Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Cabin. Welcome to the Jungle

This is an older dream. Possibly a year ago. I was in the military. A fellow soldier and I jumped out of an airplane and parachuted into a clearing. A chain fence was nearby and we crawled underneath it. On the other side was a thick, lush jungle. We start running, determined to complete our mission, whatever it was. Next thing, we see a menacing Bengal Tiger stalking us. As soon as we start running, the tiger does as well, moving faster than we are. My partner grabs the back of my jacket, I spin around while lifting my M16 machine gun, and start firing at it while running backwards. It jumps around from side to side as if dodging the bullets. Finally, it retreats and we don't see it again. Still running, we make it to a shelter. A cabin in the middle of the jungle?! It's later in the day, turning night when we go inside. The place is lit with torches and we walk into a room with a fireplace. Sitting in there talking is my friend's mom, Lisa and Aaron Lewis of Staind. What a strange couple of people to see together in a cabin in the middle of the jungle!

Symbols

Parachute:
To dream that you are in a parachute, signifies that you have protection and security during a time in which many risks and turmoil surround you. Alternatively, it may also imply that it is time to bail out of a situation or abandon an old idea/habit.
Jungle: To dream that you are in a jungle, signifies aspects of yourself and your personality that may have been inhibited. You may be experiencing chaos and the unpredictable in your waking life. If you are lost or trapped in a jungle, indicates that your negative feelings are hindering your progress, You need to come to terms with aspects of your unconscious.
Tiger: To see a tiger in your dream, represents power and your ability to exert it in various situations. The dream may also indicate that you to take more of a leadership role. To dream that you are attacked by a tiger, symbolizes repressed feelings or emotions that frighten you.
Cabin: To dream of a cabin indicates that you succeed via your own means. It suggests that you are self-reliant and independent, yet still remain humble. You prefer the simpler things in life.
Fireplace: To see a lit fireplace in your dream, symbolizes contentment, warmth, and comfort.
Fame: To see famous people in your dream, signifies an increase to your prosperity and honor.

INTERPRETATION: I'm not even gonna try to interpret this one. Possibly, when I bail out of one thing and fight my way towards something else, I finally get there and still feel confused and empty inside.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Spider Web Bridge

In my dream I was walking on some boards that made a suspended bridge similar to this:


But it wasn't over water or over a cliff or anything. It wasn't anywhere special. But all of a sudden I start running into spider webs everywhere on the bridge. I had that sticky spider web feeling. Next I start waving my arms around. Not frantically or like a lunatic freaking out, but enough to get them out of my way and out of my face. I remember seeing a few spiders in some of the webs that surrounded me but they weren't doing anything.



Symbols

Web:
To see a web in your dream, suggests that you are being held back from fully expressing yourself. You feel trapped and do not know what to do or where to go. The dream may also be symbolic of your social network of acquaintances and associates.
Spiders: To see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or that you may want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. A spider may refer to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider, it symbolizes misfortune and general bad luck.
Bridge: To dream that you are crossing a bridge, signifies an important decision or a critical junction in your life. This decision will prove to be a positive change with prosperity and wealth in the horizon. Bridges represent a transitional period in your life where you will be moving on to a new stage.

INTERPRETATION: Maybe there's another point I have to get to in my life but I don't know how to get there. Speaking of not fully expressing myself and feeling like an outsider, one of my friends just yesterday was giving me a hard time about how I'm a man of few words. It's true, I don't speak unless I motivate myself or actually have something important to say. Maybe being so reserved is destructive but it's my nature. But making comments like that don't inspire me. That's just who I am. I should learn to be more outgoing and say what's on my mind even if it offends someone. Also, within my social network, I never really get a chance to say what I want about deeper issues. It's usually small talk that leads to nowhere. That's why writing is so important to me.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Inexperienced Surfer

In my dream there was a big event. So big that a strange mix of people I knew were there. Beckie, Jesse, my parents, Steve, and many others. The event was a surfing contest. My first one. However, I had no experience surfing, but I thought it would be fun. I was so nervous. The sky was gray and the waves seemed small. Finally I jumped in. Very quickly after I jumped in, I was riding down a wave and performing amateur maneuvers. I had a feeling that I did better than I thought I would.

Symbols

Contest:
To dream that you enter or are in a contest, indicates the need to prove yourself as worthy and deserving. If you win the contest, then it represents your self-confidence, pride, and/or conceit. If you lose the contest, then it indicates a lack of self-esteem. You may not be fully applying yourself to the task at hand.
Surfboard: To see or ride a surfboard in your dream, suggests that you are going with the flow of things. You have giving in to the existing rhythm and is just there for the ride. The dream may trying to tell you that you need to take more initiative in where you want to go and what you want to do.
Surfing: To dream that you are surfing, indicates the ups and downs of some emotional situation or relationship. You may feel overwhelmed. One minute you can be in control of your emotions and the next minute you are not.

INTERPRETATION: The only way to succeed is to just jump in and make an attempt, even with little experience. I'm struggling to find my place and significance. I don't know where I'm going in life, but I seem to be doing alright. I don't trust in my own abilities; I have low confidence. Concerning the people in my dream. The strange and for the most part faceless mix of people in my dream that I care about. If they were not in the dream, I might have drowned during the contest. What I'm saying is that without their support in my decisions (no matter how out-there they seem) I'll only drown and lose confidence. "Divided, I'll wither away."

Blood-sucking Parasitic Little Tick

I was in a van with people I knew, traveling on an on-ramp to an interstate. I was in the middle seat in the back. All of a sudden something started bothering my left ankle. It was itching pretty badly. Then I reached down and plucked a fairly large tick off of my ankle. I looked at the size of it before killing it by pinching it between my finger nails.


Symbols

Tick: To see or be bitten by a tick in your dream, suggests that a relationship or situation is sucking all the energy out of you. Ask yourself what in your life is causing you much exhaustion.
Interstate: To see a highway in your dream, represents your sense of direction and your life's path. Consider the conditions of the highway which will reveal how much you feel in charge of your life. A smooth, straight highway signifies inner peace, while a winding, bumpy road reflects emotional distress/disharmony.

INTERPRETATION: On the road of life, I have to eliminate (or am already eliminating) the things that suck the life out of me. Or.. Perhaps driving so much to be (in the middle) with my friends is draining my energy (but the sacrifices are worth it).

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Big Yellow Bus of Doom

I didn’t see the beginning of the dream, but it was known. I bought a big, yellow school bus from a hippie for $6,900. What happens next is hilarious in the dream but would be really stupid in real life. Standing behind the bus on top of a hill on Gallatin Road, a main stretch of Madison where I travel almost every day, I pushed the bus down. I ran behind it to see where it would go. The bus kept a straight line and appeared to change lanes smoothly a couple of times as if it had a driver. Eventually it became what it should have been from the beginning- a big, yellow bus of doom! The bus started colliding with and damaging other cars on the road. Finally my mind starts to think. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The bus takes one last dramatic swerve to the right and then back to the left and spins out in the grass, facing the road. With traffic stopped on both sides, I ran and finally make it to the ridiculously destroyed bus. I go inside to find a random lady asking a million questions and the same hippie I bought the bus from, just stoned and cracking jokes. The bus trembles as if all the tires blew out at the same time.

Symbols

Bus: To dream that you are riding a bus, implies that you are going along with the crowd. You are lacking originality and are taking no control over where your life is taking.
Hippie: To see a hippie in your dream, represents excess and freedom of expression.
Push: To dream that you are pushing something, symbolizes energy, effort, encouragement and a new drive to succeed in life. Consider also how you are someone in your life may be a "pushover".
Traffic: To dream that you are in traffic, signifies frustrations in life and that things are not going as smoothly as you would like it to. You feel stuck at where you are in life.
Road Rage: To dream that you have road rage, indicates that your emotions are out of control. You need to find a better way to express your feelings or you or someone will get hurt.

INTERPRETATION: Possibly, I am or already doing and have the freedom to do stupid and destructive things with my money. But that's not the case, I'm not really. I eat out a lot and that's about it. On a deeper level after looking at the symbols, I could just be reflecting on how I'm pushing away traditional values and ways of doing things. I didn't have road rage in my dream and wasn't really stuck in traffic, but it could mean that while I'm pushing the bus down the hill, in waking life I'm pushing away my negative feelings, letting them go away (in a destructive way?) and destroying the frustrations in my life. Or it could mean that I'm just frustrated with traffic on Gallatin Road and how ghetto Madison has become.

The Warmth

In my dream, I had awaken from a long, deep sleep. I was in a very small, yet warm and cozy, cabin. It was in the middle of nowhere it seemed, in a hilly/mountainous region. But this place was familiar. This used to be my Dad’s cabin. The TV was still on. How it got power in the middle of nowhere is beyond me. Lying next to me is my Beckie. I had a feeling of not wanting to get up and move. I wanted to stay in this warm place longer. The feeling you get when you wake up under a warm layer of covers after a deep, regenerating sleep, and you know that it’s freezing cold outside. I’m transported to another area. Except this place had the same warmth as where we woke up. Stepping stones led from the cabin, down to a circular stone courtyard. In the center of the courtyard was a statue. It was female and was an angel. She was holding something high in the air. This item she held possessed its own white glow. Free from any power source. The glow seemed soft, dimmed and unnatural, but beautiful and warm nonetheless. Behind me was an unordinary sight. There was a steep ravine. At the bottom, a deep river. On the other side, people were having fun, jumping off the ravine into the water below.

That’s all I remember. But the thing I remember the most when I actually woke from the dream was the overwhelming warm, comfortable feeling. Usually there is a reason for such a feeling, but this feeling seemed self-existent. It gave me a longing to experience that again and a hope for a better day. This life can be so traumatizing and painful that one day we’ll look back on it and never again think of committing the selfish, destructive things we once did. Those terrible memories will serve a better purpose, to give us contrast. Like lying down in a warm bed after being out in the unforgiving cold all day. They will only strengthen the warm comfortable feeling we will experience forever.


Symbols

Cabin: To dream of a cabin indicates that you succeed via your own means. It suggests that you are self-reliant and independent, yet still remain humble. You prefer the simpler things in life.

Mountains: To see mountains in your dream, signifies many major obstacles and challenges that you have to overcome. If you are on top of the mountain, then it signifies that you have achieved and realized your goals. Alternatively, mountains denotes a higher realm of consciousness, knowledge, and spiritual truth.
Girlfriend: To see your girlfriend in your dream, represents your waking relationship with her and how you feel about her.
Glow: To see a glow in your dream, symbolizes enlightenment and that a new light has been shed onto a situation. You have gained a fresh perspective and reached a welcomed understanding.
Cliff: To dream that you are standing at the edge of a cliff, indicates that you have arrived to an increased level of understanding, new awareness, and a fresh point of view. You have reached a critical point in your life and may fear losing control.
Warmth: To feel warmth in your dream, signifies contentment and satisfaction in your accomplishments. It also symbolizes hope and unconditional love.

INTERPRETATION:

So many symbols in this dream make it harder to interpret. They all seem to compliment each other though, so it makes it easier. I think that despite how hard I am on myself sometimes, I need to be thankful and proud of my accomplishments. More importantly, I am very happy and content that I've been with my girlfriend for so long. I enjoy simply being with her even if we're not doing anything. Perhaps the longing for that warm feeling I got in the dream is the longing to be with her.

Jungian Dream Interpretation

While dreams are personal, our personal experiences often touch on universal themes. These symbols were believed to occur in every culture throughout time. Jung identified seven such symbols in what is referred to as the major archetypal characters:

1. The Persona is the image you present to the world in your waking life. It is y our public mask. In the dream world, the persona is represented by the self. In the dreamscape, the Self may or may not resemble you physically or may or may not behave as your would. However, you know that this "person" in your dream is you.

2. The Shadow is the rejected and repressed aspects of yourself. It is the part of yourself that you do not want the world to see because it is ugly or unappealing. It symbolizes weakness, fear, or anger. In dreams, this figure is represented by a stalker, murderer, a bully, pursuer, a frightening figure, or even a close friend or relative. Their appearance often makes you angry or leaves you scared.

3. The Anima / Animus is the female and male aspects of yourself. Everyone possess both feminine and masculine qualities. In dreams, the anima may appear as a highly feminized figure or a hyper masculine figure in the case of the animus. Or you may dream that you find yourself dressed in women's clothing if you are male or you suddenly grow a beard, if you are female. These imageries serve as a reminder that you must learn to acknowledge or express your masculine (be more assertive) or feminine side (be more emotional).

4. The Divine Child is your true self in its purest form. It not only symbolizes your innocence, your sense of vulnerability, and your helplessness, but it represents your aspirations and full potential. You are open to all possibilities. In the dreamscape, this figure is represented by a baby or young child.

5. The Wise Old Man is the helper in your dreams. Represented by a teacher, father or some other unknown authority figure, they serve to offer guidance and words of wisdom. They serve to guide you into the right direction.

6. The Great Mother is the nurturer. They may appear in your dreams as your own mother, grandmother, or other nurturing figure and provide you with reassurance. Negatively, they may be depicted as a witch or old bag lady in which case they can be associated with seduction, dominance and death. This juxtaposition is rooted in the belief by some experts that the real mother who is the giver of life is also at the same time jealous of our growth away from her.

7. The Trickster, as the name implies, plays jokes to keep you from taking yourself too seriously. He may find himself in your dream when you have overreach or misjudge a situation or if you are uncertain about a decision or where you want to go in life. The trickster often makes your feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. He may take on subtle forms, sometimes even changing its shape.

The Beginning

Lately I've started to write down my dreams, shortly after I wake up. Some dreams fade away if you don't write them down and are forgotten about. Some of them I can remember for weeks or even years. Either way, dreaming is very important for our mental health. I've created this blog to share the dreams I have. I was originally storing all of them as Word files on my computer. I'll describe the dream and then interpret it. Some I may have no clue on how to interpret but I'm hoping that if people start to read my blog, they may help me interpret. I'd love an outside opinion. However, I believe some of Jung's theories. Dream interpretation is more accurate when it's our own dreams. Our own experiences, conscious or unconscious, will help explain the meaning. So sit back and enjoy a look into my unconscious visions.