My totem

I recently re-watched the movie Inception.  It's a terrific movie - ensemble cast, tremendously stunning visuals, and an ending that leaves you on the end of your seat.  It's one of those delicious pieces of film I'll pull out and watch every now and then because I just enjoy the acting, even though I know what's going to happen at every sequence.

All gushing aside, this last viewing brought my awareness to something that might actually help with the nightmares.  As I have complained on numerous occasions, I have horrible, awful, terrible nightmares that when I awake, and I sometimes still can't tell the difference between the nightmare and reality.

In the movie, the characters all carry with them special objects only they can touch, called totems, that represent to them reality versus the dreaming state.  The most iconic of which is the main character's totem which spins without toppling in the dreaming state and topples in reality (picture above).

My totem was so obviously the little elephant my sister gave me as a reminder of a trip we took together years ago.  It has grooves and ridges and rocks back and forth when initially set down on a hard surface.  I doubt I could reproduce this little elephant in my dreaming with the accuracy required and I'd always know if I was really awake or really dreaming.

My totem sits next to my bed now, ready to ward off the unwelcome, and welcome me back to reality.