SORE UPPER LIPS

Maureen from Hawaii shared her dream with me:

I’m on a trip in New Orleans.  I’ve never been there so I was a little bit out of my element.  There were meetings I had to attend there with my co-workers so we considered it a fun time away from home.  I wake up the first morning and I notice that my upper lip had a sore.  It wasn’t a cold sore, really, but more like a tiny pimple.  I decide not to worry about it because I’m ready to have fun.  Then the next morning when I wake up, it’s all across my entire upper lip.  I touch it with a finger and it bleeds a little.  In fact, some thick pus started coming out.  It was disgusting.  I use towels to dry the area up and I wonder if I should go to urgent care or a doctor.  After I pat my lip down, it looks a little better, and there’s only a little white head remaining.  Then I wake up.

New Orleans is famous for its melting pot of French, African and American cultures.  It is well known for its round-the-clock night life, music and festive spirit.  A trip to New Orleans is a trip where you get in touch with an open-minded attitude about differing belief systems and attitudes.

Now, let’s consider some sayings:  “Stiff upper lip” means keeping your mouth closed and not complaining or whining.  “Zip your lip” means keeping a secret.  “Loose lips” means saying too much to too many people.  I’m thinking “sore lips” might mean being a sore loser… a person who has said something or wants to say something which would express anger or frustration to someone.

I emailed some questions to Maureen to dig deeper into the situation.  It turns out she reports to a manager whose style of managing tends to piss her off.  She thinks his reasoning is flawed and unfair.  She’s been wanting to communicate her feelings to him, but she’s worried about his reaction.

Well, Maureen, that is exactly what this little dream is about.  You’re forcing your lips to stay closed and the pressure (emotional, as well as physical) is so strong that your lips are getting sore.  After a while, the continued repression will build up until pus (ugly words) and blood (emotional words) come out.
   
In Maureen’s dream, this supervisor is also in New Orleans.  I’m thinking that this dream is telling Maureen to loosen up.  Relax her attitudes about right, wrong and bad managerial style.

When someone pats you, it’s usually to comfort you.  Pat yourself, Maureen, and comfort yourself that in this day and age, the whole world is a melting pot, and cultural habits and beliefs are not right or wrong… just DIFFERENT.  There’s also a  suggestion of cleansing in this dream when Maureen uses a towel to clean out her upper lip.
 
In any event, it would be a healthy exercise for Maureen to communicate her thoughts and feelings to her manager.  Instead of being angry and frustrated, however, she should apply the “New Orleans” attitude that he’s just different from her.  Her dream is telling her that if her manager's style and beliefs are different from what she likes, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.  In fact, she should just try to have fun and celebrate the differences instead of getting angry about things.