Understanding Dreams

The last few weeks I have been reflecting on dreams. While I have written about strategies to put the pieces of our dreams together, I have not taken much time to explore the nature of dreams themselves - questions like, what are dreams? and where do they come from?

The very first blog on The Daniel Mosaic introduced the following conversation: "As I talk to people, I often hear stories about a compelling dream of where they feel called to be.  These stories are fresh, exciting and life giving.  They are about impacting their world in a positive way..."  (At Hand, May 27, 2014)

But there is much more to dreams than that. When I look at my story and talk to others, I have come to realize that, for other people, dreams are a confusing or painful topic. 

"In high school, I dreamed of becoming a medical doctor and then going to a third world country to practice community medicine. I studied hard in high school and was accepted into a top university. After completing the required pre-medicine studies in life sciences in two years I applied to medical school. The first time I applied I did not get in, so I continued in my degree in biology. After my third year of studies I applied again. Nothing. The next year as I finished my biology degree I applied again and did not get in. After a year of odd jobs and some additional study, I applied for a fourth time. This time I got an interview. But once again I was not accepted. 

I remember the day I realized that a dream that I had prepared for for many years was not going to come true. I remember the sense of loss. For the first time since I was a teenager, I was an unemployed dreamer, that is a dreamer with no dream. To this day I still question what happened..."

There are so many mixed messages around us about dreaming. We are told that we can be anything we want. Companies invite us to picture ourselves in a dream because they want to sell us something.  We are encouraged to have a 'bucket list' of what we want to accomplish before we die. These are not necessarily bad, but I do not think that our dreams at their core are something that we put on or buy or do, or even things that may bring us meaning or satisfaction. Instead I wonder if they are really gifts that are deposited inside of us that are core to who we are and part of our higher purpose. I am starting to think that we don't choose our dreams as much as we discover and steward them.

What about when our dreams fall apart along the way or when we don't even get an opportunity to get started. Our dreams often face fierce opposition. Sometimes those in opposition are ones who are close to us, people that we expected support from. It seems as though dreams can be blocked, they can be given up on and they can die. I don't understand why. It can reach a point where it is difficult or almost impossible to dream again. 

Some people I talk to have a different challenge - they don't have a dream. They may be searching but don't find anything that resonates with them. They may even try out dream after dream but nothing sticks. Others may dream but their dreams get smaller and smaller as life goes by. Or maybe their dream has changed.  It feels like they have outgrown their dream. 

"After my plan to enter medical school fell apart, I spent five years working in an environmental lab at a job that I could not see a future in.  During that time, my next dream emerged which was to become a biologist. I went back go to school to complete a master's degree and became a biologist, managing lakes, ponds, streams, forests, meadows and wetlands for a time in a progressive municipality north of Toronto (Ontario, Canada). This time, I walked into my dream. 

After five years, a series of unexpected events happened. A corporate reorganization saw me transferred to a portfolio that was less about biology and the natural environment and more about energy and technology and organizations. An opportunity came to move into overall corporate strategy and I took it thinking that I would move back when I had a chance. I applied several times but wasn't selected. As the years went by, the dream of being a biologist has all but faded, although I still enjoy being in nature. My dreams, if you can call them that, have slowly turned towards strategy and coming alongside others as they pursue their dreams, but I question whether they are as vibrant as before."

Just thinking about my story has got me thinking more deeply about dreams - and wondering about how to put my experience together into something that makes sense. Maybe dreams aren't about occupations, or job titles or accomplishments. Could it be that my dream is not really about me at all, but about something bigger, something bolder, something that has the potential to leave a lasting legacy. That seems to make more sense to me that what I believed before. It also challenges me to consider risking to dream again and take a chance that it is not too late.

Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Francis Drake was an English sea captain who lived from 1540-1596. 

His exploits were legendary and he was only the second person 

to circumnavigate the world in a single expedition.