THE DREAM I was heading down to the beach. It was a lovely clear fresh day. It reminds me of how I used to walk on the beaches and by the coast. Its a beautiful day. I was walking on the rocks trying to get down to the waters edge. I then started realising that these rocks were on the move. This was very dangerous and I might lose my life. The current were moving very quickly and rocks were shifting. The ground was moving beneath me. I realised that I needed to act quickly. (It made me think of people who have a will to live and who stay alive when others don't. Some people get caught in a building on fire and simply lie down and die. Others will do anything to survive.)

THE REALITY The day before the dreamer was busily working on his research. He had also felt some intense pain which he realised was due to drinking heavily. He was starting to recognise that he had to stop drinking or it would seriously affect his health. He realised that he wanted to live and still had things that he wanted to achieve.

DREAM ANALYSIS This dream uses a key symbol, the "will to live". It is easy to get caught up in the details of rocks and coastal which are less relevant dream symbols. The main association and key to understanding is this self preservation. In the dream the dreamer realises that he must act now if he wishes to stay alive. In reality he realised that he must act now to stop drinking heavily or his health would be seriously affected. The dream mirrors reality in a very major way. It seems that the dream captures this thought "I must stop drinking now if I want to stay alive".

The rocks are symbols of danger, which mirror the dangers of drinking heavily. The dreamer is trapped on the rocks and that mirrors the feeling "I could be trapped in a downward spiral of ill health."

Notice that the dream starts with the dreamer enjoying the fresh scene. Its a beautiful day and life is worth living. It's the dreams way of saying "I have been enjoying life" and links to the deeper thought "I have been enjoying life recently. I need to stop drinking and act quickly if I am to stay healthy and do the things I want to do."