what does this dream mean?

[Shaeroden]

this one is really simple.

i had a dream that i woke up in my bed in the dead of night.  i noticed there was a mouse in my room, and it had a yellow tag with a number on it.  i watched it dart around my room, sitting up in my bed.  it didn't take notice of me.  after a while, another mouse appeared.  then another and another and then some more, all with yellow tags.  i also noticed a toad appeared as well.  i remember counting about 6 mice at the time.  i looked for the source of their entry, and found them coming in from the gap underneath the door to the bathroom, where they were popping in one by one every second.  these mice i saw coming in had no yellow tags.  i looked around again and now i noticed that my room was now littered with crickets, toads, and lizards.  i saw some of them eating the crickets, but at this point i was starting to panic, wondering if the mice were hostile and would try to bite me.  i was still in my bed, which sits on the floor with no bed-rails, but none of the creatures had climbed in, so i got the sense i was safe there.  i put my head on my pillow in exasperation and closed my eyes, and sleep overcame me for a short time.  when i "woke up" from this, i looked around my room again, finding only 2 mice, exploring the small piles of dirty clothes on the floor.  i got out of bed, and opened the door to my bathroom, finding it completely empty, however i did find holes underneath the vanity, at which point i woke up from this dream.

the night before:  my roommates had kept me up very late, talking and laughing quite loud from the living room.  i didn't want to kill the mood, but i also wanted to walk out there and tell them to quiet down.  so i just put up with it.  i've been trying to assert my preferences more recently and usually do so when i'm confronting a single person, but i think i might have been afraid to do so with multiple people.

what does this dream mean?

[kathryn]

A dream within a dream within a dream. Interesting. 

 

The first things that strikes me is the incremental encroachment of the mice. At first you only see one, then another, and on and on until there is a whole mess of critters invading your room. All the creatures are quite small; one of them isn't a big deal, but as their numbers increase it becomes a problem.

 

When I started being more assertive, I felt overwhelmed by "little things." Starting to negotiate where before I would have just accommodated was very alarming for certain people in my life. They began to push back even harder, which was so frustrating. I don't know if you are experiencing anything similar, but I become afraid of letting little things go, possibly over-correcting but unsure of the balance. 

 

The yellow tags on the mice is interesting. What did the tags look like? Were they like shopping tags? Or was it more gruesome like a toe tag? 

 

 

PS - I posted about a recurring nightmare I had as a kid which featured crickets. Some folks had interesting thoughts on the little creatures, if you are interested. 

[Boss]

It probably means if you are not confrontational "rodents" will overtake your space.

Sure it might start off small like you just not wanting to "kill the mood" just like how it started off with 1 mice, its not a big deal right? But just like your dream more and more "rodents" kept pouring in. And in the end, it left you exasperated. 


Personally tho I wouldnt give it a second thought as I am not one into thinking of meanings for dreams. I am not sure about the science of dreams and how adding meaning to it can help. Maybe if it is a reoccurring nightmares and you want it to stop, doing that could help. Or are you thinking finding meaning can help you in the real world? 

I am definitely into the science of dreaming and I like hearing what people dream about in general. Thanks for the post.

[luxfelix]

It sounds like you may already have your interpretation. 

 

I'll throw this out there and see what sticks:

 

The mice are there to help. The first group of mice are an indication of past confrontations; cataloged, though their purpose was forgotten (yellow ~ corruption?), the army of mice from the bathroom come to clean up the rest like white blood cells with an infection. The initial apprehension gives way to calm, not unlike the recognition that a fever (translation: confrontation?) can be a part of the healing process.

 

The two mice left behind are similar to the memory cells that stand guard with the knowledge of how to defeat the infection should it come again -- an inoculation of sorts. (The dirty clothes are the remains of the defeated infection?)

 

After convalescing, the holes underneath the vanity are an invitation to imitate the example of the mice when you awaken (to clean yourself and environment/you alone are the only one that can?).

[Shaeroden]

 

The yellow tags on the mice is interesting. What did the tags look like? Were they like shopping tags? Or was it more gruesome like a toe tag? 

 

the tags were tied around their middle, just behind the arms.  

 

 

Personally tho I wouldnt give it a second thought as I am not one into thinking of meanings for dreams. I am not sure about the science of dreams and how adding meaning to it can help. Maybe if it is a reoccurring nightmares and you want it to stop, doing that could help. Or are you thinking finding meaning can help you in the real world? 

 

i actually have a different recurring nightmare/dream.  usually when i dream, i am running from something.  sometimes it's the police, other times it's just other men in tactical uniforms.  i think i may remember a couple times they were in suits like the secret service, but what's odd is that i'm always running with someone.  sometimes it's with people i have met, other times it's with people i've never met.  sometimes i'm leading a group of people running away.

 

i've been dipping my toes in to jungian dream analysis is all.  i know why i have these dreams of running away from uniformed men.  but this one i had with the mice and crickets was unusual.

 

It sounds like you may already have your interpretation. 

 

I'll throw this out there and see what sticks:

 

The mice are there to help. The first group of mice are an indication of past confrontations; cataloged, though their purpose was forgotten (yellow ~ corruption?), the army of mice from the bathroom come to clean up the rest like white blood cells with an infection. The initial apprehension gives way to calm, not unlike the recognition that a fever (translation: confrontation?) can be a part of the healing process.

 

The two mice left behind are similar to the memory cells that stand guard with the knowledge of how to defeat the infection should it come again -- an inoculation of sorts. (The dirty clothes are the remains of the defeated infection?)

 

After convalescing, the holes underneath the vanity are an invitation to imitate the example of the mice when you awaken (to clean yourself and environment/you alone are the only one that can?).

the dirty clothes are there in my real life room though.  that's how i knew i was in my room other than the mattress being on the floor.

 

you may be on to something.  i was alarmed a swarm of mice, but i wasn't afraid of 2 of them.

 

i'm also remembering another detail, when i felt exasperated, i remember thinking "oh god, this is going to be a mess to clean up and get all these critters and their droppings out of my room and i'm far too delirious to start right now"

i just realized i put this in the wrong board.  i probably should refrain from making posts so dang early in the morning

[EclecticIdealist]

The numbered mice represent documented (legal) immigrants. The other critters (mice without tags, toads, lizards, and the like) represent undocumented, illegal immigrants. The crickets represented "a free lunch", and the creatures eating the crickets represented illegal aliens getting a free lunch by entering the country illegally. When you awoke, most of the animals were gone, and only a couple of benign mice remained. This dream represents your subconscious mind processing the problem of emigration and the welfare state (the crickets being a "free lunch" attracting the critters). Once the "free lunch" was gone, so too were all the critters.

 

Or it might represent something entirely different. It all depends upon what your subconscious mind associates with the critters.