Recurring Dreams

Do you ever have dreams that repeat with similar themes over the course of several days, weeks or even years? I do.

When I was a child I used to dream about floating down a river in a canoe. Sometimes it was smooth and easy going. Sometimes there were rapids and it seemed like a roller coaster ride. Early on, my dreams frequently ended with my shooting towards a dark cave or hole in the ground. Later, I would go down through the cave and eventually come out in a peaceful lagoon or beach below.

A few years ago, I started having dreams of wanting to take a shower and being unable to for various reasons. Sometimes I would be in a public place - like at a kiosk in a busy mall, with people walking through constantly. Other times I would be at home or in a relative's home, but the bathroom doors wouldn't lock or latch, and people would be walking through continuously. Sometimes, I would just keep getting distracted, knowing that I wanted to shower, but somehow never actually getting around to it.

More recently, I've started having dreams of going to school and having a baby with me. Sometimes I'm working on papers or taking tests or just sitting in a classroom, but I have this bald, genderless baby attached to my hip. This morning's dream involved leaving class with my baby, driving home, and having some crazy lady in a white van ram into me, and having to then drive to the hospital. At the hospital I talked to some people, one of whom suggested that drinking water would help my condition. However, the part of the hospital where the drinking fountain was located was under construction and the button to make the water come out was three or four feet away from the fountain itself. I could push the button and hold the baby where it could get a drink, but I couldn't get a drink myself.

I don't know if these dreams have any meaning. Maybe the earliest ones had something to do with feeling a lack of control over my life. Perhaps they evolved as I realized that even if I was approaching the unknown, things would turn out okay in the end.

With the shower dreams, maybe my subconscious wanted more privacy or personal time. Or maybe it wanted me to think or meditate deeper personal things more, and I wasn't taking the time to do that. I don't know.

The more recent dreams have me even more baffled. I used to think I would go back to school when all my children were in school, but so far, that hasn't happened. I don't know what I would study if I did go back to school. I feel comfortably "done" with having children at the moment and don't really desire more. I graduated from college before I even got married so I've never juggled children and school at the same time. This morning I did wake up feeling thirsty though, so that might explain at least part of my dream.

Comments

  1. I keep having dreams about having a baby in school too. Usually I'm super stressed because I can't remember what class I'm supposed to be in, or I forgot about my baby for a while and then I just remembered and I don't know where he is or who's watching him or if I just left him somewhere. Sometimes that baby is Andrew, or Deano, but it's just as often some other baby that I forgot about.
    I used to have this weird dream where there was this hand that was soft and perfect, I don't know why but I always think of a peach. And then the hand dries up and crumbles... almost like that last scene of the first Harry Potter movie, but not quite... and I was having this dream for years before I ever saw that movie. I haven't had that particular dream in a while though.
    In high school I used to have this dream where I was in this empty house on a beautiful green hill... but then the house starts shrinking and I suffocate and die... I hated those dreams, glad I haven't had it in a few years.
    I have no idea what any of those dreams are about... if anything.

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