So first of all, I used to fly to New York often when I had consulting clients there, and I still have the occasional dream in that setting: always crowded, jumbled, difficult to find my path or goal, and pervasively unpleasant. Sure, some nice people are there, but the area ultimately fails by trying to be everything, and sets people up to fail with a life of anxiety--a place only slightly more civil than a bunch of hyperactive kids shoved together in the same play pen. 😄 So as you might guess, by preference I am a peace-and-quiet, contemplative guy.
These days, I usually dream of other people or (rarer) of myself as I currently am, but this time I was a younger, more fit me, perhaps young 30s (as if matching that era of my life when I was consulting).
Anyway, this is a new dream that some might also find amusing and/or interesting:
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When tired after a long day in New York, there are always people and buildings in your way, and I just wanted to get back to my hotel and rest. I turned this way and that, always trying to find a better, non-cluttered route to my destination. My persistence finally paid off, but I approached the hotel from a back angle rather than the front, and so rather than bothering going around the block, I took a shortcut through the employee areas as if I had done it before and was allowed to. And of course, the last thing I wanted was more notice--I just needed rest. I agile-like hopped over a counter (bar top?) and into the reception area proper that led to the elevators and eventually to my room and waiting pillows.
As I hurried through the common areas, a cluster of people stood out, in particular four women sitting closely together on a couch and smiling brightly, one even waving toward me. I tipped my head in greeting but didn't slow down. In passing, I heard one of the standing men say, "Now she's going to have another sad face." I took that to mean since I didn't notice or pay much attention, it would deflate her, which I don't mind doing to people if they need a humility lesson [an insightful man once quipped, "A lack of humility earns the lesson."], but something in the guy's tone made me pause and reconsider. By choice-of-personality, I like to be the counter when people say or assume something negative, both from an ideal and contrarian standpoint (because it amuses me, and I truly would like for people to choose to lead better lives than they feel they're stuck with). That moment of attention away from my waiting bed, of my deciding, triggered a flash of recognition in me. Did I actually know the woman who had waved at me? From my past? College or even childhood?
Compromising with myself, I decided to at least hand her my card and a passing offer (oddly enough, the card I pulled from my wallet was a current one with my novel art on it even though everything else about the dream gave the impression of an earlier time). I turned and approached the group with a more curious expression, extending the business card and saying to the surrounded woman, "You seem familiar...do I know you from somewhere?"
One of the women sitting next to her snorted and said, "You should--she's a politician."
My reflexive, nonchalant reply: "Ah, well I'm a political philosopher by training, so I steer clear of politicians--" Which they found instantly amusing! "--so that can't be it." I discovered I still had the energy for a smile at their banter as I finished handing her my card and adding, "Perhaps we can explore that later, but for now I must sleep." [A funny thing to say from within my own dream, especially as I was beginning to wake up with that not-fully-rested feeling.]
---
I usually wake from my dreams immediately searching for meaning, but it just seemed like another vicarious experience at best, to be added to my catalog of them for future empathy purposes. One thing I've been musing on all morning is the fact that even though most of our medium are closed-ended stories, my dreams rarely fit that pattern and instead are more open-ended, as if the ending is either not yet played out or not yet figured out. Do you guys tend to have endings with "storybook" finality or is that only you trying to force an ending to what is otherwise more life-like and uncertain? I think that in viewing this uncertainty as more possibility, of potential...this mindset frees us from the burden of needing an ending and so perhaps falsely adding one or feeling that pressure to experience one. Maybe we have been programmed wrongly to desire or feel we "deserve" finality in a story, when it is actually a gift to have one so open to possibility.
Your thoughts?
These days, I usually dream of other people or (rarer) of myself as I currently am, but this time I was a younger, more fit me, perhaps young 30s (as if matching that era of my life when I was consulting).
Anyway, this is a new dream that some might also find amusing and/or interesting:
---
When tired after a long day in New York, there are always people and buildings in your way, and I just wanted to get back to my hotel and rest. I turned this way and that, always trying to find a better, non-cluttered route to my destination. My persistence finally paid off, but I approached the hotel from a back angle rather than the front, and so rather than bothering going around the block, I took a shortcut through the employee areas as if I had done it before and was allowed to. And of course, the last thing I wanted was more notice--I just needed rest. I agile-like hopped over a counter (bar top?) and into the reception area proper that led to the elevators and eventually to my room and waiting pillows.
As I hurried through the common areas, a cluster of people stood out, in particular four women sitting closely together on a couch and smiling brightly, one even waving toward me. I tipped my head in greeting but didn't slow down. In passing, I heard one of the standing men say, "Now she's going to have another sad face." I took that to mean since I didn't notice or pay much attention, it would deflate her, which I don't mind doing to people if they need a humility lesson [an insightful man once quipped, "A lack of humility earns the lesson."], but something in the guy's tone made me pause and reconsider. By choice-of-personality, I like to be the counter when people say or assume something negative, both from an ideal and contrarian standpoint (because it amuses me, and I truly would like for people to choose to lead better lives than they feel they're stuck with). That moment of attention away from my waiting bed, of my deciding, triggered a flash of recognition in me. Did I actually know the woman who had waved at me? From my past? College or even childhood?
Compromising with myself, I decided to at least hand her my card and a passing offer (oddly enough, the card I pulled from my wallet was a current one with my novel art on it even though everything else about the dream gave the impression of an earlier time). I turned and approached the group with a more curious expression, extending the business card and saying to the surrounded woman, "You seem familiar...do I know you from somewhere?"
One of the women sitting next to her snorted and said, "You should--she's a politician."
My reflexive, nonchalant reply: "Ah, well I'm a political philosopher by training, so I steer clear of politicians--" Which they found instantly amusing! "--so that can't be it." I discovered I still had the energy for a smile at their banter as I finished handing her my card and adding, "Perhaps we can explore that later, but for now I must sleep." [A funny thing to say from within my own dream, especially as I was beginning to wake up with that not-fully-rested feeling.]
---
I usually wake from my dreams immediately searching for meaning, but it just seemed like another vicarious experience at best, to be added to my catalog of them for future empathy purposes. One thing I've been musing on all morning is the fact that even though most of our medium are closed-ended stories, my dreams rarely fit that pattern and instead are more open-ended, as if the ending is either not yet played out or not yet figured out. Do you guys tend to have endings with "storybook" finality or is that only you trying to force an ending to what is otherwise more life-like and uncertain? I think that in viewing this uncertainty as more possibility, of potential...this mindset frees us from the burden of needing an ending and so perhaps falsely adding one or feeling that pressure to experience one. Maybe we have been programmed wrongly to desire or feel we "deserve" finality in a story, when it is actually a gift to have one so open to possibility.
Your thoughts?