Dream Analysis

[Nala]

This is a dream I had last night after self-examination.

 

I have the goal of attending school to study psychology this summer. I have been addressing my thoughts and feelings related to why I am disinterested in building my business.

 

Insights I found in this dream were related to why I feel intimidated by education and success.

 

My goal with dreams like these is to be more clear about what I have to do to change my life and I'm sharing this dream to invite others to examine how we see ourselves in certain dreams. I'd like to discover what triggers weakness, smallness and frantic survival mechanisms as my interests expand so I can avoid self-sabotage

 

 

Intro:

 

From the start of this dream, I felt the fear I used to have entering and walking the halls of my elementary school during grades 3-5. 

 

Important Names:

 

LENOX was the name of my school during that time.

 

JAMIE was the name of a girl who lived across the street from me from the time I was born up until 4th grade. She was my age, light-haired and younger than her sister Danielle who was brunette. They used to come and play at my house with me (brunette, younger) and my sister (blonde, older) on weekends when we were staying with our father. We would be outside for a very long time. I would become bored easily as I was the smallest, weakest and slowest of us all. I would get very tired and upset when I couldn't catch any of them in TAG.My family complained that I whined all the time.

 

DREAM: JAMIE was in the basement of a house sitting on a "Starbucks" recliner chair. She was vaguely focused on something off in the distance. I was a cross between a child and an adult- not a teenager though. I started talking to her but our convo was muted. She said "I'm waiting for Jamie". I pretended to know who Jamie was and she said "No, you don't know this Jamie".

 

The basement was filled with students, teachers, and even some parents. I noticed a particularly familiar gentleman- overweight reading the paper in another "Starbucks" chair. He seemed to be waiting while eyeing me in annoyance.

 

It was eerie. I felt danger, excitement, doom, anticipation, and a nonsensical calm reminiscent of short story The Lottery   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery .

 

I did't know what we were supposed to be waiting for but I imagined perhaps there was an attack of zombies about to occur and people were counting down.

 

I started to realize that maybe all the students were told they had to "prepare" for this somehow. I wasn't prepared most likely because I had known my mother to disregard any written correspondence from my school and to ignore my homework assignments. I didn't know how to prepare so when I realized everyone had pens and other materials- it dawned on me that we were definitely going to have a test. I didn't know on what. I was approached by a teacher I had known to be as sarcastic and dismissive as my family members. I expected her help during this crisis which was an ill assessment considering she ordered me outside where the zombies were going to be to get my backpack I had left out in the yard. A girl named Jessica Hamway from LENOX, who stood 4 feet tall for as long as I had known her, was in the doorway as I exited the basement through the garage. She gave me a hard time about having to go outside so close to the attack. Suddenly, I was in the front yard with Daniel Plummer- a boy I had known across the street at my mother's house at the age of 7.  

I was outside in the dirt yard with Daniel getting our stuff when I he was much older than myself and I got the sense he was advancing at his studies while I was floundering. 

 

I went back into the basement to see that Jamie had a pen, everyone else had pens or pencils and I didn't. I looked around in a panic to discover any rogue writing implements and I did in fact find one. I pretended that I couldn't remember if it was mine or not. I asked publicly if someone had dropped their pen. I knew I had to give it away if someone else came forward but I did ask anyway as to avoid being accused of stealing. The teacher said to me that if I went outside to get supplies it wouldn't make a difference anyway. It seemed like she didn't care if I went outside. It seemed she didn't take the threat seriously anymore and said "Nobody's going to get you out there- it's not time yet."

 

The dream ended.

.

 

 

[Wesley]

What zombies are going to get you?

What are you trying to protect yourself from?

Do the zombies actually exist or are they just what others tell you to be scared of?

How do you know they exist?

If you were to stay working, would the zombies you face be guaranteed as you are in "the outside"?

Does school provide some safety from the zombies?

 

Feel free to go off topic a bit if this stirs up any thoughts or feelings inside you.

[Holo Cene]

It seems to me that your dream was a rough sketch of your current psychological struggles. The indoctrination and the panic of the classroom versus the terror and panic of freedom. Of the abandonment of the safety of invisibility versus the terror of the "zombie" attack, which is essentially the attacks that will come from all of the people still caught in the matrix. Once you leave the confines of anonymity and invisibility and become your own identity you fear the rabid hordes of mindless zombies quite literally. Jaime I think is a reference to yourself. You don't know this Jaime which is yourself, but she is coming and you will meet her as she is waiting in the chair. The immobility of this Jaime is also telling, She is sitting and waiting. Daniel is a representation of the potential of the outside. The freedom of goal and orientation. The baby step of digging a hole, just because you want to.

 

I hope this is helpful.

[Lians]

I'll start with the immediate associations that I drew while reading your dream:

• Basement -> Lowest level in a house / smallest child -> Underground -> Death -> Zombies
• House -> Family
• The overweight gentleman and Jamie are somehow related since your dream associates them with the same symbol - the chair.
• The teacher is related to your family.
• Jessica Hamway's height, from the standpoint of a child, is a symbol for an older kid or a kid that simply appears older.

There's a strong irrational streak in the dream. People are preparing to have a test while knowing that the zombies are coming. Your teacher sends you out to pick up a backpack in the middle of a zombie attack with no protest on your part. Later on, you worry about a pen while knowing that the zombies might come any time now. Not only that, you want to make sure that you're following the rules because you're afraid of being attacked. No matter how insane the situation, you want to conform to the norm. Has that been the case in your school years? Your family? Were you the good girl that did everything by the rules? You mentioned The Lottery, which from what I read in the Wiki is a story about conformity in the face of insanity.

 

I find it quite interesting that you used "counting down" to describe people's anticipation of the attack. In your dream, they're certainly not panicking, which means they must be used to this insane situation, much like Japanese people are used to earthquakes. In other words, the zombie attack is a recurring event with a fixed pattern. Your teacher later confirms that by telling you, "It's not time yet." She knows when it's going to happen. Unless she's experienced this situation many times before, how would she know that? The recurring event could be a reference to school classes.

 

There's a play of elevation in your dream. You start off at the lowest, underground level - the basement. You later move up a level by going to the surface - the front yard. If I'm right about the lowest level meaning the youngest child, moving up a level refers to growing up. Seeing as it's a teacher who sends you there, it may also mean graduating from school. Following this logic, the events that unfold after you get back may be your unconscious expectation of what's going to happen if you go back to study psychology. I don't know what's your association with Jessica, but she tries to stop you from going to the surface.

 

Were you ever afraid of growing up an being on your own? Did your family/school make you scared of the outside world? Was the threat implicit in your parents' behaviour/attitude? Did they hold you back from growing up and becoming your own person? You see, before you go to the surface, everyone assumes the time of attack is very close. However, when you go back your teacher doesn't take the threat seriously any more. Given that you weren't attacked on the surface, this means that the zombies are merely a scare story. What was the atmosphere of the front yard compared to the basement?

 

You meet Daniel in the front yard. Wouldn't that indicate that the house you're in belongs to your mother? Taking the time frame of the dream into consideration, you're in your mother's house as an older person. In the beginning, you say that you were a cross between a child and an adult, but not a teenager. That's a very interesting description. You could have said that you were younger. As I was reading your post, my immediate assumption was that you're a child in an adult's body or an adult in a child's body. Did the experience of your age change as you moved between the basement and the front yard?

 

Do you associate going back to school with going back to your family? Can you elaborate a little more on your mum's attitude towards your schooling? What happened the day before you had the dream?

 

These are my initial thoughts about your dream. I hope you find them useful.

[Nala]

What zombies are going to get you?

What are you trying to protect yourself from?

Do the zombies actually exist or are they just what others tell you to be scared of?

How do you know they exist?

If you were to stay working, would the zombies you face be guaranteed as you are in "the outside"?

Does school provide some safety from the zombies?

 

Feel free to go off topic a bit if this stirs up any thoughts or feelings inside you.

 

Hi! Thanks for these questions. It turns out his dream was about my father! I found it quite helpful.

[Wesley]

Hi! Thanks for these questions. It turns out his dream was about my father! I found it quite helpful.

 

No problem, I am glad that I was able to provide some help.

[Nala]

Holy shit, I go so much from your thoughts. I have too much to write and it's all very personal, important, and life-changing stuff. So, many many thanks for your help.

 

The dream was actually taking place in my father's house. It belonged to both my parents when I was a baby but my father took it over after my mother left with us. And the irrational stuff is very much the theme of my mother's life and her decision making which has really infected my life to say the least.

 

Conclusion: I do not need to accommodate threats and attacks especially from the ghosts of my past. Those shitty people didn't draw me closer when I needed them, they shut me out.

 

 By navigating my success according to behaviors from people in my history. what I am doing is giving over power and control to things that don't exist. When something doesn't exist, it can't be measured, seen, or experienced. It's fear-mongering.

 

I want to feel that my success is important enough for me to take the steps I need to regardless of what others think, say, or do because of it.

 

- Nala

 

 

 

 

 

I'll start with the immediate associations that I drew while reading your dream:

• Basement -> Lowest level in a house / smallest child -> Underground -> Death -> Zombies
• House -> Family
• The overweight gentleman and Jamie are somehow related since your dream associates them with the same symbol - the chair.
• The teacher is related to your family.
• Jessica Hamway's height, from the standpoint of a child, is a symbol for an older kid or a kid that simply appears older.

There's a strong irrational streak in the dream. People are preparing to have a test while knowing that the zombies are coming. Your teacher sends you out to pick up a backpack in the middle of a zombie attack with no protest on your part. Later on, you worry about a pen while knowing that the zombies might come any time now. Not only that, you want to make sure that you're following the rules because you're afraid of being attacked. No matter how insane the situation, you want to conform to the norm. Has that been the case in your school years? Your family? Were you the good girl that did everything by the rules? You mentioned The Lottery, which from what I read in the Wiki is a story about conformity in the face of insanity.

 

I find it quite interesting that you used "counting down" to describe people's anticipation of the attack. In your dream, they're certainly not panicking, which means they must be used to this insane situation, much like Japanese people are used to earthquakes. In other words, the zombie attack is a recurring event with a fixed pattern. Your teacher later confirms that by telling you, "It's not time yet." She knows when it's going to happen. Unless she's experienced this situation many times before, how would she know that? The recurring event could be a reference to school classes.

 

There's a play of elevation in your dream. You start off at the lowest, underground level - the basement. You later move up a level by going to the surface - the front yard. If I'm right about the lowest level meaning the youngest child, moving up a level refers to growing up. Seeing as it's a teacher who sends you there, it may also mean graduating from school. Following this logic, the events that unfold after you get back may be your unconscious expectation of what's going to happen if you go back to study psychology. I don't know what's your association with Jessica, but she tries to stop you from going to the surface.

 

Were you ever afraid of growing up an being on your own? Did your family/school make you scared of the outside world? Was the threat implicit in your parents' behaviour/attitude? Did they hold you back from growing up and becoming your own person? You see, before you go to the surface, everyone assumes the time of attack is very close. However, when you go back your teacher doesn't take the threat seriously any more. Given that you weren't attacked on the surface, this means that the zombies are merely a scare story. What was the atmosphere of the front yard compared to the basement?

 

You meet Daniel in the front yard. Wouldn't that indicate that the house you're in belongs to your mother? Taking the time frame of the dream into consideration, you're in your mother's house as an older person. In the beginning, you say that you were a cross between a child and an adult, but not a teenager. That's a very interesting description. You could have said that you were younger. As I was reading your post, my immediate assumption was that you're a child in an adult's body or an adult in a child's body. Did the experience of your age change as you moved between the basement and the front yard?

 

Do you associate going back to school with going back to your family? Can you elaborate a little more on your mum's attitude towards your schooling? What happened the day before you had the dream?

 

These are my initial thoughts about your dream. I hope you find them useful.

[Lians]

Holy shit, I go so much from your thoughts. I have too much to write and it's all very personal, important, and life-changing stuff. So, many many thanks for your help.

 

The dream was actually taking place in my father's house. It belonged to both my parents when I was a baby but my father took it over after my mother left with us. And the irrational stuff is very much the theme of my mother's life and her decision making which has really infected my life to say the least.

 

Conclusion: I do not need to accommodate threats and attacks especially from the ghosts of my past. Those shitty people didn't draw me closer when I needed them, they shut me out. 

 

 By navigating my success according to behaviors from people in my history. what I am doing is giving over power and control to things that don't exist. When something doesn't exist, it can't be measured, seen, or experienced. It's fear-mongering. 

 

I want to feel that my success is important enough for me to take the steps I need to regardless of what others think, say, or do because of it. 

 

- Nala

 

Glad I could be of help! It was certainly a very powerful dream.