In our weekly Mindful Dreams column, Aneta Baranek of the School of Metaphysics is offering free dream interpretations to The Mindful Word readers, as well as articles on dreams in general.
If you’ve ever been curious about deciphering the cryptic contents of your subconscious mind, here’s your chance! If you would like Aneta to interpret your dream, fill out this form. She will respond with your dream interpretation through this column, published every Thursday. Aneta would love to receive more comments for the dreams interpreted. If you can relate to a dream posted here or have any insights to add, you can post them as comments to the interpretation, or email her at aneta@themindfulword.org.
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DREAM
Hi Aneta,
When I was around 30 years old, I had two similar dreams. In the first, I was standing on a clifftop watching a helicopter fly over a calm sea. I saw a man down on the beach raising a rifle, and realized he was going to shoot the helicopter down. I tried to shout, but couldn’t. I couldn’t warn the people that they were going to be hit.
The shooter brought the helicopter down, and the feeling of helplessness and horror that I experienced was awful.
In the second dream, I was standing on a clifftop watching a man swim happily in a calm sea. I saw a huge shark coming up behind him, and again tried to shout, but I couldn’t. The shark simply engulfed the man and sank silently beneath the water. The feelings I had were the same as in the first dream.
– Cathy
DREAM TITLE: “The Way of Sabotage”
DREAMER: Female, 61, France
MAIN SYMBOLS:
Clifftop — place of visibility and elevation
Helicopter — vehicle used for flying (freedom of movement)
Sea — conscious life experience
Rifle — tool of forced change
Man — an inner aspect of the dreamer
Shark — a habit
INTERPRETATION
Hello Cathy,
Thank you for sending in your dreams. It’s interesting to see the correlation between the two of them.
A clifftop is a place of elevation that allows for visibility. A calm sea represents waking life experiences interlaced with much peace and calmness. A helicopter symbolizes a vehicle that allows the freedom of flying. The man with the rifle is an inner aspect of you, the dreamer, determined to force a change in relation to that freedom. You not being able to stop him signifies that you feel out of control in that particular situation.
In the second dream, a clifftop appears again, signifying your ability to see things clearly and from an elevated point of view. The shark symbolizes a habit which attacks the man (an inner aspect of you) and consumes him by submerging into the sea waters (waking life experience).
Both dreams speak to ways in which you experience a sort of sabotage, either caused by what you perceive as a forced change, or as an overpowering habit. In both dreams, the initial atmosphere is one of much calmness and clarity, as well as freedom. Yet, the tranquillity becomes disrupted by you, the dreamer, being taken over by a habitual way of being (shark) or an involuntary change (the man with the rifle).
APPLICATION
Every dream is about the dreamer, and everything in a dream represents the dreamer. The shark is a habit that’s part of your life, as is the man with the rifle. They both symbolize ways in which you undermine the clarity and calmness that you experience in your everyday life.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]The unconscious fear of actually becoming who we want to be often causes us to revert back to old habits.[/su_pullquote]
Usually, we undermine or sabotage our efforts due to the fact that our ego would prefer to stay the same. Most of the time, these behaviours are unconscious and have developed in our early years.
One such example might be a fear of success. Many of us talk and dream a lot about things being different. However, the minute we start taking action towards improving our circumstances, the unconscious fear of actually becoming who we want to be (i.e. the fear of success) often causes us to revert back to old habits.
Some of us are also addicted to chaos or emotional drama based on the environment we grew up in. As much as we say we desire peace and quiet, we unconsciously create situations that feed our hidden need to continue to experience chaos and/or emotional drama.
If these were my dreams, I’d look at ways in which I introduce and complete any changes in my life:
- Do I stick to the goals that I set for myself?
- Do I keep promises to myself?
- Do I complete projects that I initiate or are part of?
To implement a complete change, we need to have a clear vision of who we’re becoming throughout the process, and why. We also need to keep that vision in the forefront of our minds each day, using it as a motivational power that’ll drive us to continue with the changes we’ve decided to make.
Our ego, our current identity, will attempt (many times!) to undermine our efforts. Knowing exactly what we want to create, either inwardly or outwardly—and why—will help us immensely when it comes to staying focused on the final outcome without being deterred by temporary disruptions or distractions.
May your dreams illuminate the inner and outer you…
