by Patti Greco
In my dream, I am returning to my college that I left after my freshman year. (This was a reoccuring dream) The common experience in all these dreams is that, having returned to the college, I remember that I need to check my P.O. mailbox there! In most dreams, I never make it to mailbox. Interestingly enough, in each successive dream, I often realize that I've visited before without having gotten back to the mailbox. It produces anxiety in the dream ("Oh, I've gotta do that!")
I actually returned to that college 4 years ago, and was able to meet with my old college advisor. I told him about these dreams, and he said that he had the same themed dream for many years after leaving college. They ended for him, and I have not had these dreams for years myself (I believe they ended even before I returned to the college.)
There's still a part of me that feels I've failed or am unfinished because I left college (I returned home to begin dance training, and now have been working in professional musical theatre.)
Matthew
New York, NY
Dear Matthew,
If it were my dream, I would feel I was returning to a place that I feel I left "unfinished." Traditional thought would have me believe that because this college is structured as a four-year sequence -- a four-year "institution" -- and I had not finished those four through choice -- that I was somehow a failure. The dream teacher is trying to tell me that I need to return. To take another look. To expand the walls of my mind and spirit to see my decision differently. First of all, I left after freshman year because "I was done." I knew that I had learned exactly what I needed to learn in that particular institution and that something else was calling me. I followed the dictates of my spirit, and I "danced away."
When I remember that I need to check my P.O. Box there -- it is because somewhere, somehow there is a message for me waiting. I am being called by the Planet Mercury, the Planet of letters, writing, communication. When I am "called" and then forget repeatedly to check for my "messages," a natural anxiety is built in me. I would take this to mean that my unconscious is gently prodding me to check in with my Inner Voice, that still small voice within. The P.O. Box is the container or the location of my communications. I imagine that it is stuffed with excellent mail for me -- love letters, job offers, checks and testimonials for my fine dance work! Because I may not be listening in to my heart/spirit/intuition regularly, the dream world reminds me by repeating the dream.
I may also think back to that year at school -- perhaps there was a very rich message I received from a teacher or fellow student or even just an event that stands out strongly that could be helpful to what I am going through now.
I want to make sure that any part of me that feels I failed or am unfinished is my own belief and not the belief of traditional society. If there is something else I truly want to gain from further education, I want to check in with my Inner Mailbox (my intuition first) to see what it is trying to tell me.
Recurring dreams are the way our Unconscious alerts us to something we are not paying attention to. They are often not literal (as in you failed because you didn't finish school) but are symbolic as in "you are forgetting to check in with your inner mailbox"). Be sure you are not measuring yourself against others' standards, but only against your own. If your own College Professor had the same dream, then the authority figure of your schooling had the same anxieties as you do!
Choose whatever comes next because of sheer joy, not because of society's standards of measurement.
