Nightmares, Abstract
According to the collection of dreams used as data for this book, these usually occur to children. They often appear as a dot, small object or shape, that is, or becomes, threatening and increases in size. The examples below suggest there is some relationship between the dream and feelings connected with a parent or parents. It may be the dream portrays unspoken moods felt by a parent that the child feels anxious about. Very often we sense something going on that is not spoken about or visible externally. Such hidden things are picked up by our unconscious, that attempts to communicate them as a dream or intuition. We often feel very uneasy until we realise the situation – perhaps the person it refers to might even deny it if asked.
Example: When my husband was a child of about 8 years he often used to have an abstract nightmare. It consisted of him (a soft wavy line) being attacked by the enemy (a pointed zigzag line). As the enemy (zigzag) overcame him (soft waves) he would wake up in terror. The nightmares ended when his father died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Jane S. – Teletext.
Example: I am eighteen years old, and ever since I was eight I have been having the same dream and I cannot understand why. I dream of a small black dot that rotates n a spiral, and as it goes around it gets bigger and as it gets bigger it gets faster until in the end it laughs or glares at me and then it blows up. I used to have this dream about twice a week. I don’t know why it keeps coming back. Amanda H. – Teletext.
Comments
In my version, I am playing with these dots, kind of piling them up. They are barely bigger than a piece of dust, but have extreme solidity, like a tiny black hole. After piling them up too much the pile is too big, and it’s weight threatens to crush the whole world. It is my fault for piling them up too much. The tactile sensation of the dream is incredible, as if you can feel it through your whole body. I was probably around 8 as well, but they returned for a couple of weeks in my late teens.
Jesse – Children pick up so much more from what is going on in and between their parents, than many parent realises and I feel it is merely the task of the parent(s) to become aware of this.
An example: When my husband and I were considering a divorce, we had not discussed it yet with our two children, who were 4 and 6 years old at that time.
When we were having dinner our 4 year old daughter, who was sitting in between us at the table in her highchair, put her right hand on my arm and her left hand on her father’s arm as a way of communicating that she “knew” without perhaps fully understanding yet the consequences of what she had “felt/sensed”.
I took that as a sign to not let it pile up inside her and talk about what she had sensed/felt in a way she could understand it.
Their father leaving our family still crushed the (inner) world they had known so far, with the difference that it was now in the open, which gave us all the possibility to communicate more clearly with both children about what was a part of my daughter’s inner world already.
And so I do not perceive it as “your fault” this piling up when you were “only” 8 years old.
I see the recurring of these dreams at a later age as a way to digest what was left in you from this period of your life.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/digest/
I wonder if those dreams/experiences “taught you” to not let things pile up in your inner world (anymore)?
Anna 🙂