The theme this week at Velvet Ashes is dream. I wrote the following post and thought it would be fun to hear your answers as well.
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We are long overdue for a community post! If this is your first Velvet Ashes Community post, here’s the gig: We’ll have a list of ten questions you can copy and paste into a comment—feel free to answer all ten questions or as many as you want! It’s fun to read through others’ responses and even respond to a few. Here are the ten questions and I’ll answer them below.
This week we have been talking about dreams, so these questions range from the silly to the serious when it comes to dreams.
- How much sleep do you get on an average night? Are you more a light or heavy sleeper?
- Do you tend to remember your dreams?
- When you were a kid, what was your dream job?
- Aristotle said, ““Hope is a waking dream.” What are you hoping for this week?
- Do you let yourself dream? Or do you tend to squelch your dreams in order to avoid being hurt or disappointed?
- What’s a “dream day” for you? What are you doing? Who are you with? Where are you?
- Do you talk in your sleep? Snore?
- What is one small way you can kindle a dream in this season?
- Which “famous” person (loosely defined) would you like to meet?
- JK Rowling said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Do you tend to ‘dwell on dreams and forget to live’ or ‘dwell on life and forget to dream’?
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1. How much sleep do you get on an average night? Are you more a light or heavy sleeper? Ideally 8 hours, but my fitbit stats say 8 hours is a rarity for me. Honestly, if I can get 7.5, I’m okay. I go through waves of having a decent week of sleep and then will have several days that are terrible. I’m a fairly heavy sleeper.
2. Do you tend to remember your dreams? Vast majority, no. It’s the ones about people who have died (grandparents, Dad, friends) that I remember in the mornings.
3. When you were a kid, what was your dream job? In elementary school, the president of the U.S. In junior high, a lawyer. I am so glad on both fronts I didn’t get what I dreamed for :-)!
4. Aristotle said, ““Hope is a waking dream.” What are you hoping for this week? Oh this question threw me for a loop (even though I wrote it, HA!). I wanted to share something deep and profound because that feels like the “right” answer, but the truth is, what popped into my head and heart first is, “I hope All the News That’s Fit to Tell and How to Tell it, the book I released last week, continues to sell and help cross-cultural workers with their newsletters and I recoup my financial investment in it :-).” Want to win a free kindle copy? Enter this Giveaway and you could . . . two people will win!
5. Do you let yourself dream? Or do you tend to squelch your dreams in order to avoid being hurt or disappointed? I am an eternal optimist, so dreaming comes easily for me in most areas. Reality tends to be a big old kick in the pants for me.
6. What’s a “dream day” for you? What are you doing? Who are you with? Where are you? Oh golly, a dream day? Would have about 48 hours so I could do all I want! I love to lounge around in p.j.’s and read in the morning. Then I would go to the gym, later the temp would be mild and I could be outside with flowers. Meet a friend for lunch (see, already my morning has far more hours than is reality) and go see a movie or a sporting event. Now, that’s a day at home. I also love traveling with people I love, so being somewhere new, enjoying a historical place, stopping for a scone and a cup of tea, while having conversations throughout the day that span the deep to the silly and there are several times of deep laughter.
7. Do you talk in your sleep? Snore? I do neither, but I do grind my teeth, so I sleep with a mouth guard.
8. What is one small way you can kindle a dream in this season? Okay, this question just took me in an unexpected direction (if these questions are opening up parts of yourself you don’t normally create space to listen to, I’m right there with you). What came up is that I have the dream to build into and encourage leaders on the field. I long to pour into the next generation and support those of you right now in leadership positions. So, what is one small way I can kindle that dream right now? This spring with the Connection Group Facilitators I have been sharing small snippets every Tuesday called “Leading Tuesdays” and that has been food for my soul. But spring Connection Groups will end soon, so I am not sure. I need to sit with this question more.
9. Which “famous” person (loosely defined) would you like to meet? The first person who came to mind was Eugene Peterson. I know he is fading, so maybe five-years-ago Eugene Peterson. He was in ministry for the long haul and loved God, people, scholarship, and being engaged in real, messy community. Oh to chat with him! (Now that I have given this “spiritual” answer, it makes those of you who say “Beyonce!” look like jerks :). SORRY. I would also like to talk with Taylor Swift. I would like to have an honest chat about what living such a public life does to your soul, your friendships, your sense of community and purpose. I have a feeling she’s a deeper person than we may see. I could be wrong, that’s why I’d like to talk with her.)
10. JK Rowling said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Do you tend to ‘dwell on dreams and forget to live’ or ‘dwell on life and forget to dream’? Oh golly. Honestly, I tend to do both, but if I really had to pick, when I am stressed or not my healthiest, I dwell on life and forget to dream.
Over to you!
(Image by Karen Huber!)
Amy,
I plan to use on this Mother’s Day a list you posted four years ago entitled, “An Open Letter to Pastors”, where you suggested how clergymen could honor mothers without alienating others. You gave about 18 scenarios in which the “Leave it to Beaver” approach or mindset might leave a few feeling awkward and out of place.
Thank you for the candor and well formulated list. I will incorporate it with my sermon this Sunday, if opportunity allows me to make it that far. :-)
Pastor Tim Hall
Owensboro, Kentucky
Hi Amy! Congrats on your book! Thanks for posting these questions, this was fun.
1. How much sleep do you get on an average night? Are you more a light or heavy sleeper?
I actually have no idea about the answer to this question. I know I seem to be sleeping more than I used to (for years, I slept only 2-3 hours per night), but I tend to dissociate a lot at night, so I’m not sure how much of the time I’m actually sleeping, and how much I’m just checked out. I tend to sleep through things like smoke alarms and doorbells, but startle awake easily at most other sounds. I guess that means loud noises feel less dangerous to me than quiet ones… I’m strange.
2. Do you tend to remember your dreams?
Not usually. Sometimes I’ll remember something–an image, a sound, a smell, a feeling–but not usually enough of anything to fill in a narrative.
3, When you were a kid, what was your dream job?
I think the first job I thought I wanted was Art Teacher. I definitely went through a phase in middle school when I wanted to be a missionary with an MD and an MDiv because I thought I was being called to missions, and I thought I’d be most effective if I could do everything. Ha! In 9th grade, I wanted to be an astrophysicist (I romanticized that one a lot–too much Madeleine L’Engle).
4. Aristotle said, ““Hope is a waking dream.” What are you hoping for this week?
This week, I’m hoping for something to shift. A new job lead that actually goes somewhere, a chance at getting healthcare, an attitude adjustment, anything.
5. Do you let yourself dream? Or do you tend to squelch your dreams in order to avoid being hurt or disappointed?
Dreaming is really challenging for me because I have a foreshortened sense of future. It’s not really an active squelching–I’d like to be able to dream–it’s just that when you grow up under a very real, very constant, threat of severe bodily harm, you don’t learn how to dream, because you never know if you’ll exist tomorrow, let alone 6 months or a year or ten years from now.
10. JK Rowling said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Do you tend to ‘dwell on dreams and forget to live’ or ‘dwell on life and forget to dream’?
I love that you included this quote (big Potterhead over here)! I’m not sure if I dwell on either. I think if I dwell (which I’m loosely translating as “ruminate”) on anything, it’s healing/getting well/getting more functional, and right now that means trying to get to know my system of alters, so it’s a lot of internal focus, which probably looks like dwelling on dreams from the outside. I don’t think that I’m making decisions out of wistfulness or nostalgia (dwelling on dreams), though. So maybe that means I’m dwelling on life, I don’t know. Is there a third option? :)
First I want to say, I stumbled on your post this morning when I was reading your letter to Pastor’s regarding mothers day. Thank you for writing that letter. I love how you included all mom’s and that is exactly what I was looking for! I am hoping to use it this Mother’s day.
How much sleep do you get on an average night? Are you more a light or heavy sleeper? I’m doing good if I get 7 hours. Ideally, 9-10 hours would be awesome!
Do you tend to remember your dreams? No not really. Only if it is something that scares me and seems way to real.
When you were a kid, what was your dream job? To be a teacher. I ended up in the medical field as a Medical assistant for 13 years and now I am a Children’s Pastor. So in a way I ended up still with a heart for teaching and teaching God’s word.
Aristotle said, ““Hope is a waking dream.” What are you hoping for this week? I am hoping that adoption is in our future. My husband and I have 2 great kids but after 2 miscarriages in 2011, my heart longs for another child to be apart of our family.
What’s a “dream day” for you? What are you doing? Who are you with? Where are you? To spend part of the day all by myself at home, outside in a chair, in the sun, with a warm breeze over me. The other half with my husband and children outside in the barn, mountains, or beach.
What is one small way you can kindle a dream in this season? Stepping out to where God takes me and trusting His plans.
Which “famous” person (loosely defined) would you like to meet? Steven Furtick, Max Lucado, Beth Moore, or Christine Caine (sorry I couldn’t choose just one!)
JK Rowling said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Do you tend to ‘dwell on dreams and forget to live’ or ‘dwell on life and forget to dream’? I tend to dwell on life and forget to dream. I think for the simple fact of fear and disappointment. But I’m getting better at that. :)