We have been eavesdropping on a dreamer wrestling with a
nightmare from which she awoke, crying. The imagery of the dream, itself, was
intimidating. But yesterday we reassembled the dream in its metaphoric version.
Scroll down to my last two posts to follow the process of analyzing this dream.
What emerged in our interpretation were themes—just as they
emerge in any dream. And being able to put our attention on the themes instead
of the violent imagery of the dream represents a critical step in pulling away
from the emotional charge that the dream leaves. It also shows us the path to
take to begin working constructively on the dream’s message. The message,
itself, is far less dire than the dream’s imagery. That is always important to
keep in mind.
Conversation with the
dreamer
In my discussion with the dreamer, I referred to the crash of a
vehicle that resulted in the injury of some facet of herself. I pointed out
that “vehicle” didn’t mean “car,” but more likely symbolized a way of
approaching life. Some attitude or habit caused a “crash.” It resulted in a
psychological injury. The injured part of her seemed to die away at first, but
then it came back in an altered and even more sinister form. I asked her what
she thought this might be referring to. Here are her words.
The dreamer analyzes
her own dream
Really, it could be a couple of things that
have been going on in my life. But the one I think it probably refers to is my
tendency to not stand up for myself. As a child, I was never allowed to express
my feelings. I was always put in my place if I showed any disagreement or
independent thinking. My mother could become violent if I disobeyed. So I
learned to keep my mouth shut. I have been trying to overcome this—to stick up
for myself—but I am easily intimidated, and I tend to let people walk all over
me. That, for sure, is the part of the dream where the injured part comes back
to life in an even more sinister way. That’s exactly how it feels. And, yes, it
has a tendency to try and “strangle” any efforts on my part to be assertive. The
problem is that I don’t know how to overcome this in myself.
I suggested that she pursue a course in assertiveness training;
there were some really good ones available, and I knew of a couple of “graduates”
of these classes who had really been helped by them. I also reminded her of the
first part of her dream—where she was looking for her vehicle “from above.” The
dream seemed to suggest that she had already grown beyond this habit of being
intimidated. She said she would try the training. She added that she was tired
of the whole pattern in her life and would be relieved to find a solution. I
wished her good luck!
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