Thread: Recurring Dream....

First, I would like to say that just because you appear to be a different person in your dream does not necessarily mean that it is from a past life (then again, I don't believe in reincarnation, so I may be a bit biased there). That said, dreaming you are someone else could indeed have a symbolic meaning. The thing is, you've told us literally nothing about yourself beyond what you look like and that you don't fear the dark, but rather what is in it (which suggests to me, a fear of the unknown). I can give you a generic *what this might mean* interpretation, but without knowing anything about you, I can't really tailor it to you.

So, instead of telling you "this is what I think your dream means" I will tell you "this is what it could mean.

Two things jump out at me in your dream. First, you look different in your dream, and second, you are running from something but you don't see what it is (you merely hear the voice). Often times in dreams, running from something can symbolize your wanting to escape from some problem in your waking life--that or feeling overwhelmed by something in your waking life. Has there been any major life changes in your life? Perhaps you are facing some sort of problem or crises? The fact that this dream recurs makes me think it is something that is always in the back of your mind, something you always end up having to deal with.

The fact you always end up falling off a cliff tends to suggest the same thing; an issue you feel overwhelmed with is "haunting" you for lack of a better word. Again, is there something, some problem or some stress in your life that you are always facing? Maybe you hate your job, maybe (if you still live at home) you feel your parents are putting immense pressure on you to do something (like seek out a specific college degree) something like that. The raspy voice would also tend to point in this direction: whatever the issue or problem in your waking life is, you cannot outrun it, the only way to deal with it is to face it head on.

That is what your dream could mean, but again, without knowing anything at all about you, these are really just guesses at this point.

My apologies, well let's see...I just turned 25 I loved the job I had until circumstances (that I'd rather not go into detail about) left me no choice but to quit my job and move back to my home town where I am currently unemployed. I enjoy writing (mostly fiction, short stories and the occasional poem or song), art, digital photography and singing. I'm a fairly simple person. Easily amused, easily intrigued and I generally take an interest in whatever it is that I choose to do (and often times even things that I have to do regardless of whether or not I actually want to do it). I come from a really small town and have a tight knit family with a massive amount of drama and turmoil in which I play the neutral party (meaning everyone looks to me for words of wisdom, guidance, a listening ear, advice, so on and so forth). I'm generally pretty sweet and caring but I do have a mean streak that tends to come out when somebody speaks badly of people that I care for or attempts to harm me or people that I care for in any way. Mind you, this is not a physically violent mean streak, simply a "bark" rather than the actual "bite".

let's see, what else....uhm, I actually do believe in reincarnation, I practiced a small amount of wicca during my high school years (nothing bad, just dabbled in the details of the beliefs and whatnot like I tend to do with most religions) and I have a "your opinion of me isn't important because I really don't care" kind of attitude which has gotten me into a fair amount of arguments and debates in the past. I'm pretty easy going...I like walking down the creek, especially when it's dried up during the summer and early fall. I love dogs, I can't stand cats....I've had a few out of body experiences (albeit short lived o.b.e's) and have had encounters with deceased relatives through dreams, through communication during my waking life and through a couple of black out spells where I have no recollection of the past 20 minutes to an hour and randomly come across pages of writing on lined paper and once there was a drawing.

I have trust issues (if that helps) and only in the sense that, while I believe giving someone the benefit of the doubt is a positive thing, it can also get people into situations that they may not be able to get out of. That said, I guess I'm just really cautious and like to expect the worst and hope for the best...I have been able to control that recurring dream a few times and have stopped before reaching the trees to confront whatever it was that was chasing me and the dream kind of came to a stand still....suddenly I was most definitely alone, no voice, no breathing down the back of my neck and no feeling of being chased/followed/watched by anything. The dream (in those few occasions) ended as normal after I woke up to get a drink of water and went back to sleep only to have the dream start completely from the beginning and play out as usual.

If there's anything else that may help, please don't hesitate to ask. I don't really run from my problems in my waking life though, I like to face them and get whatever it is out of the way and dealt with so that I can leave it behind me.

Oh, one last bit of information, I have never known my birth father and really don't care to know who he was/is because in my opinion if he can go 25 years without trying to find me or contact me then it's not worth my time to risk having a major setback as I have had bouts of depression which I somehow manage to pull out of unscathed.

You know, the next time you become lucid during your dream, you may ask your dream (or rather your subconscious) to help you discover what it is trying to tell you. That's actually a great deal more information then I expected, and I have to say that it doesn't really change my opinion of what your dream could mean. In fact, some aspects of what you said seem to support it. But then again, as I like to tell people when I interpret dreams you are the best judge of what your dreams mean. Nobody knows you like you do. So, while I can offer patterns and things that I see, really you are the best person to decide if they are near the mark or not.

You could take this dream in one of two ways. Since you do believe in reincarnation, you could take it to be simply a snippet from your past life (hey, if you believe in reincarnation, why not?). This would be the simplest explanation, and well...Occam razor and all that.

OR, you could take the dream to be symbolic of some deeper meaning (I would lean towards this one, but again, I may be a bit biased here :p ). I find it interesting you mentioned your father and how you really don't care to know who/what he is, as well as your bouts of depression. This dream is recurring, afterall. Perhaps there is some part of you that does want to know about your birth father, and the more you try to convince yourself otherwise, the harder your subconscious mind tries to make you face your true feelings.

Bouts of depression can be very dark, and your dream is very dark too. Do your dreams coenside with your depression? If so, they could symbolize your attempt to break away from the depression permanently (but for all your efforts, the depression still returns). Your mind may be sending the message that you need to find out why you are becoming depressed. It seems to me that this could be a very viable explanation for your dreams, since it sounds like your bouts of depression recur as well. Often times, people need to find the root cause of their depression to be able to recover completely from it. The dream symbols; you running from an unseen force, you falling from a precipice, the voice telling you that you can't run away; it all could be your subconscious mind trying to get you to look deeper into yourself and find out why you keep getting depressed.

That's just a couple of ideas for what this dream could possibly mean. One more idea I'll toss out there; you seem to do a lot of soul searching. Dabbling from one religion to another, not really being able to trust people easily, plus not knowing about your father; are you perhaps feeling as though you haven't truly found who you are? Because that dream could also be a reflection of your own self-searching as well.

That's all I've really got. Like I said, you are the best judge to decide if any of those possible interpretations could actually be what your dream means. I hope I at least gave you some ideas to work with, and maybe help you with your own interpretation

I think you've hit quite a few key points in your interpretation. While it may not be so much of a subconscious desire to gather information on my birth father (I honestly gave up on that when I was around eight years old), you could be right about the depression part. The dream doesn't really coincide with the bouts of depression as those tend to happen more frequently and usually when my family is in turmoil with one another and I'm being stuck in the big fat middle of it all (again being the neutral party). Dabbling in different religions is really a hobby of mine, I like to know things....(not sure if this will make sense) I have a deep rooted need to be knowledgeable in many different aspects of life in general, not so much book smart, but street smart (I'm guessing that would be a more appropriate term). I don't particularly relish the thought of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and winding up in one of those sticky situations....Since I was young (grade school young) I've always had this habit of just sitting back and watching people, sort of reading them from a distance. I get a feel for people by watching their interactions with others, listening to the different tones of voice used in conversations with others and generally paying very close attention to even the smallest of changes in mood/behavior in public settings (and sometimes private settings, i.e: the comfort of either their home or mine) and analyzing whatever information I've gathered/retained about a person to make a firm decision on whether or not I want to associate with them and if so, how often.

Hence the reason I dabble in different religions. I do soul search, however. I soul search because (again) I need to know things....about myself. I have a very .... how to put this.... strong (I guess?) sense of who I am as a person. That is to say that, I know my moods, behaviors, actions and the reasons behind each change in mood/behavior with each encounter (with other people) that I have throughout my day to day life. There are people I can talk to for hours and there are some that I can only tolerate conversing with for a few brief moments...Just depends on what kind of "vibe" I get or have gotten from them.

Again, thank you for your interpretation and I sincerely appreciate it.

Sure, no problem. I love to read about other people's dreams. And I just realized re-reading my reply, that while it wasn't the intent, when I stated

he thing is, you've told us literally nothing about yourself beyond what you look like and that you don't fear the dark, but rather what is in it (which suggests to me, a fear of the unknown)

that came out sounding quite a bit snotty. I didn't mean it to sound like that, but given what you said

My apologies, well let's see...

, I have to think you may have noticed LOL

So, I apologize if I sounded like an ass there in my first reply, it was completely unintentional :p

oh no, not at all, haha....believe me, if that were the case I would have flat out said "no need to be rude" or "wow, talk about being a class 'A' jerk" haha...I understood what you meant by the statement.