Most of us have experienced empathy. Adapting to another's perspective can be challenging at times, as it is sometimes difficult to detach from our ego. Our individual experiences shape our character and contribute to the way we see the world. Children rely on their parents to guide them, as they haven't yet collected enough experience. Adults rely on friends and family for advice and perspective.
Our lives build off of every moment, without break. In a dream world, we are given a fresh start every time we close our eyes. While, of course, our dreams are strongly linked to our thoughts and feelings, we do not experience the same level of reasoning in a dream; our experiences are independent. Our temperaments aren't clouded by frustration, embarrassment, or irritability. I have found that lucid dreaming doesn't manipulate my dream-state deduction, but it allows me to apply such consideration to situations in my waking life. I can take a real dilemma in my life and gain valuable insight while exploring it in a dream. So much so, that I've found myself waking up with a different sentiment than the one I went to sleep with the night before.
For a 29-year-old, the dating world can be exhausting. By this age, most of us have experienced love, heartache and everything in between. It can be challenging to arrive on a first date with the sweet naivety and open-mindedness that our 22-year-old selves easily represented. We can ask friends for their opinions on a new love interest, but nothing can replace feeling it all for yourself. At the risk of scaring off all potential dates, I will admit that if we have dated, I have had deliberately dreamed about you. I have scrutinized your intellect, sense of humor and our compatibility while I slept. Each time that I wake up from such an experience, my thoughts are clear. I am honest with myself, and am able to defer to my un-jaded sincere self.
This practice can provide comfort in difficult situations as well. The death of a loved one can be the most painful experience in our lives. We can be left with questions and regrets; sometimes we miss the advice we would receive from that person. Rationally, we will wake up knowing that we didn't physically hug that person again, but a dream is just as real of an experience as a waking one. We can still smell our loved ones, we can feel them. Our subconscious can be put at ease, and we can carry on.
Inviting someone into our dreams can be dangerous; while we are able to intentionally see this person, our inner emotions often guide the interaction itself. If we are sure that we have deeply wronged someone and are selfishly seeking forgiveness, we may not receive it even in a lucid dream. However, it is a platform that allows us to honestly confront our mistakes, and empathize with those we have mistreated.
Dreaming provides us with the perfect medium for defining our emotions. We aren't contained by words, but are capable of exploring our innermost, sometimes ignored, feelings in a world we alone control. There are no boundaries, no right or wrong answers, and most importantly there are no observers.