Psycho-Babble Psychology Thread 570774

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help with dream interpretation?

Posted by JenStar on October 23, 2005, at 0:39:14

hi all,
can you help me interpret some possible meanings for this dream? Sorry it's so long!

I'm lost walking inside some weird forest-y neighborhood; I keep going in circles and getting more anxious and tired. Suddenly I see an exit and run to it, relieved, but my relief turns to fear and disappointment -- it's coated with barbed wire and guarded by armed military personnel who won't let me out! As I argue with a guard, and beg and plead, I note with anger and surprise that several other people are just walking by through a person-sized hole in the fence! And none of the guard seem to care!

The guard is getting more angry at me, and lowers his gun, so I quickly walk away.

Now I'm in a house in the same compound, and it's sunny and all the windows are open and frothy white curtains are blowing around. It's imperative that I get upstairs - the guard told me I needed to do this to be let out. But I can't -- the stairs are SOOO steep that I can't lift my legs up, and my legs weigh tons! Surprisingly, my friends X and Y are suddenly here and are fairly skipping up the steps, even though both are pregnant. I have no idea how they are managing it, and feel scared and frantic and panicky. I can't keep up!

Somehow I end up managing the stairs, and find that the top floor of the house is just a huge bed balanced on a post. It's precarious and wobbly and scary as h*ll. I know I need to do a gymnatic maneuver to "pass the test" and be allowed out. I'm supposed to jump onto the bed like a trampoline, bounce without knocking the bed off the post it's balancing on, then run down the stairs. But I have vertigo and can't do it. My friends X and Y laugh and are able to do it.

I woke up feeling very odd, not panicky, but close. Weird.

Again, I'm sorry it was so long,and if you're still here, I'd love to hear your ideas!
thanks!
JenStar

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar

Posted by Tamar on October 23, 2005, at 14:15:02

In reply to help with dream interpretation?, posted by JenStar on October 23, 2005, at 0:39:14

Hi JenStar,

Interesting dream! I think it’s a dream about change.

I’m inclined to ask whether you feel trapped by feelings of self-doubt. It seems that in your dream you see other people doing lots of things that you aren’t able to, even though you want to do them.

Guards and military personnel might represent aspects of yourself that are trying to protect you from the consequences of doing something differently, even if it might be in your best interests to change. Or they could be symbols of what stands between you and what you want to change. I’m sure you’re also familiar with the idea of trees and guns as phallic symbols: if that’s the case in this dream, perhaps there’s an internal conflict with ‘masculine’ aspects of yourself… or perhaps simply aspects of yourself that you don’t want to accept.

A house is often a symbol of your mind, and this house seems very pleasant, with all the sunshine and frothy curtains blowing. It’s kind of airy and open (perhaps you’re pretty open-minded). It seems at first to contrast with the enclosed and threatening forest. However, there’s a part of it you can’t get to, even though you feel you need to. Are X and Y real people? If so they may represent people who can assist you with your dilemma. Or they may be aspects of yourself: the parts of you that can do the thing you don’t feel you can do. Are X and Y pregnant in real life? If so, I’d say this dream has a lot to do with pregnancy. If not, perhaps the pregnancies represent a period of waiting. And after all, you do get to the top of the house eventually, despite your difficulties.

As for gymnastics on a bed… well, there’s an obvious interpretation for that one! But it’s interesting that the bed is unstable and you’re afraid of falling. I think it’s significant that you want to pass the test but you can’t do what you need to do in order to get out (i.e. to make the change happen) and you wake up before finding a way to do the gymnastic manoeuvre. After all, you made it out of the forest, and then up the stairs despite the difficulties with the guards and the heavy legs.

So ultimately I wonder if there’s a change you want to make but you’re finding it very difficult and frustrating.

Does that make any sense? What did you make of the dream?

Tamar

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar

Posted by Dinah on October 23, 2005, at 22:07:58

In reply to help with dream interpretation?, posted by JenStar on October 23, 2005, at 0:39:14

I think Tamar is very good with this. My thoughts just ran to the fact that you keep trying to get somewhere and find yourself unable to for one reason or another.

So I guess that leads to a clarifying question.

Is there a real life parallel?

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » Tamar

Posted by JenStar on October 24, 2005, at 10:59:01

In reply to Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar, posted by Tamar on October 23, 2005, at 14:15:02

Tamar,
thanks for your thoughtful reply! I think it does mimic self-doubt in real life. Two of my friends (the "real" X and Y) have had children already, and so far I'm not able to have any. I guess I feel inept and see that they've gone somewhere I as of yet cannot follow. I want so much to have a child, and I feel sort of jealous and like they're in a 'club' that I can't join, as of yet.

And in my career I'm having difficulting getting going in a new direction, so I think that's why I'm experience the "trapped" feeling and self-doubt and inability to do things in dreams, even when I see others succeeding at them. And I truly believe that it's only ME and my lack of confidence that's holding me back, not lack of skill. This frustrates me. Maybe that's coming out.

But thanks again for taking the time to do an analysis for me! I appreciate it! :)

JenStar

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » Dinah

Posted by JenStar on October 24, 2005, at 11:00:29

In reply to Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar, posted by Dinah on October 23, 2005, at 22:07:58

hi Dinah,
I think it has to do with career stuff. I'm trying to branch out and expand on my own, but I'm plagued with self-doubt and feelings of underconfidence. But I KNOW I have the skills, I KNOW it! (And people tell me!) But I hate the fact that I can't seem to get off my butt and just DO what I know I need to do to get going. I hate it. I think maybe that's bothering me so much that it's coming out through my pores and into my dreams. :(

Thanks for responding!
JenStar

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar

Posted by orchid on October 24, 2005, at 15:42:48

In reply to help with dream interpretation?, posted by JenStar on October 23, 2005, at 0:39:14

I think it is your own self doubts. Either about having a child or about your general capacity.

Did something happen recently which made you feel everyone had life very easy and you had to suffer more?

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » orchid

Posted by JenStar on October 24, 2005, at 19:36:08

In reply to Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar, posted by orchid on October 24, 2005, at 15:42:48

hi Orchid,
not so much that I feel that I suffer, maybe more that I seem less successful (in my mind, anyway) than I'd like to be. I tend to get jealous of other people rather easily. I work very hard but feel stalled right now, career-wise. I think i compare myself too often to others, and that is currently causing my self-esteem issues. Of course, in the end I think it will also motivate me to get my butt in gear, so it's not ALL bad. But right now I'm feeling kind of low. :(

jenStar

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar

Posted by Dinah on October 24, 2005, at 21:13:19

In reply to Re: help with dream interpretation? » orchid, posted by JenStar on October 24, 2005, at 19:36:08

:(

(((Jenstar)))

I'm glad that it is the sort of feeling bad that motivates you, at least.

It sounds like you've identified the obstacles to change pretty well?

 

Re: help with dream interpretation? » Dinah

Posted by JenStar on October 24, 2005, at 22:34:20

In reply to Re: help with dream interpretation? » JenStar, posted by Dinah on October 24, 2005, at 21:13:19

hi Dinah,
I think I've identified the obstacles, and they're mostly inside me. I mean, I could surely use more money and capital equipment (who couldn't, right?) but I think what's holding me back is just my inability to start selling myself and my business -- really being a go-getter, doing the advertising I need to do, doing the networking, etc.

I am working on a small-time basis right now but I hope to make it bigger over time. My family and friends are extremely supportive and tell me that I have talent, which I know (not being braggy, just honest!). But I see people with less talent just surging forward and it irritates the s*** out of me. So hopefully that will movitate me to just do what I need to do.

I mean, I don't "need" to as in I'll-starve-if-I-don't-get-this-business-going, but "need" to as in I need to do it for my self worth and my own progress in life. My husband is supporting me while I try this out, and he's very wonderful, but I feel like it's taking me too long, that I'm not a successful person/wife, etc. :(

I think part of it is that I'm a perfectionist and I insist on doing the best quality work, and I have doubts about myself if I can't do 100% perfect on a job. But other people seem to be comfortable getting by with 80% or 90% perfection...so I know that I have what it takes.

I'm sorry that this email is so "cryptic" about "what I do" (I can babble mail you if you're interested!) I know it's probably lame and silly, but I'm afraid to say what it is I do here, in case someone might know me. It's not anything weird or exotic, or even THAT interesting (to me it is, of course!) I'm sorry to everyone, because so many of you are so open with yourselves and your careers, but I'm an anxious person and it's hard for me to open up about some things. Sorry if that's kind of lame.

Anyway, I'm also stressed b/c I want a child very much, but we're having a hard time getting pregnant. Meanwhile, all of my friends and relatives are popping babies out like nobody's business (many on their 2nd or even 3rd!), and everyone keeps cheerfully asking, "Why aren't YOU having a baby?" and some people say, "You can't wait FOREVER, you know! Tick Tick Tick!" and then look at me expectantly, as if I were just being obstinate. I hate that.

My Grandma told me I was too old to have a baby now. Then she laughed. I wanted to cry. I'm 34. I don't know if she was trying to make me feel better (?) b/c I don't have one, or she really thinks it is true. I don't think I'm too old, and I think I'd make a GREAT mom. (My Grandma isn't deliberately mean, I'm pretty sure, although she DOES like to push buttons. She's 92 so I forgive her pretty much anything she says!)

So I guess I feel sort of like a failure, because I can't have a baby, and b/c I'm starting a new career and it isn't taking off like gangbusters. I don't know why I care so much about what people think, but I *do* care, more than I like to admit. And I WANT to be wildly successful, and I think I have it deep within me to do it. I just need to get it out here, somehow!

Whew. I don't know if that made much sense. Thanks for reading, and for caring! It's nice. :)

JenStar


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