[FrereeDoulley]

Well, I have to confess, I've never read Harry Potter. Not even a little bit. So I was actually drawing from my own perspective, rather than J.K. Rowling's.

No, not everything you imagine is or becomes real. Good thing, too! But at the same time, EVERYTHING starts with thought, and accomplishments begin by being imagined. So the idea that if it's in your head it must be "unreal" is not a good place from which to start.

I had to proceed by thinking: Perhaps some of what I experience is imaginary, my mind producing pictures and sounds and scenes of things for purposes that I don't understand consciously. Okay. Rather than trying to pick it apart all the time, I'll just have the experiences, make note of them and continue on. If they're fleeting bits of imagination, then that will become evident in time. If they're meaningful, that, too, will become evident. In time, I'll be able to tell a lot more clearly what is and is not genuinely significant and real.

And it's worked, too. When I finally stopped chasing my own tail and just let things unfold, and just experienced them as they happened, I was not only a lot more at peace, I got a much better idea of what was important and, if you will, "real", and what was just my mind having a bit of an outing.

There are still things that I've experienced that I don't understand, and I may not for years. That's okay with me. Ambiguity makes me work harder and pay attention more.