Weaknesses in plans, single points of failure, can become evident in dreams.
Have your heart set on going to a particular college?
Maybe you want to apply to more than one anyway, just so you don’t miss a year of school if you’re not accepted at your main college.
Settling in a romantic relationship for whoever will have you? There could be problems with that if you’ve pegged everything to someone who isn’t reliable. Maybe you need to find a way to make yourself more appealing to potential partners, so you have more options.
Maybe it’s the way you’re saving for retirement. Maybe you need to pay off the balance on the home mortgage because it will take a huge bite out of whatever you manage to save in the account tied to the vagaries of the stock market.
Your dreams can point the way to better decision making.
Parallels with computer and network design
In computer and network design, some necessary processes don’t have a backup, a second or third way to get done.
This is due to an oversight by the designer.
Without a backup, the computer or network can stop suddenly.
It’s like that when we make plans in life.
Strengthen the system
One way to strengthen the system is by finding and reinforcing these weak process points with no backup. You get around them.
This weak process point is what is known as a single point of failure.
The usual solution to single points of failure in the world of computer networks and business processes is redundancy, creating backups.
So it is with humans. Our plans for the future can be full of single points of failure. It pays to be aware of them and to create alternate backup plans.
Head vs. heart
When a process is important, people get emotional about it. This is natural.
Emotions are important. They inform us why we do what we do. They’re beneficial when the task calls for directed effort.
Other times, emotions aren’t helpful in the least. When you’re examining potential failures, emotions often protect your self-image and cherished assumptions. Emotions can also get in the way when we’re designing systems. That’s why solid decision-making gets described with words like “dispassionate” and “level-headed.”
Note the emotion. Emotions underscore the reasons you’re doing something. Knowing why you’re doing something is important.
Emotions also help you gauge the appropriateness of action by helping you answer how you feel or how you would feel.
When emotions get out of hand, they prevent you from doing what you need and want to do. They blind you from seeing the single point of failure. Awareness of this can come from our dream journal.
Follow both your heart and your head. Reconcile them.
Strengthen that single point of failure or create alternatives
We want to be successful. We need to mitigate that single point of failure.
Sometimes we’re the weak link in our plan. We need to shorten our shortcomings.
Ideally, we need to think through all of our plans. We need to work the kinks out. Then we need our emotions to help us stick to them when the going gets tough.
That’s all fine, but when the design is faulty, the active thinking, the playtesting, and the stick-to-itiveness of the heart can all be for naught.
Finding these single points of failure in our planes can be invaluable. They’re another way to benefit from the power of dream journaling.
Some examples that I’ve noted from my own life are when I’ve relied too much on one person or group to make something happen; I’ve sought to spread out risk.
I’ve also considered “what if” trying not to be blinded by thinking only one outcome is possible. It helps to think in bets.
For further reading:
The meaning of the symbols in different dreams can change
James Cobb, RN, MSN, is an emergency department nurse and the founder of the Dream Recovery System. His goal is to provide his readers with simple, actionable ways to improve their health and maximize their quality of life through dream journaling and sleeping better.
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