A few nights ago I had a dream…

I was standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump. 

Jody was standing behind me (no he was NOT trying to push me over the edge). 

I felt myself flying…

then woke up flapping my arms completely startled. 

WAIT!!!! 

Not yet...

I was on the brink of some great revelation…

but it vanished as soon as I 

“landed” 

safely in the comfort of my bed.

I laid there trying to will myself back to sleep, back to my dream. 

But, it was gone, lost until the next time my mind went to that cliff. 

As I listened to my husband snore peacefully sleep next to me, 

I couldn't help but wonder

 what does it mean? 

Is my unconscious trying to tell me something 

that my conscious won't allow me to experience?

Dream interpretation has been controversial for years. 

Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler 

are two of the most prominent psychotherapists who used dream interpretation.

Alfred Adler believes dreams are problem solving devices. 

They need to be brought into the conscious to shed light on the problem. 

He believes dreams are an open pathway to solving problems. 

He would probably say my dream was an attempt to move beyond my current situation.

Freud believed nothing happens by chance. 

According to Freud repressed urges reveal themselves via dreams. 

Freud would probably say my dream has to be related to some repressed impulse.

Whatever the patriarchs of psychotherapy may think about my dream is irrelevant. 

What matters is what it means to me. 

  I think much of life is lived “on the edge”. 

The cliff may be minute 

or it could be the biggest one you face

 but you have to make a decision on how to respond.

You really only have 3 choices…

First option is you can turn around and walk away from the cliff. 

You can take the safe, familiar road. And there’s nothing wrong with taking the safe road. 

Nothing at all. 

There is comfort in the familiar. 

Sometimes your favorite sweatshirt, the quilt grandma made and a hot cup of tea is exactly what is needed.

Second option is... 

 Jump, don’t think about it, just DO IT! 

It might be the worst decision you’ve ever made…

but it might be the best. 

Only way to know is to take the plunge into the unknown.

Third option is to do nothing. 

Maybe you need more time to think about it, that’s OK.

 Maybe you need to wait for someone to come along and help you be brave. 

You know like when you were a kid needing dad to jump off the diving board with you the first time. 

That’s OK too. 

But, living there ALL. THE. TIME. is not OK.

 Stagnant water attracts nasty bugs and smells pretty bad.

 A stagnant life is no life at all.

I still don’t know what my dream means.

 I just know that I tend to like the second option best. 

It’s the rebel in me. 

I've been hurt from some of those leaps but I’ve also experienced exhilarating adventures that

 rocked my world.

I don’t know how to stand on the cliff and do nothing. 

 Bumps, bruise, heartache and loss. 

Those I can heal from… 

but stinky stagnant nothingness…

how do you heal from that?