Everywhere
I am at the beach, alone. I savor the peace and quiet as the
warm surf rolls under my feet tugging gently at my ankles.
Suddenly, the water is up to my knees and I find it difficult to
walk. I head for shore and I am scared. The shore gets further
and further away and the water gets higher and higher. I see a
building in the distance and I know that I must reach it or I will
drown. My heart pounds in my chest as the water continues to
get higher and higher.
I find myself at the door of the building. I look behind me; the
water is about to overtake me. I open the door and make it
inside. I know that I am safe. I look around; the building is
empty. I go to a small window and see the water is above the
window line. The building is submerged in water, yet I feel safe.
The above was a recurring dream I had for about 20 years
starting when I was about 12 years old. It was always the same
for many years. At some point, I began to notice a few (one at
first, then two or three) other people in the building. When I
was about thirty years old or so, the windows seemed to get
larger and larger until the walls were literally made of glass.
Fortunately, I have not had this dream for about 8 years now.
Water is a common theme in dreams. A large body of water (an
ocean) is thought to symbolize the unconscious mind. Any body
of water usually symbolizes the state of the emotions. A calm
body of water means a peaceful state of mind and a turbulent or
stormy body of water symbolizes a worried or upset frame of
mind. A building may (or may not) represent the self or the
dreamer's physical body. A window represents one's outlook
on life, or may signify a major insight into the dreamer's life.
People usually refer to different aspects of the dreamer. (In
most dreams, Mom is not your mother but you in the role you
play as a mother or nurturer in your daily life.)
Schumann's: Traumerei
(Dreaming) performed and
© John Bell Young. It is used
with permission.
This is such a classic dream that one might think I "dreamed" it
up just for this article. The fact is that it really was a recurring
dream of mine for many years. To understand the interpretation
you should probably know, without going into details, that there
were several incidents in my adolescence that I repressed -- in
other words I locked them away deep in my subconscious.
The ocean signifies that the dream is referring to my
subconscious. In the dream, the water is overtaking me and I
am afraid that I will drown unless I go inside the building. If the
water symbolizes my emotions then the fact that I was afraid of
drowning indicates that I was afraid that my emotions would
overwhelm me. I, therefore, needed to find shelter from these
emotions and went inside the building -- inside of myself.
At first, I was alone in the building. At some point I became
aware of other people. These other "people" were actually me.
As each incident occurred in my life, another part of me went
"inside" where it was safe.
The windows were indeed, a major insight into my life, and
allowed me a glimpse of the emotions that I was in fear of. In
the beginning they were very small and seeing that the water
was over the top of the windows, allowed me to believe that I
was right in going inside the shelter -- it saved me. The
windows got larger and larger as I matured and learned how to
deal with these emotions that I repressed for so long. In the
end the walls were completely transparent and then the dreams
stopped. I no longer needed to hide in the building, as I was no
longer afraid of drowning in my emotions. Therefore, the
dreams stopped.
This dream recurred on a regular basis for about 16 years. I
continued having this dream even after I interpreted it. Mainly
because the dream only made me realize that I had issues that I
was hiding inside, without any indication of what the issues
were. There were other recurring dreams that gave me this
information. These I will share with you elsewhere. I hope you
will continue to join me.
My Action Plan
Since the purpose of remembering dreams is so that you can
learn from them and act upon them, I generally devise an action
plan once I interpret a dream. Once I interpreted this particular
dream, I intentionally left myself open for signs of the particular
issues that I was repressing. It took some time -- but it worked.
More dreams -- Trees for Two; The Landlord Cleans Up; Cats!;
Fire!; A Day at Work; Shopping For a Bra
Go to Symbol Dictionary.
See my Artwork inspired by this dream.
be an expert on dreams. I
have no degree in Psychology
or any other science. I
profess to be a dreamer -- in
every sense of the word,
because I dream and I have
learned to interpret my own
dreams. I make no promises
that I can interpret your
dreams. I merely hope to help
you learn to interpret your
own dreams. You are
welcome to learn from my
experiences.
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