Dreams that Linger

Dreams play such a surprising role
in our healing journeys.
It’s not always a pleasant surprise.

Not like a conversation
that tastes like honey.
It’s more confusing than that
filled with mixed messages
you have to slowly unravel.

Sometimes they show me
my deepest fears,
and I am wrecked for days.

But even the longing in
those tender aching dreams
of what I want most,
can undo me just the same.

They are so deeply personal
I can’t help but feel like
there’s meaning
in the ghostly fragments.

So I hold onto them as long as I can,
turning them over and over,
trying to figure out if they are
friend or foe.

But the harder I try to hold on,
the faster they slip away.

Isn’t that how it always goes
when we try to hold onto things?
Especially things from other planes.
Things that feel real but vanish
as soon as our eyes open.

That’s when the doubt sets in.
Did it even really happen,
or is my imagination as wild
as my heart?

What’s left after they slip away
is just the imprint.
But that’s where the gold is, my friend.
They leave a feeling.
They leave us changed.

The details never matter.
Those come and go
like a radio signal
you just can’t tune into.

But the feeling they leave behind…
that’s the doorway
into the depths of our psyche.
That’s how we find
the rooms in our hearts
that have been boarded up,
abandoned by time.

I have never been disappointed,
not once, by exploring
their haunted hollows.

Sometimes I find
a long-forgotten part of me.
Sometimes an old pain
that needs releasing.
And sometimes, a smile
I forgot was so sweet.

Especially when that smile
turns out to be my own.

Writing Prompt:

How do you work with your dreams in your healing journey? Do you explore the feelings they unlock to see what meaning they hold for you?