The Scowler

The Dream: I'm in the backseat of a car. There's a very cute little boy sitting there as well. His mother doesn't have a child's safety seat for him so I wonder if I should hold him. There's also a little girl I hadn't noticed who, as I'm thinking about the boy, says, “Everyone thinks he's cute.” She protectively hands the boy forward to his mother.

Now that I've noticed the girl I take a better look at her. She's very unattractive: overweight, very white skin, hair pulled back tightly from a scowling face. She has short little bangs and is wearing a little princess tiara on her head. I suddenly realize that this unappealing little girl needs some attention. I ask to see her artwork. She brightens up and shows me what looks like some well done contour drawings. As I praise her she warms up and relaxes, telling me that she needs to “loosen up.” I think she's loose enough already.

Interpretation: As the dream begins it's clear I'm not in the driver's seat with whatever is going on right now. (I'm in the backseat.) One small part of me—the acceptable “cute” part—has been handed over to mother. This good child part belongs to her; in other words, he does what mother requires. Another part is not so attractive:she scowls and wants to rule (she wears a crown). But if I can recognize her for who she is and what she does (admire her work) she will be able to relax. When she says she wants to loosen up she is telling me that she wants to let go of her tendency to control things in ways that make her (me) tense. That I've recognized her in this dream enables this to happen: she's “loose enough already.”

So Ugly She’s Cute

The Dream: My college friend Mary has a baby who’s so ugly that she’s cute. She is brown with straight golden-brown hair cut in long bangs, and she wears glasses. The baby is very young, only a few months old. She nurses with delight at Mary’s large breast. It soon becomes clear that the baby is very precocious. She can sit and talk; we can tell she is extremely intelligent. Mary is thrilled with her baby.

Interpretation: I think the newly arrived brown babies (this is the second one recently) are linked to a more authentic artistic self emerging as I work on my illustrated dream journals. Not all will find these drawings “beautiful,” yet I find them immensely appealing: so ugly they are beautiful. In waking life Mary is someone who has expressed her own artistic proclivities through others: she married a writer and has many friends in the arts. In the dream the Mary part of me—not quite brave enough to be an artist—has given birth to someone who might manage it. Mary nourishes the baby and is thrilled with her arrival: both good signs.