Filter Coffee #141
On Dreaming in Your Waking Moments & Walking in Your Sleep
Raleigh Durham, North Carolina
I was quite happy to get some good comments on FC#140. Many felt that walking the talk is not always easy, and that too consistently. There was also a feeling that ‘walking the talk’ is about living up to one’s own convictions and beliefs, and not necessarily convincing others to follow suit.
There are followers of a diverse variety. Some follow a spiritual guru and others follow some other inspirational leader, or follow a chosen path or philosophy. These are walks of life. Each one of you may have chosen a path to walk on, not always in pursuit of something, but as a matter of preference. What if during this walk you come to a fork? One may assist you to stay on course, and the other will make you deviate from the chosen path. I urge you to read or re-read 🔗FC 88 on this topic.
Now back to last week’s topic, here are some of the comments that I got:
Krupa Murthy says: “Just brilliant, Prasanna! Whatever the situation or circumstance, you have the brilliance to present it in the most affable manner and make our Sunday into Funday!”
Ashvini Ranjan says: “When grandkids arrive, go for a walk and don’t talk. Silence is golden!”
Dr Naina says: “Really admire how consistently and diligently every Sunday morning, come what may, filter coffee of the right essence is poured into our cuppas, and we savour it all until the last drop! Topics are chosen, and the flair and flow of thoughts are superb! Looking forward to relishing many more filter coffees in the future. Thanks again, Sir!”
Rukmini Iyers says: “Simple writing yet everything is so well-connected. Truly love reading FC”
Shereyar Vakil: “Dear Pras, there have been iconic cricketers like Shane Warne, Nadkarni, Bishen Bedi, EAS Prasanna, Chandrasheker, Venkatraghavan Salim Durrani and many more who had the ability and dexterity to make the ball talk and win matches for their sides. A very insightful article from you. Coffee pila they raho bhai saheb.”
💭 We Dream in our Waking Moments and Walk in our Sleep
Doppo Kunikida (b1871-d1908) was a Japanese author of novels. He speaks about himself as: “An Idealist who lives in reality and a realist in pursuit of ideals.”
As we all know, an idealist is a person who is guided more by ideals than practical considerations. A realist is a person who accepts a situation as it is and prepares to deal with it accordingly.
Doppo’s assertion that he is an ‘idealist who lives in reality’ may appear contradictory at first blush, but if one were to unravel the underlying philosophy, one would realise that he is an idealist who realises his ideals just as a realist would.
All of us have ideals of varied hues and may not always succeed in attaining them. But to maintain an indomitable attitude is an ideal state in its self that abides with you as you go about in pursuit of that ideal. All of us are familiar with the phrases ‘an ideal situation’ or ‘it would have been ideal’. The phrases imply that reality might or might elude you if that ideal situation is unattainable.
If I say ‘It would have been ideal if I had continued to live in Mumbai’ I am thinking of a real possibility had I not decided to move out. I walk in my sleep, wondering how different my life would have been. I am not saying that I regret that decision, but I’m making a point that we dwell in the past, knowing well that it cannot be undone.
If I today want to go back to Mumbai or relocate to Delhi, conscious of the impracticality of that move, I would be dreaming in my waking moments. I could indulge in this fantasy and visualise what I might have ended up doing or where I might have lived, and how I might have made it exciting for myself. These are some of the many components of dreaming in the waking moments.
Is ‘daydreaming’ synonymous with ‘dreaming in our waking moments’? It would appear so, but if one were to compare these two experiences one might find that daydreaming is akin to ‘zoning out’ or ‘fantasizing’, whereas dreaming in waking moments is an active engagement with something one aspires to do or something one might have missed in life.
‘Daydreaming’ is after all not a bad thing. It may help a person to think of ways and means to realise his inner desire, and may even help him overcome disappointment if he fails to achieve what he dreamt of.
Dreaming in our waking moments can happen when we are in solitude. We may mull over past events and imagine a situation which you thought would have been ideal, without being a realist who is conscious of the results of his action.
When I talk of walking in our sleep, I am not relating it to somnambulism. I am implying that we take our thoughts to bed and sleep may elude us either due to despondency or euphoria depending on what you have experienced. When I have a problem or a matter that I should deal with, I often find myself thinking of various solutions and there have been moments when I have got up to write down the options that I have and the following day I have found myself evaluating all the options and choosing the one that holds the key to a vexed issue.
When we are confronted with dismal tidings, we find ourselves unable to sleep, and we walk about pondering over the matter and wondering what one could have done to avoid its occurrence. We walk in our sleep when we have an academic examination on the following morning, and we tend to stay up, wondering whether we have done enough preparation. We dream in our waking moments and hope that we get questions concerning the portions that we have studied hard.
Dreaming in our waking moments or walking in our sleeping moments both put you through a complex pattern of introspection, circumspection, and retrospection. I wrote a post on all of these three aspects. If you missed it, please use this read 🔗FC 121.
Dear Readers, when this post reaches you, I would’ve returned to Raleigh Durham from a three-day outing to the Black Mountain near Asheville. I want to share with you the joy of being there. Please use this link: 🔗Black Mountain | Asheville, NC's Official Travel Site.
I am not taking to the hills like I wrote in my 🔗centenary edition of FC, but I am looking forward to walking and exploring the trails. As I walk I shall dream, and as I sleep I shall relive the exhilaration of breathing in the crisp air. Will think of you, my dear readers.
In a lighter vein:
He had a dream job until he was caught dreaming
Learning to sleep upside down is hard for baby bats. But they soon get the hang of it.
Why did the boy eat yeast and shoe polish before he went to sleep? ’Cos he was told “Rise and shine sleepy Joe”
A farmer taking a nap under a cereal truck was arrested for perjury for lying under oats.
Do you know, Jeff Bezos sleeps with pajamazon?
I gather that the pandemic is gaining momentum in Bangalore. If you take good care of yourself, so you won’t have to walk in your sleep!
Even though I was inclined to comment on your previous few topics, pardon me I was unable to do it. As my sister Krupa says your articles turn Sundays into Fundays.
As for me I see no difference between dreaming in waking moments & daydreaming. I guess every human being does it. The ones caught in the class by the teachers for daydreaming would surely remember.
As for walking in sleep , I definitely appreciate your not linking it with somnambulism. Well, lying in your bed wide awake when nobody is noticing you - you have the absolute privacy to fantasise about your future projects.
Not just that ! For me ,thinking of mundane planning for the menu of the next day’s meals happens then. That done, I fall asleep satisfactorily .
Hi Prasanna, your dose of ‘Filter Coffee’ is invigorating. I liked the subtle differences between ‘day dreaming’ and ‘dreaming in our waking moments’. Too bad I missed you in Raleigh coz I came down to Vancouver recently after visiting two mountains, Vail and Copper in Colorado, of course indulging in both the “ dreaming” there.