Am I the Source of my Life?

Dreams as an Indicator (on Lucid Dreaming)

Some days ago, I was asked: “Are you the source of your life? It struck me.
Am I creating my life, taking action based on present attention, or is it created for me, reacting to the past and other people’s ideas? It’s a tough one to answer because, if it were the latter, I would not be conscious of it, right?

I’d need to watch myself in action and be very honest with myself. Some guidance may be useful for this, to point out what I may not see, investigate, and become conscious of the unconscious.

On my journey, I found that dreams are a strong indicator of our state of consciousness, and ergo of the way we live our lives. Are we conscious in our dreams, and do we remember them on waking – in other words, are we participating in the flow of consciousness, or are dreams happening to us?
If we’re unconscious in and of our dreams, it’s an indicator that we’re also unconscious of most of our thoughts in the waking state. When dreams are happening to us, so may our thinking in the waking state, and therefore, our life.
I’ve held onto many unconscious beliefs that were not mine, like the German cultural principle “Work first, then pleasure,” which kept me dutiful yet, at times, not choosing what was true to me.

To become conscious in our dreams, and make choices within them, is a direct practice for becoming conscious of ourselves also in the waking state, and discovering our own path.

As a first step for this. I recommend starting a dream journal and having it at the side of the bed to capture dreams at the moment of waking – even before we lift up the body, which is when most dreams vanish from our immediate consciousness.
Writing out our dreams is one of many practices to remember, and ultimately, to wake up within the dream and in life.