In spite of my best intentions, I don’t always live up to the potential I have, as shown in this dream.

I was outside in my neighborhood. But the neighborhood was different from my actual one.  It was more suburban and established.  The streets were lined with stately trees and pretty, middle-class homes.  I had an errand to run and drove over in my truck to the next street to do it.  In the meantime, my husband and other family members stood in the road and waited for me.  We seemed to be having some get-together with them where we were working together, accomplishing a goal.  My husband called me and told me to buy a lottery ticket for all of us while doing my errand.  To do so, I needed to stop at the store.  But I was concentrating on what I needed to do and forgot.  I drove home and through the middle of the family as they stood and waited.  There was an envelope on the street that I was supposed to put the lottery ticket in as I drove over it.  It was indicated by a large white arrow drawn on the street.  As soon as I drove over the envelope I remembered I had forgotten to buy the ticket.  I told my husband and kept driving, back around the block to the store.  But I forgot again. I came back to the street I lived on and stopped over the envelope.  I told my husband, “I forgot again!”  He just looked at me and said, “Don’t worry about it.  You can just buy into the lottery pot my aunt is doing.”  This made me happy as it was something I wanted to do.

Significant symbols:

Truck-One’s self, one’s work, one’s current situation

Family-relationships with the people featured

Store-a place to pick up a new idea, possibility, fulfilling a need

Neighborhood-the overall atmosphere surrounding the issue

Lottery ticket-taking a risk to obtain something of value in a new experience

Envelope-the arrival of a new idea, an opportunity, a communication, or an insight

Aunt-for me, she is representative of someone who is very family oriented, very helpful towards others, but also very opinionated (as in, we should be doing this or we should be doing that as a family)

 
In this dream, my husband can represent himself.  The family could be his actual family or people that I would consider family because of how I feel about them or ideals/beliefs we have in common.  Part of the clue as to who the family represents is in how they appear.  Here, I am not seeing a familiar face, so I must conclude these are people I have something in common with and not actual family. I have something personal I am working on for myself as represented by my performing an errand that doesn’t involve the others.  In the process, my husband (who also represents logic for me) wants me to invest in a new opportunity which could bring something of value to the group that I have something in common with. But I am so intent on what I am trying to accomplish for myself, that I keep missing the opportunity logic says I should be taking.  Finally, “logic” tells me to invest in an alternative opportunity as represented by my husband’s aunt.  Instead of an opportunity I take on myself, I invest in an opportunity that someone else leads but which is very helpful to others.  This actually makes me happy, as I take less responsibility and it seems more fun.

At first, I was thinking this had to do with my husband’s family and an upcoming holiday.  But that didn’t make sense considering the circumstances and people.  Then I had a conversation with my husband last night which finally brought the dream into focus.  I told him about something that I like to work on that I hope is helpful to others,  but even if it wasn’t, I would still do it.  He wants me to make a business of it.  I already tried this once and had no luck.  Now he would like me to try again. Logically, it is a good idea.  But I’m not sure if I should be doing that particular thing right now, even though the imagery in the dream clearly indicates there are people who would benefit from me doing it.  Even if I don’t do exactly what he suggests, there is a second alternative that will accomplish the same mission, I just wouldn’t be in charge of it.  But it would still be helpful to others if it is successful.  And I would probably like it better.  I will have to think about it.

This is a warning of current events in my life and my attitude possibly stopping me from protecting myself.

I was at work in a factory. I had my baby with me.  I loved him dearly and cuddled him.  He was maybe a week old or so. I didn’t seem to be working at the moment, or I had paused in what I was doing. I saw a fire had broken out and I needed to get myself and my baby out before we were hurt. But first I gathered up his things and put them in the diaper bag.  Then I realized he needed to be changed as his diaper was wet.  I laid him on a piece of machinery and began changing his diaper.  The fire grew bigger and wilder. I thought to myself, “I should be getting us out of here!  I could have done this after we got out!”  I already had his diaper off and had to finish.  I just hoped I hadn’t waited too long for us to safely leave. 

Significant Symbols:

Factory-regularity/predictability/hard work

Fire-Consuming conditions in one’s experiences/behavior/thinking/etc.

Baby-creative endeavor or project

Diaper-something that needs to be changed

In this dream,  I am shown that I am regular and predictable and work hard.  But there are conditions currently happening in my life that are affecting my work habits and interfering in what I need to do.  The baby represents a creative endeavor I have managed to bring forth.  It is not very old yet but I am very attached to it and very careful with it.  It, too, benefits from my hard work and regularity.  But these consuming conditions affecting my work could hurt me and my creative effort in a negative way and I must protect myself and it.  But I am driven to keep everything in order and delay what I should do to protect myself.  My logical mind recognizes I am doing things that could wait until I am safe.  Hopefully, I haven’t wasted too much time and will be okay.

Part of the problem with “consuming conditions” in one’s life is that you could find the meaning can apply anywhere because “consuming conditions” tend to effect many things-not just one.  In my case, the consuming conditions have to do with my workplace and what is currently happening because of new management.  I need to protect myself and my “creative endeavor”.  In this case, this would be my work which I have come to realize I actually enjoy.  I need to do what I must to make sure my work is “safe” (complete, done), and not worry so much about it being “cleaned up”.  Once I am safe from the “consuming conditions”, I can “clean up” as much as I need to.

Anytime you interpret a dream, you must take your ego out of the equation and apply the dream to the most obvious situation.  The dream may not mean what you would like it to, but you will gain far more from a realistic assessment of the meaning.

In this dream, I am making the observation that something I wanted to do didn’t work out well, but something I was led to do worked out quite well.

In the dream, I was at work but not at my current job.  I did seem to be in my office, though.  I had a project that I really wanted to do and started it.  It appeared as a white sheet of paper and as I worked on it, I would write on the paper.  But I wasn’t getting very far with it.  Not really accomplishing much.  Then my boss came in (someone I don’t actually know in real life) and told me to start a project for work.  He told me what I needed to do.  It was very similar to what I was doing already, but it covered a different subject matter. Being that it was an assignment from my boss, I started it right away.  This project appeared as a yellow sheet of paper hanging next to the white sheet of paper.  As I worked, I wrote on the yellow paper just as I had the white. Very quickly, I made great progress on it.  It looked very good and it was obvious I had done well on it.  My boss came in to check my work and looked at both.  He told me, “You would not have picked the second project to work on if you had a choice, but look at how far you came with it and how well you did. Much better than the project you wanted to do.”

Significant symbols:

Work-one’s actual work, family, a project, etc.

paper-personal talent or need to communicate.  Self-expression and communication.

white-purity/holiness/spiritual

yellow-intelligence/wisdom/creativity

The white sheet of paper represents my dream goal of what I would like to do for work.  I make the effort but never get very far with it.  Every initiative starts off well but never builds into anything.  The yellow sheet of paper represents an endeavor I was led to start by outside forces.  It utilizes the same talents and abilities I use for the dream project but it has a different goal.  I would not have dreamed of doing the second project on my own.  It was not in my vision of what I wanted to achieve.  But I do really well at it and accomplish much.  It is pointed out to me by Spirit that I did much better at the project I was led to do than the project I wanted to do.

Sometimes God must lead us to what we really should be doing.  It may not match what we see for ourselves, but if you allow God to lead you where you need to be, then you will find a very fulfilling and rewarding life. This is not to say you shouldn’t plan and work for what you want.  God cannot lead you where you need to be if you are not even trying to utilize your talents and abilities. Make a plan of what it is you want to accomplish, and then start systematically working towards your goal.  If God needs to lead you into something else, it will happen somewhere in the process of you actively working towards what you want.  For example, you decided at an early age you wanted to teach.  You work towards that goal and earn a teaching degree.  But once in the classroom, you find that you do not enjoy the work. Perhaps the students are too challenging to your patience.  But the opportunity comes up to teach adults and you try it.  You find you love it, as the skills needed to teach adults are different from those needed to teach children.  Teaching adults just works better with your personality than teaching children.  This is a situation where you actively worked towards what you thought you wanted for yourself, and had to be led to a different version of that ideal once it was apparent your original ideal wasn’t working.

In this dream, I am shown I have gained an unexpected benefit that I wasn’t expecting.

I was with my husband at a gathering outside.  There was a small crowd milling about, partaking in whatever it was we were there for.  My husband handed me a package I received through the mail.  I wasn’t expecting anything and hadn’t ordered anything.  I think he told me,  “It’s the gun you ordered.”  When he said it, I knew that this was right.  I opened the package and there was a small, very modern-looking handgun.  It was black, metallic, and had a very narrow nose.  I wondered if it even worked with such a narrow nose.  But I had no intention of returning it or exchanging it. We left together to place it in our home for safekeeping.

Significant Symbols:

Crowd-work or family life

Outside-what one is cultivating currently with those around them

Mail-receiving a message/idea/insight

Gun-one’s need to defend oneself with words/actions, etc.

Black-the unknown or unconscious knowledge we have which is being brought to our awareness through experience.

Nose-being “on the nose”.  Being specific about the subject and not speaking of anything else.

Home-current situation or experience.

The crowd represents my work or family life, and being outside indicates what I am cultivating currently with these people.  My receiving something in the mail is representative of my receiving a message/idea/or insight.  The gun represents my need to “defend myself”.  The color black represents the unknown or unconscious knowledge we have which is usually brought to our awareness through experience. The nose in this case is representative of being “on the nose”.  My home represents my current situation or experience and how I am thinking.

The message in this dream is about my current work/family situation and what I have been working on within those areas.  I am able to use the knowledge I have gained (from experience) to defend my point of view/ideas/choices, etc. I am able to do this in a very narrow and pointed way, without going beyond the actual subject or situation itself.  In other words, my arguments will be “on the nose”, and will not escalate into arguments about other subjects. For example, a slight that might have occurred before and was never addressed. In the dream I wonder if this will be effective, and believe it will be.  I bring this ability into my current experiences and psyche in a practical and logical manner.

I sometimes have dreams where I receive information on other people.  I find these dreams useful in that I have a guideline to gauge how I should react when I am interacting with them.

I was speaking to a close friend.  It was a friendly conversation over nothing in particular.  I heard a voice speak and knew it was her ex-girlfriend’s.  The comment was about what we were speaking of.  The conversation continued and the ex-girlfriend came into view and stood with my friend.  The girlfriend made another comment about the subject we were on, a different one.  She smiled and looked like she was really enjoying herself.  My friend looked very happy as well. I thought to myself, “Oh, these two are back together.”  Maybe a good thing, maybe not.

In this dream, I am shown that my friend will either reunite with her former girlfriend now or in the near future -OR- the girlfriend she currently has is basically like her ex-girlfriend.  I believe the dream is referencing her current girlfriend and that the current girlfriend is similar to the old girlfriend.  I notice this when I hear certain comments she makes which reflect her beliefs and feelings.

It would make sense for my friend to be attracted to the same type of person, as it tends to be what all of us do.  For example, if you like someone who is masterful and takes control, then more than likely that is what you will be attracted to every time.  The next boyfriend/girlfriend might be a better or worse version of this.  Hopefully you will work on improving yourself and will attract a better version. If my sister-in-law matured herself, then she would most likely pick a more mature version of her ex-girlfriend to be with.  This could mean that there is a better possibility of the relationship working out.  But if she picked the same version of her ex again, then there will definitely be unhappiness ahead.

The gauge for me in this situation is to leave certain issues alone if the subject comes up.  With this particular personality type, I could cause problems by trying to continue a conversation that makes them uncomfortable.  They would feel as if I was judging them.  I don’t want to cause problems for my friend, as she is very happy, and so I will keep my mouth shut when I realize I have wandered into difficult territory.

This is a review dream.  It shows the situation that happened, as predicted by the Bobcat dream and the Tornado dream.  Then the aftermath.  It gives me the opportunity to review my actions and decisions so that in the future, I can make better choices in how I handle a questionable situation.

In the dream, I and my husband leave the house to attend a local fall festival for about an hour.  For some reason, we left the windows and doors open.  While we were gone, my husband’s brother, wife and kids arrived.  Finding the house open, they let themselves in and made themselves comfortable.  We came home and were surprised to find them still there but happy as we like visiting with them.  At some point in the evening, my husband and brother-in-law went out to the local bars and had a great time drinking.  They came home after the bars closed and happened to notice a pile of wood my neighbor had stacked in her yard.  Being stupid drunk, they decided to jump on the wood and then set it on fire.  I went outside just in time to see the end of this debacle.  They walked back in the house, laughing and talking about the stupid thing they had done. This infuriated me as I already have trouble with the woman.  This deliberate act of vandalism on their part was guaranteed to make matters worse. The next day we sat with my brother-in-law and his wife and began chatting.  At some point, my husband made a comment about the night before that made me very angry.  Before I knew it, I was chewing him out quite voraciously in front of our guests for his behavior the night before.  Everyone was very shocked by my behavior.  They’ve never heard me speak that way.  My husband said nothing and I walked out of the house to calm down.  I began doing something else and after a little bit my brother-in-law came out with his daughter.  He began chatting with me about nothing in particular.  But it helped to calm me down.  Then I chatted with his daughter about something that interested her and knew that I would be doing something with her later. 

The open windows and doors of the house indicate my being open to new opportunities or experiences and having the vision to recognize them as such.  My husband represents that aspect of myself that I believe to be like him.  This includes the good qualities and the bad qualities.  This part of myself is the responsible, capable, smart part of me.  But, unfortunately, it is also the loner, “I don’t care what you think”, side of me as well.  The fall festival indicates a time of my life where old ways are slipping away.  I celebrate this and try to enjoy what I am experiencing, as I grow into a more mature, more responsible individual.  As this process unfolds, my brother-in-law and his wife represent another side of myself-the more outgoing, social, career oriented side.  I am passing through a time where I am becoming more outgoing, social and career oriented, taking on more responsibility at work.  The neighbor represents my difficulty in controlling my reactions to others when I feel deliberately slighted.  The firewood represents the detritus I am getting rid of-behaviors and thoughts which ignite my reactions to others when I felt slighted.  As I become more outgoing, social and career oriented, I still have a problem with my “I don’t care what you think” attitude and make a problem worse by how I react when I feel slighted.  My yelling at my husband is my inner reaction to myself and how I feel-a great conflict over my natural reaction and my desire to be more mature and positive in any situation.  Finally, my going outside to the yard represents my walking away from what I consider the problem as I can do nothing else about it and trying to move onto something else.  Once I did this, I was able to view the situation in a more responsible and professional manner, as represented by my brother-in-law.  My niece represents a new endeavor which comes into my career as a result, but it doesn’t start immediately.

This dream and its symbology is complicated and actually a little difficult to translate.  When I deal with issues of my own ego, it can be difficult to admit that I have problem with anything.  The dream is telling me I am open to new experiences and endeavors at work, but still have a problem with my loner attitude and only wanting to do specifically what I am know I am supposed to do.  Even though in this work incident I wasn’t wrong in what I did, I didn’t handle the matter in the best way possible and only made matters worse by how I reacted.  Even so, the damage is probably minimal, and I will see a new aspect to my more responsible, professional side come out over time.

It is possible that this dream could also be prophetic about an incident that is yet to happen.  It is not a serious incident, but it could cause problems with the actual neighbor in the dream.  I hope not. I am trying to live by the philosophy to “cause no harm” if possible.

It is possible to enter a period of change in one’s life that is preceded by several dreams of warning.  This dream is the second in a series of warnings.  The bobcat dream was the first.

In this dream, I am at work.  I decided to take a break and look around.  I stepped outside of the building I was in and onto a sidewalk.  The buildings and the dirt street had a distinctly Old West look-wooden buildings, wooden sidewalks, wooden railings.  I was a little surprised by the look of it, but not a lot. As I stood there, just watching and observing, I saw three boats in the middle of the street.  There was a stream running down the center and the boats were passing through.  They were the size of small cruisers meant for fun in the sun.  Two of the boats were going in the same direction and keeping pace with each other.  The third boat was going in the opposite direction.  The third boat passed between the other two and this created a friction of energy which started waves rolling out from their passage.  I found this rather amusing, even when one of the waves crashed against my feet and ankles.  But then it kept getting worse, and the energy of their friction caused a storm to move in.  Dark clouds rolled overhead, the wind became very strong and roared down the street.  And then a tornado came from the direction of the third ship.  The street itself was narrow, and the tornado large, dark and furious.  It filled the street with its body and roared towards me.  I saw other people also on the street running for cover.  I turned to find cover myself, but don’t know if I made it before the tornado hit.

The Western style of the street is indicative of how I perceive my work place and environment.  In the West, people were very independent and self-reliant as there wasn’t a strong authority in charge.  But this also meant there was more lawlessness.  I perceive my workplace as without a strong managing body.  Management tends to leave employees to their own devices, believing they know what they are doing and will do it. This isn’t always the case, though.  The three boats represent three bodies of thought of how work needs to be done.  Two of the bodies are in sync and “sailing” in the same direction.  But one of the bodies of thought is going against the others, and this is causing trouble in our workplace.  At first the friction seems minimal, even when it touches me.  But then I find it continues and turns into a big “Storm”, a big upheaval in my workplace where changes could be made that might seem destructive or harmful, even if they really aren’t. It is such a strong storm, I don’t know if I will be safe from it (still have a job or reassignment of duties) or if anyone else will either.  This situation could be a major challenge to me and very upsetting if I don’t protect myself.

Prophetic dreams can be very challenging.  If you aren’t fully aware of dream language/symbology, then it would be easy to try and apply this merely to one’s current emotional/mental/spiritual state.  At the time of this dream, an incident had happened at my workplace, which I believe is represented by the wave washing against my feet (and the Bobcat dream).  I thought the incident was done, and understood that it occurred because of the difference in opinion of how to handle certain situations that three of my bosses hold.  I also knew that the friction caused between the three bosses was affecting other aspects of our work, but the dream accurately foretold that the situation would develop into an upheaval as one of the bosses felt it necessary to leave, and the friction that had been caused continued to ripple out.  It still remains to be seen what the final results of the changes will be.

Sometimes dreams are meant to bring warning of conditions and situations one must face.  The warning is to help you better deal with the situation and thus bring about the best possible outcome.

I was in my home and stepped outside to the walkway.  I looked across the street to an empty lot that is wild and uncut.  It was a bright day, perhaps mid-afternoon.  I was very surprised to see a Bobcat walking through the vegetation.  He did not notice me but headed towards the street at a trajectory that would take him to my neighbor’s property.  I had never seen a wild Bobcat before and to see him in a populated area was quite surprising.

This is a warning dream of conditions to come.  The front yard represents what I show the world.  The bobcat represents someone who makes aggressive or spiteful comments. The bobcat is headed directly towards my neighbor’s property. Conditions to come indicate problems with my neighbor being aggressive and/or making spiteful comments.  The point of the warning is to give me an opportunity to behave in the best way possible to the situations that will arise because of this. I can react just as negatively as the neighbor and thus make things worse, or I can react as positively as possible and keep matters from escalating.  It is possible that the neighbor will cause matters to escalate no matter what I do, but at least by behaving in the best way possible, I can remain as blameless as possible.

There is also a second interpretation which can be applied.  Again, a warning dream of conditions to come.  The front yard represents awaiting what comes next in my life.  The bobcat represents a wild or aggressive situation.  The bobcat is headed directly towards my neighbor’s property.  Conditions will be coming into my life that will bring wild and/or aggressive situations that I must deal with from a situation or person that I deal with on a regular basis.  Again, the point of the dream is to give me the opportunity to react with love, patience and grace in a difficult situation instead of just reacting instinctively, which could make matters worse.

As you can see, both interpretations basically are saying the same thing, but one interpretation is more specific in what is to happen.  If you are wondering, the neighbor could mean not just a literal neighbor where I live, but a co-worker whose workstation is in the neighboring range of my work area.  You can continue with this analogy.

Sometimes in dreams, we receive information on others.  This information generally lets us know how they are doing-good or bad.  The dream might address a particular issue or the overall theme of their current situation.  I have had several dreams like this over the years, and have found they are meant to be of help.  To be forewarned gives me the ability to better react to whatever situation the individual has created for themselves and give better advice, thus creating a more positive interaction.

In this dream, I was waiting for someone close to me to drive up.  We were to go on a short trip together and were riding in her car.  She stopped in front of me and got out.  I saw inside her car that it was a terrible mess.  It was full of trash.  So much trash that she even was sitting on it in the driver’s seat and it had pushed her seat back.  It was a wonder she could even safely drive.  This outraged me, as she could have hurt herself or someone else by being so lazy as to not throw the trash out and allow it to build to the levels it was at.  I immediately grabbed the trash on the driver’s seat and in front of it and took it out.  I told her, “I’m driving until we get to our destination!”  I properly adjusted the seat for myself and waited for her to get in.  The car was still full of trash but I wasn’t going to worry about the rest of it.  Only what was making the vehicle unsafe.  I told her, “You can’t drive around like that, you will kill someone!” She was angry with me for changing what she had done, but said nothing and got into the passenger’s seat.  I proceeded to drive us to where we needed to be.  Once there, I got out of the car and said, “Here’s your car back!”  I had decided not to worry about what she was doing or not doing with the trash and her car.  I knew I had done what I should.

This dream was showing me a situation with someone I am close to which I became aware of perhaps three weeks later.  She asked my advice as to how to handle two major life-changing situations.  One dealt with money and the other dealt with a personal relationship. In my opinion, she had a quite “a mess” in both areas.  So much so that it would have been very easy for her to harm someone else and herself in the process of making her current decisions.  The results of her poor decisions could have been and could still be devastating if the wrong circumstances arose.  I advised her in both areas and made it clear she needed to do as I directed.  Normally, when I give advice, I allow the other person to make their own choice as to what to do next.  But in this case, I was quite adamant as to what she needed to be doing and to stop in her poor decision making.  Thankfully, she was ready to hear the advice and apply it as I directed.  In this case, I was ready to help in the two areas that were very shaky but as to the rest of the mess she has made with her life, I chose to stay quiet and let her work those situations out in the way she sees is best.

This dream is about my husband and I reviewing a choice we made in the past, and deciding whether it was the best choice for us.

In the dream, my husband and I were driving around our neighborhood.  We were doing this deliberately, to see how everything looked and if there were any changes.  We stopped by a house we had almost bought several years ago. At the time we considered it, it needed a huge amount of work.  Neither one of us are home repair type people and so we decided against the house, even though it had huge potential.  Someone else had bought the home and made the necessary repairs.  The transformation was amazing.  The main house had a Greek/Roman façade across the front. A building in the back had been completely repaired and appeared to be a large open barn used for different activities.  There was a third building aligned with the house but at the other corner of the basketball court.  This other building/house had been added to and now consisted of two floors instead of the original one. All three buildings were connected by a large basketball court, so it had the appearance of a large, expensive compound.  Four or five young men were playing basketball quite vigorously.  All of them had dark hair and appeared Hispanic. We were both quite impressed with the quality of the work and how wonderful the whole project had turned out.  My husband looked at me and said, “We could have done that!”  I replied “Yes, but we wouldn’t have.  We are just as well off in our little house.”  He nodded in agreement because our little house is easy to take care of-very low maintenance- and quite comfortable. We knew that the choice we had made was the best choice for us. We drove on to finish our inspection of the neighborhood.

This dream is about a point in time when my husband and I made a choice as to how we wanted to live our lives.  The opportunity was there to expand our lives physically, mentally and spiritually beyond our natural inclinations. It would have been a wonderful opportunity to greatly extend ourselves and become people who more greatly serve others. At that time, we chose to stay within our personal boundaries, as we recognized the other way was a lot of hard work that we weren’t necessarily inclined to do nor perhaps even capable of doing.  Looking back at this decision, we see what we could have created and how nice it would have been.  But I remind my husband that we didn’t have the personalities for that particular path of growth.  We prefer to stay within our natural inclinations and expand those as much as we can.  And we’re happy with the decision we made.  Sometimes it is best to recognize one’s own personal limitations and work with them instead of against them.