Kansas City Star Logo

Stumped? Let your mystical dream self come up with the answers | The Kansas City Star

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Newsletters
  • Obituaries

    • All News
    • Local news
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • The Buzz
    • Nation & World
    • 913
    • Cass County
    • Lee's Summit
    • Video
    • Photos
    • All Sports
    • Chiefs
    • Royals
    • Royals photos
    • Sporting KC
    • Olympics
    • Kansas
    • Missouri
    • K-State
    • High School
    • Scores & Stats
    • NASCAR
    • Outdoors
    • NBA
    • Buy Tickets
    • Blogs & Columns
    • The Full 90
    • Campus Corner
    • For Pete's Sake
    • Sam Mellinger
    • Vahe Gregorian
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Missouri Influencer Series
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Colleen Nelson
    • Derek Donovan
    • Dave Helling
    • Melinda Henneberger
    • Steve Kraske
    • Toriano Porter
    • Guest commentary
    • Syndicated columnists
    • Submit a Letter
    • Entertainment
    • Ink
    • Events
    • Arts & Culture
    • Music
    • Comics
    • Stargazing
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Movies
    • Horoscopes
    • Arts
    • TV
    • Restaurants
    • Books
    • Star TV listings
    • All Business
    • Cityscape
    • Development
    • Workplace
    • Personal Finance
    • National/International
    • Technology
    • Kids & Money
    • All Living
    • Chow Town
    • Eat & Drink
    • House & Home
    • KC Gardens
    • Advice columns
    • Faith
    • Travel
    • Family

    • True Blue app
    • Red Zone Extra
    • Star news apps
    • Extra Time KC

  • Cars
  • Contests
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Homes
    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
  • Spaces
  • KC Weddings

  • Contact us
  • Mobile & Apps

Joco Diversions

Stumped? Let your mystical dream self come up with the answers

BY EMILY PARNELL

Columnist

    ORDER REPRINT →

July 05, 2017 12:35 AM

If we have but one portal into magic, it is sleep.

Mysterious and otherworldly, yet healing and rejuvenating, I’ve learned to regard sleep as both a necessity and an opportunity to learn from my subconscious self. Slumber is not always trustworthy or kind, sometimes showing us monsters and battles and taking from us those we love.

But I also find gifts: glimpses of worlds tailored, to fit our most personal definition of beauty and joy.

I’ve recently been tinkering with my sleep, assigning myself a task to work on over night, attending to ninja-train my mind, sorting out problems and finding new answers. I’ve come to realize how true this is.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Kansas City Star

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Creative endeavors reach better outcomes when submitted to Sleeping Emily for ideas and overhauls. A clunky start can become lithe and beautiful with her input, even if she is, admittedly, a little bit crazy.

She experiences bent rules of physics, weird interactions with acquaintances, and toughs out improbable problems — often involving toilet woes and tests at school. Yet, she operates with years of wisdom that can be tapped in the most unexpected ways.

There’s hardly anything magical, though, about tricking my brain into working all night. Magic is surreal and defiant — a shortcut past the restrictions of reality. But sleeping Emily can be quirky, and unexpected, and sometimes, she turns out a solution through sorcery so forbidden that it is simply something that could not have been contrived by Awake Emily.

Not long ago, I had a pressing task. A time-consuming project. A deadline. And I did not have enough time to both complete it and still enjoy my other weekend plans. I simply saw no way to get everything done.

I put Sleeping Emily on the job, and awoke with a plan. A tight schedule into which each bullet point on my list fit. Wake up early and tackle the housework first. Start running errands at high noon, sharp. Hit the baby shower, but bug out a tad early. Arrive at your appointment on time.

When I awoke, I felt empowered, rested and ready. Yet, I faced a moderate concern. It was the appointment: the highly important “thing” that the entire schedule accommodated. The source of my stress. The task I didn’t want to do.

I could not remember what that highly important thing was. No recollection. None.

I scanned email, checked my calendar, scoured my texts, searching for some clue of what my tight schedule would afford me time to do. I hit the checklist hard, knocking items off it in record time, waiting for that moment when I’d say, “Oh, I remember!”

But that moment never came. I arrived at the Very Important, Not-to-Be-Missed timeslot, with no clue of what/where/why I’d scheduled an entire day around it.

And so I spent a lovely evening with my family, feeling accomplished, if a bit worried about what I’d blown off.

Eventually, I did remember what I was supposed to do. It was not that important, a loose, self-imposed deadline at best. Completely expendable. Sleeping Emily could see that, and abolished the point of stress for me. Retrospect Emily could see it clearly as well. Awake Emily would have stressed out and plodded through the item, missing a fun evening.

Who among us couldn’t use a bit of magic? Sometimes we need look only as far as our dreams for treasure, even if it does come to us from a world in which animals talk and we can fly, and we sometimes find ourselves on the toilet at the dinner table.

Reach Overland Park mom Emily Parnell at emily@emilyparnell.com. On Twitter:@emilyJparnell

  Comments  

Videos

Overland Park police hold meeting to address violent crime in 79th, Grant area

Krisztian Nemeth recaps his goal in Sporting KC season-opening win

View More Video

Trending Stories

The curious case of Giants safety Landon Collins’ locker and its effect on Chiefs fans

February 20, 2019 04:01 PM

Winter storm creates treacherous, very slick roads for morning commute in Kansas City

February 20, 2019 06:17 AM

JCCC president made candid remarks about his student body. They ended up on Twitter

February 20, 2019 04:39 PM

How and why Kansas freshman Ochai Agbaji went from overlooked recruit to NBA prospect

February 21, 2019 12:53 PM

KCPD officer who drove police van in wreck that killed teen is back at work

February 20, 2019 05:07 PM

Read Next

If saving money is your goal, focus on one behavior at a time

Joco Diversions

If saving money is your goal, focus on one behavior at a time

By Kat Hnatyshyn Columnist

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 21, 2019 05:53 PM

Before you can start changing a behavior, you need to get familiar with it. If the habit you want to change is to save more money, first you’ll have to figure out where your money is going that isn’t savings.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Kansas City Star

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE JOCO DIVERSIONS

Home design trends demolish confidence

Joco Diversions

Home design trends demolish confidence

February 21, 2019 05:29 PM
Are we teaching our children to be fickle?

Joco Diversions

Are we teaching our children to be fickle?

February 16, 2019 12:00 AM
A snowy day is a fine time to dig out a classic tale

Joco Diversions

A snowy day is a fine time to dig out a classic tale

February 14, 2019 10:43 PM
Mani/pedi destroyer may start a ‘no polish’ movement

Joco Diversions

Mani/pedi destroyer may start a ‘no polish’ movement

February 14, 2019 09:28 PM
Are you ‘dependent?’ Ask yourself when things get rough

Joco Diversions

Are you ‘dependent?’ Ask yourself when things get rough

February 14, 2019 08:04 PM
Youngest son is abroad again. Address is unknown, but love is certain

Joco Diversions

Youngest son is abroad again. Address is unknown, but love is certain

February 12, 2019 12:00 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Advertising information
  • Print
  • Digital
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story