with her this week after the hectic Silly Season finally wound down. We met at our favourite café on the waterfront and over our double decaff-skinny-lattés and low cholesterol choc-chip muffins (lite, of course), she regaled me with stories of their recent exploits in far-off places. But she was only half-way through her muffin and her tale of Raoul's encounter with a shaman in the back streets of Llandfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrudrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, when her eyes got that slightly glazed look that indicates her mind has wandered off on its own for a short while. Gently touching her arm, I brought her back to the 21st century and asked her what was wrong. "I've been having this funny dream," said she, "ever since Raoul bought that feathery thingummy from the shaman." It appears that Raoul, ever one for a bargain, was persuaded to purchase a Dream Catcher, made from authentic, 100% virgin polyester and vinyl. When I remarked that this didn't seem quite traditional, Lavinia hastened to point out the benefits of this over old-fashioned materials like feathers, willow canes and glass beads, "You can put it straight in the washing machine or even in the dishwasher," she said with a triumphant smile, "so even Raoul can do it!" "Tell me about your funny dream," I reluctantly said, as visions of virgin polyester Dream Catchers spun in my mind, "where were you?" "I've had the same dream over and over," she began, creasing her little brow as she concentrated on the effort of recalling the details. "I'm standing in the queue at the bank, waiting for my turn to be called to the teller, and as I finally walk to the window, I look down and I'm wearing fluffy slippers!" she wailed. "And they're not even my best ones ... they're those old pink ones with the giraffe faces on them that I wear outside when I'm doing my Salute to the Sun that we learnt at the Crystal Mountain Mystic Life Centre Pilates Classes." "Mmmm ..." I replied, "is that all?" "No!" she cried, "When I put my hand to my mouth to stifle my horror," and she gulped with the remembered horror of it all, "my teeth start to fall out! And I'm spitting out crumbling teeth onto my fluffy slippers ..." She sobbed and had to order another low cholesterol double choc-chip muffin (lite, of course) before she could proceed. "And if that's not bad enough," she resumed, "the next thing I know, I'm climbing a ladder, then it starts to fall backwards, and I have to hang on. But just before it hits the ground, I notice that I've managed to get off the ladder and I'm flying around the bank, dodging the ceiling fans and I've ... I've ..." but here the anguish quite overcame the dear girl, and she had to break to beckon the waiter over to order another coffee.
Empathy means "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner" Sympathy means "feeling or an expression of pity or sorrow for the distress of another; compassion or commiseration" Apathy means "lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference" (dictionary.com) All come from the Greek root pathos (emotion). Hmmm ... but after listening to anyone go on and on about dreams, I feel I may have been right the first time, don't you? You'll find instructions on how to make your very own Dream Catcher here and can have a ball interpreting your dreams with this nifty dream dictionary! (This Welsh town name, Llandfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrudrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, actually means 'St. Mary's (church) by the white aspen over the whirlpool and St.Tysilio's (church) by the red cave'... in case you were wondering.) And here's a story about a man having a bad dream that Gill found and passed along some time back ... A distraught man goes to see a psychologist. "How may I help you?" the doctor asks. "Doc, every night, I have the same dream. I’m lying in bed and a dozen women walk in and try to rip my clothes off and have wild sex with me." "And then what do you do?" the doctor asks. "I push them away," the man says. "Then what do you want me to do?" the doctor asks. "Break my arms! This week's quiz: What else but some terms that relate to dreaming and the like? parapraxis, ego, latent, preconscious, hallucination, libido, manifest, id, cathexis, superego 1. perception of visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory or gustatory experiences without an external stimulus and with a compelling sense of their reality, usually resulting from a mental disorder or as a response to a drug 2. the division of the psyche that is totally unconscious and serves as the source of instinctual impulses and demands for immediate satisfaction of primitive needs 3. the psychic and emotional energy associated with instinctual biological drives 4. clearly apparent to the sight or understanding; obvious 5. the division of the unconscious that is formed through the internalisation of moral standards of parents and society, and that censors and restrains the ego; the largely unconscious part of the personality responsible for moral self-control 6. a minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive 7. the entire set of contents of the mind accessible to consciousness but not in awareness at the moment 8. present and accessible in the unconscious mind but not consciously expressed 9. the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external reality 10.concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea And here's a little something to ponder this weekend: Am I a man dreaming I am a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming I am a man? Read some interpretations of Chuang Tsu's original lines here. And a little more about our butterfly man.
Last week's quiz: 1. A MURDER of crows 2. A SCHOOL of fish 3. A PRIDE of lions 4. A PARLIAMENT of owls 5. A POD of whales 6. A BUSINESS of ferrets 7. A FLIGHT of swallows 8. An EXALTATION of larks 9. A COVEY of partridges 10. A DRAY of squirrels An Ape that wants to play Hamlet after being type-cast as King Kong, a talking anvil and that rottweiller ... Dr Morgenes is still caught in the nightmare that is the casting couch. Help him find a plot! Just click on the Comments button at the end of the entry to add your contribution. If you have friends who fancy themselves as writers, invite them to contribute (just forward this newsletter in its entirety to them). I often trawl this for comments to post on my site ... so if you say something about the newsletter or site, be warned, you may end up being read by one of the 2,000+ unique visitors who visit Write101 every day! Make your Mark on the World. Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark. A Little Something Extra Albert sent along this list of the 10 most searched-for words in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary for 2005, and we both pondered how much the activities of our various politicians had prompted those searches ... What do you think? In order of popularity: 1) integrity, 2) refugee, 3) contempt, 4) filibuster, 5) insipid, 6) tsunami, 7) pandemic, 8) conclave, 9) levee, 10) inept. http://www.m-w.com/info/05words.htm Word of the week: Myoclonic jerks (No, this doesn't refer to those people who spray graffiti on every available surface, nor even to our beloved politicians. It is, in fact, the "sudden twitching of muscles or parts of muscles, without any rhythm or pattern, occurring in various brain disorders" ... OK ... maybe it does apply to all of the above after all ... We all experience our fair share of myoclonic jerks, though. These are those muscle twitches you get when you're nearly asleep and feel yourself falling and jerk your legs as you fall. Now you know and you have a name for your pain! Oxymoron of the week: sweet dreams And a Latin phrase for 2006 A posse ad esse [AH POH-say AHD AY-say] (From possibility to actuality OR A dream come true!) Kind regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal: OR 2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form. (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart) Copyright 2006 Jennifer Stewart Individual articles copyrighted by
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