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