Let’s start our conversation about how to set boundaries and declare dominion in the most logical place: with the dream I had the other night about owning a living, breathing miniature elephant.
(We’re going somewhere with this, I promise.)
I’d had the tiny elephant for a few days, and I’d thought that I was taking pretty good care of it. But then I placed a container of water down on the floor where the elephant lived, and the little guy went crazy.
Within seconds it was splashing and guzzling water, equal parts desperate with thirst and wild with joy.
That was when it dawned on me that while I had provided food, I had never given the elephant water. I just hadn’t realized it was necessary.
Aghast, I kept repeating, “I didn’t know.”
When I woke up, I realized that the elephant represented me and the water stood for sustenance, for the ability to take care of my own needs.
For so long, a small, vulnerable part of me had been so thirsty, and I hadn’t known enough to give it water.
