Thread: Long dream concerning sharks, my dog, and musicians?

Just to start off by saying that interpreting a dream accurately is a very involved process that usually requires a lot of background information about the dreamer and a detailed description of recent events, but generally some basic ideas can be tried out to see if they may fit the dreamer’s situation in some way.

For example, a basic theme of your dream appears to relate to the public expression of feeling values and emotions. This idea is supported by the presence of the band leader and his connection of course with music, the latter usually being connected in turn with emotions as expressed in a cultural context.

In addition, there is a less obvious connection with feeling values and emotions as expressed by the idea of a public bathroom. Generally, urine and faeces can tend to represent the darker earthier side of emotions that need to be “expressed” no matter what. Urination cannot be put off voluntarily by the person for very long in contrast to not eating for example. Something must be “expressed” and “let out” no matter what.

Also, the image of your friend chatting with someone you once dated also involves the theme of emotions and relationships.

The fact that your conversation with the musician occurs in an “orderly way” as you are leaving and he is entering the bathroom might tend to suggest that you have a well-functioning public persona (also depicted by your nonchalantly going “on stage” in front of others) regarding the expression of your feelings in relationships overall.

However, there may be occasional hiccups in this regard (knock over the mic; the reference to a bad dating experience).

It’s possible that the first part of your dream depicts symbolically a paradigmatic situation that may have occurred in outer life just before the dream and which was representative of how you usually deal with others; the second part on the ocean may describe certain underlying unconscious influences that were in play at the time, and the third part might show your current level of being able to handle the disparate feelings and emotions that emerged from the experience.

In general terms, the ocean symbolizes the vast reaches of the unconscious mind on whose surface the ego floats either in a boat or otherwise. The fact that you are swimming in the middle of the ocean might be emphasizing that certain recent events tended to throw you for a loop and your usual methods of moving forward were not of any use (no boat).

Your own memories, thoughts and feelings that come to mind are crucial to an accurate interpretation of the image of the sharks, but in basic terms they partly represent an unsentimental, predatory attitude which is sometimes necessary in a very challenging adverse situation where unflinching cold-blooded assertiveness is the order of the day.

The dream might be saying that you understandably find such an attitude (the bad sharks) extremely hard to accept (chasing you) because your normal way of acting is by using pleasant domesticated feelings (your dog) to make your way through interpersonal relationships.

A friendly voice that’s connected with animal life almost always means that deep instinctive levels of you have been activated and are trying to help out in a difficult situation or inner dilemma.

The image of the helpful sharks might be the dream’s way of showing that trusting seemingly cold-hearted ways of acting is desirable and can be essential in certain circumstances. It will even help to preserve your ability to respond warmly in normal situations (special shark helps keep dog safe).

In this take on your dream, the sea creature that attacks you along with the shark could symbolize something like a dangerous pull-back to cherished ways that would exclude from consciousness a sometimes-needed shark-like ruthless attitude.

The third part of the dream could be saying that you’re still having trouble “containing” perhaps the first glimpse of a new overall attitude (sharks and dog jump out) but that it’s worth continuing to try (grateful to the helpful shark; throwing them all back into the shower).

It’s possible that the shower that’s filling up echoes the symbolical idea of baptism, that is, a “rebirth” can occur if the three aspects shown are “united” into one. One shark might be the “bad” one that’s connected with cold assertiveness, the dog could be your usual completely accommodating way of acting, while the third helpful shark could be the catalyst that may be able to unite the two conflicting attitudes into one through “containment” and the uniting nature of water overall.

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything about you these ideas might not fit your situation very well, but I hope they will be of some help in unravelling the personal message contained in your dream.