This dream has been troubling me for 2 weeks now, can anyone help?

[paisley]

Since Dec. I have been following a method to understand my own dreams and I feel like I have succeeded until I came to this dream and I can not figure it out at all b/c it is out of character to the types of dreams I normally have, and also the day before I had this dream was a really good day with my family, and I went to bed very happy and at peace, but then I had this disturbing dream. (I apologize in advance for its length.)
Dream: The setting was in a lovely dark brown, wood, 2 story cottage home set on its own piece of land away from others. It had trees, a long curvy driveway and a pond. Inside the house was me, my 2nd brother-in-law (BIL), my husband (DH), and my mother-in-law (MIL) (in real life she is deceased but I have had a series of dreams about her since this dream). The house had dark wood floors and was lit but not brightly lit. DH, BIL, and MIL were talking about my neice. According to them my 1st BIL had called and said my neice did not come home. He thought she ran off with a boy but they didn't know if she was dead or alive. Apparently they did not trust who she supposedly went off with and felt he could do her harm. They were talking about how hard this was on SIL, and I threw in that it was probably hard on BIL too, but I was speaking more from the viewpoint of losing his daughter to marriage rather than losing her to murder as they seemed to be worried about. So I asked what made them think she ran off with a man. And they said, 1st BIL got a telephone message from a machine that said my neice and some young man had eloped, went to Florida and were heading to Alabama. At first I got excited when I heard they were heading to AL because it was like my neice was doing it in honor of me since that is my home state and NOT a place newlyweds would go. However, as I got to thinking, I began questioning and asked them didn't the man call? They said "no" in an annoyed tone like I was asking an obviously foolish question. I said, "the only reason I was asking was I am now wondering if the message is truth or lie". I said, if it were true and they wanted to inform her parents, it seems to me he would have let my neice make the call because they were in America (we live in Japan and my in-laws are Japanese) and could do nothing about it since they were on the other side of the world, but if it was a lie, neither of them made contact which is why a machine was used". Everyone thought of this and they got to discussing things again, when I came to a conclusion that the facts did not add up so I went to look for my neice myself and I found her. We then saw a helicopter circling overhead. It was obvious that it was searching for something and I figured it was searching for my neice since it had been reported to the police that she was missing. However, instead of informing the police she had been found, I told her we must jump in a deep, square, brownish red dirt hole in the ground to avoid being identified. In the hole, she was watching the helicopter, as I wondered where this supposed man was and how such a story ended up being fabricated, but I did not ask at that time. Instead, I noticed the helicoper began honing in on us as its large sweeping circles turned into concentrated small circles way up in the sky above us. I told my neice to quickly look down because it was her eyes that were making the helicopter identify her. When she looked down, it was as if the helicopter lost all track of her and went away. So then we got out of the hole and went back to the cottage to reunite with our happy and relieved family. As they were all talking, I began cooking and serving everyone. Since MIL was blind and unable to walk, I had to help feed her. Then a knock came to the door. DH got the door and said it was for me and went back talking and eating. I got up, went to the door, but no one was there. I felt uneasy as I stayed close to the open door and called out "who's there?" "Hello?" There was no answer just a slight wind. The season seemed to be autumn as a few dried leaves flew by and the atmosphere was the colors of fall. I did not want to venture too far from the doorway and I definitely did not want to peep around the corner but I did step out a little to get a better look and call louder. Still there was no answer. After a few minutes I returned inside and simply said there was no one there. My family thought it was odd but no one thought too much of it except for me. They were too busy celebrating my neice's return. Then a knock came to the door again. Again, DH went to the door and said it was for me. I went and there stood almost in a ghostly manner a girl I had had 1 or 2 classes with in college. Her face was grim and white as she grabbed my arm, said "we must talk privately", pulled me outside, and shut the door. She then said "what did they say about the man and the pond?" I shook my head and said "nothing". She became angry with me and pulled me towards the pond, pointed at it, and asked me again very forcefully as though she felt confident that I knew. I wanted to give her an answer but for the life of me I could not recall any conversation of the sort. Thus, I felt helpless and confused as I breathed out a sigh of, "nothing". She then said, "He said, YOU WILL FIND ME AT THE POND"!!!!!! Then I remembered, and said "oh yes! I forgot when we were eating my neice said the man said something that confused her. He told her "you will find me at the pond", but I said none of us gave that much thought because we didn't know what it meant. The woman then began guiding me back to the house with something intentional on her mind, when my sister ran up to the pond and pulled out this huge, bright green iguana. It was like a comic relief in an intense moment of a movie. For a few minutes we saw my sister insanely struggling to hold that wild iguana like a pet. I told her to keep it away from the woman and me because we didn't like it and to watch out for its tail and mouth because it might hurt her. Ironically, we saw her running to and fro trying to catch that thing, but it kept coming to me wanting to be petted. It seemed to have a natural love for me, but I kept shooing it away. Then that scene disappeared and the intense scene with the woman returned. She took me to the corner of the house next to the front door where I originally did not want to peer around when no one was at the door, and said "he said he would be found at the pond. Look!" She pointed and against the house I saw the bottom of a man' s legs hanging while the top of his body was hidden behind a tree. It was obvious from her demeanor that he had been hung by someone else. It was not suicide. I was horrified and said we should call the police. She said, "no, they will not help you. They are in it too". So I said, "what should we do?" She replied, "you must get out quickly. You have to leave NOW!" I asked if that included the others in the house, and she said yes, we all must leave or "they" will come kill us all that night. I asked about my neice, and she said that I must watch her carefully that she is safe but can turn on me in a second (in real life my neice is a very responsible, kind hearted girl). So said I had better send her back to her parents, and then everything will be fine The woman's face and voice then grew urgent and said "waste no more time, get out NOW! The darkness is already starting to loom upon us. Get out!" I could see she was uncomfortable staying any longer and she disappeared, but I took her words seriously. I ran, got a van, drove it to the front door, ran in and told everyone to get their suitcases and we were getting out now. I told them I was putting MIL in the van and I would give them 5 minutes and I was leaving. They all knew me enough to take me seriously so they all jumped up, got their suitcases, I took my neice to the train station and we gave her money to buy tickets to get home. We all escaped something we did not even know what we were escaping from (except my neice, she knew). I did not know if it were actual people or some unknown force, but we escaped.
For 2 weeks now the words "waste no more time, get out NOW! The darkness is already starting to loom upon us. Get out!" keep ringing in my head and I can't get them out nor can I figure out what they could mean. However, as I was walking my dog one day after having this dream it hit me that my house is 2 stories, brown, in a very lovely location for Japanese standards, and it is right in front of a tree lined river. I then wondered if this cottage could represent my home, but that is my only clue to the dream. If anyone else has any thoughts, I would appreciate it.

[Varzandeh]

Hi,
Your dream is too long for me to analyze.
truthful dreams are short, waiting for your other dreams.

[unclesirbobbyrobson]

Well Jung has mentioned about balances in dreams. I have forgotten the exact phrase for it. But say if you have ahad a really good day then the dream may bring you back to reality and straightenm out your thinking. If things have been going really well then the dream world may offer some badness of difficulty to even things out.

But remember that underlying a dream is a conceptual feeling. so deep down the dream has some deeper meaning that maybe not even that negative.

Think of it this way. The english langauge uses negative words but they may not link necessarily to the issues that we associate with their simple meaning. Take for instance the word "violent". If violence appears in dreams then we automatically assume that it links to some violence or bad feeling. Yet thats not always the case.

There are many links between dream symbols and there dream dictionary meaning. Yet think of the vast amount of deep meanings and contexts that these words may appear

"I was praised by my boss yesterday. It has caused a lot of turbulence and violence within my head. I am used to the constant stream of abuse he dishes out. This praise kind of disturbs me"

I will look at the dream in greater detail later but I like vandandeh cannot handle suchj a long dream right now. I have a program that reads out text at home and I will read it there. Its a bit long to just read. My reading comprehension is actually pretty poor and so I would undoubtrably miss something.

I will post back when I am next on line. But its actually probable that the dreams meaning is now lost. Many dreams refer to the previous day. But they can be premonitions. Howveer a premonition will usually come true very quickly unless its very serious in its meaning.

But really a dream is usualy conceptual in its nature. It approaches something from a different point of view. So wehn a day has gone well it may show things going badly. The dream may show thinsg going badly as a way of bringing you back to reality "so you should not get carried away in painting the world too brightly." or teh underlying meaning maybe that it is presenting you with an example of how you have been viewing the world. So the meaning is "recently I have been so negative and yet yesterday thinsg turned out really well. I should stop being pessimistic"

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It is actually possible to understand what dreams mean. Simply look at the effects on people who have gone without sleep for a long time period. If you are deprived of sleep for several days then you will slip into madness. The reason for this is that sleep and dreams are linked to vital brain functions.

During the day we store up new thoughts and experiences within short term memory blocks. So if we are deprived sleep these become overloaded. The mind has no more space to store new feelings so these are merely forgotten.

During sleep vital brain waves emerge. Beta waves and theta waves are only ever detected within the brain at night. These help us process through those new feelings and experiences stored in short term memory. We integrate these new feelings into long term memory blocks. So if you do not sleep then you will not be updating your thoughts. You will not be building a bigger picture.

A dream dictionary that explores the variety of meanings in a dream symbol DREAM DICTIONARY
Dream symbolism and dream dictionary interpretation - How to interpret dreams Some tips
Dream symbolism - How to use dream symbols How to use dreams symbols

[unclesirbobbyrobson]

Well let’s get one thing straight. This dream took place after a family event. So in some way this dream reflects some situation or behavior that took place that previous day. The dream does feature a lot of family form your husband’s side and a niece from your side. So it’s a family dream and may reflect some hidden resentments about how your relationship progresses. Perhaps it links to some thought like "Yesterday went really well BUT sometimes I feel we follow too much of what my husband wants"

In the dream you are chasing after family and feeding his mother in law. It may not link to resentments about what happened the previous day and may simply link to some regrets about life in general such as "I enjoyed yesterdays but I just wish maybe I could catch up with family in a way that my husband can so easily catch up with his. But of course in many ways my own family is dead as I live in a different country from them". That’s dead in the sense that if you are not with them then the relationship has died.

The dream also features this pond. In my experience ponds can symbolize deeply reflective emotions and sadness and stagnant feelings. Do you feel stagnant in any way? Or did you feel as if things were stagnating the day before just even for a small moment. Or maybe did you spot some moment of stagnation within your husband such as a mood or feel some bad feeling about to break out. Anything like that.

Those are the sorts of questions to ask. Just try to associate with the general symbols. Dreams are about new feelings and resentments. They underlie how we feel about how we have just been treated and how we treat other people.

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Dreams use symbols. In real life you will say something like "I need to be recognised and accepted. I just seem to constantly fighting against peopel who do not respect me in the way that they should". yet a dream will also express such a concept but in symbolic form. You maybe fighting in the dream. That symbolises the struggle in your life.

Also remember that the day before the dream is especially important in the dream. Many dreams link top specific feelings that we felt yesterday as we reform our emotions.

These pages are especially helpful in showing you how to interpret dreams

Dream symbolism and dream dictionary interpretation - How to interpret dreams Interpreting dreams
Dream symbolism - How to use dream symbols Triggers for dreams
A dream dictionary that explores the variety of meanings in a dream symbol Dream dictionary

[North Star]

Just a comment, IMO, a dream doesn't have to be short to be truthful. If the story goes all over the place, then it probably doesn't mean anything. But I have seen long dreams that are coherent, powerful and meaningful. Some people have seem to have shorter dreams because they are not detail- oriented and their narration reflects this. Others recall every detail and express them in their writing, making the dream appear longer. Dream length is as individual as the dreamer.

[paisley]

Again, I apologize for the length of the dream, my dreams always tend to be long and detailed (sigh). However, I appreciate your taking the time to read it unclesirbobby.

""I enjoyed yesterdays but I just wish maybe I could catch up with family in a way that my husband can so easily catch up with his. But of course in many ways my own family is dead as I live in a different country from them". That’s dead in the sense that if you are not with them then the relationship has died. "


I think this must be it. I had a brief conversation with my husband about my family. After I missed my grandmother's funeral a couple of years ago (no one told me she died until after the funeral), my extended family held it against me and I have basically been disowned. My husband had asked if my relatives had responded to me yet, and I said no but as much as I would love to hear from them, I know I can't change them so I am at peace with the situation, will always love them, and I appreciate my husband so much more because I feel I have been uprooted, which is unfortunate but I have him so I appreciate him all the more. After that brief conversation, the conversation lightened and he took me out to eat and we just enjoyed the day together at church and with our kids. So even though that was just a very brief conversation and it was not a dark or bitter conversation either, it must have still been in the back of my mind.
But what could be the darkness we escaped from? The phrase that has kept ringing in my mind for 2 weeks has been, "waste no more time, get out NOW! The darkness is already starting to loom upon us. Get out!"
Thank you again.

[unclesirbobbyrobson]

Its a pity that you live so far away from family. But choices have to be made. Missing a grandmothers funeral is a kind of defining moment for your family. Dreams often link to such defining moments or turning points. Switches in your thinking and those of other people.

Its often after good days that we start to reflect more. Things are settled in our minds and then we can turn our minds to things that have long been neglected. If we are dictated to by a busy schedule then we respond to events. If we have timne to reflect we start to look at the bigger picture.

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"That printer. It cost a fortune and is always breaking down. I will never buy another Epson printer again. They are designed to break down". These were the exact feelings that one dream captured. Yet its only with experience that you can understand the symbolism. The topic was not linked to precisely.

We tend to link dreams to faraway places and other planes of existence. But once you understand dreams you will find out that they tend to link to feelings that are all too familiar. They capture immediate feelings about relationships or the general frustrations of life. The symbolism maybe diufficult to understand. But tahts simply because dreams talk in a language that we do not fully understand. That is made worse because dreams often make no attempts to help us understand their meaning.

The following pages above all help you to learn the basics of dream interpreting

Dream symbolism and dream dictionary interpretation - How to interpret dreams Interpreting dreams
Dream symbolism - How to use dream symbols Triggers for dreams
A dream dictionary that explores the variety of meanings in a dream symbol Dream dictionary