Changing Lives through Dancing by David Woodbury
Arthur Murray Santa Monica
On March 27th I awoke from a dream at 3 AM. As I was awakening, I remembered it all and I became so alert that I started writing it all down at 3:30 AM!
The theme of the dream was seeing and hearing. I’ll first start with the dream about seeing and my vision. I dreamt that I could only see the good things that were right in front of me and I could not focus on any of the bad things that were out of my sight.
As for hearing, I could only hear the sweet sounds and words that were close to me, and I could not hear all the noise and chaos that was out of my hearing range.
I remember how happy I was that I could only see the good, and only hear the good. There were people around me and I could only see the virtue in them for they were very close to me. I could only hear the sweet words from their mouths because the harsh outer sounds did not make it to my ears.
Upon wakening, I read my dream notes from the night before and pondered on them. The interpretation of the dream came to me.
In my life, I react to what I hear. I have a very short fuse and I am very easily startled by noise. My mother, J. Clair, was just the same way. She jumped at every noise around her, and now I’m just the same. Poor mom, it’s truly awful to be easily startled.
When I hear something I don’t like, I just go off internally, and I usually didn’t even hear correctly what was actually said, or I just misunderstood, or I was just crazy in my head. Then my mouth wants to take off (I’m much better now). It has never been a good trait of mine.
Or I see something, and I react to it (driving) or an unpleasant interaction that I am witnessing, and I just reve up (in the inside). Not so good, no not at all.
So, what did the dream mean? We’ll at 68, I truly can’t hear so well, especially out of my right ear after an illness a few years ago. When someone say something that might trigger me, I usually just can’t hear the words. It’s a blessing. I must politely say, I’m sorry, may I ask you to repeat that, and it is never repeated as it was said. It’s always repeated nicer than it was said. It’s a blessing to be a little hard of hearing.
How about seeing? After a bang on my head, a year ago, I have big “floaters” in my eyes. I’m lucky that my eyes are healthy after that, but I see things moving that aren’t truly there. Without my glasses I just can’t see as well as I used to (I’m sure my Dollar Store glasses aren’t the best, but they work!).
It’s a blessing to not always see the bad that happens around me. With slower eyes, I miss bad interactions with people. I need to get closer to people and I am trained by my mom to see only the best in others when I first meet them. Unhappy customers who come into my business always melt when I greet them because I just can’t see that they are in a bad mood. I’m so happy to have them come in, I heartily and warmly and genuinely greet them and it’s smooth sailing from there on out.
So, what am I going to do? I’m going to not listen to the bad and tune into the good. I’m not going to see the faults in others but focus on the good that I see in them. Older age and nature are taking care of most of that in my life. Just watch two old people greeting each other. They speak in a sweet tone, smile, and sometimes shake hands. They always have a kind conversation and a lovely salutation as they leave. They see and hear the good in the other person and leave on a good note. They think about it all day with a warm joy in their hearts. What a nice gift of life!
Well, there’s my dream. I hope it carries over into my dancing and personal life. Give this a try, when meeting someone, smile at them when you first see them, and respond with a lovely word when you hear them. You might meet a new lifelong friend and share a few hearty laughs together.
Keep on dreaming, I certainly will!
Thanks for dreaming with me.
David Woodbury
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