A Casual Dream About His Girlfriend: Post #3

photo courtesy of preventcancer.org

This week we’re looking at a dream that the dreamer didn’t think was particularly important. But, an initial examination revealed two conflicts expressed as themes throughout--one of them involving his girlfriend. If you scroll down to my last posts you can follow our discussion as we isolated the symbols and then redefined them in a more general, metaphoric way. 

Now it was time to reassemble the dream. I would retell the dream replacing the original symbols with the dreamer’s own descriptions of what they meant to him. In addition, I would insert phrases into the narrative, ones like, “There is a part of me” or “inside myself” to remind the dreamer that every symbol and every image in his dream represented an aspect of himself.

As you read below, pay attention to the dichotomy between available resources and a sense of not feeling worthwhile: The resources are there, but are not being committed or put to use.

Reassembled dream
There is a part of me that is dealing with a significant other part of myself, the one who should be committed to me, but isn’t always. I’m experiencing an event inside of me that is about learning. But it’s also fun, restful and a getaway. Part of this event is about raising funds (resources?). But the fund raising is also a statement about my own creativity, and it represents me. I feel unprepared. I put it off. I didn’t believe in what I had to give. I’m uncomfortable, ashamed and embarrassed. This significant other part of me who lives inside of me is beautiful, fun, and we really see eye to eye on so many things. But I also have the feeling that this part of me is not in it for the long haul. I always have the sense that it has its foot out the door, ready to leave at the slightest provocation. This part of me tends to be independent, sometimes thoughtlessly so. It can wander off and not say where it’s going, leaving other parts of me in the lurch. I have beautiful images of a place that I used to live inside of myself. It’s majestic and really lovely. But it’s also an old place that I carry around. In some ways it’s boring. I don’t have confidence that this will be good. I am frustrated because I am not able to use the resources of my significant other that are the most important to me. But inside of me is another resource that I love. I collect it. It has beautiful pictures, and you can write down important appointments so you don’t forget them. This resource is a way to look back and to plan for the future all at the same time. But I’m looking at this resource that I didn’t manufacture on my own. I have a sense of guilt or dishonesty. I’m trying to cheat the system. Really, what I’m contemplating is a form of stealing.

Thoughts
What I love about this dream is that it not only presents the conflict, but offers the resolution. Everything that the dreamer needs in order to move beyond this dilemma is available to him; he just needs to access it.

More tomorrow.