A Journey of Imagination, Resilience, and Self-Discovery
How dreams and resilience help us rediscover meaning in a changing world
Gowher Bhat
We all dream,
sometimes with eyes closed, sometimes with eyes open,
Dreams keep us alive, giving shape to mornings that would otherwise feel empty, holding the promise of something more,
It doesn’t matter whether we reach the dream or not, What matters is the journey we take in chasing it, The road itself changes us, struggles strengthen our spine, failures teach us the language of endurance,
When I was a child, my grandfather handed me a copy of The Old Man and the Sea, I remember the smell of its pages, the thin paper, the quiet weight of the story, The old fisherman goes out alone into the deep sea, battles the great marlin for days, loses it to the sharks, and still comes home undefeated in spirit,
I didn’t know then that the story would stay with me like a quiet companion, It taught me that dignity is not in victory, but in perseverance, That strength doesn’t always roar, sometimes it breathes quietly through the cracks of fatigue and faith,
For centuries, dreams were seen as shadows of sleep, strange images without meaning, But modern science now shows that dreams are vital, In 2023, researchers writing in Scientific Reports studied 896 dreams from 234 people and found that dreams help the brain rehearse fear in safe ways, They called it the “emotional adaptive function”, preparing us for tomorrow,
Another experiment supported by the National Science Foundation, USA, showed something extraordinary, scientists managed to communicate with people while they were dreaming, The dreamers answered math questions in real time, Imagine that, a sleeping mind, awake in its own world,
Researchers have also found that dreams appear even in non-REM sleep, and that both the waking and sleeping mind work together, Ancient Indian philosophy had recognized this long ago, The Upanishads described dreaming as the second state of consciousness, a mirror between waking and deep sleep,
Dr. Bonnie Buckner, a psychologist from California, writes that keeping a dream journal can help build resilience, “Each night,” she says, “you move through a landscape of change, By recording dreams, you expand your capacity for resilience,”
It makes sense, In the dream world, we face storms that don’t destroy us, We wake up a little braver,
Resilience is not just about survival, It is about meaning, the story we tell ourselves after the storm has passed, Researchers at the New America think tank found that people who live meaningful lives often tell stories of growth and redemption, They call it “the narrative of resilience”, Dreams feed those stories, showing us our fears without disguise, and who we might become once fear ends,
An Indian study published in Vantage Journal, titled From Insight to Action: How Dreams Foster Self-Reliance, found that reflecting on dreams can turn helpless wishing into active effort, Among young people, dream awareness was linked to higher self-reliance and goal pursuit, The researchers concluded that dreams can shift people from aspiration to action,
That is what resilience truly means, not just standing up again, but standing up with a new purpose,
If resilience is about getting back up, self-discovery is about finding where you want to go next, Dreams can guide us there too, Dreams are like letters from the hidden self, They speak in strange images, but their language is honest,
An article in Brainz Magazine described dreams as “gifts from the soul, reminders of inner work”, Every dream carries a message about who we are and who we might become, Neuroscientists have found that dreaming activates the same brain areas used for creativity and learning, A paper in Frontiers in Psychiatry showed that dreamers who recall their dreams often score higher in emotional awareness and adaptability, The dream, it seems, is both a rehearsal and a revelation,
Ancient texts called dreams “the residue of impressions”, They believed that through dreams, the mind cleanses itself, finds balance, and learns truth, Modern research is simply rediscovering what sages already knew,
Keep a small notebook beside your bed, Write down what you remember in the morning, even fragments, Look for patterns, places, faces, feelings, These are clues, Ask what they might say about your waking life, Then act, If you dream of falling, maybe it’s time to face what’s unstable within you, If you dream of light, maybe you’re ready for hope again,
Dr. Belinda Platt at the University of North Carolina found that people who reflected on their dreams showed improvement in coping skills and optimism, Lucid dreaming, where you realize you are dreaming while asleep, is another growing field, Surveys show that more than half of people experience at least one lucid dream in their lifetime, Therapists now use it to treat trauma and anxiety,
The evidence is growing, Dreaming is not an escape from life, It is preparation for it,
Resilience is a way of living, People face illness, unemployment, heartbreak, poverty, Yet, even in such conditions, dreams persist, They become the quiet proof that imagination still breathes, that the human heart still hopes,
“When people believe their dreams matter, they begin to act as if their life matters too,” wrote the lead researcher in the Vantage Journal study,
In a village, a boy dreams of becoming a cricketer, In a city, a young woman dreams of writing her first novel, The dream becomes a small lamp, It doesn’t end the darkness, but it helps them walk through it,
During the pandemic, many found themselves dreaming more vividly, Studies from the US and Europe recorded a 35 percent rise in dream recall during lockdowns, People processed fear, loss, and uncertainty through dreams, unknowingly rediscovering their imagination,
Dr. Buckner says, “Dreams show us constant change, and by practicing change each night, we grow resilient,” Dr. Platt’s study found that positive dream reflection increased life satisfaction scores by nearly 18 percent, Sleep specialists at NIMHANS, Bengaluru note that dream journaling helps patients reduce anxiety symptoms over time,
These may sound like numbers, but behind them are faces, ordinary people who sleep, dream, wake, and carry on,
Sometimes resilience doesn’t roar, It doesn’t always look heroic, Sometimes it’s just a mother waking before dawn, boiling water for her child, whispering a blessing, Sometimes it’s a young man writing a story in a cold room, Sometimes it’s the heart deciding to hope again,
Dreams are the inner fire that keep that hope alive, They are not a luxury of poets, They are medicine, They remind us that we are still becoming, That the story isn’t over, That imagination can heal what logic cannot,
Maybe that’s why The Old Man and the Sea still matters, Because it shows us a man who loses everything but not himself, The old fisherman’s battle with the marlin is not about victory, It is about dignity, He reminds us that “a man can be destroyed but not defeated,”
Science confirms what literature and faith have long said, the mind heals through meaning, Dreams are part of that meaning, When we let them speak, we find ourselves again,
Dreams are not the opposite of reality, They are another face of it, They carry messages from the heart, They prepare us for life, If we listen, we become stronger, If we reflect, we become wiser,
A dream is a teacher, It is also a mirror, It is a friend that walks beside us through every loss, every small triumph, And when the world grows cold, it is the dream that keeps us warm,
“Dreams are not escape, but rehearsal for life,”
(Straight Talk Communications Exclusive)
