Yo, Noflyingfan...

[spiffyone]

I had a dream. I think I know what it means but I would love input. It was kind of cool actually...

I dreamed I lived in a loft kind of space with all these platform beds. It had an attic up above. One night I woke up and saw several pairs of eyes looking down at me from the platform bed above mine. There were a bunch of cheetahs and lions up there who had been living in the attic. The door had been left open accidentally and they came down. They were just lying there, looking at me and sort of licking their chops.

So I was sort of panicking, trying to lie very still so I would not agitate them...and thinking, how could I get them to go back upstairs so they wouldn't hurt me? Or how could I get down from my bed without them pouncing on me? While I was thinking about all this, they lazily got down from their perch and started over to my bed. Taking their time. Looking very menacing and scary. Licking their lips...

And then they came over to my bed and started licking my hands, just like kitty cats do, and I realized they were friendly, and I felt bad that they had been lonely up in the attic all this time.

Ideas....?

[noflyingfan]

Alright, here's what I think.

These cheetahs represent something you're afraid of. It almost sounds like ghosts or something, but that doesn't have to be what it is.

You were telling yourself in the dream that you don't have to be afraid of whatever it is, that it won't hurt you.

That what you were thinking too?

[spiffyone]

Yeah, or more positively, that something I was afraid of would actually turn out okay.

Or, more Freudianly, that the animals represented the fear itself, or something....

I don't think that's actually Freudian...Monica would know...

[WillFlyToDisney]

Monica knows Freud? Doesn't surprise me. She knows everyone! :)

I think it means that you and Duncan need to start your own ZOO. :mg:

Kelley

[spiffyone]

more frighteningly, that MY kitty cats are actually looking for opportunities to take me down like "Wild kingdom."

:eek:

[noflyingfan]

Yeah, or more positively, that something I was afraid of would actually turn out okay.

Or, more Freudianly, that the animals represented the fear itself, or something....

I don't think that's actually Freudian...Monica would know...

Sounds like Roosevelt to me. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

But yeah, I think that whatever those cheetahs symbolize, it's something you're afraid of. But obviously, you know it's not going to hurt you, that it will be okay.

[WillFlyToDisney]

Spiff - the representation of something you fear but know it wont hurt you could be several things - your upcoming wedding, your job change, your Southern future-in-laws... :D


Kelley

[noflyingfan]

So, Monica, as a professional, what is your opinion of dreams having something to do with how a person feels about things in his or her life?

I'm not trained in psychology at all, so I'm curious. Honestly, I come at it from a reader's perspective, honestly. In much literature, things hardly ever represent what they actually are, so I figured that's about the same when it comes to the brain.