"Hello again, Benny.  It's good to see you.  How has your week been?"

"Well, Dr. Larry, it's a good thing we scheduled this second appointment.  I had another dream that I would like to discuss with you."

"I expected you would. Please tell me about this dream."

 

Like the first dream I shared with you last week, this dream also has two parts to it.  However, in the first part of my dream, I did not dream about myself. Instead, I dreamt about one of my best friends growing up, Stanley the Stag.  The dream started off with Stanley staring at his reflection in a pond.  I could tell he was admiring his horns by the way he was posing and positioning his head.  This made sense, since Stanley has always been proud of the size of his horns.  I swear he polishes those things at least once a day.  Anyways, as Stanley was checking himself out, I noticed that he began to turn his focus from his horns to his legs.  As soon as he did, his face was full of disappointment.  I never thought Stanley's legs were anything to be ashamed of, but I do remember him making comments before about how he wished his legs were not so thin.  Stanley had only been looking at his legs for a few seconds, when a lion appeared in the dream.  Stanley immediately took off sprinting in an open plain in order to escape.  It was amazing how much quicker Stanley was than the lion.  After a few moments, Stanley reached the end of the open plain and was now entering a forest.  By this time the lion was completely out of sight, and it looked like Stanley was home-free.  However, as Stanley entered the forest, his horns began to catch on the branches.  As a result, Stanley was unable to run nearly as fast as he did in the open field.  It was as if Stanley was all of a sudden running in slow motion.  Stanley continued to struggle in the forest for a long time, until it finally happened.  The lion had caught up with Stanley and... Well, I am sure you can guess what happened."

 

"My dream then quickly transitioned to another scene.  It is very hard for me to describe my surroundings because my view was limited to the sky.  I obviously could not keep my eyes off the sky.  I know it was night time because I was looking at the stars as I walked.  The whole time I remember admiring the beauty and brightness of the different stars.  I even began to wonder why such beauty did not exist on earth.  It was just as I began to ponder this question, that I felt my foot catch on something causing me to trip and fall.  My eyes quickly turned from the sky to the ground where I was lying.  I looked around to see that a rather large root had caused me to trip.  Curious,  I looked around to see which tree the root was coming from.  My eyes slowly traced from the root that was wrapped around my foot to the largest and most beautiful tree I had ever seen.  I then continued to look at the rest of my surroundings that I had ignored earlier.  The scenery was breathtaking." 

 

"Very interesting.  It seems like both parts of your dream are tied to another powerful lesson," Dr. Larry said as he wrote some final notes on his paper pad.

 

"Well, I remember learning about the power of team work last week.  What is the lesson this week?"

 

"In the first part of your dream the one thing that Stanley took pride in, his horns, led to his death. However, the one thing that Stanley was ashamed of, his legs, was his only chance of survival.  Similarly, in the second part of your dream, your infatuation with the sky caused you to stumble.  It was at that point that you realized a different source of beauty.  The scenery in the area in which you were walking was even more impressive then the sky.  You were too busy admiring the stars that you forgot all about the land on which you were walking. I believe that your dream is trying to teach you to be careful in what you place your trust and pride in."

"I never thought about looking it that way. Thank you again, Dr. Larry!"

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Bibliography
The Stag and the Lion in The Book of Fables and Folk Stories by Horace E. Scudder 1906.