Strange Origin

I just recently moved to a second floor condo in the northern suburbs of Daytona Beach, FL within the last two years. After checking appliances to make sure everything is off and the environment is safe I lie down and then go to sleep.

However, I soon find myself in an 18th century barn that is on fire. How did I get from Daytona Beach FL to a ranch with a barn as I don't remember anyone driving me. Young children might be guessing that maybe space aliens abducted me. I tell myself to stop the nonsensical thinking. Could that have been an aura for a seizure which I've had since 1988. Another possibility is that one of my medications might be causing me to have hallucinations so I will talk to my pharmacist.

Could this trick on me influence the rest of a new day. The answer is "Yes" as I know many people, including friends who smoke. Is one of the going to fall asleep on the coach, watching football and a fire starts and seriously injures or kills that person.

Fire can create fear in people, especially when a fire is out of control. For some people, including myself, fire can represent judgement, whether from self or others. Did I say or do something inappropriate in public in the last twelve hours, whether in a store or on social media?

I have been easily fooled in the past. One evening at a Boy Scout summer camp (Camp Flaming Arrow 1987) after a hard night's work as a First Year Camper Director I saw two angels carrying a bell flying over the camp area which was then followed by an image of what looked like Mary Poppins swinging an umbrella. Four weeks later at the college library of St. Leo College in western Florida, I learned with the help of pictures from an encyclopedia, the angels I saw at camp had been carrying a cast iron bell. Another way I have been fooled in the past is when I start walking upon a street and I tell myself: " Looks like there is a good size dog sleeping loosely on someone's lawn, down the street, on the left. When I get closer to the lawn in question, I actually there was no dog, it was just a residential garbage can on its side with the lid off. Nobody is around to play a prank on me.

As we grow from infant to toddler, then to child, followed by the teenage stage and then we all get to adulthood starting young and ending as an elder. As we grow we learn our family's values, ethnic traditions ( for example Asians take their shoes off at the door and even what some people might call superstitions. Knocking on wood is a form of praise, thus the reason for fireworks today on July 4th and to celebrate an upcoming New Year at midnight. Of course, we have all crossed our fingers when we did something, or a relative or even a friend while scared. I'm pretty sure we all said something in silence to help the situation. We have all enjoyed the wishbone fight with a friend or relative after eating chicken or turkey. The winner's idea might be better than a New Year Resolution.

Just like me, all readers can be fooled and not just with the symbol or image of fire- image could be any animal especially an animal chasing a person or a person falling or a flood in a house or a violent storm.

To help young readers when I asked how did I get from Daytona Beach, Florida to an 18th century barn that is on fire? No I was not abducted by aliens.

It was my mind that acted as a time machine. It helps that everyone, especially children learn about the four stages of the sleep cycle. When Stage 3 starts (REM- Rapid Eye Movement) starts which is when dreams start and when most people receive an enzyme from their brain that paralyzes all muscles so a person can't act out their dream and hurt self or other. People who sleepwalk do not receive this enzyme so a sleepwalker should be guided back to bed and not awakened.

At the beginning it was a form of a dream or what some people might call a nightmare. The difference is that a dream usually completes itself unless an alarm clock rings or a person has to go to the bathroom. With a nightmare, a person suddenly wakes up out of fear and they might feel their heart beating fast which is normal. The story about camp is that the mystery is the mind again. If my eyes were open, then I had a vision. If my eyes were closed then I had a "hypnogenic" dream which is when a person starts dreaming as soon as they close their eyes and this is rare as the dream stage doesn't happen until 1.5 hours after falling asleep with no interruptions. The story about a residential garbage can lying on the ground could resemble an image of a dog lying on someone's lawn, could it be that the image of a residential garbage can be the same image as that of five dogs that tried to attack me when a junior in college?

Everyone has dreams, even many animals, including dogs have dreams. Some readers, especially young ones might want to write a dream journal and then do their own personal interpretation. The reason for this is that the same image could mean different things to different people. For example if my sisters saw an image of an ox or a bull they might think: " Strong as an ox". For me, the image of a bull or an ox is foolishness: That is a bunch of bull". Person can use a book or another person whose trained to help them with their dream interpretation but it must be there own.