Dream Therapy

I have always had a really good dream memory. I also have really vivid dreams, so that probably makes them easier to remember. I can still remember nightmares that I had as a kid! This morning I woke from a dream very tired and agitated. I hate it when I wake up that way and can’t remember what in the world was in my dream that would have upset me that much, but fortunately I remember this one. I was back in school; I’m not sure if it was Jr. High or High School, because physically the school was a cross between Cashman Jr. High and Clark High School. I was between classes trying to get to my next one when I realized that I had to go to the bathroom. I had a big project due, but I figured that I still had enough time to get to the bathroom and back, so I dropped my stuff off in the classroom and went off to find a bathroom. Since this is a dream, none of the bathrooms are where they should be. I ran all over the school looking for a bathroom and eventually a little boy who looked like the little brother from Malcolm in the Middle appeared to help me. He directed me to a bathroom that was at the end of a hallway that was not very well traveled. I ran in and each stall that I went in was filthy. There was either pee or crap all over every toilet and each toilet was about to overflow with nasty water. At this point I was really frustrated. I couldn’t sit my butt on any of these toilets! Even if I cleaned them off, the nasty water was so high that I’d be soaked if I sat. The little Malcolm boy had followed me into the bathroom and showed me a stall at the end of the row that had a very clean toilet inside but no door. I had to go so bad that I decided to use the stall without the door and made the boy promise not to look. For some reason there was a door between the bathroom and a classroom that was directly across from the stall I was using. Of course, the little boy opened the door so that an entire classroom of Music kids could see me on the throne. I was mortified! As the teacher looked up from the piano, I screamed at the boy to close the door. He obeyed, but laughed and laughed at my embarrassment. To make matters worse, I was so worked up over the condition of the bathroom that I barely peed at all! I thought, “Gee, was this even worth all this trouble?!” I finished up and headed back to class. Of course, on my way back every bathroom had been restored to a normal and logical location. When I returned to my class, the lights were out and they were watching a movie. I had totally missed my project which was actually an oral presentation on the legend of Camelot. On my way back from the bathroom, I realized that I didn’t know how the legend ends, so how was I going to present on something I didn’t know? I slipped into the aisle and when I got to my seat all of my stuff was gone and John Tran (a co-Valedictorian with whom I had attended both Jr. High and High School) was sitting in my seat! I said, “Where is all my stuff?!” He said that since I had left they vacated my stuff from the area, and since I had missed my scheduled presentation time the highest grade I could get was a 50%. Then I woke up.

Now, I have no clue what this dream is supposed to mean! There are actually a few theories out there about dreams. Some people believe that dreams are the subconscious’ way of working out problems and stress that we encounter in our lives. So, everything has a meaning attached. So, maybe the dirty toilet represents an important and functional part of my life that is so messed up (or full of crap) that it can’t be used properly right now; something that needs to be “cleaned up” in my life. A lot of therapists really like this theory.

Some people say that dreams are just filled with the most recent things that you saw or thought about. Yesterday I did a lot of Jr. High work and had a conversation with a friend about how people can’t live in High School forever. The last image that I recall before drifting off to sleep was the beginning of Malcolm in the Middle which would explain the presence of Malcolm’s little brother, Dewey, in my dream. But, I can’t even remember the last time that I thought about John Tran, so what was he doing in my dream?!

There is also the belief that dreams can be prophetic and actually predict the future to a degree. This is not one of those dreams. The closest this comes to prophecy is that maybe the next time we go out of town we’ll stop at a truck stop that has a plumbing problem. Here’s where I get all new-age on ya’: I do believe in prophetic dreams or moments, because I have had a few. I’m not going to detail my experiences, but I have had a few “knowing” moments of the future that can’t be explained away.

Last be not least are the skeptics among us who believe that dreams don’t mean a thing at all. Dreams are just stories woven over the rapid fire of neuro-transmitters in the brain during REM sleep. All the excess energy has to go somewhere, so we experience dreams. They seem like they go on for hours, but dreams really only last a few minutes. I don’t subscribe to one theory over another. I can see merit in them all based on my own strange experiences. I used to write down all my dreams just because they are so entertaining! So next time you have a dream, try to figure out what you think about it.