A tribute to the sins of life

Just wakened from an afternoon nap, which I extended with a half hour of lucid dreaming. Instead of sitting on a cushion for half an hour, meditating, observing my thoughts, emotions and sensations passing by, I sometimes prefer to ‘waste’ my time by lucid dreaming.

A lucid dream is a dream during which you are aware that you are dreaming. During lucid dreaming, you are, to some extent, able to exercise control over the dream, its characters, narrative and environment.

I always thought it was something we could all sometimes do, something everyone experiences from time to time, and I never knew the name for it till Jim told me. But it seems that not everyone can have a lucid dream.

For me it is an amazing experience. It is like taking part in a movie or a video game and having control over the imaginary. Some days, I can easily choose to follow my desire to dream my time away then have a quick sandwich and coffee instead of going for a morning run and having porridge and fresh fruit juice.

Dreaming your time away might not be seen as such a big sin. Maybe it is only for me, brought up to believe that time is something scarce, to be efficiently used, and that pleasure can only come after hard work.

Drinking to get drunk might be of a different class though.

And yet that is something else I can really enjoy. I just adore the taste of beer or a good glass wine. I love that feeling when drunkenness sets in. The warming up of the body, the loosening of the tongue and the gaining of confidence. And I enjoy the conversations that follow, sometimes deep, and full of hope and plans. Other times meaningless and just pure fun.

There always comes a moment when I’ve had enough and can happily go to bed for a nice deep and dreamless sleep. And, the morning after, I don’t shy away from a paracetamol or two and a nice greasy breakfast, maybe even a beer or two as cure.

Knowing that some of these acts, that others may call sins, set me back a few steps in my desire to have the healthy lifestyle that is also so important to me, doesn’t bother me anymore. It is the fact that I feel able and have the flexibility to alternate between the two, moves away and towards a healthy lifestyle, that gives me the confidence to truly enjoy both. And it is the combination of it all that gives me the guidance and strength to enjoy my life and have the energy and motivation to contribute in a meaningful way.

Cheers and sweet dreams

Tagged as: Choice, Choice point, healthy lifestyle, Psychological flexibility, Sins