# I'm having reoccurring dreams with a very bizarre (to me) theme **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 13, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086 "2022-06-13T02:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/21 "2022-06-13T22:36:39Z")
I keep having dreams about the car my dad had when I was a kid. In the dreams either he still has the car, or has passed it down to me, and I’m driving it on a regular basis despite having a newer car at my disposal. And I’m usually making plans to restore it. I suppose it probably symbolizes wanting to return to my childhood, or wanting something back from my past that I can’t have. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/22 "2022-06-13T23:00:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Over the past 4 1/2 years (this includes my cancer treatment), I’ve had a lot of dreams where I’m trapped in some kind of maze, with exits clearly marked but somehow, I can’t escape. Decades ago, a psychology professor did some Gestalt dream interpretation with us. The dreamer tells the story in the first person, present tense. “I’m wandering in the maze and I see these signs saying ‘Exit’ but when I go up, the door is locked.” Etc. Tell it all the way to the finish. I, I, I…present tense, now, like you’re in the experience. Then another member of the group tells the story. “I’m wandering in the maze and I’m feeling really scared because I have to be somewhere.” It turned out that the dreamer realized things—maybe, ‘Yes, I _was_ scared,"’ or ‘No, I was really calm, like I had time to solve this puzzle.’ But the dreamer doesn’t tell the group that…it’s for the dreamer’s information. After the group has a shot at that, it was time to tell the story from the maze’s point of view. “I’m a maze and I’ve been here for awhile. Lots of people cry and scream when they feel lost.” But the next person might say “I’m the maze and I’m the kind that’s a tall, trimmed hedge you can’t see above…I’m playing a cruel trick because I know the doors are locked.” Again, the dreamer will realize some truths or some missteps. After awhile, the dreamer always stopped it because they felt naked in front of others. For me at least, It seemed that there are things you “know” in a dream—they’re emotions you experience maybe, but they aren’t necessarily stated. Gestalt made us notice those things and other details. Like we concluded that there are few if any total strangers in dreams—we’d met them before, perhaps only briefly in a supermarket line or something. Then you’d remember how she was rude to you and so the part she played really meant… Anyway as I recall the theory was that the dream represents a need…it’s like dreaming about water when you’re thirsty. In its own wonky way, your subconscious is sending you a message. If you manage to overcome (in real life) whatever’s making you dream that, the dream will go away. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/23 "2022-06-14T11:23:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Dreams are the visual parts of your brain tidying up, sorting through imagery and events of the day, while the logical part of the brain tries to form it into a narrative. I just woke up from a dream that an irritable 12" toy Transformer jet insisted it was my mother’s first cousin and flew off before I could show her. Nothing that happened yesterday involved my dead mom or toys (self-aware or otherwise). ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/24 "2022-06-14T12:06:04Z")
House dreams are sometimes said to be about one’s own body, one’s “house”. Given that OP is a cancer survivor, the dreams about the house in their old town could be related? My guess Not sure about the maze… needs more “exploration”… at times I’ve been able to take control of my dreams, realize that I’m dreaming, and start to dialogue directly. Doesn’t always work. Can also try dialoguing when awake, just free associate. If the cancer started 4 1/2 years ago seems like it’s fears that cancer could recur, again only a guess ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/25 "2022-06-14T12:26:57Z")
Many moons ago, I read a book on a gestalt therapy approach to the interpretation of dreams. The basic gist is that every part of a dream is an aspect of the dreamer. The therapist had his patients role play a chief part of their dream and explain why they were there. He thought it was important to do this in front of the other patients, so that they would feel like performers on a stage, where inhibitions tend to disappear. Like the OP, I’ve had dreams of being trapped in what I thought was a familiar environment, but had hidden obstacles that prevented me from escaping. I’d sometimes find a dumbwaiter or service elevator and exit the building that way, only to find myself trapped in another maze. How do you role play a maze? “I’m the part of you that limits yourself and stops you from discovering your potential” maybe? I’ve also had dreams where I had to take an exam I wasn’t prepared for, but that can be attributed to real life experiences from college repeating themselves, even though that was 40 years ago. It’s the same oppressive nature of the maze. Your subconscious is manifesting your insecurities about not being prepared for life’s challenges. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/26 "2023-09-16T16:38:08Z")
> [@Redcanoe](#): > > I lived on a sailboat in the early 90’s, sold it in 1994. I still wake up in a panic every so often, thinking, > " I haven’t checked on the boat, what if it’s leaking and the pumps failed". Stupid brain, give it a rest. I had a large boat during the same time span you did. I had the same kind of dreams you did also for years after I sold the stupid boat. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/27 "2023-09-16T16:49:04Z")
I just woke up from a recurring dream, The dreams seem to re-occur years apart. I find myself in a slum like setting. Small houses and huts very crowded together. Dangerous people, hookers, thieves etc. When you enter one of these huts it is like entering a different world, they start off small but grow as I get deeper into them. Nothing but drugs, sex, dancing and music. In the dream this morning I found a puppy in the midst of all this chaos, and I was trying to rescue him. I woke up when it started to get violent and bloody. Really freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/28 "2023-09-16T18:26:03Z")
Recurring dreams are why I don’t subscribe to the randomized images theory. I used to have a recurring nightmare (It recurred every week or two AND when I had it, it would recur several times per night.) that involved my very twisted ex-husband. This went on for almost two years. When I finally figured out what my mind was trying to tell me, I stopped having the nightmare. This is one example of many. There was nothing randomized about it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/29 "2023-09-16T18:27:26Z")
My uncle, who died last year, had a beach house at Mexico Beach, Florida for many years. Several years before Hurricane Michael wiped it right off down to the slab, he sold it to the chagrin of his kids, but none of them were in a position to buy it themselves and they figured he had his reasons. After the hurricane destroyed it, he revealed that he had been having increasingly frequent and graphic dreams that the house was going to be washed away in a tsunami or similar event, while it was full of people. (The house was unoccupied when the hurricane struck, thankfully.) My cousin’s ex-wife said, “You still can’t wash away the memories.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086/30 "2023-09-16T21:40:49Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > This is one example of many. There was nothing randomized about it. I never mentioned they were randomized. Dreams have a connection to what you are currently thinking about, and what you are currently feeling, though both of those things may not be at the forefront of your consciousness. If you want to ascribe meaning to dreams, then that’s how you figure out what’s bothering you. It’s there, but may be difficult to figure out, unless you assess your dreams. But that’s still your brain cleaning and sorting the jumble of experiences you have each week. Are they fearful dreams, or sad dreams, or anxiety dreams? Maybe you weren’t aware of the undercurrent of those feelings, until the dreams helped you see things differently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-reoccurring-dreams-with-a-very-bizarre-to-me-theme/966086.md?page=1)