Struggling Against the Current

The Dream: I'm in a small boat by myself on very rough water, but near a seaside resort. I work to get back to to this inviting shore, but am swept along the coast to a different spot. I look for a place to put the boat back in so I can try again. I think that a particular spot will work once I get past the breakers, but Clark points out the breakers are caused by submerged rocks. I see my plan won't work and walk along the shore, pulling my boat, looking for a safe place in put in, although I know even if I'm successful it will be very difficult, with the wind and current against me, to get back to the sunny shore.

Interpretation: The sunny shore represents a time of protected childhood with loving parents, a time when they were alive. The playful resort shore is a reminder of happy family times playing in the surf with my brother and mother nearby. I can 't go back; I'm struggling to get there but it's impossible. I'm also struggling against the tide of my own overwhelming emotions in the face of the reality of this loss, and the ultimate loss of all.

I face these feelings in the dream, and the practical part of me, my Animus in the form of Clark, discourages my attempt to return to the past by pointing out that it won't work. The dream tells me to accept the reality I can't change.

Guest Dreamer: An Issue is Aired

This dreamer has been attempting to write about a painful event. She breaks through her writer's block in this dream.
The Dream: I'm naked and about to put my clothes on. My breasts feel strange. I look down at them. I think air is coming out of my nipples. It's hard for me to believe, so I put the palms of my hands about 4 inches away from my breasts and, sure enough, there are puffs of air coming out. Then I actually see the puffs. You know, like those typical drawings of the wind blowing.

Carla's thoughts: If this were my dream, my nakedness represents exposure, the naked truth. I am about to retreat from it (put on my clothes) but there's something inside me that won't be stifled: it insists on being aired, issuing forth in puffs from my breasts. I'm getting something off my chest! I hadn't thought this was possible, so I test it out with my other senses. When I put my hands near my breasts I soon learn that I can feel the process happening, and then I am able to see it. My previously blocked attempt to release so much pain has found its vent.