It May Be Time To Follow Your Own Path

Dear Nancy: I had this dream a couple of days after I received settlement money for a partnership that ended. I’m trying to decide between buying a house out in the country and pulling up stakes and moving to Taos, N.M., a town that I love. I’m not sure what I want to do. Incidentally, my father died in January but my mother is still living. - Dona

I am walking with my parents, looking at houses to buy. I know that my parents are really dead, and this situation with them is somehow not real. They are telling me where to live and what house to live in, and I am going along with them, not letting on that I know this situation is not real. The scene changes, and I am on a young, skinny horse, riding bareback. The reins are long and tangled, and I barely have control of the horse. She jumps a couple of very deep, narrow ditches. I know it’s risky, but she makes it across. I’m feeling very uncomfortable and anxious because I barely have control of this horse.

Dear Dona: Most dreams come to us to help us understand and cope with the events currently occurring in our lives. They also deal with the decisions, attitudes and beliefs that we have carried with us from our childhood.

The opening scene of a dream often give clues to its meaning. You are with your parents, who are making decisions for you even though you know they are dead. You are going along with them, knowing this isn’t real. How do you do this in waking life?

When we explored your dream on the phone you said that one of your mother’s favorite sayings is, “We are country people. We don’t live in cities.” Are you going along with your mother’s belief, assuming that it is true for you also? Perhaps this is the part that feels unreal. Your dream may be suggesting it’s time to follow your own path, wherever that might lead you. This is being true to yourself.

Horses are often symbols of freedom and power. Could the young horse be a symbol of your recent financial freedom? Perhaps you feel out of control with this new independence. Maybe you could take the reins of your freedom by visiting a financial planner or taking a class in finances.

To me this dream suggests that no matter where you choose to live, the choice should be made from a place of knowing what is right for you. Let your parents’ beliefs be theirs. What do you want? Perhaps renting for a year or two in Taos would help you decide.

Tip

When faced with a difficult decision, try asking for insight through your dreams. Dream incubation is a valuable tool for gaining access to your inner self and can be used to guide you through your waking life. Before going to sleep, simply ask yourself for a dream that will give you insight or direction on a specific problem. Be sure to write the question down on a piece of paper so you don’t forget what you asked. In the morning, after writing your dream in your journal, relate it to the question. How does it fit? Does the dream propose a definite course of action or give you new options?

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have a dream the first night. Keep asking. Your answers will come.