Dreams where I am violent

**fightthedayaway** · 06-18-2011 08:55 PM

I am not a violent person at all. The last time I got into a fist fight was when I was nine (I'm 26 now). Sometimes my dreams are violent, but I'm always the victim of said violence. This week, for the first time ever, I've had two dreams where I was the attacker - and I was brutal.

(also, I think it might be important to mention that I am a girl before you read on)

The first went like this: I was at a cafe and I grabbed a table and set up my computer and some other things. Then I went to the counter to get a coffee. I turned around and saw that some girl was sitting at my table, crying hysterically, and trying to sneak my things into her bag. I went to the table and told her to go away, that this was my table and these were my things. She just kept crying, saying that she was the victim here, and taking my things. I got really mad and started to hit her with my fists. Then I woke up because the anger I felt scared the hell out of me.

The second went like this: It was a long epic dream, so I'll only talk about this one part. I don't remember it fully but I almost beat a woman to death with a bat..and I think it might have been to get a guys attention. If I recall the logic correctly, I was trying to commit a crime (beating her down) and framing someone else (a burglar) and somehow this was going to make this guy and myself closer. I don't really remember the actual connection so the logic is a fuzzy and ridiculous. Anyway, she didn't die and she was magically not that hurt. I was really relieved. When I woke up, I wasn't sure if it was just a dream or if I had actually hurt someone. My recollection was odd. I could remember her lying on the floor, bleeding. I even remember the color of the rug (it was a brown long thread shag). But I couldn't remember actually hitting her. I remember dropping a bat but not actually holding one.

In both dreams, the women were not people that I knew. I have no idea who they were. The first one was an artsy girl, and the second one was a girl with a pony tail and a magenta sweater. The guy who I wanted to get closer to in the second dream is someone that I know, someone who I'm having trouble defining my feelings for.

I already have some ideas of what these might mean, but I'm not certain so I'd like to get some feedback before I draw any concrete conclusions. Any thoughts?

**Yosma** · 06-18-2011 09:30 PM

Here's the thing there is a very good chance that these mean absolutely nothing. When you dream the logic center of your brain shuts down, meaning that your dream could just have been an illogical mess that your mind stitched together.

**fightthedayaway** · 06-20-2011 10:00 PM

I guess that's a possibility, but I'm not really satisfied with chucking it to the logic center of my brain shutting down. I mean, I posted this here because I obviously feel like it means something

Also, because this theme of beating a woman who happened to be a stranger cropped up twice leads me to believe that I should probably pay attention to the things my unconscious mind is telling me.

**lucydity** · 06-21-2011 01:57 AM

I've also been having violent dreams but mine have more meaning to them of protecting friends or dream characters or myself but being really aggresive about it in some cases.
Maybe with us being non-aggresive people our anger and aggrivation bottles up and is unleashed through our sub-conscious mind during around dreams.

**insideout** · 06-21-2011 04:39 AM

I am also not a violent person, and have violent dreams that I don't like.
Do you have any inner frustrations? If you are a reserved person, perhaps your dreams are acting out simply because you wouldn't in waking life. Or it could be something or someone more specific that you are feeling frustrated or angry with. Even if it's just a little frustration or anger, it could be exaggerated in your dreams because emotions are very strong in the dream state.

**Yosma** · 06-21-2011 09:02 PM

You may feel it means something but, you also thought the dream was real life until you woke up.

**Wildman** · 06-21-2011 10:15 PM

I wouldn't try to read too much into it. There's just so many things that could influence what caused you to dream that (reading about violence, watching a violent movie, anything) without you realizing it that I don't think it's a good idea to try to interpret too much. I'm really not a violent person, but I've had a dream where I gouged out someone's eyes with my fingers (albeit, in self defense) and some other violent/gruesome dreams... in my case it probably stems from video games. In the end, you can of course make some judgments for yourself about what the dreams could mean, but don't try too hard to look for something that may not be there.

**fightthedayaway** · 06-23-2011 01:23 AM

Yes, InsideOut, I think it has something to do with inner frustrations. Specifically with myself. I'm thinking that both women are representations of myself, parts that I am frustrated with and want to change. The second dream, I think, was a little more complicated so I'm not sure of the whole thing.

Yosma, the blurring of reality and dreams is something I experience on a regular basis. I have a found that it is not a good indicator of whether or not a dream has meaning.

Wildman, I appreciate your viewpoint, but as I said before I really did post this for a reason. I was hoping that people who are familiar with with dream symbolism would be open to discussing it. I really do not feel like I am looking too hard for something that isn't there, but I will keep that advice in mind.

I respect that some people believe that the dreams mean nothing, but I've been following my dreams for years and I am fairly good at knowing which dreams have meaning and which ones don't. I know I can't really explain how I know it, but I do. I just joined and part of the reason I joined was so that I could discuss interpretation with like-minded people. I felt this dream warranted interpretation, so I posted it here. If this comes off as defensive, I apologize. I'm just trying to clarify my stance.

**insideout** · 06-27-2011 05:23 PM

Our emotional state certainly has an influence on our dreams.

Here is my opinion on dream meaning: Even if you are just making up a meaning for a dream after waking, you can still get something meaningful from it.

**Kumara** · 06-29-2011 04:41 PM

The fact that your anger in your dream frightened you is a clue - especially being female, we are taught anger isn't nice. Anger is scary. Generally we are taught that Angry women are b*tches, and being a b*tch is a Very Bad Thing.

If it were my dream, I would think that my dream was giving me an outlet for emotions that are otherwise unacceptable in my waking life, and think that it was showing me that I am angry and hurt about something that I can't quite admit to myself, and that I need to speak up and be more assertive about something that is bothering me. I might also interpret it as a reflection of refusing to be the victim anymore...and seeing it as a progression from victim to perpetrator (to be able to see both sides of the story), to transcending both roles to something new.