Spirit Bear Dreaming

The full question was: I had this weird dream where I saw this guy I knew long time ago as a kid and he wasn't what I expected him to be like. What does this mean?

I'm not sure what that specific dream means, but I can share a similar dream of mine. I once worked for a small business that was bought by a very large international corporation. One of our original leaders had been responsible for a lot of business dealings and financial matters and soon became the contact with the new layer of management. Since I had no direct contact with her I didn't think very much about her and just thought of her as a “managerial type.”

I had a dream where she was working behind the scenes to get us all pay increases and better benefits from our new parent company. Without recognition, she is working very hard to help coworkers who are having a hard time, and just doing many things to help everyone around her. When I woke I thought about this for a long while and considered that my opinion of her as “just” a managerial type was incorrect, or at least not the whole story. I'd have to reconsider my judgment of her and I did decide that she was doing a lot for the whole group without much notice.

In the “Active Dreaming” approach I use on dreams, dreams require action. I thought that the best I could do was to thank her directly for her hard work. So, I wandered over to her office when she wasn't busy and when I noticed her door was open I asked to talk. I thanked her for all of her hard work for us (we had all gotten good pay increases, we just didn't know she was the one who enabled it). Her jaw nearly hit the table and I was embarrassed to discover I was the first to show any gratitude. Even from the people who had direct knowledge of the situation! I had simply dreamed about it and used that dream to deduce the situation. She deserved a lot more and my little effort was greatly appreciated.

Well, that was the start of a new friendship and mutual respect. We've been friends for over a decade and even though I am not in business, per se, whenever I need business-type advice she's one of first I will ask. Without that dream I never would have considered talking to her directly.

I think that sometimes dreams can tell us information we are not paying attention to, or give us some extra insight on a situation. Overall, this dream taught me that I wasn't paying full attention to everyone around me and that I had a bit of bias about managers. But, because I used it as the basis for action, it helped me make a friend who is now part of my network. But more importantly it showed gratitude to someone who deserved it. Who knows, that might have been just what she needed that day. It certainly cheered her up that day, and if it did only that it was probably worth it.

So, if the dream about the person from long ago was my dream, I would think about how I picture the person. Is there more that I am not considering, and what should I do about it? What new aspects are being shown? Do I need to make contact? Or even just reevaluate my idea of that person?

Dreams demand action!

✢

~~fran

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