I had a dream recently that shows how dreams address issues that are occurring in the present with the intention of adding to our consciousness and through that helping us to better approach those issues. It’s also a dream whose messages seemed clearer to me than those of other dreams I’ve had, messages presented by the dream’s symbolic imagery and actions. Here is my dream:
I’m driving my car and I realize my brakes are no longer working. Thankfully, I’m driving slowly and I’m able to park the car against a curb. Just before I make a call to have my car towed to where I usually have it serviced, I see there’s an auto repair shop right near where I happened to park. I go into the repair shop and approach a man and a woman who are standing behind a counter. As I begin telling them the situation and asking whether they can fix the brakes, the man looks at the woman, who is younger than he is, and tells her to tell me how long she has worked there. It turns out she is his daughter and is also a mechanic, and it’s as if he wants me to ask her about doing the job instead of asking him, perhaps so that I’m reassured of her ability to make the repairs. I woke up at that point.
I had this dream at a time when I was feeling some anxiety about some changes at my job. I found myself thinking about scenarios that might happen as a result of those changes, including my being so busy I’d have difficulty keeping up with the work. When I found myself doing this, I would remind myself that my concerns about the changes might not have a basis, that I would need to see how things went and then address any problems, and that I should make an effort to focus on what was happening in the present. I would do that but before long the concerning thoughts would return.
Dreams often have layers of meaning. At one level, I think the symbolism of the brakes not working might have been the dream’s message to me that I needed to “put the brakes on” my negative and somewhat obsessive thinking. We can’t control the thoughts that come to us, but we can decide how to deal with them in a healthy way. And I have to admit that, even though I would remind myself to focus on something that mattered, I would sometimes not make an effort to do that right away. So I believe a related message of this dream was that I should make a more sincere effort to stop wasting time and energy on the thoughts, and by doing that I would be taking care of myself emotionally.
Another significant part of the dream is that, without at first being aware of it, I had parked my car next to an auto repair shop where there were mechanics who would be able to repair the brakes. I believe this is a reminder that help is always available to me, help from within. We can think of that help as being from our psyches, to put it in psychological terms, and/or from our Creator, to put it in religious or spiritual terms. Another meaningful aspect of the dream was the presence of and emphasis on the female mechanic. She symbolizes the inner feminine, a supportive inner presence. I also think the fact that she is a young adult might be a reminder to me to be open to looking at things in a different way from how I usually do, to consider “new” approaches instead of repeating old patterns.
According to Jungian psychological theory, dreams are one way unconscious contents are able to be integrated into consciousness. Even when symbols and the actions in dreams are more difficult to discern than those of this dream, dreams have a purpose for each of us. This dream helped me to recognize the importance of taking care of myself by not dwelling on “what if” thinking and was a reminder of the inner help from a source that cares about my wellbeing. It helped me to be reminded of that.