I do and I do it alot! That's really how I get inspired to create new characters and stories. At night as I'm about to drift off, I like to place my characters in a scene and let them act it out. Then if I like it, hopefully I'll remember it in the morning haha!
Since I restarted going to school last semester, I daydream less at night because I'm worried about tests, assignments I didn't complete yet or just the fact that I'm beat. If I'm super tired, I tend to pass out within a matter of minutes. So my story today takes place on a Sunday night, the Sunday night before the Spring semester began.
I had chosen to take only 9 credit hours so I could continue to work 30 + hours a week. I had ordered all my books through my school book store and Amazon. It's also important to mention that I take the bus, well two buses, to get to my campus. One drives me down to the bus transit station and from there I get one the second that takes me right to campus. I do this because I live in Houston where traffic is a mess more times than it's not. Plus add on the fact that my university charges $200+ PER SEMESTER for parking!!! Or you can give yourself a real deal and pay $400+ for an ANNUAL pass!!!
And there's just no way, no way that I'm going to be doing that. Besides, people complain that it can take an hour to find a spot, not a good spot, anyways. Plus, remember the traffic? So for me, I pay $25 a month to ride a bus to school that saves me a little time and stress.
Back to the Sunday night before my first semester of school.
I got everything ready. Notebook, pens, my outfit all ready. I'm lying in bed, trying to daydream because I realize I'm not as tired as I thought. Sleep continues to elude me and I can't imagine anything interesting to entertain me. So I wait.
Suddenly it hits me, hard and fast.
I get this really strong feeling that I need to change my school schedule. This feeling increases to the point that it gets me out of bed and in front of my lap top because I have that strong impression that something bad would happen to me if I didn't.
I already knew what change I had to make. I had an evening class scheduled at 5:30 pm which ended at 7 pm. I knew I had the feeling because if I kept that class, I would be taking late evening buses and I'd have to walk through downtown Houston at night to catch the bus to take me home. (The bus stop is three blocks from the down town transit center btw).
Last semester I had my classes earlier in the day so that I always went home on the buses with the business people. Well, who knows what kind of people I'd be seeing around that time of night. So I listened to the prompting, which I knew came from God and I dropped the class.
The feeling went away like a puff of smoke. Poof!
I was able to find an online class that I needed anyways and things were fixed. I know there are some people who struggle with listening to their instincts/thoughts/impressions/feelings etc. A lot of people can't seem to tell if they're making up the feelings themselves or not. I'm hoping my experience can help you learn how to tell.
- The feeling was so abrupt and strong that I just knew it wasn't coming from me. I wasn't even thinking about walking around down town Houston. Plus the feeling went away right after I dropped the class.
- I pray to God for protection nearly all the time to begin with. How can He protect me if I'm not willing to listen to the His warnings? In my experience, God has communicated to me through my thoughts (I always hear my own voice when that happens) and through feelings.
- Everything GOOD comes from Him. If you have a thought/feeling/impression/instinct that you know is GOOD, then trust it and follow it. It gets easier the more you do it. After awhile you learn to trust Him without doubting yourself and just DO.
There was another time when a similar thing happened to me. I was serving an 18 month mission for my church on a French island called La Reunion. (Go find it on a globe!) In my church, missionaries always work in pairs called companionships. Me and my companion go to see a less active member and when we get to his place to check up on him, another guy walks out. Immediately I get a horrible nauseous feeling in my stomach. The feeling then was to get out because whoever that guy was, he wasn't anything good. So we listened and took off as fast as possible with no harm to ourselves.
Here's the moral of these stories, Trust those feelings/impressions/thoughts/instincts whatever form they take. Trust them.
It'll be worth it.
