Dreams Can Teach Us About Ourselves

A friend once told me that every character in our dreams represents some part of ourselves. With that I mind, I will share the dream that I had this morning.

I have changed the name of the male in my dream "to protect the inocent".

In the dream, I am visiting a friend named Patrick. We are in his office with his young secretary. She apparently said or did something that Patrick did not like. Patrick threw a temper tantrum knocking everything on his secretary's desk to the floor. There was a bed in the room. During Patrick's tantrum, I laid down and pretended to be asleep. I was being polite by pretending not to notice his rage. The secretary was very frightened by Patrick's outburst. She left the room.

I sat up and talked to Patrick about his outburst. (I have forgotten the exact conversation. That is the problem with not remembering the dream until several hours after I woke up. I always lose some of the important details.) Patrick was so upset that he had tears in his eyes. That was the end of the dream.

What do these 3 people represent in me?
Patrick---Am I still raging when I don't get my way? Is it still easier for me to do rage than admit that I am frightened?
The secretary---Am I still frightened by other people's rage?
Me---Am I still hiding from my own feelings? Is there still unaccessed rage hiding inside of me that I haven't acknowledged? Am I still pretending that everything is ok when it isn't?

I need to acknowledge and forgive myself for still continuing in these old patterns of behavior. I need to search out the ways that I am still doing this.

If you are interested in reading more about working with dreams, I read 2 really well written articles by Kara-Leah Masina on her blog. Check them out at http://www.klmasina.co.nz/2007/05/07/how-to-work-with-your-dreams/

and the second article is at http://www.klmasina.co.nz/2007/06/04/how-to-work-with-your-dreams-part-2/