Reflections Of Your Life Stresses
Dear Nancy: I recently began an incredibly stressful job at a nursing home and also started going to college. I love college, but my job requires long hours and is very tiring and emotionally frustrating. At times I don’t know if I can last another minute! I had the following dream after a horrible day at work. - Mitzi
I am in a very dark theater that is filled with people. We are all waiting for the movie to begin. All of a sudden, panic breaks out and all the people are running around trying to find a way out. I look up and see the reason for the panic is a bat is flying around, trying to catch a mouse. Everyone is afraid the bat might land in their hair. I try to tell everyone the bat is harmless. I, however, am afraid of the mouse! A man sitting next to me picks the mouse up by the tail, and I become nervous and tell him to put it down because mice are disease-infested.
Dear Mitzi: The backdrop of this dream is a dark theater, which suggests that you are dealing with your unconscious mind and that which has previously been hidden. We can view this dream as if all the different characters are parts of yourself. The people are panicking. Are you feeling so stressed by this job that you may panic and quit, thereby finding “a way out?”
When we spoke on the phone, you indicated that you feel the bat might be a symbol of death, which is always present at the nursing home. The panicking people may reflect society’s (or your own) attitudes about death. They (or you) are afraid and want to get away from it.
In the dream, you want to assure them they needn’t be afraid of death, that it’s not bad. You fear the mouse as something disease-infested. Mice are innocent and weak, and could symbolize diseased and suffering patients.
Is your fear of death and disease overwhelming you? This dream seems to give a good overview of your inner conflicts regarding your job and the issues of illness and death. Hopefully, Mitzi, you will be able to either conquer these fears or find other work that may be more comfortable for you.
Dream groups: In Jeremy Taylor’s book, “Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill,” he states, “Working with dreams in groups is a far superior method of raising to consciousness and releasing the multiple creative energies, increased understandings and gifts for living that dreams invariably bring.”
Many people believe that their dreams are negative and fraught with material that is too scary and too intimate to share in a group setting. The idea of sharing their innermost selves through dreams leaves them feeling too exposed and vulnerable.
Our dreams do expose our innermost selves, the parts of us we ignore and hide. The understanding and agreement of confidentiality within the group is an important part of feeling safe and protected while we explore these dreams.
Dreamwork in a small group can be the most satisfying and expansive inner work you may ever do. The realization that everyone has their own inner monsters and demons opens the participants to share their dreams without the fear of being judged or shunned. Group support and insight provides a rich environment for deep inner revelations and opportunity for profound and lasting growth.
If you are interested in exploring your dreams in a group setting, call me for information regarding new dream groups I will be starting up in January and February. I’m also available for individual dream work.
, DataTimes MEMO: Nancy Huseby Bloom has studied dreams for 16 years. Dreams may be sent to her c/o The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615, or fax, (509) 459-5098. Please send a short summary of the circumstances in your life and include your name, address and phone number. Nancy conducts dream groups on a regular basis. For information, call 455-3450.