Monday, December 28, 2009

Running Up That Hill

Dearest Readers,

Listening to other people talk about their dreams can be fascinating but it's usually not. Our dreams are meaningful to us as individuals, not to others.

Unless it's a universal dream that most of us can relate to (like being naked in public or losing teeth) then you can probably count on your listener tuning out when you're in the midst of describing how you were in your childhood home but it looked like your friend's house etc.

That said, I'm going to share a piece of a dream with you because I feel the larger message is worth passing on.

I am running up a hill and it's getting steeper and steeper. It becomes so steep that I fear I might actually fall backward. I discover a wall jutting out and I lean against it for safety.

The top of the hill is just a few feet away but it's straight up. I notice little grooves in the ground, footholds, opposite the wall. I reach out my foot, press into the foothold. It's too high, the stretch is beyond my capability. I choose another foothold lower down, press my other foot against the wall behind me and push and pull myself up to the top.

Upon waking, I was struck by the obviousness of the dream's meaning: Sometimes life can feel like an uphill climb. The steeper it gets or the more challenges we face, the harder it is to keep going. Falling seems inevitable.

But there are walls and grooves and footholds all around us. We may be tempted to push ourselves higher and harder because we want to "get there" faster but we can choose the easier step. It's okay to be where we are.

In order to use life's footholds, we need to see them first. How do we see them? We need to trust that they are there. If we can do that, they will appear to us where we did not see them before.

Inspiring Message of the Day: Today I will trust that there are support systems in place to help me climb my hill. I will keep my eyes open and allow them to be revealed to me. Then I will use them to pull myself up!

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