Re-Coyle: Sweet Dreams

Settling down for a good night’s sleep after a hard day, either mentally or physically, isn’t always an easy feat or an enjoyable event. Our minds are still racing at speeds that surpass the fastest movements of our body. So why is it that the two hardly ever seem to be in sync?

One answer is that we are not in total control of our bodies or minds. We think we are in control of everything, yet we actually control very little. Our minds and body work involuntarily most of the time. We breathe the air, our blood pumps to every extremity and we find ourselves contemplating ideas we never consciously think about.
What are we really in charge of when it comes to ourselves?

You take the trash outdoors because your nose picks up a foul scent and tells your brain that something needs to happen. Your brain tells your muscle system to get moving and take the trash out so the nose won’t have to keep smelling the odor. Or your ears relay a message to the brain that someone else in your household has the same odor issue and has selected your body to act upon their desires.

With all of that in mind, nodding off to sleep is usually accompanied by your thoughts of either good or bad things, either current, in the past or something in the future.
In any case, once your body gets the sleep signal from the brain, your consciousness
takes a break and the real control freak in you takes over, your subconscious brain,
which may not be so subconscious after all.

Keeping you alive is the subconscious brain’s first priority. After all, it needs you to gather food and provide shelter in order for it to survive. But once the brain has put you to sleep, it decides what and when you will dream, whether it be a happy dream or a terrifying nightmare. Only your brain can decide what treatment you will have for the night. It may decide to shake up the muscle system and make you shudder and tremble in fear of an evil beast it has concocted just for its own entertainment.

It could decide to reward you with a pleasant night time ride; winning the big lottery and enjoying a life of luxury, even if only for a brief moment in time. It’s important to remember that whichever dream you experience was not really your choice, because if it truly was under your control then no one would ever have a bad dream. No matter who you are, the real control over what you do and how you think comes from deep inside your brain. And who knows where they actually get their orders from? It could come from another time and place, even a parallel dimension housing our spiritual twin.

So what happens when you allow your subconscious brain to write for you in the darkest hours of the night? Many horror novels begin and end with a nightmare; perhaps your next nightmare will end up on the bestseller list.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.