A Stuck Car Key: Post #3

This week I’ve been examining a waking dream about a car key that wouldn’t work. You can scroll down to my last post to read the original dream. Some of the symbols—like the vehicle not starting due to a faulty key—are pretty straightforward. At the time that this waking dream took place, the dreamer was trying to organize a class. It wasn’t coming together due to scheduling conflicts. One could almost decide that the dream was a commentary on how difficult it can be to get something organized: The “vehicle” of the event was impossible to “start.”

But this dreamer understands that dreams are mostly about the individual who is having the dream, and she wondered what might be revealed by closely examining some of the other, less obvious symbols.

One of them in particular turned out to be significant. During the “Tell me about it” phase of the interpretation process—where I asked this dreamer neutral questions to try and reveal the metaphoric meaning behind each symbol—the symbol of her “friend” brought important clues to light. I said, “Tell me about your friend,” and she replied: She’s a lighthearted person, fun to be around. We always have a great time together.

With that in mind, read through the restated version of the dream once more in the paragraph below, keeping in mind that all symbols are aspects of the dreamer herself.

Metaphorically restated dream

There’s a part of me that is supposed to have a pleasant diversion—something I look forward to—with a part of myself that is lighthearted and fun to be around. The two of us always have a great time together. I need to use the part of me that gets me around to go places, but I can’t turn it on so that it will work. There’s something invisible that’s sticky and is designed to hold things together that is preventing this. I go to the part of me that is good with its hands and mechanical things. It solves the problem. The delay is a non-issue, but I feel concern and fear that this will prevent me from returning to the place inside myself where I live and work.

Another look at this waking dream

As always, the restated dream results in a kind of cryptic narrative, but one with specific themes running through it. In this case, the idea of doing something fun and lighthearted is stated repeatedly, especially in the restatement about the dreamer’s friend who is “lighthearted.”

Yet there also seems to be some force (again, within the dreamer herself) that is preventing this enjoyment from taking place. There is something “sticky” that won’t allow the vehicle to start, the vehicle that “gets her around.” So like almost all dreams, this, too, is an expression of a conflict within the dreamer.

Tomorrow, in my final post on this dream, we’ll ask the dreamer for her own thoughts on what the conflict might represent. It will be insightful!

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