We Can Even Share Our Dreams

 “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”

                        

                                                                    -Elbert Hubbard

  

   

    “Good morning Elodie!” I cheerfully greet one of my closest friends, while I sit across a small table from her. “Could you be so kind as to enlighten me on what you dreamt last night?” I grinned, my questioning gaze boring into her thoughtful eyes, resulting in a small laugh from her pursed lips.

    

   “Well, I guess I could bring you into the realm of my bizarre dreams; however, I can’t seem to recall last night’s dream very well.” She sighed, leaning her elbow upon the glossy brown table, while her delicate hand cupped her chin.

  

    I arch one of my eyebrows high. “Really?”  I remark sarcastically. “Are you sure? I thought you remembered your dreams because you found them so unusual.”  I smiled demurely, my eyes sparkling with victory.

    

   Elodie laughed hard, and grinned back. “Hmmm, how does one begin a tale as

complicated as a dream?” She leaned back in her high backed brown chair, “Well, the dream was like any other day where I pick my sister up from her school; eventually, as I was driving home my mother and younger brother suddenly appeared in the van with my sister and I. Then all of a sudden we appeared in front of the house on Bull Mountain where my brother’s friend resides, which is when my brother proceeded to get out of the van to hang out with his friend.” She paused to sip her hot tea.

   

     I leaned forward, “So, do you know why you dropped your brother off?”

   

    “No. However, it was strange because I dropped him off after night had descended. I proceeded to look for my GPS because I was unsure of where I had to go next, but suddenly the perspective of my dream changed. For an instant, I was seeing myself looking for the GPS from outside of the van. After my perspective had changed back to first person again, I was still driving, but this time the headlights were unbelievably bright. My mother and sister were still in the van with me as we looked for some unknown place; however, my mother was yelling at me as I drove around.”

    

   “Why was she yelling?” I inquire politely.

   

    “I can’t remember.” She furrows her brow as if in remembrance.

    

   “That’s alright.” I smile, “I would still enjoy listening to the rest of your dream.”

    

   “Well, after I drove around for awhile I ended up in a desert like area. There was an entrance that I had decided to enter that resembled the entrance of the Oregon Zoo. As I drove through this entrance, my van was enclosed on the sides by imposing warehouse buildings.”

   

She frowns and looks thoughtfully at her cup of tea, “ I parked at my mother’s request, and was immediately come over with dread as we walked inside of the nearest warehouse that had an interior resembling that of Costco. I was fearful because there were men I didn’t know making shelves, they had a child with them in a small, red, electric car that I decided to play with; meanwhile, my mother had asked the men if we could get a ride with them because we had become lost.” She sits back and sips her tea as she looks to me for a response.

    

“That’s all of your dream I assume?” I asked, eagerly awaiting more details.

    

She laughs. “Yeah, that’s all of my dream. So, what do you think?”

   

“Well, why don’t we take a look at this website I recently discovered to help us in the interpretation of your dream.” We walk to the computer in my room, and pull up the following definitions on Dreammoods.com. (As pertaining to Elodie’s dream)

 

Brother: Seeing your brother symbolizes some aspect of your relationship with him. This could also indicate that someone in your waking life has aspects/behaviors similar to those of your brother.

 Car: Driving a car could signify your willingness and drive to move from one stage of your life to another. If you’re driving the car, this could indicate that you’re taking an active role in the direction your life is heading. A parked car could indicate your need to stop and enjoy life, or you could be spending energy needlessly on fruitless endeavors.

 Deserts: Walking through a desert could symbolize misfortune and loss. This could also be indicating a loneliness, feelings of isolation and hopelessness. You could also be feeling deserted or left behind.

 Mother: Seeing your mother in your dream could represent the nurturing aspect of yourself. Mothers provide shelter, comfort, life, guidance and protection. Seeing your mother in your dream could also indicate you may be having problems freeing yourself from your mother to seek your own development and individuality.

 Mountain: Mountains could signify major obstacles and challenges yet to overcome.

 Narrow: This could indicate some struggle in your life journey. You are feeling restricted and confined. This could also indicate narrow-mindedness.

 Sister: Could Indicate an aspect of your relationship with her. She could also be drawing attention to the role you play in your family. Someone you know may be exhibiting similar attributes/behaviors as your sister.

 Night: There could be obstacles and setbacks in achieving your goals. You could be facing an issue that isn’t obvious, or these issues should be put aside to come back to later with a clear head.

 Warehouse: This suggests you could be putting your ambitions and goals on hold. This could be referring to memories. Also, this could be indicating stored energy and resources.

 Yelling: This could be indicating repressed anger that needs to be expressed.

    After we finish with our readings on the computer, Elodie returns to her previous seat at the glossy brown table; she places her elbows once again upon the table while she rests her chin on top of her intertwined fingers and glances thoughtfully out the window. I pour her a new cup of hot tea, and then proceed to make myself another cup of coffee.

As I carefully place my coffee upon the table, and make myself comfortable upon the hard chair; Elodie’s gazed upon me, her eyes looking full of thoughtful questions, “I understand the meaning of those individual definitions, but,” she pauses looking unsure. She releases her entwined fingers, and places her chin on top of a half curled delicate hand. “How do we glean meaning from my dream when my dream wasn’t as direct as those definitions we discovered?”

“Dreams are subjective,” I reply. I returned her inquisitive gaze with a thoughtful gaze of my own, “I haven’t had the same experiences as you, and I can provide you my own interpretation of the dream from the details you have generously given; I’ll provide my thoughts in the hopes that it’ll assist you discovering what the dream means to you.” I smile reassuringly, while trying to form connections to the definitions to her dream.

Elodie laughs. “Wow. This is way more complicated than I thought it was going to be.” She smiles while she sips her tea, readily awaiting my thoughts.

I laugh softly. I arch an eyebrow, “So, you believe you can handle my thoughts?” I ask playfully.  

“Of course I can,” She purses her lips, amusement evident in her big brown eyes. “Do you recall that time I believed my phone was broken because it continuously binged for like five minutes straight?” I smirk mischievously and chuckle. “All that ‘binging’ was because you were unable to keep your loving thoughts of Elves to yourself. I think I can handle your thoughts on my dream, plus I’m genuinely interested in what your opinion.”

  I smile and take a deep breath, “Maybe by your dream is trying to make you aware of the fact that you play a big role in the lives of your family members because you are driving them around in your dream. Also, with dropping your brother off could be indicating that there could be an obstacle interfering with your relationship with him, and that maybe you find the responsibilities of a child appealing because they don’t have to worry about too many responsibilities.” I sip my coffee, while I continue to ponder the meaning of her dream.

  

“That seems like a reasonable thought, please continue.” She slowly drinks her tea,

she furrows her brow and looks ponderously at the rain falling on the windowpane.

   

I lean my head on my hand thoughtfully, “Maybe even if you don’t remember what your mother was yelling about when you were unsure of where you were headed, I believe it could symbolize that you could be mad at yourself for not knowing where you desire to be in life. You could also be ready to move onto the next stage of your life, however, you feel like you are alone, isolated from everyone, and afraid of what this new stage in your life could be, especially because you don’t know where it will lead you. Your fear could also be making you feel restricted because you may be putting your goals on hold because of this fear, or you could even be putting your goals for this new stage of your life on hold for your family.” I sit back and hope that she finds my thoughts helpful in her pursuit of finding the meaning of that dream.

   

She sat in silence looking thoughtfully out the window, her lips pursed and a furrowed brow.

   I am grateful to have a friend provide me a dream to analyze this week. I greatly enjoyed writing this blog and learned more about how to analyze my own dreams. When I was writing this blog it didn’t seem that I was sitting at my computer for hours writing this up, but in the end I didn’t care because I’m satisfied with this work. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! :D

“I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.”

                                     -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

*Notes

     My friend’s name has been changed to Elodie for privacy.

                                           Pssst: She enjoyed reading this blog ;D

Sources:

“Dream Dictionary.” Dream Moods. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

    <http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/>.

“Quotes About Friendship.” Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.

     <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/friendship>.

Images:

-http://tapasliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Sam-Frodo.jpg

-http://us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/tribalium123/tribalium1231210/tribalium123121000098/15686821-open-book-and-laurel-wreath-book-emblem-book-symbol-school-symbol-book-icon.jpg

-http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll242/Clericmann/Chapter%201/Alistar_symbol.jpg

-http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/518/cache/most-threatened-forests-earth-day-small-island-forests_51891_600x450.jpg

-http://www.walldime.com/static/wallpaper/1920x1080/hd-wallpapers-download-sunrise-forest-wallpaper-302692-1920x1080-wallpaper.jpg

Thoughts of a Supposedly Forgetful Dreamer (Part 2)

"At the center of your being

you have the answer:

you know who you are

and you know what you want."

~Lao Tzu

I understand that I could go back and interpret the meaning old dreams that I am able remember, but at the moment I wish to start with interpreting a dream I experienced last night. In this dream I was inside a building—it was more like a prison—everywhere I looked there were locks and bars keeping supposedly violent and dangerous people inside. There were even more  bars and doors with strong locks preventing access to the hallways to these cells, however all of the bars weren’t in the greatest of conditions—some were crooked or rusted—but nonetheless I knew they wouldn’t budge (or I hoped). 

So, I was behind a locked door and bars that led to a hallway of cell doors, and I wanted out—I believe that a young woman who had once been my best friend for many years (but I cut off our relationship because I didn’t want her negative energy in my life) opened the lock and let me out of the cell. Afterwards I immediately feared the release of the other prisoners and I put my full body weight against the door I had just exited from, afraid of their release. Eventually, I resigned myself to traveling with this woman until I had the first opportunity to leave her—Initially I  felt ashamed because of loyalty I had developed for her because of our many years of friendship—but any doubts I had disappeared.

Eventually, I was yet again at Winco shopping with one of my other friends “Kate” (I had ditched my long time best friend at this point), and towards the end of the dream we were getting into Kate’s car in order to leave Winco, we were driving on this back road full of fields of wheat and sun, but Kate kept driving outside of the lines which alarmed me (this shouldn’t surprise me because she’s a lazy driver in real life—which really does scare me), so I adjusted the wheel but I couldn’t get more than one hand on the wheel, and I still couldn’t fix staying inside the lines of the road.

Recently I was referred to the website Dream moods, and I find their definitions to be helpful because it can be hard to see the things right in front of you.                                              

Bars- Seeing a metal bar symbolizes your inner strength—you have the ability to create a solid foundation and future. On the other hand, metal bars can also indicate defiance and aggression.

            

Car- Since I was riding passenger, dream moods interpretation was if a person was a passenger they were taking a passive role in their life—this type of dream indicates the dependences and degree of control you have over your life.

            

Danger- Dreaming that you’re in danger could suggest that you need to be more cautious in some aspect of your life, or that your negativity and pessimistic attitudes are resulting in you feeling

depressed.

.

Denial- Dreaming of this reflects your waking mind- not wishing to acknowledge some truth.

            

Doors- Dreaming of locked/closed doors could indicate denied/missed opportunities, someone is blocking your progress. Also being locked inside a door could indicate harsh lessons that need to be learned. Locking the door could indicate you’re closing yourself off from others, hesitant to let others in and reveal feelings; this could also indicate some fear and low self-worth.

           

Driving- If you’re a passenger of a car, but you’re driving it could mean you’re trying to gain control of your life and decisions.

            

Passenger- Alternately, dream moods suggests that being a passenger indicates that you aren’t in control of your life, you let others make decisions for you.

            

Shopping- This could indicate that if you’re shopping for food and groceries that suggests you’re trying to buy the attention of others.

            

         Normally, I would’ve forgotten this dream because it was so bizarre; however, after I finally analyzed it, I am finally able to confront the truth about how I feel about my actions of late. For instance, I‘ve had harsh lessons and experiences (mostly with myself) which resulted in my need to get a long time friend out of my life for good, but my dreaming mind compared her to my other friend Kate—I believed my dream did this because I have been experiencing that same trapped feeling I felt when I was with my old best friend—which I have of late been ignoring the apprehension I feel when in her presence (especially when I go to ride in her car).

         

  

     I feel that my dream is trying to tell me that I’m putting my safety and well-being into the hands of others (being a passenger in Kate’s car), and I “lock up” these feelings because I am using and need (grocery shopping) these friends for one reason or another when I know that my safety and well-being is the cost (grocery checkout/Feeling danger around the prisoners).  Also, when I lock the door in the prison I believe that I am consenting to hiding these feelings when they are in fact beneficial to my health (metal bars signifying having the ability to create a better future for myself— however, I lock up those feelings, and don’t wish to acknowledge them).

            Overall, I think the analyzing of this dream alerted me to these feelings I was ignoring; however, I realize now that those feelings were manifested as a quiet dread and shame that I had been feeling as of late. Now that I am aware of these feelings, I can make the appropriate changes to my behavior to become a happier person.  

Sources: 

      "Dream Dictionary." Dream moods. N.p., Web 9 Nov. 2013.
            <http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/>.
      "Quotes About self Discovery." Goodreads. N.p., N.p., Web 9 Nov. 2013. 

            <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/self-discover>.
    
 Links to photos: 

• http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/03/world/middleeast/spanner_01.jpg
• http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/120336500-country-road-and-wheat-fields-hettstadt-jupiterimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=9B343D4AED18FB1048DB5F9BD5049A948FDE9DAB8531F0A3B724DBF55BCE3B64591E7EC1A351FC8B
• http://images.forwallpaper.com/files/images/d/d71e/d71e0c78/142384/nature-forest-night-trees-sunlight-timber-table-benches-pine-needles-tree.jpg
• http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/2664569403_f9af237089.jpg

Thoughts of a Supposedly Forgetful Dreamer (Part 1)

The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart. 

                                                                           ~Julien Green

This blog is being written in the hopes that I can expand myself understanding, and as an end result develop into a better person. I feel that my dreams are significant to helping me in the midst of this quest because at the moment I don’t have much interaction with other people outside of my small and humble family-- especially since my mother has a disability that requires me or my father to be home as much as we are able to provide assistance to her, or to be there in case any serious health problems arise. 
Since I have less opportunities to interact with others outside of my own family, I can utilize my dreams to better the understanding I have of myself, and how I feel about various situations I don’t necessarily understand right away—and in order to do this, I have to be able to interpret my dreams in order to gain that understanding. However, I believe that once I improve my self-understanding I would be able to make better connections with others because I want to improve the quality of my life.

Even though I dream often, I don’t remember my dreams. If I do remember my dreams, I usually want to forget them because they are: abstract and I don’t understand how they apply to my life so I forget them, then I have dread inducing dreams—strangely most of my forbidding dreams I have involve zombies—and I don’t desire to remember those dreams. Every once in awhile, I have a recurring dream but those are few and far in between. However, I experience dreams that have recurring environments: there’s this Winco store from my early childhood that I always see in my dream, but the environments around it change-- for instance, in some dreams only part of the parking lot remains in front of the store, but the rest is filled with an ocean and a dock for ships (this is one of the few dreams that I still remember from years ago).

Sometimes my dreams have recurring themes, but they occur in the various environments that are recurring in my dreams. For example, there is this older town that I’m always in (and I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen this town or if it exists) and this town is always at the start or at the base of some sort of apocalypse. I am often in this town (or travel to/through it) when my dreams are flooded with zombies, another time this town had been at the base of a volcano where an evil man, well I got the impression he was a demon as I travelled a fiery but mostly extremely dark and charred path to his castle. (I never found him—I woke up before I reached that castle).

I believe that everyone knows who they are; just every now and then we lose sight of ourselves because of life’s complexities. Personally, I understand that I have the ability to find the truth about myself, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to accept how one feels, or even to understand or want to understand your feelings; but, I hope that with this blog I can confront myself, (I know how I feel but I often ignore my own feelings— often at the cost of my own happiness) and maybe you can also learn something about yourself through the aspects of dreaming I’ll explore to interpret my own dreams. 

Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.

                                                    ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Sources: 
"Quotations about Self-discovery." Quote Garden. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013
      <http://www.quotegarden.com/self-discovery.html>.

Links to Photos:

http://43longroadthriller12.blogspot.com/2012/01/film-noir-cinematography.html

http://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20091221/beautiful_forests_13.jpg

Are Dreams a Necessary Part of Forgetting? (Part two)

“People always talk about how hard it can be to remember things - where they left their keys, or the name of an acquaintance - but no one ever talks about how much effort we put into forgetting. I am exhausted from the effort to forget... There are things that have to be forgotten if you want to go on living.”

-Stephen Carpenter

     Have you experienced a dream that reminded you of something familiar, but you just couldn't quite remember what it was?

Do you ever wonder if that forgetful feeling is a result of a past experience being intertwined into your dream? There are numerous reasons behind the various plights, feelings, and thoughts we experience everyday; however, the reasons behind those experiences may be unknown. Could we unlock these secrets with a closer look at our dreams? Just as our brain forms connections in our mind with old and new experiences; similarly, our dreams portray the connections between our past and current experiences to allow us to appreciate how the past influences our present thoughts, dilemmas, etc. Several of these observations were influenced by the book I am reading, Memory in Mind and Brain: What Dream Imagery Reveals by: Morton F. Reiser. 

     This week, I’ve read about some thoughtful observations implied by Morton F. Reiser in his experiences assisting his patients in dream analysis. One such observation was: the feelings and memories of an analyst influence the interpretation of a dream. I find this similar to an individual providing advice, their past experiences and knowledge influences the advice they give; however, this doesn’t imply all advice is sound because not everyone experiences the world the same way.  

    One day, Reiser was going to help a young man (Richard) in analyzing his dream; however, that day Reiser had been unaware that this particular day had been the anniversary of his mother’s death(this unawareness invoked strong feelings of sadness that day, which helped Reiser influence how he helped Richard analyze his dream). Richard described his dream as: holding a deep and quiet sadness throughout. The dream focused on his house, in which a young woman Richard had a satisfying relationship with, may have been planning to move in with Richard (a welcome thought); however, the depressed mood that accompanied the dream didn’t match how Richard should have felt about the woman moving in with him.

     After hearing Richard’s recollection, Reiser remembered: (he believed the following memory was tied to this dream because of his sister’s hair color) Richard had mentioned that his mother became seriously ill and depressed for an extensive time after the birth of his younger sister when he was two years old. Richard explained he became depressed and lonesome throughout this time, particularly when his sister came home from the hospital. Reiser thought the prospect of Richard’s girlfriend moving in with him had brought up these earlier conflicts (of mother being sick, and Richard then becoming lonely and sad) because her moving in was akin to his younger sister coming home for the first time. 

     Our dreams intimately weave our past experiences, feelings, etc. into images that tie into our present situations; demonstrating, that an efficient way to analyze our dreams is to determine how much of the dream is tied to our past experiences. Additionally, our moods can influence the way we interpret our dreams, so we should interpret our dreams in various emotional states, to discover new thoughts about the dream that wouldn’t occur without the insights of various emotions. An individual could even ask another person to interpret their dream in various moods to see if any new insights help determine dream meaning. I now desire to apply this “emotional” theory towards the analysis of my own dreams in order to discover the various insights my emotions can provide about my dreams. :D