The Most Common Dreams

In the dream dictionary of my website I have the opportunity to observe the common dream symbols that are searched by users.

Packing clothes.
Clothing in a dream portrays our sense of identity as it changes over time. Often we dream of going somewhere and packing clothing as we sort through our baggage and wonder what to take with us. Dirty clothes will appears when we are revealing ourselves or exploring sexual feelings. Oftentimes, our more natural and organic nature might appear dirty. This is actually a good dream of allowing this part of our nature to be examined.

Choppy water.
By far, the most common dream symbol is water. Since dreaming allows our feelings to be expressed freely, the water can portray our inner landscape and its present condition. Water that is choppy or frightening can reflect time or how life moves us within its current. If we are fearful of change, the water can appear frightening. Sea creatures and reptiles often symbolize the life that lives beneath the surface. Reptiles embody our relationship to instinctual urges like fight or flight and sex.

Driving in a car.
Transportation vehicles are symbolic of how we are moving forward in life. We may be driving (empowered) or being driven by someone else as a reflection of not being in control of where we are going. We can be pulled over by police (sense of right or wrong) or crashing (feeling like our current course may lead to danger.)
The type of vehicle and the situation surrounding how we are traveling will shed light on our current sense of autonomy and direction.

Teeth.
Teeth falling out in a dream is very common. This reflects a monumental change that is happening and is similar to how our teeth grow and fall out at various stages in life. At the same time, teeth falling out can portray our credibility or the validity of the things we are saying to others.

Hair.
The hair on the head can reflect our ideas and how we groom them as they grow. Since eyebrows frame our expression, plucking or shaping the eyebrows reflect the changes we are making in how we express ourselves. A male dreaming of grooming facial hair can portray a sense of grooming his more organic and natural feelings in an acceptable way. Sometimes this grooming is a way of hiding our real feelings or a movement toward conformity.

Houses.
The house portrays how we are exploring our potential. Unknown rooms in a familiar house will show new areas of growth and exploration. The attic can portray spiritual ideas, while the basement is a place where things are kept in the dark. The kitchen can reflect our sense of how we are finding nourishment in life, while the bedrooms are where we explore our sexual feelings and the bathroom is where we come clean when we are moving toward intimacy. The garden or front yard represents what we are growing or putting out there for public view.

The unknown child.
As we grow and change over time, we will often dream of a baby or accompanying an unknown child. This portrays some new or emerging side of us that is coming on the scene. This type of dream often coincides with a major transformation.

Q&A Blogpost

From the comment section of Why We Dream:

10/28/08 12a-3a Houston, TX.
Last night I had two dreams...

The first dream was me boarding a cruise ship. It was a nice warm night, the water was calm. The cruise ship was beautifully lit with white lights everywhere and the harbor/port was buzzing with soft and romantic boats and sounds.
Dreams of vehicles that go over water portray how you are moving through changes and how you feel about the changes.
I was with a group and we took a small wooden boat to get to the larger one. As we approached my mother dove in with joy. Almost like she couldn't resist the urge to be in this calm and lovely sea. I jumped in, in fear after her. Then I realized I was the one in danger. Not actually in danger but the only one scared.
This portion of the dream portrays your fear of jumping into relationships. You dive in after your mother from the sense of following in your mother's footsteps in terms of how she approaches relationships. Since everything and everyone in the dream is a reflection of you, your more 'adult' or nuturing side (mother) is feeling the need to 'jump in' even while you remain afraid.

Then I could hear the fish as if they were in a large school as the brushed the bow's bottom as they swam by. Then an extremely large, big mouthed fish that was brown and green in color with big eyes buzzed me. Almost just saying hey I see you and it's no big deal but I was here first. This portion of the dream suggests that indeed, there is life swimming 'below the surface' in the deeper aspects of what you attempt to keep out of conscious awareness. Its all good.

The second was me falling in love. The man was a close family friend, mostly of my older brother. He and I don't speak in waking life, so the fact that we were just normal in the dream was a great feeling. I felt no fear, animosity or regret around him. I was comfortable. My brother and I seemed to be living or staying in a big open house. There were no rooms but there were doors. I just didn't know where they went. There were a lot of high windows with lots of sunlight coming in but the house was just grey in color but in a warm, peaceful way. There were lots of posts like in a big cabin and lots of stairs. There was no furniture. I was the only one who went upstairs where there were lots of empty shelves.
This second portion of the dream reveals the deeper aspects of how you move into relationships. Family members can portray how the past might have influenced why you keep yourself 'reserved.' The big open house shows you exploring your potential, but please notice how the house:
--has no rooms but has doors...it has no furniture but lots of posts...and empty shelves.--This is a snapshot of both, how you hide and your fear of having nothing to offer in a relationship.

The 'aha' to me is the repetitiveness of doors, posts and the chain link fence at the end....
AHA: something that is being protected in this way cannot be filled with furniture (ideas to rest upon) or have things on the shelves (what you can share with others and how you present your ideas to others.) Since the house represents your 'inner architecture' here are things to consider: no rooms but doors? are there no walls? Is this a snapshot of having an easy escape?

There was something drawing this friend and me closer together and I knew we were in love but I didn't want to disappoint my brother, my family. I kept hiding things from them and denying my feelings to this man. I kept thinking they have to know. Each time my brother went out the front door I was sure it was because he was upset or felt awkward that this man and I had a connection. Finally the man couldn't take it and wouldn't accept it anymore. As he was professing his love and I clearly felt the same my brother came upon us. I was so worried and he just walked away. NOt in an angry or disappointed way but saying "I knew all along I'm happy for you" or "I never cared the way you thought I did I just want you happy." For a woman, the male becomes symbolic of moving fearlessly in the world. This portion of the dream reflects how you are ready for a fulfilling relationship.

Then the scene changed from us in this place announcing our love to me meeting him outside school. It must have been a high school or grade school. I met him outside. He was very excited because they had just discovered his natural ability to instantly formulate nourishment? I don't really know how to explain it now, but in the dream he said "watch, i take 10 sprints then I eat a banana and 3 teaspoons of peanut butter and I'm a machine" It was like a new invention and he had been hired by endorsers and athletes and teams worldwide. He would be very successful and I was so proud of this person and loved him so much.

The last portion of the dream takes place in a school setting (learning) and focuses on nourishment (how you have been trained to find nourishment.) Food in a dream is a more broad view of how you find nourishment in life. His ability to "formulate nourishment" is a classic snapshot of 'hiding the banana' or the covert way that your mind is saying....I like sex...it nourishes me. He (you) is even getting endorsements on that idea! This suggests that you are opening to intimacy.

I continued to follow him as he made formulas for all of our turns. We were running and laughing and were very happy. As we rounded a chainlink fence from an alley to a new street I thought "when do I tell him this will not work out? when do i tell him that someone so much younger than me can't make this work? That right now things are great but in real life they won't be very soon?"
Here, the chain link fence appears, it becomes obvious how you sabotage relationships. The idea is no longer hidden in the obscurities of the large open house... You wonder how to bring it up. This is a conversation you need to have with yourself. What are you afraid of?

As we rounded the corner (now on vespas) he asked me to join him at his favorite taqueria. It was a like this soulful, hip hubub while everything around seemed lifeless (buildings/people walking by). There were all kinds of interesting people on the patio. The tacqueria or 'foreign' restaraunt suggests that you need to find a new way, an exotic way, a more foreign way (or something different from what you have done in the past) to receive nourishment in life.

Two girls took my attention. They were having breakfast with iced coffees with cream. They had also just ordered two shots and dropped a dark liquid into what looked like milk. I remembered wondering if it was coffee dropped in kailua? They were so happy to be friends. The image of dropping liquid in cream is another way of exploring sex for more profound fulfillment....kind of like nourishment from the breast when you are a baby (your reference to cream.)

I woke up waiting for him to come back out. Wondering what he would surprise me with next. Perhaps you are exploring a new relationship or going through changes in your approach because of something you are observing in your mother or work you are doing in this area. Either way, your mind is awakening you to how you might find real fulfillment. The work consists of understanding what you are protecting and how your fear of intimacy can lead to a sense of constant rejection. While you do not own the condition, you can only feel victimized as if it is happening to you, and not because of your own fears.

The Return to Nature

How did Halloween become associated with the living dead?
Why do we celebrate Easter as a time when eggs are delivered by rabbits?

What events happened in the natural world that gave rise to our holidays?

The ancients saw themselves as participants of a Great Mystery and the things that took place in nature did not place human beings on the sidelines. At the root of any holiday, we can trace the natural phenomena that gave rise to our ancient beliefs.

2000 years ago, people watched the stars in the same way that we watch television. We might laugh at our ancient myths, but television shapes our beliefs in much the same way.

In addition to being resurrection vehicles for kings, the Egyptians built their pyramids as ancient observatories. Observing the precise placement of the Dog Star, Sirius coincided with the annual inundation of the Nile. As an agricultural community, they could predict with great accuracy when to plant and harvest by watching the movement of the stars.

On the winter solstice at the end of December, many ancient civilizations noted how the sun appeared to be reborn. This is a time when the shortest day of the year seems to switch course to give way to longer days. They celebrated the winter solstice as a time when a new sun was born. The ancients worshipped the return of the sun by decorating world trees with celestial orbs. Today people celebrate the birth of a son differently and wait for a return. Perhaps this is a rumor from ancient times, although the ancients would remind us how the sun returns every year.

At the end of winter, many ancient cultures observed what appeared to be a rabbit living on the moon. This coincided with a time when wild birds would lay their eggs. The ancients celebrated this renewal aspect of nature by worshipping the symbolic lunar rabbit or goddess Eastre. This coincides with the the celebration of Easter. We exchange eggs from a time when we honored the resurrection or rebirth occurring in the natural world. This was no mysterious resurrection, but the rebirth of life that was witnessed all over the earth.

The ancient Norse celebrated the onslaught of winter as a time they called the Great Hunt. Odin the Wild Huntsman led Thor, the God of Thunder along with his snorting hounds and horses through the skies overhead to tug the last remaining greenery from the earth. Townspeople would leave gifts of food out for the flying host and his train of horses who flew over overhead to gather the disembodied souls of the dead. Influencing our Halloween and Yule time traditions, many of our festivals have much older roots than religion.

During winter, the ancients also celebrated the life force that appeared to rejuvenate the sleeping seeds beneath the snow. Odin as the Flying Host inspired the tradition where gifts are delivered to the townsfolk below.

Autumn is a time when the natural world appears to die away. This was an important time to in these ancient agricultural communities however, because what was done in earnest during this season laid the proper foundation for a springtime to come. The ancients found comfort observing how in nature, everything that appears to die away is reborn.

The harvest festivals of ancient times also coincided with a time of honoring the dead. In the Great Mystery, it appeared that autumn brought life and death together....in a sliver of time...just once each year. As the earth opens to receive the seeds where the past and future will lead to new life, perhaps they believed their wishes could reach their departed loved ones. Honoring this life/death/life pattern of nature evolved into Halloween as a confirmation that there is nothing to fear.

The snake worshipping cults of antiquity honored the cyclical regeneration symbolized in the way that the snake sheds and renews its skin. They honored abundant fertility goddesses and earth deities so that their crops might find favor in the coming spring. In ancient times, it was the things of the earth that gave them inspiration. Nature offers this message of hope and renewal to anyone who would observe its ways. This halloween, may the seeds of your greatest dreams grow into your sprintime.

Meaning in Suffering

With suffering comes change.

My friend, a renowned Tai Chi master and I were discussing whether there is meaning in suffering. I quoted Mencius: "When great responsibility is about to befall one, life appears to confound all undertakings. Thereby it stimulates the mind, toughens the nature and improves all deficiencies."

Unllike a deity, whimsically deciding to test our endurance, Taoism captures the evolutionary thrust of nature that is simply seeking the best of what it might be. Appreciating nature's tremendous power to renew itself, we discover that this same power is within us.

He offered the following quotes in return: "Those who have suffered know much which is denied to the continuously healthy: and those who have been exalted - have realized truths which are out of the reach of those who lead quiet, equable lives." Finding peace in quiet is an illusion.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." This sounds like a Bushism, yet it reminds me of Gabriel Gibran's poem about Love: "But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears." With suffering comes growth.

A forest fire burns away old growth to prepare for the new. The same pollution that causes ocean temperatures to rise is often washed away in the very hurricanes that are generated.

Mohmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president blames the US for market collapse, while Bush blames Iran for terrorism. Yet, both are the voice of injustices that can no longer be swept under the carpet.

Black Elk would say: “You have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better.” Laughter, tears, the pursuit of change always breaks our defenses to remind us that we are natural creatures in a world that is endlessly changing.

Dream Posts Week of 9-15-2008

Q:
I dreamed that I was trying to use the bathroom, but the walls didn't give me any privacy.
A:
In some situation this week, you may have 'relieved' yourself of your normal sense of 'privacy.' Perhaps a situation required that you reveal some vulnerable aspect of yourself as you moved toward intimacy with another. 'Relieving yourself in public' is a common dream that occurs during periods when you open up to share your true feelings, desires and vulnerabilities.

Q:
In my dream, I was on a schoolbus that crashed. It was on its side and as I crawled out, I remember how the tires were still spinning.
A:
The schoolbus brings two ideas together. Dreaming of a transportation vehicle represents your current motivation or drive to move forward. Being driven as a passenger suggests that you are not necessarily 'in control' of where you are going. Since it was a 'school' bus, it brings forward images of following the group or how you were taught to go the 'right way.' It crashed as a symbol of how following the group will not lead to a sense of fulfillment. Seeing the tires spinning is the same as recognizing that your wheels are turning without getting you anywhere. Transportation dreams are common when you are exploring your direction and motivation. The imagery that you found to be most insignificant in the dream needs to be explored for more clues as to where you need to focus. Where was the bus going? Who were the passengers? Why did it crash?

Why We Dream

I was lucky to have grown up in the woods and valleys of Ohio. I spent my childhood outdoors and now I live in the Sierras, where I hike in the most magnificent mountains and forests on earth. No matter what has ever happened in my life, nature has always been my redeemer.

I am inspired to uncover how the power of nature touches us at a deep and profound level. It reinvigorate a sense of the spiritual each time we recognize how we are natural creatures in a natural world and are intricately interwoven into its search for a better way. Nature is relentless in its ability to overcome any barriers to its forward progress.

This same power is inside of us and is active during dreaming.

As a child, I wrote poetry, music and interpreted the dreams of my friends and family. Poetry was my religion and gave me a special connection to the more holistic side of life. As a symbologist, I have spent my life researching the common metaphors appearing in the dreams of individuals and in the myths and art of civilization.

We spend two thirds of our lives building the belief structures that are disassembled during the one third of our lives spent sleeping. In many ways, dreams seem to rehash some of our more difficult experiences, although therapists use dreams to uncover clues to help a client understand how they have become stuck. If the experience we are rehashing was meaningless, we wouldn't have dreamt about it.

Dreaming reveals how unhappiness is merely the hunger pain for change.

I feel like I have accomplished many things in my life, but inspiring others toward greater heights has been my most rewarding profession. As a dream analyst, I guide others in understanding this profound inner guidance.

We are the hero of a nightly adventure that allows us to activate self knowledge and direction in life. Dreaming reveals how some part of us seems to know us better than we know ourselves.

The omnicient ability to see the way forward, which seems beyond our reach in daily life, becomes the plot and story lines of our dreams. The heroes of our ancient tales traverse exotic landscapes to uncover the treasures that will reveal both, their identity and destiny. In the same way, we are the sleeping hero who is given the clues that will awaken us to our destiny.

Post your dream as a comment or contact me and I will interpret it anonymously. Or, for more information, visit the dream dictionary in my website.