Stan: Okay. Hello everybody. Welcome to Health chatter. Today's show is on dreams. And this should be really interesting as it relates to health. and we're going to try to make that connection with a wonderful guest and I'll introduce her in a minute. We've got a a great crew that keeps us alive and kicking as it relates to getting the shows out to you the listening audience. We've got Maddie Laine Wolf, Erin Collins and Deondre Howard all do background research for us. Matthew Campbell is our production guru. Sheridan Nygard also does background research, but also does marketing for our shows. So thank you to to all of you. They're uh without them, frankly the show wouldn't get out to you the the listening audience. So thank you to you guys. Clarence Jones is my my colleague in in doing these shows since day one. Uh we've known each other a long, long time and it's it's been super, super wonderful. And then of course there's Dr. Barry Bane joined us a year and four months ago, we figured it out and uh he provides us with our some medical insight into all the shows that we have. So thank you to all of you. Human partnership is our sponsor for these shows. It's a community health organization that does absolutely wonderful, wonderful things in the community affecting people's health. You can check them out at Human partnership Alliance.org. You can check us out at healthchatterpodcast.com. All the all the shows are available, they'll be transcribed if you want to read them or you can listen to them. So thanks again to everybody. Today, we're talking about dreams and we have a wonderful guest with her with us. Her name is Diana Sabrine and you know, we met, I'll I'll tell you the background for everybody. We met down in uh Costa Rica in the middle of a Costa Rican jungle and she was part of the crew there that was keeping us, keeping us, all the people that came to this this retreat, um in line. And um I was really, really struck um by Diana's um creativity. And um and we can get into that too. But um one of the things that she was able to do is uh get us, a group of us thinking about what our dreams are. And um she asked us and I've got mine here. I've got it in front of me. It's right here. It's right here. Okay. So she asked us this question. I'll share it with with the audience here. My dream. Okay. Uh she asks us, what's your big dream and write it down. Okay, you remember this Diana? Okay, very clearly, right? Okay, so here's mine. All right. I want my mental health to be in sync with my physical health now and ongoing and I want all my connections like family and friends, the activities I do, etc to support it. Okay? Now, I will say this, everybody had different angles on their dreams. You know, what they what they were dreaming about and what they wanted to wish or dream on. The next question is, um, you ask, well why is that your dream? You know, I think that was the why. There was the why behind it. So then I added this, ready? It will make the rest of my years enlightening and happy and connected in new ways. Then you asked these are the questions, right? What's holding you back? Okay? Um, or slowing you down, I guess was another way of saying it. Um, and my answer to that that I wrote down on this little piece of paper, uh, the size of the steps that it takes in order to accomplish it. Um, changing perspectives as you as you age. Um, and assessing and reflecting on what I missed that got me to the point that I'm dreaming about something differently. So, um, and then of course then then Diana, you know, had everybody share their their illustrious dreams and then she went and did her thing. Now, in a really creative way, I must say, she's got an incredible background. Um you could check out her her um she's got a great website actually. It's um the Big Dream.life and you can see all the different things that she does and there's also great pictures of Diana on the on the on the on the website. So, thank you for being with us and and talking with us today about dreams. I I will tell you this that um you know, I've got some stories that I will reflect on and share with some patients. Um and I've come to realize that some dreams are like right in front of you and some are are long long time or long-term types of of dreams that I realized. There's also dreams that we have at night, which we're not going to get into because that's a whole that's a whole other thing that's related to to sleep. But thanks for being with us. It's really great to have you.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. That was the best intro. I love that you just bared your soul and told us about all of your big dreams and what's holding you back from them as the intro. That is exactly the way I like to be introduced.
Speaker 1: Well, all right. So here's a I kind of know your background a little bit. But why don't you share with with with all of us, you know, how you got involved in this dreaming?
Speaker 2: Yes. Absolutely. So, so I'll start with the end, which is, which is now. I'll start with the now. So currently I do life and business coaching. Um, I work a lot with creatives and entrepreneurs but not exclusively. And I named my business the big dream. The reason I did that is because I have lived a life that's pretty non-standard. I've had a lot of creative and adventurous career paths, which I can tell you about. Um, and the number one thing that I kept hearing from people is there's two things. One is you're so lucky and the other is I wish I could do that. And you know, these are people that are no less lucky than me, no less privileged than me, right? But there's a a belief system that they have that they that they have to stay on the straight and narrow, do whatever job they think they're supposed to do, do whatever they think their, you know, their parents or their partner think they're supposed to do and haven't really thought about what their big dream is and what they actually want to do. So after many, many years of hearing this over and over, I decided to start doing life and business coaching to help people actually take those steps to number one, figure out what they want to be doing and then number two make it happen, right? So some people come to me with big dreams and they're like, I want to do this project and then some people are like, I don't know man, all I know is what I'm doing now isn't working or there's something that's missing, right? Um, and then my background that got me to this point, I mean, the big dream kind of smushes together a lot of what I've done with my life and what I like to do with my life. Um, which is also something I like to help clients do is smush things together rather than remove parts of themselves. But so my background is um about 20 years as a professional photographer, so running my own business, having a a creative career. Um, and then I've always partnered photography with doing something um, what I call empowerment education. So I've always done photography and then I kind of had like a second thing that I would do on the side that would always include empowerment education. So I've done a lot of outdoor guiding, um, mountain guiding, uh, a lot of corporate team building and leadership development. I have taught photography as a tool for social change, um, internationally and locally. Um, I had I started a nonprofit called shoot cameras not guns and I started it by started it kind of accidentally, um, teaching journalists in exile from Myanmar living in Thailand how to take photos of human rights abuses and get them out into the rest of the world. So there's all this this kind of crazy stuff that I've done. Um, and I guess to me it's not so crazy but to everyone, you know, to a lot of people if you haven't done this stuff before, you're like, well how am I supposed to start a business or go on an adventure or change something small even in my life if I don't have a path, right? Um, you know, with with doctors, medical career, there's like a path, right? You guys go to med school, you go to undergrad, you go to med school, you go to residency, there's a path, right? And if you're doing something outside of that, there's not necessarily a path. So, um, to to wrap it all up, what I do is help people figure out what it is they really actually want to be doing, rather than what they think they should be doing. Um, and then figure out what the steps are to get them there.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, you know, because as I'm thinking about this, um, is there a distinction based on what you've you've gone through and helped helped people with? Is there a distinction between dreams and wishes?
Speaker 2: Hm, Interesting question. Dreams and wishes. I think I think they're similar. I think wish wishes to me a little bit imply lack of control, right? Like, oh, I wish I could do that. Where whereas once you take something and you kind of acknowledge that it's your dream, it gives you a little bit more personal power to take it and do something about it. So you know, when I asked that question Stan, the the third or fourth question there, and I and I asked this series of questions that I gave you. I this is the series of questions that I start with with working with people either one-on-one or in workshops or in groups is what is your big dream and then what's holding you back. And when I ask what's holding you back or or what your biggest challenge is, rarely do I mean what are the external factors in your life that make you think you can't do this, right? Like I'm not talking about your financial status, I'm not talking about um, your privilege or lack of, I'm talking about what is within you? What is your belief system that within you is holding yourself back, right? How are you getting in your own way? So, to me I feel like the a wish can be a a seed of a dream. Um, but a wish makes it kind of sound like it's unattainable and takes the personal responsibility off of creating it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, you know, from a health standpoint, I mean, you know, we're you know, you know, Clarence is involved with, you know, in the community a lot and and you know, there's kind of like these big dreams, like, you know, world peace, okay? Or, you know, it's like I call, you know what, you know what I wish for or dream about? A worldwide chill out day. You know, where everybody would just chill out for one day, just give it a try and see see what happens. But let me let let me tell you about a story that just happened frankly this week. So I saw a couple of orthopedic patients this week and um, one of them is an it was an 85-year-old woman who who said to me, you know, after she had her knee surgery done, she said, I dream, get a lot of this. I dream about time that I have that is painfree. I dream about that. Okay, which I thought was really interesting. And so you know, I was able to say, well hopefully your dream is going to come true. you know? And so I I see that as being kind of a short kind of a dream, a quick, maybe a quick kind of thing that you can your dream comes true. Okay, whereas there's other dreams that have this long, long tail to them that um it's a process of of maybe getting to it. So maybe you can reflect on that a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well the health stuff is hard because that seems to actually be a place where we have to some extent a lack of control. And there are things we can do about it, right? There's physical remedies, there are spiritual mental remedies that we can work towards. But that's where it gets a little bit tricky, um, to just make something happen or not happen. even if we do the work. And you know, you were talking about like national chill out day, right? And that is international International chill out day or like, you know, every other day, honestly. I mean, I think that that business in our society is a bit of disease which could be a whole another podcast episode. Yeah. Um, but it's funny. I'm I'm I'm a really funny mix. I'm a very motivated, make things happen in the world kind of kind of person and then I also am 1000% happy to be like sitting in a hammock with a ukulele and often times when people ask me, what's my big dream? I'm like, it's sitting in the hammock with a ukulele on the beach without mosquitoes, obviously. Right? So there's like there's that rest that we need. And that rest can look like whatever you want. Um, but also the retreat that we were on, right? You're bringing back in the the concept of community and collaboration and a container. Um, and even if you're not even if you weren't in charge of the collaboration, you still got to be part of it, right? Like you were part of that, you were part of creating that experience for me, right? If you weren't there, I would have had a different experience. If I wasn't there, you would have had a different experience. Yeah. So collaboration doesn't always have to look like doing big things. Um, Yeah, I had I had another thought but it went away.
Speaker 1: It's also sharing too. I I I've come to realize that that sharing is a big part of it. One thing that that I've I've noticed especially with with people who are retired, it's like if you were to, you know, I've asked this question of some of my friends, if you were to do it all over again, what would you do? Would you do the exact same? Would you be, you know, a physician? Would you, you know, be a public health professional? And you like for me, you know, it's a slam dunk. I'd be a climatologist. And and they and and people ask me why and I said because think about it. every single day, everybody checks out what the weather is today. What I'm going to wear, what, you know, you know, if I have to put a hat on when I go outside, it the weather affects us all on a daily daily basis and so I think that that that that's intriguing to me, although I've never done it, but
Speaker 2: But really when you look at your why, it's like, okay, well is that to be useful? Is that to be needed? Is that to help people? Is that Right, right, right. Yes, yes, yes. you want people to reach out to you, right? And say, hi, what's up? What should I do today Stan, right? Maybe like you'd like some more phone calls in the morning, right? And that's where what is the selfish reason? Right. And I mean I have selfish reasons for doing the big dream. I love talking to my clients. I'm like I'm I'm constantly inspired by them. I'm constantly reminded that whatever stories I have about that are holding me back are garbage, right? Or like can be changed.
Speaker 1: You know, um, there's a lot of different words that kind of come and go when you when you're talking about certainly about dreams. So for instance, um, happiness seems as part of a dream, at least a a good dream. Um, and the other thing that that came to my mind, especially when dealing with um, in the health arena and people who are sick, is sickness. It's like, okay, I might have a dream today, but then tomorrow if I'm diagnosed with cancer, it's just like all of a sudden, it has an effect. I I would think it would have an effect on a person's dream. Okay? I never thought I'd have to deal with this and and because of it it's getting in the way of accomplishing, you know, a dream. And so from a health perspective, um, staying healthy, I think goes hand in hand with with dreaming. At least that's how I perceive it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that a lot of the health issues that we experience in the world are, you know, can be caused, at least partially caused by living lives that are too stressful, doing things that we don't really want to be doing. Um, and we, you know, at least as as like Americans, these people here on a zoom call on a podcast, you know, we have enough um enoughba, enough, you know, enough um privilege, enough whatever you want to call it that we can go and and create things differently, right? Create our lives differently, create spaces for for health and growth. Um, there was a thing that Barry was saying about pain that I wanted to come back to and and the root cause of pain. Um, and I I want to equate the why behind your big dream a little bit with root causes of illness. Um, this isn't directly answering the question that you just asked Stan, but so when I think about the wise behind our big dream, to me that's kind of like saying what is the root cause of your illness? Right? So not just do you want to be like I want to be pain-free, but figuring out what is the cause of your pain so we can get to the root of it and eliminate it and eliminate whatever else is causing it. So much with dreams, the why is getting towards the what is the root cause of this dream and what are you actually trying to get towards, right? It's kind of the the opposite of root cause of illness. It's like root cause of um glory. What's your what's your root cause of, you know, what is the root cause of your happiness? Right? How are you actually going to get happy? Um is it by having a bunch of money? Probably not. Is it having money so that you can travel and see beautiful things and interact with people and build community? Maybe. Right? So having a bunch of money is not the end goal. And honestly, even having great health isn't the end goal. It's having great health so that I can, right? Live myself, live my life in in fill in the blank, whatever way you want to be.
Speaker 1: So Barry,
Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. Um, so I wanted to expand the or actually just clarify the definition a little bit more and uh Diana happily you you mentioned the G word, goal, um, because that that was that's the thing that I'm trying to figure out is where on this continuum. Uh I mean it's sort of like we're mapping out a continuum wishes, you know, dreams and and my vocabulary uh often times equates goals closer, you know, with with dreams, although it's a matter of of scope. I I mean dreams could be, you know, I dream of world peace, um, that's a very global thing whereas uh the patient that Stan talked about, I dream of being painfree, you know, my medical interpretation of that was be would be what are the steps needed to have the goal of being painfree. So sometimes it's a matter of of scope and because because you do uh life and business coaching, uh I'm going to bring in the health the health part of it because uh it's health as relates to a person's either ability or disability that I could see potentially can get in the way, you know, can be a a barrier to achieving whether it be, you know, goals and dreams, but I I just want to make sure our, you know, is my when I talk about goals, is that the same uh context that you use with people um and kind of, you know, stating what, you know, what their dream is, or is dreams a bit more expansive than goals which can still be long-term goals, but I don't know, just seem more um less creative and and more practical, whereas when I think of dreams, I think of more creativity and kind of expanding. So I'm going to just toss that fuzzy ball Great. I love that. Over to you to see, you know, to see what uh can you can you help us with, you know, kind of sorting through some of that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love to. You guys are asking such interesting questions about distinctions today, like wishes versus dreams and goals versus dreams. And yeah, I mean, I guess when when I hear the word goal, I associate it with like a little bit more dry and boring stuff than dreams, right? However, like goals are really important and they are a big part of it. Um, and you know, it's important to to tie in here that I do life and business coaching. And I'm in the business of like tying those things together. So a goal could be, my goal is to check all my emails today, right? A goal could also be, I want to retire on a farm outside of Paris, right? You can call it a goal, you can kind of you can call it a dream, but I guess the question is like what are the intentions behind it and what's what's the magic behind it? What's the drive behind it? So a goal might be, you know, I'm helping you figure out, you know, your goal is to check your emails, uh all your emails today, but the end goal is so that you can like move to a farm outside of Paris, right? So there's there's big goals and there's little goals. What I'm wary of is empty goals, right? And goals that don't have any why. Um, so one of the questions we I asked Stan and company in that workshop in the Costa Rican Jungle is why is this thing your big dream? And the reason I ask people why is is for a few reasons. One is because the most important one is probably that knowing your why and stating your why is the biggest thing and getting you the through the hard times of getting towards your dream or end goal, whatever you want to call it. So if you don't really know what your why is, it's a little bit harder to hold on to. It's a little bit more amalgamous, whereas if you have a why, you're like, okay, this is why I'm doing the thing and you can kind of hold that passion behind it. Um, another reason I ask people what their why is is quite honestly because I want to make sure that they're being selfish about it. And old peace, yeah. Because, you know, and and for this is where everything I do works with a regenerative life model, regenerative business model, what this means is that it's not just sustainable, you can't just keep it going, but ideally it's making your life better, it's making the world better. Whatever you're doing is making you better, right? So there's this this growth behind it, not just sustainability. Um, so the reason I want it to be selfish is because you're going to burn out if it's not selfish, right? So world peace is great, but why? Right? Why world peace and what does that mean for you? And what is the specific thing that you have control of that you're going to do in the world? How are you going to how are you going to show up in the world? How are you going to take care of yourself? in you know, how are you going to take care of yourself so you can keep on showing up and doing the work that you want to do even if it is a larger goal exterior, world peace goal.
Speaker 1: You know, um, it becomes as you do, as you go about working on a dream, things become more reasonable. Mhm. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I I tell clients this all the time. whenever they're about to do something hard, I'm like, look, this is the hardest it will ever be. Like today is the hardest it literally will ever be. And then next time you do this, it's going to be a little bit easier. And I mean it's like sometimes it's like a month later and they're doing this thing that they were so terrified of, like it's no big deal and I have to remind them like, hey, like a month ago, do you remember this was terrifying to you. You thought there was no way you could do this, right? So let's take that and remember it and and bring that in next time you're afraid of doing something. The first time is always going to be as hard as it will ever be and then it only gets easier.
Speaker 1: So, another thing I want to bring into this is uh what makes dreaming easier. So for instance, we were in the, you know, in the middle of the jungle, you know, and we were doing yoga, right? And we were meditating. And so my question is, are people more inclined to dream when they're in those meditative states or in the relaxing, taking deep breath states as opposed to, you know, running around ragged.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it could eliminate a lot of clutter for sure. Um, and being on a retreat in particular gets you out of your patterns, it gets you out of your systems, it gets you thinking differently for better or for worse, and can be challenging. Um, I also think that humans might be a little bit, I don't know if it's American culture or humans in general are a little bit addicted to, oh, I need I have to go on this retreat in order to to renegotiate, re-evaluate, right? And that's great if you can do that and you can afford it or take a week off or or get there physically or whatever. Um, but there's also lots of little retreat type things you can do in your life, right? You can um, listen to a song and see how it moves you. You can light a candle and sit there and look at it for five minutes. You can put your phone down and listen to the birds. Um,
Speaker 1: Clarence, words of wisdom.
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, in in all of this conversation, I I kept thinking about this song, sitting on the dock of the bay. I'm thinking about getting this song. I sing it for us. Yeah. No, no, no, no. actually I no, I can't sing. That's my big dream. Um, I think what you said about dreaming and health, you know, really resonated with me and so I just want to thank you for, you know, for thinking about it in that perspective and I didn't, I didn't think about it from that, that that that view but uh I I I see what you're saying.
Speaker 1: Diana, what do you want to say? Last last thoughts.
Speaker 2: Oh, words of wisdom. Um, yeah, just just listen, I'll say the cheesiest thing in the world, which is just listen to your heart, you know, like your heart's telling you things. Just listen to your heart. You know, but just wherever you are in your health journey, in your illness journey, in in any journey, just just listen, right? Listen to yourself, listen to your intuition and trust it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know. It's been great having you and and I really I really appreciate your insight. Um, it it feels good. It really, really feels good. So for our listening audience, we got great shows coming up. Our next one should be interesting too. It's on PTSD in young women. Wow. So that that's coming up. We're we're going to do a show on autism, um, dermatology, kids in health, men's stories about health. So these are these are going to be interesting shows coming up. so stay tuned to health chatter and to everybody out in listening land, keep health chatting away.
