Just Three Words

The Dream

“Just Three Words” is what I’m calling this recent dream. I dreamt the following:

I am in some busy place, as if a house (but not my house) has been taken over by President Obama’s staff and political team. I happen to catch Obama alone at a buffet table so I say, “I used to teach calligraphy so if you ever need something calligraphed, I’m happy to do it.” He responds, “As a matter of fact, there is something you can do.” He wants a certificate for his girls and gives me a phrase to write. I can’t remember what it was but it was just three words, descriptive in nature. I take the piece of paper that it’s written on, but when I look at what it actually says, I think it needs more than just those three words or else it’s just a fragment, an incomplete sentence and will just look like some random words. I go back to him to suggest that we add a word like “congratulations” or whatever is appropriate to the occasion so that it will be more clear. Now he’s really pissed off with me for bothering him! I think that this is a side of his personality that he doesn’t show the public. He’s not a very nice man.

So after listening to the thoughts, feelings and projections from my dream group and working on it with a dear dream friend, here’s what has the most energy for me. This, by the way is the easiest way to get into your dream….Follow the juiciest parts! It was the feeling of trying to please an important person, who I wanted to think well of me. When I look at my life, I connect to this right away, having grown up with the “Disease to Please”. Like many empathic children we become sensitive to the subtle cues that tell us if we’re ok or not. So I look at this and think to myself, “this again?” Who am I trying to please and impress in waking life? Only one person comes to mind and I’m sitting with this and mulling it over. But even in wanting his approval, I still spoke up and wanted to do the calligraphy in a professional way. In my youth I wouldn’t have spoken up. Ok so there’s been some growth, lol! This is good. And as a calligrapher, or any artist who creates something for a buyer, there is always some tension between what pleases our artistic self v. what pleases the customer. This is an important tension to explore, for a “pleaser”. What pleases me? I’m always at the bottom of my list, sadly. (That’s another life-long “Blesson” – blessing + lesson to work on.) Time to make some shifts!

There’s another way to look at this dream as there are always many ways to do dreamwork, and I ask myself “What is my presidential self?” While I haven’t liked every thing Obama has done politically, I would describe him as intelligent and articulate, caring and well-grounded in his family’s love…..and an historic groundbreaker. What part of myself is at the buffet table of life? What part of me is the perfectionist/artist, what part of me is a leader-of-the-free world self? and there is more to explore, the house, the buffet table, the certificate, the president’s public and private self, and of course, the anger. Is someone in waking life bringing out my pissed off self?

The Words

A while back, on ABC ‘s morning news, did a bit on “Your Three Words and asked: How much can you say in just three words? Can you express your thoughts, your feelings, your sadness or joy? Could your three words be a celebration of a special event, or a thought on everyday life? The response was tremendous and as I think about the forgotten three words that I was to calligraph, I think this would be a creative way to honour my dream and bring it into my waking life.

I’m not sure which three wordsI’ll choose but I’m playing with “Love-Lead-Write” for now. I wonder what your three words would be? What three words bring your dream (and/or your life) together in a way expresses your truth? Post your three words below. I’d love to hear from you!