Are people symbols in dreams

[BurnedOut]

Yesterday I had a dream in which my ex was present. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, I felt a strong feeling of wanting to reconcile with her which is actually uncharacteristic to occur in my waking phase because I feel neutral about her. We broke up about 2 years ago.

When I consult my therapist, she refrains from analyzing dreams and insists on looking at it from a gestalt perspective. This basically involves looking at all the characters in the dreams as your perceptions about yourself. They are essentially mirrors, she says. However, this is only valid when the dream is not completely mumbo-jumbo and if you remember a coherent version of it.

Modern dream theories contend against each other - workiny memory dump + processing OR continuation of a domimant stream of thought which may otherwise be inhibited in wakefulness

Sure seems dialectical but if we take a combination of the two, it makes sense that dream scenarios are indeed very different from real world. They are always novel.

Coming back to people as symbols. I had my therapist perplexed with my occasional dreams of me reconciling ex whilst strongly refraining myself from doing the same in wakefulness which I successfuly carried out for 2 years and continuing. Her interpretation is that I am seeking to reconcile the opposing demands within me. In all the contexts - forgiving myself and understanding the context of breakup in an uninhibited pure form which humanizes me and her.

According to me, there is a desire buried deep inside in me to reconcile with her which is triggered by environmental cues which means that my yearning for her is triggered by emotions evoked via my senses. This means that she is a symbol of loneliness I feel. In other words, the desire is to overcome the core emotion - loneliness.

Now, I am confused whether I really want her in the deepest of my heart or whether she is only a symbol of my insecurity and my psyche chose her as a symbol because of the context of the relationship.

My therapist's notion also makes sense because the people in my dreams are my constructs than them being themselves. In other words, I am confronting myself

What do you think is the case?

 

[Cognisant]

Sometimes victims of abuse have fond dreams of their abusers which can be very confusing and upsetting, it's worth remembering that no one is totally evil and as humans we inherently desire reconciliation. Of course that's not always possible, or even desirable or wise, but still it shouldn't be alarming, you don't have to feel guilty about remembering the good times, even if they were in an unfortunate context.

It's perfectly natural to have dreams about former lovers and friends, even if those relationships have since soured, although with that being said I don't advise getting hung up on the past, lest it be to the detriment of your future. If there's honestly a chance of reconciling with someone, yeah sure why not, what have you got to lose? But if there isn't or you distanced yourself from them for a good reason then don't let nostalgia blind you to the obvious truth.

There's a big wide world out there with quite frankly too many people in it, there's plenty of opportunity to meet somebody else.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

Jung said something like, dreams are the world living inside of you. Whether people get utility on the experience of dreaming is probably entirely up to them. Just like when you look out into the world and find some meaning, a dream is such with this interpretation. Except I suppose your brain is in a different state so your web of associations is in some form compromised.

So the question is how often you think about that ex outside of your dreams and what is the nature of those thoughts. If you're fighting off cravings for the person when you're conscious then it stands to reason that you don't when you are not conscious. Is your conscious consideration valid?

Do you feel like there is a wall between you and a person when you are talking to them? Like you are managing some other thing (a construct) instead of talking to such person and engaging in the moment? I've had similar experiences. I think it's just anxiety.

 

[BurnedOut]

Do you feel like there is a wall between you and a person when you are talking to them? Like you are managing some other thing (a construct) instead of talking to such person and engaging in the moment? I've had similar experiences. I think it's just anxiety.

I tend to depersonalize while talking to other people quite frequently. It is like observing me and them from the inside but continuing the conversation for the sake of it. I feel fake when it happens because I am not fully socially engaged

 

[EndogenousRebel]

I dream about my an ex who I ended on terrible terms with years ago sometimes. Tending to dwell on the past, during a particular period, I was lamenting my psychiatric diagnosis as it was related to the break up. In a dream during that period I had an encounter with her, and I was fucking pissed. It was a childish display that I would never do in person if I am the best version of myself. I know it's a dream and at the time I laughed. But I felt guilty and ashamed of it, because I of course wanted to put it behind me, and I didn't want to hold it against a younger her who I know didn't mean to cause me such harm. I can live with it. The question of what if will drive you crazy.

Do you feel like there is a wall between you and a person when you are talking to them? Like you are managing some other thing (a construct) instead of talking to such person and engaging in the moment? I've had similar experiences. I think it's just anxiety.

I tend to depersonalize while talking to other people quite frequently. It is like observing me and them from the inside but continuing the conversation for the sake of it. I feel fake when it happens because I am not fully socially engaged

I had a dream that was weird. I don't even remember if there was necessarily a story, but at some point there was a man with very "symbolic" eyes, some very illustrative uniform, and other symbols on his face. These features weren't written on him, they were part of his body which was in itself also a construction of leathery fabric or something. My take from that is that we should watch out for what we consume, what we read, listen to, watch. We take on the qualities of these things and and people will not necessarily understand when they see it in us. It's a strange thing, and it doesn't directly help with anxiety lol. But I think it can help to maybe change take a look at these things.

 

[Black Rose]

Last night I was Ichigo from the anime Bleach. I had my sword and was grabbing it by the blade. I was on a hill smoothing the grass flat. People were around me. I said autistic people are the most traumatized social group there is.

That is all I remember.

I don't know why I was Ichigo.
I don't know why I was smoothing the grass flat with my sword.
I do not know why I said autistic people were traumatized to that group of people.

I do know that I forgot 95% of the rest of what happened.
reams are long and extended for me. I just forget them.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

It could be random. And you could definitely comment on how autism is one of those disorders that most people try to say isn't a disorder, but don't equip themselves to handle these people. Kinda like that thing that's a meme now with The Joker.

It's kinda cruel, and when there is a large group of people that insist autism isn't a disorder, it's that much more cruel. If they don't back up their virtue of being inclusive with actually being educated on how to accommodate these people it is empty.

 

[scorpiomover]

I tend to think of dreams as messages from the subconscious.

I thought of a few possible interpretations:

1) Maybe you want your ex back.

2) Maybe you just want a new partner.

3) Maybe you're feeling lonely and just want a friend.

4) Maybe you just feel bad about the way things ended, and wish to make amends.

5) Maybe you feel that things didn't end on a good note because of the way she acted, and you just want to reconcile to address the issues.

6) Maybe you're unsure of exactly what happened, and want closure.

7) Maybe you watched a film about someone reconciling with someone from their past, perhaps a former lover, or a former friend, or a family member they no longer speak to.

8) Maybe you watched a romantic comedy and felt a pang.

9) Maybe you talking over your issues with your therapist has got you wondering what made your relationships go wrong in the past.

I've been watching the TV series Heroes again. Sylar is told he will die, and die alone. From then on, he wants to fall in love, because he doesn't want to die alone.

Could be any of those, or all of those, or even none of those and a different reason altogether.