The Hidden Chicken

The dream this morning has me working as a chef in some large institutional setting, I think, it might be a school. I am a very tall muscular man and look like a body builder. I am not your stereotypical cook. I do things a little differently and I tend to add things to the menu and get real creative with
what I have to work with.

The meal I am suppose to prepare for our clients is simply roast chicken, but I am not content with that I am kicking it up to another level. I hatch a plan to brick oven roast the birds and then turn the poultry into enchiladas. A large quantity of chicken has been bought for today's meal. Large institutions will often purchase meat by the pound rather than buy it in portions. It has been my experience that this has advantages and disadvantages. If you are not careful about the quantity you buy you might run short of individual portions. You are forced, as a matter of practicality, to enforce strict portion control when serving up a dish that is a large preparation in order to have enough to serve everyone. On the other hand, you can face the possibility too, of having some extra food if you have rounded up on your amount purchased.

On this occasion we have ended up with one extra bird. I think to myself, "no harm, no fowl" (pun intended). I put this one whole chicken aside. This one I want to use in a soup. This should not be a problem I have more than enough chicken to make as many enchiladas as needed with  a few more servings to spare.

However, I am being watched closely by a devious rival chef. She wants to get me into hot water with the supervisor and is constantly looking for ways to get me into trouble and, take the head chef position from me. The woman has called the boss into the kitchen and claims I am stealing the chicken for my own personal use and I am cheating the diners, and stealing from the institution. It is all a lie. I am doing no such thing! All the chicken will be going to the customers in the form of meals. Nothing is going with me or toward my personal use.

The boss agrees with me. I have not done anything inappropriate. Now, I am thinking, what if I buy an extra chicken, cook it and add it to those I have already cooked for the enchiladas? This would further strengthen the case that I am not doing anything unethical wouldn't it? No one could say I have done any of this for personal gain. Right?

Well, the next thing I do is try to smuggle in a frozen chicken, I have bought, into the facilities' outdoor walk-in freezer located behind the kitchen. Alas! I get discovered by both the supervisor and my nemesis. The boss is shocked and my rival has a smug satisfied look on her face. I am undone!!! This looks bad. I wake up.

Sometimes, things like this happen in life, that no matter how good our intentions or what our motivations are they can backfire on us. A situation can made worse or what started out as good can turn awful. I don't know, it must be a Murphy's law, or a karma kind of thing.      

I was trying to fix a situation that did not need fixing and it ended up looking like I was acting guilty with  the appearance of stealing. The female chef had exploited a weakness in me. She found a way to use my insecurities against me and I fell for it.

In the waking world, I confess, I have behaved just like the head chef of this dream. There were incidents that occurred with very similar circumstances and results. I ended up looking like an idiot or worse. Sometimes, I acted in good faith with good intentions, or sometimes, I behaved much to my shame, badly, often with horrible results in both instances.

Life is one long journey with endless moral choices and ethical dilemmas to contend with along the way.  The concept is embodied in the Sanskrit word Samsara. Samsara is the repeating cycle of birth, life, death (meaning reincarnation), as well as, one's actions, and consequences in the past, present and future. It is a philosophy that comes to us from Hinduism, Buddhism and other like faiths.

My dreams often reflect this existential angst within me. Many dreamers seek sleep and dreams as an  escape from their mundane lives and their dreaming life is full of fantasy. Young dreamers are often like this. Myself, in my dreams, I am often confronted with making hard choices and waking up from them is my escape.

What does this say about me? I am an usual personality type. That is certain. I have taken the Myers Briggs personality test or MBTI several times, it was developed from the work of famed psychologist Carl Jung, and I scored as a INFJ every time. An INFJ corresponds to Introversion, Intuition, Feeling Judging. It is the rarest of all personality types and makes up only 1% or less of the population.

What are the characteristics of an INFJ? Here how Wikipedia summarizes them:

Characteristics[edit]

INFJs are conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding of themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear and confident vision, which they then set out to execute, aiming to better the lives of others. Like their INTJ counterparts, INFJs regard problems as opportunities to design and implement creative solutions.^[13]

INFJs are believed to adapt easily in social situations due to their complex understanding of an individual's motivations; however, they are true introverts. INFJs are private individuals who prefer to exercise their influence behind the scenes. Though they are very independent, INFJs are intensely interested in the well-being of others. INFJs prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups. Sensitive and complex, they are adept at understanding complicated issues and driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner.^{[4][unreliable source?]}

INFJs are said to have a rich, vivid inner life that they may be reluctant to share with those around them. Nevertheless, they are congenial in their interactions and perceptive of the emotions of others. Generally well liked by their peers, they may often be considered close friends and confidants by most other types; however, they are guarded in expressing their own feelings, especially to new people, and tend to establish close relationships slowly. INFJs tend to be easily hurt, though they may not reveal it (except to their closest companions). INFJs may "silently withdraw as a way of setting limits" rather than expressing their wounded feelings—a behaviour that may leave others confused and upset.^[14]

INFJs tend to be sensitive, quiet leaders with a great depth of personality. They are intricately, deeply woven, mysterious, highly complex, and often puzzling, even to themselves. They have an orderly view toward the world but are internally arranged in a complex way that only they can understand. Abstract in communicating, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. With a natural affinity for art, INFJs tend to be creative and easily inspired, yet they may also do well in the sciences, aided by their intuition.^{[15][unreliable source}

Other characteristics[edit]

• Creative
• Incredibly insightful
• Convincing
• Inspiring
• Decisive
• Sensitive
• Determined
• Passionate
• Perfectionist
• Understanding
• Extremely Private
• Altruistic
• Warm/ gentle
• Empathetic
• Excellent communication skills

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INFJ

Basically, INFJs are very complicated and deeply feeling individuals. This very well describes me, my life, and my dreams. INFJs tend to see the big picture and links, and relationships to things no one else notices. They are often accused of being psychic, but in reality, it is an ability to shift through tons of information and get to the true essence of someone or something. It is a process I have often used in analysing my dreams.

In this dream, the chicken is our primary symbol, from it we can work out many answers. Actually, I could come up with enough to write a novel. That's what it is like to be an INFJ. For the sake of brevity let's do a simple dream analysis of the associations of the chicken. Dreaming of chickens is said to be a good omen. They are common domestic animals eaten by rich and poor alike. Having enough chicken on hand is a potent promise  of good times ahead. A good question to ask is am I being 'chicken-hearted' in this dream? I had made a  bold choice to make chicken enchiladas with the birds rather than just plain roasted chicken, but I allowed doubts in creep with my decision. Chickens can be startled easily. The transcendent meaning to get from all of this is to get a deeper understanding of what it really is that frightens me. It was my rival that unnerved me and why am I afraid of what the boss and everyone might think of me? That is the crux of the matter.

There is a high desire for professional achievement, but there is also, a hidden chicken within me. The chicken is plagued with self doubt and feels too frozen to act. Have I sabotaged myself? Am I worried for no good reason? I need to be more confident and trust my inner intuition and not be absorbed with what other people think of me? This would be a much more effective path to achieving success.

Will my chickens come home to roost someday? (Sorry, I couldn't resist). My present employment situation has me asking this question a lot lately. I know I could be doing better and I do have a habit for self-sabotage and giving over to cheating on rare occasions. I can be more brutal on myself than even my most harshest critics could ever dream of being. I need to cut myself some slack and try, and learn something from all this and apply it. Otherwise, I am going to out of my mind.