The kingdom of sleep

Do you ever remember your dreams? Do you write them down?

For ages I kept a dream diary and a journal. I usually only keep a journal when I'm unhappy as there is always more to write about when you are miserable. Anyway, I would write down the dreams I had, not all but the ones that seemed significant. The ones where you know your unbconscious is trying to tell you something but your conscious mind doesn't want to know.

I kept having dreams about cats. Vivid dreams, where I would be "awake" and a cat would jump onto the bed or a cat would be at the window. You know those waking dreams where you are asleep but it seems like you are awake. I'd feel the fur of the cat, hear it, feel the pressure of the cat on the bed. But of course I was asleep and I'd wake up looking for the cat that I was sure was there.

There were other dreams where cats were present, sometimes a key element in the dream, other times there would be cats in the background. I would dream of the cats from my childhood, more often they would be in the waking dreams. They were visiting me. They were looking out for me? After me?

It was disturbing. Not that I was afraid of them, it was more that the cats were so real. And I still can't work out what the cats actually mean. I am a cat person - never dream of dogs and they don't interest me - but the cat dreams took on a whole other life.

I looked up cats in dream dictionaries - the dreamer is seeking grace said one. I liked that as words like grace and solace have a catlike feel to them. Contained and complete, in and of themselves.

Tags: dreams, cats