Dreams come to us in different waves of experience. In the days of old, cavemen and women left pictures of dream fantasies; Shakespeare talked about his characters’ portrayal of dreams in a number of his plays. Today’s scientists have noted that individuals have different periods of dreaming in their sleep cycles, some of which are remembered while others are forgotten. Dreaming can refer to hopes that individuals have for their future, regardless of whether or not they are pleased with their present life situation.

One type of miraculous dreaming involves the desire to overcome powerful enemies. It is as true today as it has been through recorded history. In all ages and places, people have misunderstood power to mean bullying others who are weaker than themselves. True power, however, is the ability to control negative feelings and channel the energy into something constructive. Some people allow bad experiences to tarnish their dreams, and perhaps ignore them instead of keeping their dreams at the forefront of their future hopes. Everyone needs a dream and everyone can find real miracles in life with a little reflection. The real challenge is to maintain that awareness through all kinds of aggravations.

Perhaps it is necessary to add a pinch of faith to the mixture of dreams and miracles. When we experience tragic disasters, it is amazing to see the loyalty and human assistance that people are willing to provide when those who are in trouble least expect it. Behavior, feelings, thoughts and inner confidence can get shaken, sometimes becoming so fragile that they are destroyed. Victor Frankl, a psychologist who survived the Holocaust, developed a treatment called “logotherapy,” designed to analyze and help people who experience severe torture over a period of time. He did this by exploring his own personal experiences, reactions and feelings, as well as the experiences, reactions and feelings of those with whom he spent his tortured days in the concentration camps.

Dr. Frankl noted that human beings learn to adapt themselves to their circumstances no matter how horrible. Those people who were able to separate their innermost selves from their external realities were actually stronger than others who could not. Frankl did not mean people who left the real world to live and function only in a world of imagination, which is a different kind of problem. Rather, the people who could separate themselves from their terrible conditions and who could hold on to a memory of a different life, yet retain inner plans for future realization, were able to shield themselves somewhat from the horrifying circumstances in which they found themselves. They could thus function and survive to a better time. Therapists today, like Francine Shapiro and Basil van der Kolk, are finding ways to help alleviate and detoxify terrible traumas, using techniques like EMDR [eye movement desensitization reprocessing], which resembles REM sleep mode and helps individuals to conclude their emotional memories of horrible experiences without removing the memory of the experience.

The medical profession mentions that the state of mind of people who suffer difficult illnesses or other traumas can affect their way of life and wellbeing. Two people who have the same illness, yet different attitudes toward both illness and living, can have totally different outcomes in the states of their health–sometimes as radical as the difference between life and death. While it may be hard to believe, there have been many documented stories of individuals in similar circumstances that support this concept. Both Scientific American and the annals of Magen David Adom–the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross–report that more people tend to get sick or pass away near a personally significant event, like a holiday or a birthday.

Human beings can usually take control of themselves, their lives, and their dreams, surviving against all odds and in very difficult situations, as long as their attitude stays positive and they take practical measures to assist their survival. That is where dreams and miracles come into play. The world is an ever-expanding bundle of opportunity for those who have ideas and ideals. However, like the old story of the boy who prayed his heart out for a bicycle that his poor parents could not afford, sometimes the Almighty says “no” and the time is not ripe for a dream to be answered. At other times, when least anticipated, a cruse of oil slated to last one day somehow hangs in there for seven more than expected. That is where the element of faith has to nurture its feeble spark and burst into the flame of perseverance.

Modern day heroes all over the world have to set the stage for the way they plan to structure their life's work and then follow it through. People who survived the Holocaust 70 years ago and the more recent World Trade Center attacks and the bombings in Israel are popping up with miraculous stories of the ways they survived, which have definitely changed their lives. A person must always cherish a dream, work to make it happen, and keep it in a pocket of his/her mind until it becomes reality or adjusted to reality. That inner knowledge, particularly with a little bit of faith, can give an individual hope to live so the miraculous power of that dream can come to fruition.

Resources:

V. Frankel, The Will to Meaning, 1988

F. Shapiro, EMDR, 2001

B. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score, 2014

Marlene Greenspan, MA, LPC, is currently in private practice and the director of Counseling for Better Living. For many years, Marlene Greenspan has created social skills programs, written weekly Counseling Corner articles, given workshops, taught classes, and published journal articles for professional organizations, including Nefesh, ACA, ASCA, and the OU. She also has EMDR training and can be reached at counselingforbetterliving@gmail.com. Visit her blog: www.counselingforbetterliving.com.