General rules and guidelines

Although the title of this post may be suggestive of some writing guidelines, it really has nothing at all to do with the craft, or the how-tos and wherefores of writing. It’s more about personal goals and achievements, and I suppose, there is just a little bit about intertwining life with writing.

I have two sets of to-do lists. One is for my writer goals and achievements, and the other is general life goals and achievements. My intention at the beginning of the year was to make a blog post at least once a week. Why? Because I wanted to add this to my list of writing goals. After a flurry of deadlines throughout January, I’ve pretty much kept to it.

This post, then, is about making your own general rules and guidelines and applying them in your life. I’m so used to making these for myself, I tend to forget there are other people around me, and sometimes, I reckon that can make me insular, but it’s also what helps me focus time around writing.

Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

The Nightmare Inside

It's not very often I have dreams that you could call nightmares, but for the second night running, I've woken, having had a very vivid, horrid dream about my waking life. This isn't about monsters, or weird objects, nor is it a notational anxiety about death and destruction, but it made me wonder about the purpose of dreaming and the way in which the parts of our brain communicate.

What is the purpose of the unconscious mind?

1. Is the unconscious trying to tell you something that although you may know it to be true, but choosing to consciously ignore it. Therefore, the only way the brain can make you take note, to forewarn, so to speak, using certain images and thoughts from the conscious, thus presenting a 'known truth' sans all the perceptive filtering.
2. Alternatively, is the unconscious trying to trick, deceive, to show your worst fears, to motivate, to make you a better person. Although, I can think of worse 'worse fear' scenarios in conscious mode, it's possible motivation may be a factor, or maybe 
3. The unconscious is really just an evil prankster.

In a way, the nightmare structure can be juxtaposed with the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but in this sense, the Freddy Krueger becomes symbolic for the event that triggers the nightmare. The unconscious, by  personifying the fear, makes it more readily identifiable to the conscious, and this is how the unconscious has chosen to communicate. My own nightmare is always personified by a face; a smiling face, staring at me, but it's evil and sinister. A bit like picking up the hanged man in a tarot reading.

By having your fear manifest in such average terms, presents a rather obscure, but nevertheless, strong argument that the unconscious has a resolute desire to communicate with the waking self. This isn't about abstracts, it's about every day life. Communication is reinforced because the message from the unconscious is presented in normal every day terms, figures and backgrounds. It's at these times, perhaps, the unconscious is trying its hardest to show the conscious mind something: a hurtful truth, reality without the process of filtering or perception. It is presenting us with its conclusion.

When the unconscious personifies your 'Freddy Krueger' as a human face from your waking life, the truth becomes ingrained in your reality, and therefore, by default, a great deal more terrifying than imaginative monsters and abstract ideas.