The bear, the tram café, the outdoor kitchen and the wire fence – what links them, and is there a part of you that attacks you when you move towards your truth?
I recently had a dream where I was in a tram café. Like moving – but comfortable, safe, even a bit stationary. I looked out and saw the outdoor kitchen. And then I noticed … a bear. Sitting with its back to me. But as soon as I moved, he spotted me, rushed towards me, and tried to get in through the screen and attack with force. The fence buckled, but held. More.
The message in the dream was clear but frightening: “If you move, he will attack again.” Then I woke up.
How many of us live like this? We move through life on a tram with a fixed trajectory. We’ve turned it into a nice café – beautiful, safe, even endearing. But deep down there is a part of us for whom every movement, every change, every step we take is a risk. An attack. A witch hunt. A childhood or systemic belief: don’t move or bad things will happen. Be invisible, adapt.
Strangely enough, the themes that have been discussed with several clients lately – adapting to your surroundings or standing up for your truth. One is a safe path, the other fraught with potential attacks…. I guess.
And so we sit, watch and wait.
But maybe it’s time to come to the bear, not past it? Not to fear his rage, but to listen to what he is really defending. Because maybe this bear isn’t the enemy, he’s just trying to protect something. Some loyalty or belief that was once the truth for someone, but not for you anymore.
Is there a part of you that attacks you when you move towards your truth? What is it afraid of? And what is it defending? Is it still in need of protection or is this protection just a habit? Are you ready to respect that part of yourself that perhaps even opposes the general truth?
PS. Do you know that the word clinic comes from Ancient Greece (the word means bed), where sleep and dreaming was an important treatment. Later, of course, Jung has spoken extensively about the psychological benefits of dreams, and has brought them into academic psychology.
