The Book Left Behind
Interpretation of A Dream
They were all standing in bewilderment, talking to each other, trying to understand what happened, looking at me and asking, “Why did you do this?!”
It took me a second to think, and I said…
I was extremely confused and overwhelmed…
It felt like there was a spirit inhabiting you all…
As if you were all pages belonging to a single book…
As if you’re all painted in the same colour…
They were astonished and said, “But we were trying to help…”
I said, “I know… but…
I felt tangled in my thoughts, and as if the noise became unbearably loud in my mind.
I panicked…
I needed a few moments of peace, to turn off the lights, to escape the noise.
Was that the message?
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To leave… to have space to listen to what’s really going on?
Was the message that I should be careful not to paint all people with my pain?
What was the message?”
They took about three seconds thinking, and collectively said:
“We don’t know… the interpretation of the dream is up to you.”
They disappeared, and on a table was an old book left with a single word written on its cover: Patience.
I woke up. Felt a little confused. Made my coffee and sat right before the window, thinking about the dream…
I wondered: do we sometimes paint others with our current weather, our flow of emotions?
Do we perceive their words, actions, and gestures through our own storms?
Maybe a reset is needed when it happens.
To turn off the lights, tune down the noise, and sit with ourselves for a while to understand what’s really going on.
A necessary pause to be with ourselves and truly listen.
Sometimes it takes just a moment to notice, and other times days, weeks, or even years. True, patient work is needed to lift the blur that colors our judgments and emotions.
To let our feelings dissolve slowly, until our rivers and lakes are pure again. To have patience with ourselves, to take our time, and to trust that by caring for ourselves with compassion, things will improve with the passage of time.
