Dream Expressions

Dreams

Dreams are believed to be our unconscious desires or conflicts that we have not worked out in our real world. The recognition of dreams goes back thousands of years. There are papyrus documents dating back 2000 years BC from the Egyptian community that discuss dream interpretations. Tribal high priest, shaman and medicine men used dreams to foretell their fortunes. The Greeks trusted dreamers because it was believed it was their connection to the Gods. It was called Oneiromancy. It derived from the Greek word oneiros meaning dream and manteia meaning divination. Sigmund Freud, believed in your unconscious state and your disguised thoughts. When your in the state of REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) it the dream state. You dreams become most vivid and bizarre. I think dreams are something to remember whether they are tragic, adventurous, erotic or like rom com movie. I say keep a note pad near your night stand or table to jot down all you could remember from your dream. It allows you to . It allows you to be aware of your overall mood and theme. It’s a way to process your thoughts or your day.

MY DREAM

As I read about dreams I’m not sure where I would fall in place with my dreams. I have had several significant dreams that were affecting others as well as myself. I do not recall dreams from childhood. At least not at this point in my life. The dream I I had to give the most attention was in 2007. I decided to take off from work that day, I just did not feel like myself, something was off. After I took my son to school, I came home for late morning nap. I remember waking up and calling my mother to tell my mother about a dream I had about my brother in-law.

I told my mother that I just had a dream about Charles. He was dressed in all blue. Which I thought was just his MTA uniform for the NYC transit authority. I really did not pay attention what he was wearing the message in the dream was startling to me. Charles told me to watch after my sister Gail. She was going to need me. Please try to take care of her. I immediately called my mom because I was scared about my sister’s health. My first thought was she was extremely sick.  My mom said well Gail diabetes got worse now she is on insulin, it’s nothing extreme as long as she takes care of herself and consume the right meals in her diet. I let out a sigh of relief.  My mother talk for a little longer than she received a call from my sister that someone was trying to get in touch with her they need her to call a certain number. My mother hung up the phone with me and called that number. My mother called me back and asked me to try the number she tried earlier she could not get through. I called the number for her and this guy answered he told me his name and stated that he worked with Charles. I stated that I was his sister-in-law, I am his wife sister. He asked me to hold on to speak with someone. It all went kind of blank to me who the individual was that took over the phone call. He stated that I’m very sorry to inform you that Charles is deceased he died earlier while working at his shift in MTA. They believed it was a heart attack. My heart sank, I was devasted. I had to inform my sister that her husband was dead. Not the police, not the ER doctor, or hospitalist, ME, ME, ME. I had to crush my sister’s world. I called my mom first, after I said Ma, she could tell in the way I said Ma with my frail shaky voice that he was gone.  I explained that he died while operating the A train. They were at a stop in Queens NY. His work partner asked him to close the train doors. He never responded. The partner walked down to the subway car, and found him unresponsive.  He died in between train stops. I began to help my sister as best as I could, during her grief. I made all of the  funeral arrangements and completed documentation she needed from MTA his place of employment. They fought her every step of the way in receiving beneficiary funds.

I don’t want I make this a long post. Later I will post another two dreams, I thought was interesting.

Thanks for coming along for the ride

MJC

Pre-Marital Convo

Ever since I was a teen I have been fascinated with relationships between a male and female. In high school I often watched the students that attended my school, especially among the peers that were dating. But they were not the only ones I watched. I watched my older brothers and sisters as well. I observed the way they relate to their mates and vice-versa. I always took a mental note of their communication skills and practices with all of their relationships.

What are the distinct behaviors between the them? Are they able to express themselves and how do they express themselves when they communicate?

As I became an adult the interest in other connections increased. Those involved in same sex , transgender, and polyamory relationships began to find their way to my curiosity, I have always been an open minded person but I find that I could always learn more about all relationships.

I used to narrow down certain behaviors of a man or a woman. As I matured and made plenty of observations, I have come to realize some behaviors are just the individual and nothing to do with their gender.

When entering in a relationship I often wonder how well people can read their partner in a certain span of time. Can you get a grasp of their relationship ideals after a week or two months of dating. I tend to doubt it. But, I never say never because there may be individuals that are quite inquisitive and have some keen sense of awareness. I believe before entering the famous land of holy matrimony you need to pump the brakes and begin to converse with your mate. It’s important to find out if your on the same page about marital expectations. If your not on the same page, how will you work through those differences. Depending on those differences you will need to consider whether they are dealbreakers.

I have often asked people questions that they should have asked before they said those I do’s. One of the questions I most often ask; did you communicate your expectations and discuss various important scenarios before you became married? What was the communication like? Did you find that you agree on everything or disagree. If you were on opposing sides on anything were you able resolve and if not, did you both consent to continue communicating about it.

Most of the time people communicated that they would like to be married and have children. I say ooookaay! What else did you communicate. Well we communicated where we like to work and possibly buy home. So I go; what else did you communicate? I get that blank stare, then asked like what else should we have communicated. Then they went on to say that they communicated about their favorite food and colors, exchange of family information and other miscellaneous information about each other. I asked have you ever had a conversation about each other’s expectation of marriage. One partner said well we are not married yet, how do we know our expectations of marriage. It’s about simply asking the questions or even attending a premarital couple sessions. If premarital counseling sessions are not affordable at the time, there many books you can use as tools.

Some of the pose questions will continue to be; what do you expect in a marriage partner? Does it matter if either of you earn more income than the other? Do either of you expect the other to earn more in salary? How would that make you feel if either situation presented itself?

These are questions to think about, even if you not getting married but are in a committed relationship. I will come to this topic on another post. It is always relevant in relationships.

It’s a beautiful time to take a deep breath and enjoy the life!

MJC

Pre-Marital Convo

Birth Name

You may be wondering how the name Mommie Juice Chronicles was birth. When my little girl was about 6 or 7, she watch me pour some wine into a glass. The first thing she notice was the smell. The fruity aroma of sparkling peach Moscato, was enticing to her olfactory senses. She asked me if she could have some. I replied; this drink is for adults only, honey not for children. I went on to say, it’s for mommies . My daughter then look at me with this curious stare and said, so your drinking Mommie juice. I turned toward her and started cracking up, and said yes Kenzie I’m drinking Mommie juice. Every time I have a glass of wine she ask if I’m drinking Mommie Juice. Kids say the cutest things, well sometimes!!!

Mommie Juice

Drug Demon

Drug Demon

Due to inflammation in my body I was recently prescribed Prednisone to reduce the inflammation. For those of you that may not know what the medication Prednisone is, it is a steroid that’s use to reduce the inflammation for asthma, skin rashes, and arthritis. Arthritis is the main reason it was prescribed to me. It’s funny I make through all respiratory illnesses in my life and have avoided this medication. Now here it is, I’m riding the steroid pony. Which was a completely unfamiliar territory for me.

The side effects are incredibly damaging to you. These are just some of the side effects:

Headaches

Nausea

Vomiting

Acne

Weight gain

Restlessness

Difficulty sleeping

Extreme mood changes

I was hit with the brunt of them, oh the headaches were extreme

especially at night, the nauseousness, restlessness, and insomnia was insane. oh yeah I missed one, ANXIETY level was intensified I couldn’t breathe, these panic attacks came on with a vengeance. I was calmly leaving my bedroom walking down the stairs to get a snack, a freaking panic attack hit with me.WHAM! I felt as if I was losing myself. I couldn’t even tell you what the trigger was. In last few days I’ve been at home. When I went to work it was unbearable the lack of concentration and focus I felt stuck and could not relax.

After a week of using this medication, I had to reduce my time at work. I also limit my contact to the outside world. I turn the phone volume down and at times completely off. I didn’t want to text or talk, I just wanted to be in a fetal position in my bed. I made a great attempt at reading and some online shopping, I eventually settled down on watching a crimes shows, or action movies which are my favorite pastime, until I could fall asleep.

A week and a half later, this has become unbearable, I m use to exercising and walking. Instead I’m in the home like a hermit and in the bed. I only left my bedroom to get food and liquids. My food intake was so out of control. I was eating triple the amount of food, because if I use any energy I became this hungry hungry hippo? This brought me into an depressed state especially watching accomplishment being destroyed by every food and drink I consumed.

A couple of months ago I won a weight loss competition I had lost 16 pounds and the following week another 2 pounds. It took me three months do drop the weight by eating healthy and a tremendous amount of exercise. I was so proud of myself.

In a matter of 11 days all that work fell wayside. Increased appetite as a side effect was joke. No wonder people gained tremendous amount of weight from this demon. I was in overindulgence frenzy. I ate a meal and 30 to 40 minutes later I became weak and shaky. My stomach began growling as if it was hours since I’ve eaten. I’m sure by now I gained all the weigh back and extra.

Here it is 3:18am and I’m awake and writing this little snip, to share in my wonders of steroid use. I’m beginning to feel hungry again. The hunger just intensifies.

I called my doctor yesterday, because I could no longer take this. I was informed to titrate down the medication to just one pill a day for 3 just three more days. I no longer had to follow the original prescription. Which gave me some relief. So will see.

Stay tune for the adventures of the drug demon!

Sit back and enjoy the ride! Occasionally I may let you drive

MJC

The Beginnings Of Mommie Juice Chronicles

The Beginnings Of Mommie juice Chronicles

Working in a field of minds and emotions can cause burnout. I was building this case of chronic stress and fatigue. I have always had the drive and ambition to be knowledgeable and successful at any job or career choice I made. I’ve worked in financial, transportation, and retail industry. I always reached my goals, skilled in completing my tasks, always came highly recommended to train others, and worked in various management positions. But, none of those jobs were full-filling. Then I entered the land of mental health. I realized that this field fit me the best and very passionate about it. I started in what I called the beginning stage of mental health field residential and work my way through to other facets. When your in this field over a decade it can take a toll.

Work life and family life at times collided in various positions of the field. I had to make some changes. I was stress and tired, and constantly working crazy hours to fulfill work obligations and pay my bills of course. It’s funny that I could not recognize my own burnout and chronic stress. I never considered that my own needs were not being met, depression came in stages, it started two blocks away, turned to my corner of my block, then knocked on my door, and busted through my world with no warning; or was there a warning. Here’s depression uninvited, invading my life taking over my mood and then I realized it has been with me all the time. Even before mental health field as I look back at other jobs and attending school, it was there I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t make time to address it or find and outlet to deal with it. I was clueless to my own warnings signs.

Here I am today with various coping skills, I journal, I began photography again one of my first loves, then sewing and crafting. You Tube became an addiction. Lol.

Blogging has always been an interest no better time to start. This is like my own therapy homework. I have procrastinated for months then I decided what best time to start was on a New Year, especially with all that going on in world.

I’m not a professional writer, just wanted to make that clear. A professor once said to me. I write like I speak. Why thank you I said. But I know it was not meant as a compliment.

So sit back and enjoy the ride! Occasionally I may let you drive!

Love MJC

Disclosure: I’m not presenting information from a professional perspective this is my own personal perspective and experiences on life. The Information posted here is not to be construed as legally binding advice on any topic I chose. I can only speak from my own experiences and my experiences of speaking with others. My experiences alone.