Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Diminution of the Mother



I had this dream after my older child moved to her own apartment.
The Dream: My mother is getting breast augmentation surgery. My son and I clutch hands for comfort in our anxiety over mother's operation. I begin to wonder if he is too old (he's about 9) to hold hands with his mother, and I wonder if he will pull away in embarrassment.

Next we are inside the medical facility where we see mother's picture on a video screen. She has turned into a baby and is dressed in a very feminine outfit with a bonnet. Her face, however, is still mother's. She looks cranky. “I don't think mother is going to like this,” I say.

Interpretation: As much as we are happy to see our children achieve and go out on their own, it represents a loss. As I lose the mother role to my child's independence, my mother (me as a mother) wants to have her mother role (breasts) enlarged. I ponder accepting the child's need for independence as I wonder if my dream son will be embarrassed to be holding hands with his mother. By the end of the dream, mother has been reduced to a cranky baby. I apparently haven't accepted my child's new life with good grace quite yet.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Some Extra Toes


This is one of those dreams that seems inexplicable until you get past the literal meaning of the words and action.
        
The Dream: I am in need of an operation. Clark and I are being hosted by some people we don’t know very well, who are very kind. One of them asks me what I’ve learned from the experience, which has been stressful due to the medical part. “I’ve learned the kindness of people,” I say. One of our hosts, an androgynous older person, gets  teary-eye.

I notice that I have three extra toes on each foot. They are from the middle toe out to the pinky toe, and sit directly beneath the toe they are replicating, on a flap of extra foot. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed these toes before.

Interpretation:
I have some work I must do: the “operation” I require tells me that. Do you remember the "wise old man / woman" of fairy tale? When they appear in dreams Jung tells us we've encountered a guide.  My guide, the androgynous older woman, is pleased with my progress so far, so I am rewarded by being given something extra. I am now aware I have of a new part of myself (the toes), and this realization requires integration into my idea of who I am. So it signals both progress and some work remaining.