Towards morning I had a most interesting dream. To recap a part of it briefly, I was at a Christmas Eve Party at my sister’s house out of state. At the beginning of the journey, before setting out, I fainted and my son was there and sat with me until I regained consciousness. This set sort of a magical tone to the dream.

My sister’s house was quite large. In fact, in the living room there were four trees. Before the journey I had been gathering courage to send my husband a letter telling him he had to pay for the children’s expenses. His new wife was on the journey with us, but I didn’t talk to her.

A black friend from college had come and we visited for a while and found ourselves in tall pine trees. Rob was in one, she was in one and so was I. We stayed there quite a while and then we joined hands and all jumped to the ground at the same time.

We toured all over my sister’s house and along the way I lost a boot and my friend helped me find it. She got a call from her employer inviting her to their party and I thought she would go, as she told me she did not feel comfortable with us. Surprisingly, though, she decided to stay on.

Now I am talking to a stranger, and all I can see is his mouth. I know that he is a man of means and education. I am holding my hands out, palms up as he talks to me. As if I am gathering energy from him. I say to him, “I am in the Work.” And his reply is that it’s rather dark. I assure him that it’s not.

He then says, “Your nature is fun. Perhaps you need to have fun by stretching yourself a bit.” And I want to continue talking to him, but that is when I wake up.

After breakfast, I ponder what he said to me. Perhaps the takeaway from the dream is that only one’s true nature can be fun. Because I am such a serious person.

So I call this note, “How to find the gold in the mine.” In the “mine,” in what is essentially mine. That would be true nature, wouldn’t it. That is to say, “Be yourself. That is finding the gold in the mine.

Vicki Woodyard