I often dream about an awkward workplace situation, even though I haven't had a paid job for some 16 months. I'm sitting at an office desk with no idea what I'm meant to be doing. Or I'm in a works canteen where everyone is stuffing themselves but I don't know where the food is being served. Or I'm at work trying to read an important report in a language I don't recognise or understand.
Where does this stuff come from? I've never been in any of these situations so my brain seems to go on a solo run as soon as I fall asleep.
I never dream about actual workplaces I've been in, or the people I've worked with. I never dream about the genuinely embarrassing, awkward situations I've encountered.
I dream about Jenny very occasionally and once I dreamt about a Facebook friend, but that's about it. I don't dream about my family, my friends, my neighbours or people I've met during the day. My dreams are nothing but a kind of nocturnal spam.
I've never heard of any other adult whose dreams are so abstract, but surely they must exist? Or does everyone dream about Aunt Gillian upsetting the teapot when she paid a visit yesterday? Or does everyone dream about winning the lottery or meeting their favourite celebrity?
I think I need some urgent adjustments to my dreaming software. It's seriously defective and needs to be replaced by something more normal. I want to dream about Annie Lennox. Or Bonnie Raitt. Or even Aunt Gillian will do.
May I suggest that you are saddling the horse the wrong way round, in this case.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how much Jung you have read but dreams are rarely what they appear to be. So even if, as you claim, everyone (other than you) dreams about Aunt Ethel, Aunt Ethel is just a symbol. So, by way of vaguely unsettling example, I may have a dream with some pretty domineering man in it. Unfortunately, I can't pinpoint the man's identity - could be my father, my second husband, anyone. Their persona, even if they keep changing "identity" in one dream alone, just "stands" for something nothing to do with the individual at all.
Anyway, it's a joyous subject you brought up - and not for the first time. I love my dreams. They are my guiding light when I fumble in the dark of my destiny. You know when I know my (real life) shit is up the creek (despite an excellent digestion)? When, in my dreams, I need to pack, need to travel (by whatever means) and there is never enough room,time. To top it all, being hounded by my father to hurry up (obviously) lest I miss the boat.
Crazy stuff. Makes for a fascinating parallel life, don't you think? Still, I can't tell you, Nick, how happy I am, at times, to wake up and just face reality with monsters of my own making rather than those of my dreams.
U
I don't know if I am lucky or not but, I can not remember my dreams. Even immediately after I wake up, I can't recall quite what it was in the dream or nightmare that woke me up.
ReplyDeleteUrsula: I haven't read much Jung - archetypes, individuation, the collective unconscious, that's about it. Of course there are all sorts of ways of interpreting dreams, as I'm sure you know. I rather like the Gestalt Therapy approach (Fritz Perls), which suggests that everything in your dreams is an aspect of your own self, probably an aspect that needs to be explored. So a domineering man would represent the domineering part of myself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I wake up and face reality, it's usually pretty straightforward. Awkwardness and embarrassment is more a feature of my dreams than my everyday life.
Ramana: I forget most of my dreams as well. Probably just as well considering the weirdness of the ones I do remember.
ReplyDeleteActually, I thought most people dream like you (and me). I rarely know anyone in my dreams, but I can usually figure out why I had a dream, as it will relate to something real in my life, even if it's insignificant. For instance, I might see a news story about something random like balloons and forget about it. A few nights later, I will have a dream with balloons in it. I don't really attach meaning to it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I must dream...but I don't remember any of them on waking. I did have nightmares as a small child..always the same...a lump of cheese the size of Mr.Cube climbing up over the foot of the bed, melting as it advanced. Sounds daft, but it terrified me.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: My dreams don't seem to relate to anything real, they're pure invention. As I say, I haven't been in a workplace (as an employee, that is) for many months.
ReplyDeleteHelen: And I thought my dreams were weird! I can imagine a giant lump of cheese steadily advancing on you would be pretty scary. Mind you, if it was Stilton or Brie I might just gobble it up.
My dreams feel totally weird as well. Unless I sit and think about them. Then I can often find a theme relating to something goin on in my life.
ReplyDeleteYour dream seems to me about not being sure where your current work/life is taking you. But, I could be way off base here.
Linda: I can't see any particular theme in my dreams, but maybe a therapist could spot one. I don't think they're anything to do with my current situation, which is "happily retired"!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rummy. I was glad to see someone else with the particular issue
ReplyDeleteof not ever remembering what I dream. or even IF I dream at all!
except I do remember reading once that if you don't dream it can be bad for you. just how they meant it I can't remember. LOL.
Andy's and my dreams are usually weird, having nothing to do with what is going on in our lives. We share the weirdest ones and laugh.
ReplyDeleteI know I dream, I just don't recall.
ReplyDeleteTammy: People do say dreaming is good for you, but I'm not sure what benefit I'm getting from my very peculiar dreams! Should I be waking up with my brain thoroughly reorganised and raring to go?
ReplyDeleteJean: Glad to hear that other people's dreams can be as weird as my own! I sometimes relay mine to Jenny but she can't make much sense out of them either.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: That's probably a much better situation than being able to recall your dreams and wondering why they're so utterly screwy.
I think your dreams are normal, Nick. I think they are saying that although you've been invited to the party, you don't really know what's going on, and you feel like you haven't been given the instruction manual :-)
ReplyDeleteI once dreamt about giant squirrels in a bamboo forest. I was twelve, I'll never forget it. I'd probably watched Animal Magic after school.
Sx
Oh dear, dreams, I have some very odd dreams, and remember most of them. I used to record them in a journal in the hope that one day I would interpret them, but decided life is too short. One recurring dream has me searching for a toilet, but every one is either filthy, not private or not working, I then wake up desperately needing to pee !!
ReplyDeleteMs Scarlet: I think that's a very credible interpretation of my dreams. So much of life makes no sense at all and I'm in a constant state of puzzlement. Or as Jenny says, I'm sometimes like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
ReplyDeletePolly: I sometimes have a similar dream. I'm frantically searching for a toilet but I can't find one - or if I do, it's filthy.
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing dreams is one of my hobbies and if I say so myself I am pretty spot on.
ReplyDeleteI can't work out my own of course.
But dreams, no matter who the characters are just manifestations of self and often struggling with some complex problem.
XO
WWW
www: Struggling with some complex problem? Not that I know of, but I must have a think about that one....
ReplyDelete