Snake In The Grass: A Dream Gone Wrong Or Right?

Well, I did a little research on the guy who dropped out of college, whom I wrote about in yesterday’s article.

He basically didn’t have any additional ideas.

He suggested not doing it (dropping out of college) unless you can’t talk yourself out of it.

Anticlimactic, but I respect that he’s not trying to get others to join him in a rash decision.

His webpage had several blog articles on it.

One was about how to pack for travel with only one backpack.

It was good. I like that idea.

My music coach suggested getting a two-guitar backpack, putting your guitar in one side and your other stuff in the other.

I also loved this old YouTube video of a guy who basically owned 25 to 30 items and lived out of his backpack. That was inspiring.

But I would want to bring musical instruments, too, so…

Another blog article was about a company he and his buddy built for “unrepentant workaholics and overachievers.”

His view is that the best times in his life were when he was part of a team that pushed and challenged each other.

I haven’t seen the movie A Clockwork Orange, so I am not sure why it comes to mind right now.

But … yeah, it sounds intense. I am not a fan of the idea of a gang pushing each other to their limits.

A third blog was about how a world-class, prestigious, technology-based university invited him to work with students interested in entrepreneurship.

What are we going to teach these kids today?

Oh, I’ve got an idea. Let’s bring the college dropout in to give them a thing or two to think about!

And if that wasn’t enough, his fourth blog article was about how he was asked to be a guest speaker for a nonprofit that had him traveling from university to university to recruit people who would eventually give their time, attention, and perhaps money.

Really?

He had mentioned that he spent nine months a year traveling. I guess this is what he was doing.

The nonprofit’s webpage doesn’t exist anymore.

It really makes me wonder how and why he was doing all that, and how and why he got platformed on podcasts and as a speaker.

It seems fishy.

This all brings me to a dream I had last night.

In the dream, I was in front of the house we lived in when I was a kid, around four to eight years old.

I am walking with the sun at my back across the front lawn, which has a very green lawn.

Looking down in front of me, I see a multistriped snake, fully extended and slithering in the same direction I am walking.

It was similar to a milk snake, but predominantly had orange and white stripes.

And it was almost as if I had the snake on a leash and was taking it out for a walk. I did not, but I felt an affinity with it, a bit of a connection.

A dream with a snake in it is unusual for me.

There was some surprise on my part, but no fear. I felt like it was an ally.

I make it to the driveway next door, where there is a small table. I sit down at it, still facing east.

In front of me is a very attractive woman with brown skin, who appears to be of African descent.

We gingerly give each other little kisses on the lips.

Nothing gross. It’s quite tender and lovely.

She is smiling at me as if I am the dopest of dopes.

It felt good, real good.

Now, you may think this is a Freudian dream, and I suppose there are elements to it that are, but there is a larger message contained within this dream, I believe.

Today, as I was covering lessons for the year-long dream certification course I joined, we were given an assignment for working with a dream.

In this exercise, you replace the nouns in the dream with other nouns that you associate with them.

For example, the house was very important in the dream.

It is the last home we lived in where I was still a small child. I had significant shifts in my consciousness and identity while living there, losing some or a good part of the innocence of early childhood.

I replaced the noun house with “Dark Shadows” because I remember seeing a rerun of that old soap opera when I was living there.

It was the first thing I associated with the house while doing this exercise, so I went with it.

Thinking about it more, I remembered that I was also often frightened by dark shadows coming down the hallway in front of my bed.

But it was not a horrible place, and I have many fond memories of living there, too.

For snake, I replaced the noun with “pet” because when I was about 10 years old, I found a small garter snake and decided to keep it as a pet.

That lasted all of one or two days. But I remember that little fellow fondly.

For kisses, I replaced that with “energy” because that was what was happening. There was an exchange of enthusiastic energy between us as we gently pecked each other’s lips.

In general, this was a very positive dream. It seems to indicate that I am integrating parts of my shadow, my rejected parts of self, and am living in a freer and less defended manner.

I am gaining clarity and energy for a new phase of life that is just around the corner.

It makes me realize that my thoughts and opinions about the guy who dropped out of college are where my growth edge is, too.

It’s quite possible that this is an example of me not accepting myself.

He and I are probably similar, and I may be rejecting the part of him that is most like myself.

It’s something to always pay attention to, for sure.

The saying that when you point a finger at someone else, remember that three fingers are pointing back at you, is so true.