Wrestling with Heavy Issues

Something that has happened in the recent past usually triggers a particular dream. But there is always a reason that, of all the things that happen every day, our dreams focus on the particular thing they choose.

The Dream: A woman with dark curly hair is in a wrestling arena, lying on the floor of the rink as if in bed. She is supposed to be recounting her dreams for a panel of dream experts, but instead she is telling us about her life experiences. I don’t feel qualified to comment on these.

Interpretation: This dream was triggered by The Dr. Phil Show that had a segment on dreams shortly before I had this one. While I had commented on some posts about dreams that had been generated by the show on the program’s website, some people had written about serious personal problems, and I didn’t feel comfortable commenting on those. But to bring the dream’s meaning home to my life: the recent deaths of two friends have left me wrestling with some heavy issues. The sports arena is the symbolic venue for the struggle. My life experience, so far, hasn’t given me the means to work through these difficulties. But if I can get away from dealing with the problem rationally (through life experience) and give it over to the dream expert (my own inner wisdom) I might find a way to cope.

Both of Them Are Me

The Dream: I have split into two people, who are in conflict. As the dream ego I watch the argument. The two look identical, and I am told that “they are both the same.”

Interpretation: This snippet underlines the realization I came to in my last dream: there’s a conflict between the part of me that gets along in the world by compromising and accepting limits and the part of me that thinks I should express myself—no holds barred--with great passion. Why did I unconsciously choose this turn of speech, no holds barred? I looked it up and found it comes from wrestling and means without rules or restrictions: how apropos! The phrase summarizes the dream's conundrum: wrestling with freedom.

But what to make of the dream message: "They are both the same?" Besides referring to my two minds over the conflict, is the dream telling me that freedom and responsibility are inexorably linked?