On my word, on my mark, on my whole life

First, I’ll start out by telling you about a dream I had the other night. Actually, there were two but the first one is short, but funny. See, Dream-Me is usually pretty clever and quick-witted. I’m usually impressed with Dream-Me! However, this time, Dream-Me was incredibly obvious and deserved face-palming. In this dream, I was talking with someone and just randomly ranting about people. I said, “there’s a special place in hell for people who think only of themselves!” The other person nodded. Trying to be clever, Dream-Me said, “Yeah, it’ll be the least considerate place EVER.” …no kidding. 😀

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The second dream is way more significant. Over the last few years, I feel like I’ve become sort of a…well…life coach. 🙂 Only one person here will understand that reference, but that’s how I feel. Friends are constantly coming to me with this, “what do I do about XYZ?” question and I give them advice to the best of my ability. Sometimes it’s relationship advice, sometimes it’s friendship advice, sometimes it’s just the rules by which I choose to live. It feels great when people come to me for these sorts of things, and it’s even better when it makes those friends say, “I never thought about it that way.” The best is when they come back to me days later and tell me I was right. I don’t give this advice to BE right, per se. I mean, I’m not seeking people out and telling them how they should live their lives. I’m simply a shrewd (these days) observer of the human condition and I seem to have stumbled upon what works and how people interact. Usually it’s good advice. I haven’t yet had anyone come back to me and tell me that I was completely off base (although, if you’re out there, feel free. It’s the only thing I have to go by).

But anyway, in this dream, I was an old man sitting in a rocking chair and I was talking to someone younger who seemed familiar, so it was obvious that I knew him…perhaps he was family. A son? Grandson? Anyway, I was talking to him and giving him some life advice. I remember saying, “I’ve always wanted to be wise. I always wanted to grow old and be the type of person others came to when they needed to talk things out and when they needed advice in any given situation. I’ve always wanted to be someone with a quote or a rule of life that’s always worked for me that I could share with others.” And the younger man would nod his head as if he understood and as if I was just that kind of person. I went on to tell this younger man that I was glad people came to me as often as they did because I was glad to help and that I enjoyed teaching people what I knew and enjoyed helping them to see themselves and their situations in a different way. My final statement to this younger man was, “Remember to live your life so that when you’re my age, people will come to you for your wisdom and your knowledge as well. Not because you’re smart, but because you’re wise. Always remember to observe what’s around you and store it in your memory because even if it’s useless to you at the time, later on down the road, it may be priceless advice. Live as if you’re taking down all of the advice, all of the words and all of the knowledge of those around you so you can pass it on to others when asked.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how significant that was to me. It feels like something is pulling me in a certain direction, but I’m not sure what to do with it.