By guest author Harumura - 春村
My Tsunami Dreams
When I was a teenager, I remember my father used to go out early on Sunday mornings and bring back several newspapers and the whole family would sit down around the breakfast table, sipping coffee and reading. I used to choose the cultural magazine that accompanied some of these publications, rather than the news. These magazines had articles on culture, art, science, etc. and I found them a lot more appealing than the newspapers themselves.
One of the articles that struck me the most was one on tsunamis. As I read, I imagined the tidal wave, how it'd look like, what impression it would cause on those witnessing it from up close... the article had a great impact on my mind.
In subsequent years, tsunami dreams became a recurring theme in my dreaming life. I remember some of these dreams very clearly even now, although I never wrote them down back then. The scenery would change every time; sometimes I would be on a boat, sometimes on the shore, sometimes alone, sometimes with others. There was always a common element though: I knew that this was the moment I would die. As I looked up at the wall of water I would take a deep breath knowing that that would be the last one I took, and I just calmly accepted the fact, thinking to myself “OK, there is no way I can escape this one, so... this is when I die” and waited for the wave to wash over me and annihilate me. Right when the water had just covered me completely, I would wake up.
Facing the Fear
There was one last of these dreams that ended differently. I was inside of the college building where I first attended classes. The corridor that connected classrooms and different sections of this building had floor to ceiling windows for walls, so the outside campus area could be seen through them and the light could come in. I was standing at one end of this corridor and saw the wall of water coming, as I had before in so many other previous dreams. And as before, I thought that this was the end, and took a deep breath. And waited. The water washed over me and covered me completely. And here something that had never happened before, took place for the first time: the water shattered the glass at both sides of the corridor, flowing outside of the building and leaving it empty: I did not die this time. I was standing there, breathing... Everything was just fine.
As I never wrote any of this down back in the day, and human memory is inaccurate, I can only speculate but, I have come to believe that I had these dreams when either some event or emotions in my waking life felt overwhelming and I thought I could not “survive” them.
With time, and seeing how I did indeed not only survive but also probably had learnt and grown stronger from the experience, I came to realise that whatever the problem or feelings I would be just fine... and the dreams stopped.
About the Author:
Harumura - 春村 - Having lived in four different countries (Spain, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan) and speaking three different languages, Harumura identifies herself only as female, human and citizen of this beautiful planet we inhabit. All other labels are transient. In addition to writing articles, she contributes to The Lucid Guide with video caption translations for it's YouTube channel.