People Matter

I don't usually remember my dreams.  When I do, they tend to be significant ones.  I'm not saying I get spiritual promptings from dreams, though that may be the case.  If nothing else, they leave such an impression that I am left pondering until a valuable lesson is learned. Such has been the case this week.

Dream 1
Last week, I had a crazy dream.  I was walking a client upstairs to my office and, at the landing, a girl was on the ground face down, unconscious.  It looked as though she had passed out and fallen down the stairs (which is a plausible scenario where I work).  Without acknowledging the passed out girl, we stepped over her and walked up to my office.  I distinctly remember thinking it was a nuisance to have to get around this girl.  Later, I walked down the same stairwell by myself.  That is when I actually looked long enough at the girl to realize it was one of my clients.  I could tell just from the back of her head.  It was only then that panic set in, I was concerned for the patient, and I began helping her.  I felt ashamed I hadn't paid attention to her earlier.

Dream 2
I woke up this morning after yet another crazy dream, and another.  I had a dream my sister was driving my car and backing out of a driveway.  I was watching her do so.  I watched in slow motion as she backed into a wall and crashed my car.  The dream over exaggerated what would have actually happened to my car had she been driving at that speed because the car was soon a pile of smoking car parts that we were standing over.  My brother started crying and he was angry at my sister, as if he were soon to be inheriting my car.  I reassured him, "It's just a car. At least Katelyn's okay."

Dream 3
The next dream took place in my office.  I chatted with a concerned mother who said, "What if you're not the right dietitian for my daughter?"  She doubted my abilities to help her daughter recover.  This stung a little.  I wasn't offended at all though.  My response was, "Maybe there is someone better.  What's most important is that your daughter recover, and if she needs to switch dietitians, we'll make sure it happens so that she gets the best treatment possible."  After that, the mother's countenance changed, and I knew she trusted me more.

I woke up immediately after that dream.  I  lay in bed and thought of all three of the dreams and how they seemed to tie together.  My first thought was, "People are important—not possessions, not positions, not places."  That was the lesson.  Those words repeated again and again in my head.  

People are what matter, whether you know them or not.  Desire to get only our own needs met causes us to be blind to the needs of others.  When we make people matter to us, we can understand people better, we can get offended less often, we can become more aware of those in need, we can increase in patience, and, ultimately, we can be happier.  I hope I remember this more each day.