In The Third SleepKay Sage
1944
Yesterday was probably the most horrible day of my life -- well, if not the most horrible, it was right up there with the worst of them. Not to be too indelicate, I was physically ill to my stomach by the time I got home, due to the stress and tension. I was exhausted. I decided the best remedy would be to curl up with my New Yorker magazine, decompress and sleep. After what I had hoped would be a fun-filled, light-hearted day, actually turned into a nightmare, I was certain my dreams would be filled with fire-breathing dragons and screaming banshees. Strangely, it was quite the opposite.
Salvador Dali
1939
My dreams were full of vivid images, but I found myself laughing. In one dream, I entered a contest and won an antique waffle iron. I haven't thought about waffle irons since God was a baby, so what on earth made me dream of winning a waffle iron? In another dream, I was jay-walking across a busy street, and a police car went past me, and the police waved their fingers at me, as if to say, "You shouldn't be jay-walking..." But they didn't stop and give me a ticket, but instead drove on past me.
Salvador Dali
1937
In The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, the artist described sleep as a heavy monster that was "held up by the crutches of reality". That is as good as description as any. Sleep is the thing that heals us from the negative damage done to our psyches. It is not an escape from the day, but rather a means of processing and cleaning out the flotsam and jetsam that the brain has collected and does not need. Sleep is the cleaning lady of our brain.
O sleep! O gentle sleep!
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
~~ Wm. Shakespeare; 2 Henry IV
I am grateful for my absurd and silly dreams last night -- my newly-won waffle iron and my scolding policemen. They made me forget the horror of the day that preceded them. Today I think I will do some retail therapy and buy myself a waffle iron, just to remind myself that everything ultimately, no matter how painful, can be kept in its proper perspective.
6 comments:
I haven't thought about waffle irons since God was a baby...
Don't make yourself older than you are, pretty! :)
You know, the best dreams are the lucid ones, where you can do the most silly & outrageous things that you wouldn't dare do or even be able to in real life.
I hope you feel better today & can savour some waffles.
I very rarely dream and when I do I never remember the dreams. But I can sure relate to those "days from hell!" I'm having one today. I don't have a New Yorker so I guess I'll have to make due with a glass of wine :)
"Sleep is the cleaning lady of our brain." I love that. I'd love it even more if I could figure out how to make it the cleaning lady of my bathroom. ;-)
Margaret
Aren't dreams amazing at times? An antique waffle iron! Are you inclined to indulge in that ultimate comfort food -- a nice stack of homemade waffles? In any event, I sure hope today was better for you.
I love your phrase about sleep being the cleaning lady of the brain, but so sorry you had such a hellish day. I hope today is perfectly wonderful in every way.
Sleep ... perchance to dream ...Ay, there's the rub..
Will S put it in a nutshell; he knew about sleep and dreams, as did the Gestapo and other tortuers.
Sleep deprivation is so cruel; so too are some dreams.
Have a better day tomorrow!
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