Do you believe dreams have meaning? Do you have any dreams that you feel are influenced by your childhood or years spent inside the borg?
My therapist has been having me relate dreams to him—those that I remember, that is. I've noticed some recurring themes, but also some bizzare ones. I do think that what we dream is influenced by things we've personally experienced—life, movies, books, aspirations, cults—and that there might even be symbolism in some of our dreams as our minds try to subconsciously grapple/sort through/deal with stuff we've experienced but have buried as too painful to deal with.
With that in mind, I thought I'd share my most recent dream—it was a one-off, I've never had it or anything like it before. I hope you'll share yours. It would be interesting to see what others dream about.
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I am standing in a clearing on a hillside in what I feel is a Far East setting (never been to the Far East) – think Cambodia or Vietnam or a South Pacific Island. It's warm and sunny outside, puffy white clouds floating overhead providing intermittent warmth then shade. The hillside is lush, many low-lying plants, some trees, but not so much as to block the view. Across from me is another hill, and between the two is a gentle, wide river meandering through the valley floor. In fact, the river makes up the entire "valley floor". The hill I'm on descends til it meets the river, and at the opposite bank the other hill starts rising again.
As I'm walking through this clearing, filled with long grasses, I discover large Easter-Island style stone heads, lying in the grass. They are not standing vertically like the ones I've seen before. If you've seen the movie "Night at the Museum", they look a lot like the talking one in the hallway. I recall thinking "I might be the very first person to ever stumble upon these!" I wander among them, checking them out, and then I notice a dugout canoe in the river, entering my view from the lower right. In the canoe is a native, wearing some sort of loin covering but otherwise bronzed, strong and obviously someone who belongs here. I'm fascinated by the luck I have of seeing a native in this setting. I see him, he doesn't see me. As I take another step among the stone faces, I inadvertently step on a twig and it snaps. It's at this moment that the dream changes, from one of tranquility and peace to a feeling of fear and vulnerability, of danger.
As I hear the 'snap' of the stick I stepped on, I become aware that the native, in the boat, who had just been drifting harmlessly down the river a moment ago, has noticed me. The sound of my mistep has attracted his attention, his head snapping to attention, his eyes suddenly locked on me. His eyes are now not friendly. I see him pick up the paddle from the bottom of his boat and start paddling furiously for the shore... my shore! I'm thinking "Why is he coming after me!? Am I being hunted? Am I somewhere I shouldn't be? I didn't even touch your face stones—I was just looking!"
I know I'm in trouble now. My heart is beating. I have no weapons, nothing that can be used as a weapon. I turn and run up the hill about 20 feet, up the wooden steps onto a deck and through the sliding door into my house... but not my current house or any house I remember being in before. In my dream, I remember thinking "this is weird, how did we change locations so suddenly? Why is this house here?" The lights are off, the house is somewhat dark, but not totally... you can see, it's just like the shades are drawn and it's the middle of the day with nobody home, and no lights on. The native is still coming. I forgot to shut the back door. Too late to go back now.
He's in the house. He must be. I move cautiously through the home, quietly, straining to hear any sound that might alert me to his location. I hear something around the corner from where I am right now. My only possible defense will be to try and scare the **** out of him. I jump around the corner in a "YEEHAA!" moment, making lots of noise and my arms flailing wildly. But the only person there is my middle daughter (I have three), and she's definitely startled by my "scare" and tells me "Dad!!! That wasn't FUNNY!". I urge her to be quiet as I push past her and continue down the hall. I enter the kitchen area, and I notice that the rest of the family is there, all dressed up, apparently ready to go to the meeting or an assembly or something. I forget about the native now. I'm sad and angry at the same time, more sad though. I don't want to be home alone. I don't want them to go. I want them to see that it's not safe to go.
I notice my youngest daughter is in jeans and a t-shirt. I inquire as to why she's dressed that way when the others are in meeting clothes, and my wife tells me that the youngest wants to stay home today, and I feel some relief.
The dream ends there.
Therapist thinks this is a complete summary of my life so far. From youthful "peace" to seeing something that I've suppressed, something heavy and immovable, hidden in the grass, that when discovered / uncovered turned the 'native' (father, parents) into monsters trying to get me. Running into the house... current life as adult, still running from and scared at times of what was seen or discovered as a kid. Some self-induced tension when seeing family members do stuff with 'the truth', relief when they don't go.
What do you dream about?
by TJ - iAmCleared2Land 2 Replies latest social entertainment
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TJ - iAmCleared2Land
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educ8self
Interesting how there were no replies to this one, aside from it being a bit long it may indicate how literal minded most people are.
I do think there's meaning in dreams, I've been in situations in a group facilitated by people who really know their stuff, and although I can't interpret it on the fly with the little information I have (not knowing anyone in the group) I can follow the logic of suggested interpretations.
The few dreams I remember are pretty short and usually I know or have a good sense of what they mean, so they don't really make good stories. I haven't looked into it, but I doubt the common interpretations found in popular books like this means that is really the way to understand it. No doubt it depends on the activity, what happens rather than which characters and objects are involved as they will take on different meaning depending on the context - both of the dream and of your life, including things like having been a JW.
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serendipity
I don't usually remember my dreams, and those that I remember tend to be about threats. I tend to do cursory analsysis of my dreams to see if there's any lessons to learn. I've had several dreams over the years about tidal waves and tornadoes. It usually occurs when I feel very insecure or overwhelmed about my situation at the time.
Years ago, I was going to pursue a relationship with a man I worked with, RL. I had a dream that involved me and another man who was a stranger in a shower (and I've never met him since.) It caused me to rethink the relationship with RL. That was a good thing, because he later revealed he thought he was a confirmed bachelor and he'd definitely never marry anyone with a child (and I had one.) Since I was/am marriage-oriented, a relationship with him would have been heartbreaking.