DREAM ABOUT BEING A SUSHI CHEF

Sunday, March 4, 2012

 This week's dream comes from a young girl in New York:

I had a dream that I moved to a new neighborhood and I needed to find a job. The only job was as a busboy at a sushi restaurant. After a couple nights, I realized that the sushi chefs were short-staffed. They couldn't keep up with the orders coming in. When no one was looking, I tasted the fresh fish and it was mind-blowingly delicious. I watched the sushi chefs at work and learned on my own how to cut and make sushi. When it was closing time, after I finished cleaning up, I got behind the sushi counter and practiced making sushi. I was really good at it. Then the manager comes out, and he is a sweet Japanese man. I get embarrassed and apologize for using his fresh fish to practice. He smiles and says, "We can never have too many chefs." I say, "Can I be a chef here? I will practice every day and study classes if I have to." He tells me that he started out as a sushi chef, but in order to become one, I must study for 9-12 years at a special school. I get discouraged, but he tells me not to lose hope. If I want something enough, there's no reason I can't have it. The he excuses himself, because a party is about to begin nearby and he's catering with his sushi. I offer to help, he says, "Not yet." 

Moving to a new neighborhood always suggests that something in your life has changed.  It could be a mind set:   Deciding to change careers from accountant to waiter;  from dancing to makeup specialist; etc.  It could, depending on the dream itself, be quite literal and be about your physically moving to a new home in a new neighborhood.

This dream suggests, however, that it's more about ACQUIRING A SKILL.  The "sushi chef" is symbolic of the new career goal this young person has.   It need not literally be a career of being a "sushi chef"... it could symbolize another career... again, the point being that, so far, it's not a skill this person has mastered.

The change in neighborhood suggests that, at least, this person is in the right place to make that goal a reality.  As an example, if your goal is to become a great ice-skating champion, the wrong neighborhood for you is a house in the desert hills of Arizona where there isn't a skating rink within 100 miles.   Or, if your goal is to become a movie star, you'll have a much better chance if you live in Los Angeles than if you live in Alaska.

So, the first step is good.  This person is in the right location already by moving to this new neighborhood.

It sounds as if this person didn't have a definite goal in mind when this change happened in her life, but she's the practical type.  She's taken a look around, gauged what her best opportunity is given her environment, researched the possibilities in the environment, and then made a decision as to which career goal would best suit her and would best give her pleasure.

So now she's chosen her career goal (sushi chef, which, again, could be a symbolic representation of her true goal, whether it's to be a ballerina or accountant or movie star).  She's even clever enough to find a way to PRACTICE the skills necessary to acquire her goal.

Then, best of all, she's found a MENTOR to encourage, support and guide her through the process of becoming what she wants to be.

So far, this dreamer has been very fortunate.

>   The new neighborhood is a good one which has a healthy demand for her career choice.

>   She finds a job right away at a low level in this business.

>   She has opportunity to study the various employment opportunities in this business.

>   She finds the job she likes.

>   She has the skill and ability to qualify for her career choice.

>   She finds a mentor to help her achieve her career goals.

If any of these elements were not present in her life, she would be at a frustrating dead end.  Instead, everything has conspired to help her achieve her goal... except...

Now, she discovers she has to study and practice and focus on acquiring special skills to become what she wants to be... and it's going to take a long time.

Yes, it's depressing and frustrating.  

However, the way our world is set up, the reality is:   anything worth an income usually requires a certain amount of study and practice and acquisition of skills.  That's just the way it is.

Some people are naturally skilled.  I'm thinking about the Oscar show the other night when Chris Rock showed us how good he is at movie animation voice-over work.  He's asked to say certain phrases and sentences... and he says it with such personality and energy that he gets paid a million dollars to do it.

For him, it's easy and he's good at it.  But even "acting" for movies requires taking classes, seminars, practicing for auditions, doing theatre work for free, and so on and so on, and very often it takes more than this dreamer's 9-to-12 years to accomplish the level of success where you're paid a million dollars to do it.

Let's just say all those elements which this dreamer has enjoyed so far in this dream were available to Chris Rock... a dozenfold... maybe a hundredfold, but we can't necessarily assume it's all been effortless luck which has taken him to where he is now.

In essence, this dream's message is, "Your path has been clear to lead you to your career choice, and you're fortunate that you love it and are talented at it, but don't get frustrated that you can't even take advantage of opportunities to BE in the position you want to be in.  Your time will come, but not all elements are in place yet, and specifically, you haven't quite mastered all the skills  you need.  Not yet."

Hope this has helped you.

As for the rest of you, many happy snoozles ahead!!!