Last night, I dreamt that I was tasked with captaining an old sailing ship around the world, like the sailing ship in Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian1, but reality TV style—with today’s flavour. The dream progressed through various stages of event preparation, mostly focusing on getting ready, putting the crew together, and getting ready to set sail. It seemed that the whole dream focused on preparation.
Warriors, the reason that I am telling you about this dream is the startling revelation I experienced that supports our training in the ways of the true warrior.
In the dream, there appeared to be a large cast of crew available to me for this undertaking. At some point, during the early stages, the group divided into two subgroups of dissimilar sizes. It was like being in a large, long classroom, and I was at the front, where the teacher would normally be. The cast were all seated in chairs facing me, and then some form of dissension occurred, and about 40 per cent of the group got up, moved to the other end of the room, and sat down facing away from the original group. I didn’t know what the source of this dissension was, but was now faced with the task of figuring out what to do about it.
Decision point! … Should I take this as a personal attack? Is my leadership being challenged? Many thoughts came to mind but then I paused. I reflected on where I was—in the process of building a crew to sail an old sailing ship around the world—and started to question myself. What did I know about everyone there and what jobs did I have to fill? What had I just witnessed? This wasn’t about me. It was about something tangible emerging—a sign I could read. Man, I was excited. Leaders were emerging from the group, and I needed leaders in a variety of roles. My first two leaders had just identified themselves. Leader number one had split off with some followers to the other end of the room, and leader number two had kept the balance of the group where they were. This was a revelation to me, and a unique way of truly seeing what was happening for everyone’s mutual benefit.
If you have ever been to sea, you will know that (in order to operate a vessel twenty-four seven) you have to have different watches—groups or teams that rotate responsibilities, at set times, around the clock. Well now, my new watch captains had just declared themselves, and had already started team building and recruited their watch mates. Woohoo! Win, win, win! I love those kinds of solutions! I confirmed their positions and moved forward in the game, exercise, dream, or whatever it was. The key was to step outside of myself and just pay attention to the myriad choices that were available. Then I allowed the one that proclaimed itself to actualize. How refreshing was that?
Warriors pay attention to what is happening. Don’t fight it. Embrace it, understand it, and make sure that you really read the signs! You are warriors and you will overcome. You have the required skills, so practice and perfect them. Make it so. It will happen. So it is written.