Last night I dreamt I had a fish tank tucked in the corner of my house. I loved my fish, and it made me smile to look at them as I walked by. Then, in my dream, I walked by and noticed that three of my fish were swimming outside the tank, suspended like birds in flight, swimming in the air without the benefit of water or tank.
I panicked.
I yelled at them and grabbed the net, unceremoniously dumping them back in the tank. A second time I went by, seeing them again, outside the tank, this time noticing that they were smiling.
Yet… even their happiness wasn’t enough to get past my fear. “What are you dong, you stupid fish!” I yelled, “Don’t you know you need water and a fish tank to live?”
I dumped them in a second time.
A third time I came by and there they were again, outside the tank. This time, just as I was about to have a melt down, I heard a voice say, “Don’t you see they are happier outside the tank?”
I realized I had been operating out of a huge misconception, thinking that all fishes needed water and fish tanks. Just as I realized this, the fish changed from plain ordinary fish to beautiful, colorful, extraordinary fish. Happy fish, and all of the plain fish inside the tank were watching them, their little fish noses pressed up to the glass.
Since the dream, I have been asking myself, where am I thinking that all fish need to live in tanks and breathe water? Where are we, collectively, thinking this?
Where am I called to send this message, not all fish are created to breathe the same wet air…
Is this a dream about the hidden beliefs that we carry inside? Is this a dream about the prejudice and misconceptions that we hold about others?
Is this a dream about the ways we hold ourselves back, keep ourselves stuck in the tank? Breathing that same wet air, because it is what we are taught we have to do to survive?
All the fish in the tank were ordinary.
The three fish outside the tank became extraordinary when they were finally allowed to live as they saw themselves.
Fish that swam like birds in the open air.
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this dream. Share. Speak up.
Are you a fish that wants to fly like a bird?
