too many dreams... i'll start with this one

I actually have two questions, with the second being about my dream. The first one is... is it common to remember almost all your dreams? I am constantly remembering my dreams; not all parts of them, but most. Is that normal or common, because most people I know can't remember them.

Now, my dream, which I have been trying to figure out for awhile now.

It starts off with me at a haunted house, which is located in one of the cabins I stayed in while camping last summer. It has many areas to go into, and Old McDonald greets you. He sings his song, and then he shoots out at you with a bloody, severed head.

Next, I walk through the house with a group of people. We stop in a booth that takes your pictures and lets you see how you'll die (similar to Final Destination 3), along with another booth that has old women arms trying to grab your legs.

I get scared and lie to tell my friends (who left at one point) that I went through all the booths. They don't believe me, but we go to the end anyways. The scariest one regards sunglasses, and I have to try and find them, but I can't. That's when Tim Allen comes in.

Tim and I are arguing over something on two yellow chairs. Suddenly, he whips out a chainsaw and I look outside to see if I can run away. It's pitch black, and I can't see a thing. I realize I must run, and suddenly I can see. I run to the cabin next door, and Tim yells, "I'm going to kill you." When I reach the door, it's locked, and I see my friend doing yoga on the floor. When I turn around, Tim plants two nail guns into my forehead.

I am really sorry I had such a long post as my first one, but this has been a dream that has scared me and I wish I knew what it meant.

 

Hi Lauren

In response to your first question, I find a lot of people don't remember all of their dreams. Usually upon waking unless considering them / writing them down, memory of them seems to fade quickly. Good dream recall can be practised and improved upon, but I am sure different people have better recall than others.

As for this dream, it seems to combine a lot of childhood symbols with symbols of death. I would say the haunted aspects of it are possibly things that happened / you saw during your childhood that have had a lasting negative impression upon you, in particular in regards to death. How do you view death? Is it something you fear (fear being the primary emotion linked to this dream)?

You are looking for sunglasses, a way that 'tints' our view (of death)?

Tim Allen, an actor who has had a strong childhood / father figure type roll. It is only when you realise you 'must' run you can see. Your friend is doing yoga on the floor. Could these be symbols of physical health / excercise? Tim Allen's association with tools and the 'macho man' of Home Improvement could also be referring to a men / masculine aspects.

It could be alluding to an inner feminine / masculine conflict. If it is I can't discern any details.

 

I would ask if this is the only feasible intepretation, in re: the sunglasses.

To me, sunglasses could represent other possiblities than simply "tinting". I would imagine it depends on exactly what sunglasses represent to the dreamer.

To me, for example, sunglasses represent a kind of "private space", a vehicle that provides, for me, a bit of safe distance between myself and the outside world. I wear them frequently for that reason. I like the sense of "private space" that they provide.

They also, in that sense, represent personal control, control over who is allowed into one's private space.

Sunglasses mean a lot to me, in my daily life. I never leave home without them, and wear them sometimes even at night.

They also could represent a feeling of competency, or authority, or "cool" assurance, or a mechanism that provides this to a person.

Anyway,,I feel that they could represent much more than merely a "filter" to reality. That's mostly a negative view of their meaning, I would say. That's what a lot of people think, about sunglasses, but it's not their only function.

Another positive sense is one of protection. Sunglasses, especially blue-blocker types, protect the retina against the damaging effects of blue-spectrum exposure over the course of a lifetime. This is another reason I wear them, to avoid macular degeneration.

I wonder if the interpretation of dreams is not subject to the personal biases regarding the assortment of symbols the dream, and by extension, the psyche of the dreamer, provides us, as relating to the interpreter.

 

I absolutely agree. Hence the question mark.

 

Wow, thanks for sharing your interpretation. Rook's interpretation was really good and has made me think about some things, and arthur's view on sunglasses is actually how I feel about them.

I'll definitely have to post a few of my other dreams later on.

Quick question, though... I do seem to have many violent dreams, though in reality, I don't often think about death or even like violence. I've read what you said about death or something that happened in my childhood, but if that were the case, would it show up often in my dreams?

 

Symbols in dreams don't have to directly apply to our experience, except as symbols, not literal representations of what events have happened. Death could symbolize our own vulnerability, since death comes to us all, regardless. Violence also symbolizes a kind of powerlessness in ourselves, and so we need to go deeper than merely looking at the superficial aspect of a dream, to find out what that symbol means to us.