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| Placid Celebes macaque (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Recently I've had a series of dreams that seem to be radically different in content, but somehow related. I may be fabricating the relationship of these dreams, but each of the dreams has lead me to think about the same aspect of my life and connected my dream to a previous one. My suspicion about the fabrication may be directly linked to an upcoming event about which I am extremely apprehensive. My discomfiture about this event could be the cause of the dreams or because the dreams created a sense of discomfort for me I may be relating the dream scenarios to the real event that I am anticipating.
The dream that I consider to be the first of the series is mostly forgotten since I did not focus upon it after I woke up. The dream had to do with a house in a foreign place. My wife and I had seemingly taken possession of the house from my wife's former sister-in-law or perhaps we were just visiting there. The dream setting had an uncomfortable odd feel to me and I was anxious to forget it.
The following night I dreamed that I was travelling somewhere in the Chicago area. I have stopped at a service station with a convenience store and a McDonald's restaurant. The establishment is old and in somewhat of a disarray. An old friend of mine is there--perhaps as an employee. I get some french fries and a drink in a clear cup from the restaurant and am talking to my friend when I notice a macaque sitting in my van. I'm not sure why there is a macaque or why I would have even dream-thought this animal since I am not very familiar with these monkeys.
At some point I am distracted by something and the macaque grabs my french fries and drink. I see the creature casually eating the fries and downing the drink. I am mildly annoyed but fascinated at the same time. Upon a closer look I see that the drink has some sort of particles floating in it and realize the drink was not very clean. I feel relieved that the macaque has stolen my drink.
The day following that dream my wife gave me some news about an event that will be happening in the near future. I felt uncomfortable about the news and was not happy about it. However, I felt like I need to support her decision and be part of something I don't want to do. I remembered the house dream and the macaque dream and realized that there seems to be a significant relationship between the dreams and the news that my wife has delivered to me. I am torn and distraught.
That night I had a third dream. I am in a peculiar wooded mountainous area. Is it Pennsylvania? It seems to be somewhat touristy with rustic cabins and scenic roads. I go to a campground where I meet up with some old friends. Eventually we are walking along a road that is going to a town. There seems to be a foreign invasion underway or a war perhaps. We are being shot at. After we get to the town I encounter an enemy soldier. I manage to wrest his pistol from him and knock him to the ground. I begin beating him under his chin with the pistol. I beat him and beat him until his head comes off. I am disgusted at what I have done. I look up and beyond the edge of town to see a road that disappears into a vast unpopulated area that is very inviting to me.
I woke up not afraid, but somewhat horrified at my final actions in the dream. I am resolved to tell my wife that I don't want to do what she wants to do. As the day wore on I realized that it would be best to go along with what my wife wants to do. That night I gave her the news. She seemed very pleased. I kept thinking about that macaque.
Have you ever had a series of ongoing dreams that seemed very different but somehow connected? Do you sometimes have difficult life decisions that cause you to have bad dreams? From the clues in my dreams, what do you think my wife wants to do that I'm not excited about doing?
You could say I have difficult life decisions that causes not so nice dreams, but I try to forget them.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Interesting. I tend to have nightmare when I have difficult life decisions to make, but the nightmares aren't really related to the decision. Like say my car died and I have to get a new one - I don't necessarily dream about cars or accidents or any mishaps with vehicles. But I might dream about being lost in a scary place (actually I dream a lot about being lost in a scary place).
ReplyDeleteNot sure at all what your wife might want you to do - you really didn't give many clues, but I'm going to guess that she wants to move out of the city to someplace that might seem foreign to you.
Yvonne -- If only you could steer your dreams in a more favorable direction so that you would want to remember them and let them teach and guide you. Perhaps you need to meditate on very beautiful and positive things before sleep so that your dreaming might be influenced in a better way.
ReplyDeleteFaraway -- I think the difficult life decisions influence my dreams as well, but usually not overly scary. My clues must have been fairly good because your guess about what my wife wants to do is very very close.
Lee
I try hard to forget my scary or uncomfortable dreams, which I've been plagued with all week. A lot of it has to do with my sweetie's health issues and being worried sick about him.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased that you are supportive of your wife's decision, despite your misgivings about it. But I bet everything turns out great.
Wouldn't it be great to unlock the secrets of our dreams -- but it's such hard work most of the time. I must have security issues because I often dream of houses with a windowless room in the middle, surrounded by other rooms. But such a room existed in my late MIL's house, so maybe that's the reason for the dream.
ReplyDeleteMy recurring dreams involve the Eagles' cheerleaders, a few bottles of Fireball whiskey and a case of whipped cream spray cans...
ReplyDeleteI spent years in therapy looking for the meaning and realized that I was falling asleep with the Spice channel on...
In all seriousness, I've commented before that I do not seem to remember dreams, but I've always struggled with whether there is really a meaning in them or whether they are just random images from our subconscious mind.
But I guess that's the whole mission of this blog-figuring that out!
A macaque? That is strange, really strange.
ReplyDeleteWhat does your wife want you to do? Something that will demand more of you than you want to give--maybe re-paint the house? Put on a new roof? Clean out the garage?
So, Mr. Bird - are you gonna tell us or just keep us close to guessing?
ReplyDeleteJoJo -- I'm sure that worry can affect our dreaming in such a way to reflect that worry. I'm sure things will turn out okay for me, but still I have certain misgivings about what's been planned.
ReplyDeleteJan -- I think dreams images often recreate things we have known in our pasts or reinterpret them. If we delve into our dreams and figure out what the symbols mean to us then we are on the road to figuring out what the dreams are saying to us.
Larry -- I have no doubt that dreams actually mean something. Even the imaginary fantasy you described probably can be reinterpreted to say something real about you, but it's probably not all that complex to figure out:) Dream are the mind talking to us in a mysterious language of subconscious symbolism. Sometimes the message is obvious, but at other times it's so weird and ambiguous that it's easier to just forget it and not even attempt to figure out the meaning.
Susan -- I guess I will have to divulge the thing my wife wants me to do, but not yet. I'll wait to see if I get any more guesses. I thought the macaque was very strange but so appropriate in light of what has been presented to me by my wife.
Faraway--Like I just said to Susan, I will kind of tell what it is that my wife wants to do after there has been a bit more opportunity for guesses. But I will say that your guess is so uncannily close that one more guess would probably put you there.
Lee
Lee-
ReplyDeleteThat fantasy was paraphrased from an old Doonsbury cartoon-it was a dream that the Uncle Duke character had...
I think if you try to interpret it, you're left with the fact that I remember too much useless trivia.
When I was younger, I did remember dreams, but never had any luck deciphering them.
I've made this statement to Stephen T. McCarthy on another topic-while I do not know that I will concede that dreams absolutely DO have meaning, I will concede that I am somewhat close-minded to such things and that fact may prevent me from seeing the meaning.
LC
Thanks for calling my A to Z reflection comment epic. :)
ReplyDelete@JLenniDorner
I have had a series of dreams over my lifespan that are connected. My brain has merged several cities (most notably Boston, Philly, and NYC) into one mega spot. The dreams come and go, but always pick up where I left off, like a tv show that comes on at random over the years. Sometimes the dreams are good, sometimes not so good.
Since Faraway is warm, I'll guess that your wife wants to move near the San Diego Zoo. An African safari also sounds nice. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll enjoy doing it together. I'll check back with you when I get back.
ReplyDeleteJulie
What a peculiar dream! I can rarely ever remember my dreams, let alone a series!
ReplyDeleteBOIDMAN LEE ~
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the post, and before reading even one of the comments, I figured that the thing your wife wanted was to move.
After reading the comments, and glancing back at portions of the post and noting the "foreign" things and places that appear in the dreams, etc., I'm going to say that your wife wants to move back to her own home country.
I forget exactly where your wife is from, but I know it's not the U.S.A. So I think she wants you to move to the country of her origin.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
I've dreamed about certain people doing out of the ordinary things with me. It's a sign to pray for them and check on them, I've found. Weird things, dreams are.
ReplyDeleteLarry -- I think you have to be acutely aware of the dreams and yourself before you start making the connections to what the dreams mean. I'm sure they all mean something, but it could relate to many aspects of the mind on many different levels. Now to figure out exactly what and which.
ReplyDeleteLenni -- I think conglomerate locations are common dream settings.
Julie -- I used to live in San Diego and I liked it, but no it's not that or an African safari.
Sherry -- Practice will improve your dream recollection.
StMc --- You my friend are very close now except she doesn't want to move. It's unlikely that I--or she for that matter--would ever move out of the U.S.A.
Bethie -- I think you may be right to a degree. Our subconscious mind may pick up on messages about others that we don't see in waking life.
Lee
Dreams have an amazing way of tapping into the parts of ourselves we often can't properly face when awake.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee, a complex and interesting dream. I had to look up macaque - a non human primate found in many habitats. Perhaps they're tame in some parts but a monkey taking your MacD and fizzy drink? Not too usual I would imagine though here in parts of South Africa baboons are known to come down from the mountains and RAID people's fridges. They're smart ... some part of them has been westernised ...
ReplyDeleteI posted a dream recently (not my own) on http://www.gardenofedenblog.com titled 'a dream considered'. The COMMENTS received (especially from Patricia) were so so interesting ...
I also hazarded a guess and wondered about your wife wanting to move elsewhere ...
Good luck with whatever transpires ...
I'd say you're moving to an unfamiliar place and you're not excited about the move. Perhaps you've listened to news reports or something that make you fear the place itself, not just the move and whatever she will be doing there.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple of recurring dreams over the years that are very disturbing, and they seem to occur most when I am distressed about something. I do believe dreams can be prophetic sometimes though.
I hope all goes well with the anticipated event. Maybe it will all work out better than you think.
......dhole
Lynda -- I think that may be one of the primary functions of dreams.
ReplyDeleteSusan -- Macaque is not a term I have commonly encountered, but I obviously knew what it was since I specifically was able to identify it as such in the dream. I did check on line to verify I was correct and the macaques illustrated at computer sites were much like what I saw in the dream. My situation with my wife does involve travel, but not a move.
Donna -- I will say there is a trip planned in the weeks to come. I'm still a bit apprehensive, but I'm beginning to acclimate myself to the idea of the trip. I think if we learn the language of our dreams, the messages they are giving us become more clear. Distress is often masked by dream symbols that usually aren't difficult to decipher with a little bit of contemplation on the matter.
Lee