A few years ago I started keeping a dream journal. I would wake up in the morning and write down my dreams, so that I wouldn't forget them. It started off slowly, with a character I might remember vaguely. The more I did this, the clearer the memories, and the more vivid my dreams became. In fact, I started writing a fantasy novel based on what was happening in my dreams. I got to page 100, and then chaos erupted in my life and the dreams would fade before I woke up. What I did remember had more to do with messages for my daily life, and how to cope with the chaos. 

While I am still having the teaching dreams, I am now also beginning to revisit the worlds that were created in previous years of dreams. The memories are not yet clear, but they will be. Last night, I visited with Breda and Hugh, who were two of the main characters in my book. Hugh and Breda are wizards. Hugh is an intriguing character that I literally fell in love with during the first chapter of the book. He is powerful, and yet so vulnerably human that I couldn't help it. Breda is a very wise woman who also acted as a guide for me during the book writing process. They have been missing from my dreams for over a year.

When I saw them in my dreams, I was elated, and remember asking them where they had been. And their response was that they were exactly where I left them. It was me who had left. During all of the chaos of this last year, I had forgotten what it was like to have dreams and hopes of my own. I was simply surviving day to day.

They shared with me, that until I could focus on the positives in my life, there was no room for dreams. 

Wow. Just Wow.

While I am not quite ready for the depth of my prior dreams, I am at least on the right track. I admit I still have some things I am working through, but at least now I have hope again.

As an FYI- the book title is "Hope Begins"

So, here I am at Day 8, and I can actually see that this process is making a positive change in my life.

While I am not quite ready to get back to my book, I am getting closer.

Today.. I am grateful for:

Beginning this gratitude journey

Dreams and hopes

The characters I meet in my dreams

My life.