Your dreams
WAVES OF FEAR
I often dream of angry dark ocean waves that rise up and leave me fighting for my life in the swell. I recently dreamt I was in a house on the bulkhead. I was looking through a big bay window at the huge waves on the ocean's surface when the waves turned violent and headed toward me. Before I could act one massive wave rose up and destroyed the house, surrounding me in swirling waves up to my chest. Please interpret this dream.
Merrill R. Gassert, Brooklyn
Analysis: Although water dreams are often birth fantasies, many have a spiritual nature, particularly those involving being immersed in, surrounded or embraced by water. These dreams symbolize the baptismal wish for redemption and rebirth. But violent waves outside a window reveal one's inner disposition: there is anger, emotional turbulence and destructive energy at work. In another view, these dreams signify the sense of being overwhelmed, submerged or swallowed up by an exterior dominating presence.
YOU BOOZE, YOU LOSE
I dreamt I was at a party and had too much to drink (I do drink a lot). I fought with my boyfriend because I saw a girl trying to dance with him. I was fighting her; I put her head through a glass table. It cut her neck and she bled to death. I killed her! The FBI stormed in, my friends and my parents hated me because I was too drunk to realize how stupid I was, ruining my life and ending someone else's. What does this mean?
Kaylah M., Manhattan
Analysis: Your dream is one of conscience and responsibility. Because it is a stark assessment of your present lifestyle, it is protective in nature. Your self-indictment---that you drink too much — is revelatory. The FBI — the superego — is aware of your crime, your hostile impulses and control issues. So what has really been killed is repression. There is the grim realization that bad behavior brings remorse and shame: reckless actions must be accounted for. On some level, your dream foretells the death of your old self and a newfound maturity.