I was at a family gathering: my brother, his wife, his children, my mother and others. I decided my baby had to go down for a nap and I was determined he should stay in his crib. The baby kept fighting me and getting up. I struggled with him to the point of exhaustion. I tried to hit him too but I never could. The baby seemed to be winning the struggle. He kept making strange sounds and I wanted him to be quiet.
Everybody there was just tolerating me or allowing me my struggle without interfering or saying anything.
I felt very angry. At the same time we got notice that my father died and/or my grandfather. I thought we would go back for the funeral and asked my brother if we should (I was kind of reluctant to go). He said we needed to work out how many could fit in the car. I woke up feeling angry.
When anger is felt strongly in a dream it is often an anger you have repressed and the dream is allowing its safe release. Anger is an emotion that covers a deeper issue. There’s a reason to be angry – what is the issue behind the anger? When a dream reveals anger it often reveals the source of the anger.
You mention the word anger after you describe how the family tolerated (your struggle), how they didn’t speak up.
Which area of your life now would you describe as a struggle?
In the dream you struggled to the point of exhaustion.
Which area of your life now leaves you feeling exhausted?
In the dream your family are just tolerating your struggle.
Which area in your life now are you tolerating?
A baby in a dream can represent what is new in your life.
Which area of your life is as new as a baby? (It may be a thought, plan or feeling.)
There is a feeling in your dream of family expectation. You expected the baby to sleep to your expected plan.
Did your family impose its expectations on how you should behave as a child? In your dream, did you want the baby to sleep so that everything would be peaceful for the family?
What baby voice within yourself are you trying to quieten? It is a “strange sound” according to your dream. Who (family?) has described your needs or the way you express yourself as “strange”?
Here is a dream baby who is not ready to sleep, to lie down and be quiet. Here you are, in the dream, being too quiet to ask your family for help.
Is the anger covering a cry for help or a cry for recognition of difference (“strange”)? The baby is not conforming. Did your parents expect you to conform?
The baby was male and, during the struggle, you hear that another male (father or grandfather) died. The male is likely to represent your ‘male side’ – your left brain (logical, intellectual self, competitive, assertive self, the action-orientated, outer-world orientated part of self), your Yang.
If you keep trying to quieten your Yang voice, to stop it from expressing itself, you may kill it off altogether (the funeral).
In the dream you seemed unable to take responsibility for deciding whether or not you would attend the funeral and how you would get there. This was decided by another male (brother) who stated the problem in Yang terms: the word ‘work’, or ‘work out’, a left brain reference.
So, in summary your dream reveals anger around suppressing your own Yang voice or deferring to the expectations of others.
Dialogue:
Your dialogue is between the baby and yourself. Start with the baby saying, “I don’t want to sleep right now!” and see what you automatically answer. Keep it going for 20 minutes.
How to do this:
Give yourself no longer than 20 minutes. When you do this exercise do NOT think! Don’t plan ahead. Just let whatever happens happen. Let the two entities speak to each other on paper using whatever words come up. It’s a bit like writing a film script or play – but without the brain being involved.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Dialogue as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 321-4 and 333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
