hWhilst we are awake we work through our emotions thinking about how we feel and what could happen. When we fall asleep we continue this process. You can tell that this dreamer was emotionally upset before falling asleep.

THE DREAM Chris (one of my best friends but also my crush), Malcolm (another one of my best friends and I go for a walk along some coastline promenade. All of a sudden a huge wave floods some 10 or 20 meters of our way. When it retracts, it almost sweeps me away (though the water just goes up to my knees the dead water just is too strong), but Malcolm quickly comes over and saves me by telling me to cling to the close-by guardrail. (This part was somehow all grayish, lacking colour - a bit like the first colour movies)

We are then in some town where there is loads of poverty. The three of us lie down on a large bed in the countryside and as we have something to eat loads of people came and demanded some food. When we have nothing left we hid in the blankets.

Later, some air planes (reminding of the "raisin bombers" they had during WWII) come by and drop some bags with food which is distributed.

Later I go to some overcrowded bakery and get some cheap stuff. But once again, I somehow end up giving it all away. Then, we go to a city on a hill and walk around. it's a tourist place with loads of people around and the weather is very nice, a bit like in Italy. But suddenly, a wave comes down the hill, flooding the streets. We run away, lose Malcolm somewhere on the way and save ourselves by climbing on roofs (or rather archways built of fragile wood). But those roofs collapse and we fall down. Fortunately the wave has already passed the area.

Later, we walk through the devastated, destroyed streets and go into some bars. Most of them are completely empty but one Isn't. There's almost no-one inside but we stay for some time anyway, sitting on the filthy bar stools, ignoring the waitress (and equally being ignored by her).

Then, we find ourselves in some mixture of a hospital and a youth hostel in a different city. For some reason, Chris and I don't want to see Malcolm, although we had originally planned to visit him so we flee to some room when he comes out on the corridor. In that room we meet T.K. (Some 28 year-old guy I know) who wonders if he is really in the right city (we seemed to have met in the city on the hill. But I don't really get what he means).

I arrive at a bus station where I meet a lot of people from my grade. Everyone wants to gather information on his or her studies. Trisha (a girl from my grade) tells me about some cheap grocery. I go there and it turns out to have a lot of different stuff (loads of fresh fruits and vegetables, jewellery, deodorant, perfume, sweets, clothes,...) with very different prices. I get some ice tea and a bar of chocolate and I promise to come back. I walk out, snatching A.'s feather boa.

So we return to the bus station. I want to go to IBM but as they have their main office in the city on the hill, I wonder if it is destroyed.

THE REALITY The dreamer had had an affair with Chris which several times had started and stopped. This time though Chris had ended the relationship for good because it was destroying the dreamer. Her lover realized that she could not take any more. As other background Malcolm is a friend who is absolutely against the relationship continuing. This was all taking place against a backdrop of exams the final one being the next day.

THE INTERPRETATION Well this is a long dream. The mind probably has specific meanings for every little section of this dream. But its probably better to just make general comments. The dream is undoubtedly caused by the on-off relationship. Break ups of relationships can easily cause dreams.

The dream starts off with strong waves. The waves engulf the land later in the dream. The sea symbolizes the feelings in our mind whilst the land symbolizes the grounded reality of our existence(the facts). So strong waves show that feelings are strong and overwhelming how we see the reality of our world. It can show that we are mistaking feelings for facts.

The dream also shows various urban and countryside dwellings. We move through various cities or settings. Towns and built up areas can symbolize the complex circumstances and interrelated situations of our lives. Countryside settings can symbolize the way we look at an issue in a very general way. We look not so much at the specifics of the circumstances right now but rather we look at the issue in isolation. In this case the towns generally symbolize when the dreamer asks the question - should I get back together with my lover in this particular circumstances. The more rural setting symbolizes the more generalized question - Should the dreamer get back together with her lover ever in any circumstances.

That's extremely relevant in this case. In the heart of a situation the dreamer may look at the facts and the specific circumstances of the last break up and argue through the circumstances related to that. However, the affair has got out of hand. So its possible that the dreamer has to evaluate its chances of continuing in any circumstances. The raisin bombers is an interesting symbol.

The raisin bombers flew over Germany and dropped food at a time when the war was virtually over. They dropped food. That must symbolize something here. It must link somehow to how the relationship has been through so many conflicts that there is nothing more left to destroy. All that is left is the need to accept.

It is remarkable how dreams will capture the details of a situation form start to finish. The part of the dream where the dreamer buys chocolate is significant. In real life the dreamer was in the middle of a crisis. In such times we need consoling so the need for chocolate probably represents some real life reaction - chocolate often represents the need for simple and pleasurable experiences. Indeed the youth hostel is probably a symbol for meeting up with other people in real life on the day of the crisis and allowing other people to feed her mind and so distract her from the trauma.

The youth hostel is a public building and in the dream represents the impact of the other students on her life. In that circumstance it symbolizes the way they helped her take her mind off things. The hostel was indeed partly a hospital and so represented the way in which relaxation was helping her heal her hurt feelings. Its remarkable how much detail symbols may closely represent real life. Roofs often represent principles and the use of logic. That's because houses often represent thoughts which are constructed by our minds. The house is ineffective if the roof leaks. So roofs thereby symbolizes ideas and ways of thinking which in principle do not hold water. In this case the dreamer was probably addressing the fact that her affair was in principle not viable. So it needed to end because it was simply not working. So the precise ways in which it broke down are simply irrelevant.

You may even say that the IBM offices represent the need to study. It was after all the day before an exam. Even when we have a major crisis then sometimes we find it difficult to think about things such as studies. The fear that the offices are destroyed may link to a fear of failure in the exams because of her state of mind

Its also important how dreams may pick out specific details of a situation. When the dreamer goes to the youth hostel(which represents the real life need to be distracted by other young people who have no idea of her problems). The way she ignores the waitress maybe links to a wish for people not to pander to her. Not to be trying to cheer her up. She simply wanted to be out with people to help take her mind off things.

In this way the dream is a diary of how the dreamer dealt with the issue on a general level but also looking into the specifics of the break up. It also captures her reaction and then the need to take her mind off things. It also shows her dealing with the pressing issues of other priorities. The need to study was quite a pressing issue given she had an exam the next day.

Symbolic Meanings
BED : "a very personal issue - this is affecting the dreamer a lot "
BEST FRIEND : "the dreamer is considering something which is for the best - its in her own best interests - the break up is for the best"
BLANKET : "in need of comfort after the break up"
BUS : "the dreamer is looking for support from those around her to help take mind off things"
CHOCOLATE : "a need for comfort and consolation - being made to feel better after the break up"
CITY : "complex circumstances - the dreamer is looking at the complex reasons and considerations which affected her break up"
CLOTHES : ""
COUNTRY : "the real you - the way you would be in a perfect world without having to consider other peoples thoughts"
FLOOD : "getting carried away with feelings - having to cope with some immediate emotional crisis"
HOSPITAL : "friends who help to heal her hurt feelings after the break up"
IBM : "having to study for the exams - symbolic of using a computer in real life which helped take her mind off the break up "
WAVE : "overwhelming feelings - the dreamer is overcome by her emotions "
YOUTH HOSTEL : "the impact of other students around her who help distract her from her break up"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "I have finally broken up with my boyfriend. I realise now that its for the best as it was not really working out. I am overcome with emotions but its come at a time when I have my exams. I have to forget everything and just get on with things. In some ways the exams are good because they have allowed me to focus my mind on something else"

See how the syeme of symbolic meanings represent the circumstances the dreamer finds herself in