When Dreams Borrow From a Life Well Lived
I woke up unusually early this morning with something rare in my mind: a dream I could remember.
Most mornings, dreams slip away from me almost instantly, dissolving before coffee has a chance to work. But this one stayed. Vivid. Detailed. And curious in the way it blended fact and fiction so seamlessly that, for a moment, I wasn’t sure where memory ended and imagination began.
The dream carried me back to the early years of my professional life, when ambition still felt new and every opportunity seemed improbably large.
In the dream, I was a young project manager hired by a multi-billion-dollar company to assist the Vice President of Research. Even in the dream, I knew how unusual that was, especially as a Filipino-American at that time. The reason for my hiring was clear and rooted in truth: my graduate thesis on ylang-ylang oil. The company was developing a fragrance meant to compete with Chanel No. 5, whose signature ingredient is, famously, ylang-ylang. That part wasn’t fiction at all.
As dreams often do, it heightened certain details. During my first week, I was introduced to both top management and the rank-and-file research employees. I noticed, as I had in real life, how many Filipino-Americans worked there, mostly as lab technicians, clerks, secretaries, data entry staff, even janitors. In the dream, they were proud of me, but also quietly protective, warning me to be careful navigating upper management. That caution, too, felt true to life.
One scene stood out. A data entry employee, another Ilonggo like me, asked for help with his tedious workload. In the dream, I told him bluntly that AI could do this work easily, and that he should learn how to use new tools before they replaced him. That moment clearly belonged to the present, not the past. My sleeping mind had pulled today’s reality into yesterday’s setting.
There were also two cafeterias in the facility: one for everyone, and another reserved exclusively for management. I could eat in either. That detail echoed my very first job at a European multinational subsidiary, where there were also two cafeterias and where I was definitely not allowed into the executive one. I remember wondering then what was different about the food, and what it symbolized.
And then came the FDA.
In the dream, my boss, the VP of Research, called me in to say that our fragrance application had been temporarily disapproved. The FDA needed more data. I was told to prepare for travel to FDA headquarters.
That was the moment I woke up, energized, alert, and strangely excited. Instead of brushing the dream aside, I did what I’ve done for years now: I started writing.
So what do dreams like this mean?
I don’t believe dreams are random. But I also don’t think they are prophecies. More often, they are conversations, between who we were, who we are, and what still matters to us. Dreams borrow freely from memory, emotion, unfinished questions, and current anxieties. They remix facts and fiction not to confuse us, but to reveal patterns.
In this dream, I saw themes that have followed me my entire career:
Identity and belonging, access and hierarchy, innovation and disruption, and the constant presence of the FDA as both gatekeeper and guardian.
It was a dream about ambition, yes, but also about responsibility. About standing between worlds: management and staff, past and future, human labor and artificial intelligence, science and regulation.
Perhaps the dream wasn’t about what might happen. Perhaps it was about what already has.
After decades of professional life, including my years at the FDA, my mind may simply be taking inventory, connecting early aspirations with later realities, and reminding me that none of it happened in isolation.
Dreams don’t always give us answers. Sometimes they just return our own stories to us, rearranged, and ask us to look again. This morning, I did.
Meanwhile, here's the AI Overview on the Above Topic:
- Reflections of Reality: Dreams are often a blend of personal experiences, emotions, and subconscious thoughts gathered from your daily life. A day filled with meaningful activities naturally leads to a more restful and "happy" sleep.
- The Gift of Rehearsal: Dreaming is considered an evolutionary gift, allowing us to safely test possibilities before they become part of our reality.
- Authenticity Over Imitation: A "life well lived" requires stripping away "borrowed dreams"—ambitions inherited from others or society—until only your authentic desires remain. As Steve Jobs famously said, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life".
- Henry David Thoreau: Advocated for moving "confidently in the direction of your dreams" and living the life you have imagined. He believed our "truest life" is when we are "in dreams awake".
- Kālidāsa: Noted that "today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope".
- James Dean: Popularized the sentiment to "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today".
Lastly, here are the top Five News of the Day:
1. House Republicans hopeful to end partial government shutdown — U.S. House leaders express optimism about avoiding a prolonged shutdown ahead of a deadline.
2. Grammys highlights: Bad Bunny makes history & Kendrick Lamar wins big — Bad Bunny becomes the first Spanish-language artist to win Album of the Year, and Kendrick Lamar surpasses Jay-Z as the most awarded rapper.
3. New Jeffrey Epstein files allege broader trafficking activity — Newly released documents suggest Epstein may have trafficked girls to third parties, prompting renewed scrutiny.
4. Five-year-old boy released, returns home from ICE detention — After being held at a Texas ICE facility, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father are reunited in Minnesota.
5. NASA prepares for flight of Artemis II lunar mission — NASA’s Artemis II crew enters final preparations for launch this week, the first human Moon mission since 1972.
My Photo of the Day: Leif-Ditas Pet Dog in Sacramento-What a Beautiful Backyard
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