I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

It's a common joke that no one wants to hear about your dream unless they were in it.

And maybe that's true because often when someone begins a conversation with,

I had the strangest dream last night, I sort of brace myself. I'm preparing myself to

appear interested, to nod along, make eye contact, because I'm expecting a mishmash of

disjointed symbols that won't mean much to me.

The grand adventures or scary disasters that happen in our sleep are most interesting to the dreamers

themselves, because a dream is a window into the subconscious.

It's a little peak into what your mind is actually

chewing on, maybe without you even realizing it. You thought you were over that thing a friend

said to you, or that awkward situation at work. But when it popped up in your dream, you realized,

no, it's still on your mind. On top of the psychological aspect of dreams, many cultures also

believe in the spiritual importance of dreams. They regard them not as odd stories

to tell over breakfast, but as messages from ancestors, or wisdom from the spiritual world to be used as a

guide in waking life.

For example, there are 21 dreams recorded in the Christian Bible,

most of them in the Old Testament,

which served as prophecies, warnings, or guidance.

Today's poem makes a case for that deeply personal searching we do through our dreams, reflecting on one from the speaker's childhood. In it,

she doesn't find answers about the past. Instead, she finds truth about the present.

The Interpretation of Dreams by Kate Farrell

When I was 10, my mother opened a hatch in the hallway floor and led me down the steps to board a boat,

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