Dreaming Q&A

Here are answers to some great dream interpretation questions I've recently received (questions posted anonymously, and with permission)

Q: When I have dreamt about the same house, room, parking garage, space, etc. many times or feel like I have, should I pay attention to the fact that "I've been here before" or try to look at the underlying feelings the dream brings up?


A: An enclosed structure (like a "room" or "space") in a dream is often your mind's way of describing itself! So pay attention to your feelings about the space, and try to figure out what facet of your mind is being shown in the dream. Any seemingly insignificant details about the room may actually be important clues...just the fact that you remember a detail from a dream (say, a particular piece of furniture or something on a table) means that it's probably a symbol your mind is using to tell you something.

Q: What about dreaming of either being pregnant, babies, or near people who are pregnant?-is it as simple as wanting that to happen in my life, or more like the old "something is about to be born" in my life.

A: You're right on both meanings. The Freudian "wish fulfillment" interpretation would be that you have a repressed desire to have a child (or another child). Think about your place in life and if it's an appropriate step for now, soon, or the future. Think about why you want or don't want a child.

Alternatively, the pregnancy could be a symbol for a life change in general, or even for an ailment. Recall how you feel in the dreams when you're pregnant, or when you see a baby or pregnant woman in the dream. If the baby or pregnant woman in the dream is actually a person in your life (pregnant or not), think about what it means for them to be going through this life change.

Often times, other characters in dreams are actually the different personalities of yourself, so seeing another person pregnant might be another way for you to see an aspect of your pregnant self. Similarly, seeing a child in a dream is a way to see your child self...either yourself as a young person, or the childish aspect of your adult self.

Q: I have dreams with terrible, horrible bathrooms and I REALLY have to use them in the dream.

A: It may be that you really do have to urinate in real life! If so, I'd avoid liquids 2 hours before bedtime, if possible.

Or like I said above, the bathroom may represent one aspect of your mind...sounds like a part of yourself that is "terrible". Urinating is a form of release, and holding it in is a form of physiological control your conscious mind exerts over your body.

Symbolically speaking, you want to "use" this part of your mind in your waking life. So perhaps there is a repressed part of your personality that should see the light of day from time to time...we all have a darker side. In fact, I was reading a book called "Mastery" not too long ago, and the author suggested that part of a successful well-rounded life is to harness that dark side we all have inside us. Something to think about.

Great questions, keep 'em coming!

Interesting article on sleep

I like this quote about the sleeping mind's ability to tackle difficult problems: "open the aperture of memory"

Greek perspectives of dreaming

In an earlier post I discussed a dream in Homer's The Odyssey.

Ancient Greeks believed that dreams were external forces that revealed themselves to the sleeping mind...hence the phrase "visited by a dream".

According to Homer, Dreams dwell on the dark shores of the western Oceanus (Od. xxiv. 12 ). The deceitful dreams would come through an ivory gate, while the true ones issue from a gate made of horn. (Od. xix. 562, &c.)

Sources:

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology edited by William Smith

DIY Dream Interpretation

I'll be posting a series of articles on how to interpret your own dreams.

The first tip I give everyone is to keep a dream journal, and to write every dream in it as soon as possible. This can be a physical notebook kept next to the bed, an online journal (keep it private), or a combination of the two. I keep an online dream journal, but also use a notebook for times I'm not near a computer.

When writing in the journal, first write the date and time, any background info or circumstances surrounding the dream. Then go into as much detail as you can about the dream itself. You may be thinking "how important can it possibly be that the desk was cracked along one edge?" Well, if you remember it after waking up, it's probably important.

The purpose of your effort will pay off after a few weeks. You'll begin to notice some patterns in your dreams (such as colors, dialog, pace, mood, or lack of any of these).

Finally, you'll begin to appreciate the difference between your significant and meaningful dreams, and the dreams that are just your brain doing some house cleaning. It will be different for each person, so it's hard to tell you how to do this.

Good luck, and happy dreaming!

Famous Dreams: Penelope's Geese

This is the first post in a series of famous dreams.

In Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus's wife Penelope has been awaiting the return of her husband for 20 years. During that time, she has been visited by many suitors wishing her hand in marriage. She is torn between waiting for her husband--who may never return--and marrying a suitor.

She asks a stranger (who is really Odysseus in disguise) to interpret the following dream:

I have twenty geese about the house that eat mash out of a trough, and of which I am exceedingly fond. I dreamed that a great eagle came swooping down from a mountain, and dug his curved beak into the neck of each of them till he had killed them all. Presently he soared off into the sky, and left them lying dead about the yard; whereon I wept in my room till all my maids gathered round me, so piteously was I grieving because the eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back again, and perching on a projecting rafter spoke to me with human voice, and told me to leave off crying. "Be of good courage," he said, "daughter of Ikarios; this is no dream, but a vision of good omen that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors, and I am no longer an eagle, but your own husband, who am come back to you, and who will bring these suitors to a disgraceful end." On this I woke, and when I looked out I saw my geese at the trough eating their mash as usual.

The disguised Odysseus interprets the dream literally, explaining that he has returned and will kill all of the suitors.

Also see The Symbolism of Penelope’s Geese by J C Geissman, for an alternative explanation.


Sources:

"On the Interpretation of Dreams and Signs in Homer" by Louise Pratt
"The Symbolism of Penelope's Geese" by J C Geissmann

The Power Of Dreams

It's fitting that my inaugural post should be about a dream. Last night I dreamt that I was on a project with 2 other people (engineers I know and respect). I was working on the team's business problems, while they were solving the technical problems.

This is significant because I've always been the technical person in a group, and I've had some concern recently about starting out on my own as the sole person responsible for all aspects of a business.

My dream is telling me that I can handle all the business stuff that I've always left to others, as long as I believe in myself. Our sub-conscious minds have so much power inside them, the potential to do many things we believe to be out of our reach. Unlocking the meaning of dreams helps tap into that pool of potential.