It's thought the reason why dreams recur is that they contain a theme in your life you're not addressing. It is something you are not looking at, and that you must, inevitably, to shift the game into its next logical progression.
My recurrent dreams are hardly ever static or identical, but they do tend to follow similar storylines. One dream I've never been able to shake, from childhood, is that there is someone coming in the door. It's a bizarre way to express it, but I can think of no better. For this, what they're doing, is a continuous action. Throughout the dream, there is the knowledge of them (or perhaps more aptly "it") standing behind the door to my house. But not static. They are not merely standing, but actively in the process of coming through the door. And it is up to me and me alone to lock the door before they can do so, and I almost always fail, and even when I do manage to, the dream knows it's but temporary.
The monsters inevitably find a way of coming through the door. And I remain powerless to stop them. It's a dream, quite evidently, about the narrowness of my own shoulders. About the belief that I am not strong enough, sturdy enough, imposing enough to keep the monsters from my own (and my family's) door.
Not really dream-related, but spooky atmos.
Another theme that dogs me is one of the most cliched of all -- I am being pursued. I am being hunted. I like to imagine myself a deer, not in my life, but in my mind when I close my eyes. This theme takes many, many forms. Modern times and ancient, angry mobs and ravenous wolves. Perhaps it's a suggestion of my own play-too-close-to-the-fire nature.
There is something worrying inside myself that likes to tempt fate, to invite into itself untold danger that it could otherwise elude. Perhaps my dream is warning me that I must stop this game. Or perhaps, and I tend to lean towards this latter interpretation, it's merely a prediction,
As long as you do not stop tempting fate, you will continue to be hunted. You will have no choice but to keep on running, to ignore the aching under the dome of your ribs, and play for your life. You will run, perhaps, all this long life, not because you couldn't if you wished to stop, but because it's not your nature.
Perhaps.
A final theme that haunts me is that of freedom. Of escape. Or perhaps that's wrong. It could be argued that the overarching theme in all these dreams is ultimately that of freedom. Of escape. Most recently, I dreamed I was not one but two vampires in an Edinburgh that was both modern and medieval at once (as it is). That I (as a we) was (were) captured by a rich, decadent family who wanted to put me (us) on display at parties. Imprisoned alongside an old, mortal couple, who in the end betray me (in my duality). There was no fear in these wealthy folk of vampires, merely amusement, titillation almost at having such a novelty dropped in their laps. Naturally, I escaped. Clawed my way through grate and grit to freedom, but is it really that, if you're meant to be running your whole life?
At the time, I was also experimenting with a dream interpretation app, which had this to say:
Imprisonment in your dream underscores feelings of restriction. Captivity alongside humans in this metaphorical dungeon might mirror constraints experienced eternally in waking life or internally at a psychological level. The lovers imprisoned are almost timeless, an older couple, mirroring perhaps entrenched patterns difficult to break free from. Do you feel parts of yourself have been locked away, unable to be expressed fully, perhaps due to conforming to societal norms or personal commitments that feel stifling?
Transitioning to the rich man's perspective offers an interesting switch, perhaps indicating a turning point or awakening, seeing the escape route through his eyes. This character embodies the captor, but also holds the key to freedom. What realization in your waking life might symbolize this dual role of both restraining and enabling liberation?
Worth it? Asking AI about my unconscious? Maybe. It certainly had some interesting ideas - the app itself, called Temenos Dream, is pretty interesting as it allows you to create a library of themes, characters and patterns to interpret and analyze your dreaming (of course, from a Jungian perspective). Worth checking out.
Do you have recurrent dreams, or themes in dreams? If so, why not participate in the #MemoirMonday challenge by @ericvancewalton. It's such a fun, smart method of engagement on this platform we call home. Try it.
