Unsettling Dreams

Hi

I've been having various very disturbing dreams recently - the storyline is always different but the effect is the same feeling of fear and discomfort which lasts most of the next day. Usually the dreams have realistic subjects - last night I dreamed I was four months pregnant and that a baby would be a complete disaster to my life (as it would be in real life at the moment... tho I'm not in a relationship so it's not exactly something I'm consciously worried about), the night before I dreamed I lost my handbag which contained my phone and credit cards - again, this would be quite a pain in real life and was a total disaster in the dream. There are some which are less naturalistic - I thought I awoke from my dream last night, but was actually dreaming - and saw the plant that grows in my bedroom growing at an alarming rate towards me. I had to switch the light on when I finally actually awoke to check the plant was normal! These are really unsettling dreams and I'd like to be able to find the cause - and ideally to stop them.

I'm having a slightly dissatisfying time at the moment - I'm a freelance theatre director and work is pretty thin on the ground at the moment, and I've met a guy I like but I'm not sure how he feels about me and I fear I've made a bit of a fool of myself - but nothing so very awful as to seem to justify such a consistently nasty sense of loss and hopelessness in my dreams.

I'd be really very greatful for any insight.

Many thanks,

Sarah

Good morning, Sarah.

Your dreams have a variety of possible meanings, from the little bit of each that you've included. A baby on the way represents a tremendous responsibility, the loss of the credit cards is more related to financial concerns, and the plant growing out of control suggests feeling threatened by problems that start out small but also "grow out of control." Your reaction to the dreams seems to be the only thing that ties them together, and as you said, that reaction seems completely out of proportion with your current waking life.

Pretty sparse clues, so far. The dreams seem to speak of obligations or setbacks that get out of hand, grow bigger, and threaten your security. It occurs to me to ask, are you being asked to take many non-paying or deferred-pay directing jobs, possibly as favors to friends?

I might need to ask for more detail in order to be of much help to you. Each individual dream might contain more clues. Usually, if you find the problem in waking life and fix it there, the nightmares stop.

I also know of one particular dream control method (used by the Senoi tribe) which can be useful in the case of recurring nightmares. You should remind yourself every night that you will confront your dream enemies and defeat them. Spend a few minutes before sleep concentrating on this resolve. It can take a while for this message to soak in, so give it at LEAST two weeks before declaring it hopeless.

Pleasant dreams,

Peregrin