Things that go bump in the night . . .

"To Sleep . . . Perchance to Dream."

Do our dreams really change as we age? Do our fundamental desires stay with us throughout our lives? Or are we exchanging them for something newer, flashier, dearer? Do dreams come with an expiration date? Have we set dream goals? "If I don't achieve this heart's desire by the time I'm 21 then it's 'goodbye to you' and 'hello gorgeous'!" Has the speed at which our live are lived given us an internal 'Sell By' date for our dreams and emotions? 

I know that some of us have given up on that desire to be a ballerina, a fireman, a baker, or even Robin Hood. But I don't remember ever giving up the dream or desire to be happy. It takes a bit more than an extra Oreo, or a warm puppy to make me smile these days, but the basics remain the same. I want to be happy, I want to share my happiness with someone, and I want them to share their happiness with me. But what exactly is this happiness I'm pursuing? Is it money, cars, big houses, and lots of cash? Is it some zen-like sea or tranquility where I'm one with the universe and the conversation of crickets? Is it a bubble that two people create that excludes the world around them? Is my happiness the equal to someone else's? Are we supposed to be looking for our matching opposite, like a big emotional love & happiness infused Lego-like block of human being?

What happens when it doesn't work out? Are we only allotted one try? Is it like we are only entitled to one true love- one true happiness? So when it's gone it's gone are we then to begin a carousel of settling, accepting, shrugging our shoulders with a meta-physical "Meh!"? Who sets up these rules? Is there a book, a tablet, a scroll . . . something carved in stone? Most importantly, is there an appeals process? Can I talk to a supervisor? Will someone be taking anything I say under advisement? What is the lesson that we are supposed to be taking away from this?

I say that happiness, much like love, is in the eye of the beholder. Happiness is what we create for ourselves, not what we settle for or is foisted upon us. I believe that dreams do not come with an expiration date, the colours may change and the co-starring role may change, but a dream is something you hold true within the depths of your heart. That moment, that glimmer of magic that will make your heart catch, your breath go deep, your brain to recognize that this is what you have been waiting for. I don't believe that someone will come along and give you happiness, or that by their simply being will begin your happiness. I believe that happiness is something you give yourself, it's a chance you take, it's finding the magic within yourself to make your heart soar. And then, only then can you share that gift with someone else, with the world. You have to be happy with yourself before you can try to make someone else happy, or else you will resent them for taking your gift and you won't feel you've gotten anything in return.

Maybe what we bump up against during our dreams are the roadblocks we create because we don't believe we're entitled to that happiness.
Fasten your seat belt . . . this is going to get interesting.