Gratitude and perspective

I appreciate my dreams a lot. Sometimes they are totally random, bizarre, and forgettable, and sometimes I learn things from them. I might see things in a different light, or from another person's point of view, or maybe see an attitude of mine that needs adjusting.

I like airplanes, especially from the "golden age" of aviation (the 20s and 30s.) I really love the innovation that took place when powered flight was in its infancy, and all of the ways the engineers and designers found to get around various problems and design flaws. The planes varied so much during that time, with radically different abilities and even basic shapes, as imaginations ran wild and the resulting concepts were proven or discarded. You really don't see planes as interesting these days as you did back then.

In the dream that sparked this blog post, I was at an air show watching a Lockheed p38 fly overhead. I was enjoying myself, until I learned that other attendants who arrived earlier had a chance to see a b52 bomber. I immediately forgot the fighter I had seen, and pined for the bomber I had not.

The dream imitates real life, in that focusing on what we don't have (instead of being grateful for what we do have) will affect our attitude in an extremely negative way. I need to be reminded from time to time of the importance of being grateful, and recalibrate my attitude accordingly. It seems like so often life's little difficulties are so much more memorable than its victories, pain weighs more heavily on our minds than pleasure, and it is so much easier to curse the darkness than to make any sort of effort to bring it light. But it should not be this way. Because giving thanks and appreciating the good things makes the good things seem better, and the trials easier to bear.

As as a way of remembering the dreams from which I learn something, I sometimes quickly sketch a drawing from them. I only take a few minutes, and don't allow myself to erase any errant lines at all. The drawing I made from this dream depicts that awesome twin-fuselage p38 that I was so happy to see, until I realized what I had missed.

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This is such an awesome sentiment, PopClick! Defeat, pain, nagging duties; so much negativity is expressed or "vented," even here on CC, more than the victories you mentioned. We should recognize and be grateful for both, really.

While I'm not an aviation zealot, I agree with what you said about the "golden age" of it being gone as far as the creativity aspect goes. I visited an aviation museum in Oregon, where the Spruce Goose now sits. It's (the whole museum) really something!

There are some good insights here. Thanks for the post.

Someone said that the dream state is another opportunity to listen for and follow God. I agree, though, that dreams are sometimes easy to recall.

Thanks for the comment! I do agree that we need to acknowledge the bad things that happen, and be grateful for whatever good does come from them. And we should give thanks for whatever good things we do have, even in the midst of our trials. But I have noticed some people thanking God specifically for every bad thing that happens to them, and it seems easy for it to turn into mental flagellation and wallowing in sadness. However, if someone felt that they needed to thank God for trials, I certainly wouldn't stop them. Is that kind of what you were saying, or not so much?

Minus the flagellation and sadness, that seems more or less in line with it. There's perhaps a gray area between being grateful for what difficulties produce and being masochistic. Since not every obstacle or bad experience produces character, nor is every triumph a life changer, I agree with you about some people falling into that mental flagellation and wallowing.