The Power of the Mind

So the other night, I had a horrible nightmare. The kind where you wake up so relieved that it was not your reality, but that during it you actually experience the emotional conflict of it as if it were real.

Of course. It was about zombies.
Not the type I write about in Tainted, but the type they use on the scifi channel. The type that are a little crazily overdone.

But still scary.

In my dream, there were places that were safe, where normal society could exist without worrying about monsters. Most of my dream took place in my moms house, which in that weird dream way was my house. And I spent much of my time making sure everything was safe.
Then, at some point, I needed to walk somewhere (because a car would have been too easy).
In my dream my heart was pounding as I walked down some empty city street that had massive oak tree's lining it and shading the road. I was looking around frantically as I power walked, taking notice of another woman on a walk. I also passed a second woman who was wearing workout clothes and jogging as if life was okay.
Then all three of us stopped, seeing a woman sitting in her car who was twitching and talking to herself. She was changing.
I screamed at the other two woman that she was turning and they need to get to safety at the same time they looked at me saying to run because they also understood what was happening.

Anyways, the dream became jumbled. Somehow a place I was in was not safe and someone I love died making me feel horribly burdened by pain, loss, and fear. Not to mention the monsters chasing me. Ugh.

I woke up, rolled towards my husband saying I had a bad dream. He replied by saying I needed to stop reading scary books. In my defense, I haven't read a scary book in awhile. I actually just finished reading the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead.

But it made me wonder, why HAD I had that dream?
Was it stress and the feeling of lack of control that seems to be overwhelming me lately? Maybe.
Or maybe I just have a weird mind? Probably.
Whatever the reason, it wasn't fun and the emotions that came with it felt real.

It also made me think of a scene I just read in the series I mentioned above. It was a break up scene and my palms were sweating and I felt sad and guilt as if it were me.

Oh the power of the mind. Did you know that if you are unhappy, and you force yourself to smile at others, eventually you become happy because the brain recognizes that muscles used and attributes it to happiness? Our mind is a very, very powerful thing.

As writers, we have the opportunity to evoke emotion just by the words we speak on paper. The power to have the readers mind transfer it into a true emotion. And any book that can grasp that and do it well becomes a great.

Something to definitely aspire to.
No pressure or anything :)