The intruder in the dream represented the dreamers own son who had just recently moved back home and was now "intruded" on his mothers usual routine

THE DREAM - I have had several dreams I cannot seem to make heads or tails out of over the last few nights... the first night, I dream that my daughter is insistently causing me grief: she's overspending, neglecting her husband and child, etc. (she does this stuff in real life too!). She is at my house during the dream and I am just slapping the *&$* out of her, to the point her hair is covering her face. She's sitting down, allowing me to slap her and not saying anything. Her husband comes into the room and states we have to get out of the house, because the military is set up to conduct manoeuvres just outside my back door. I grab my grandson and head outside with my son in law; true enough the military is dumping large boulders by the creek that runs along my property. On the other side of the backyard, there is a chopper with rotors turning...

The house in this dream is not my house; it appears to be a converted barn. The interior is rustic: there is no floor and there are wooden beams all over the place. There is only basic furniture and no decorations. In the following dream, the house is an old 1940s clap board type house; very messy. Again not my "waking" house, but it feels indubitably mine... the dream last night involved a break in. the intruder had smashed a fist sized hole in my bedroom window, unlatched it and crawled in. I was returning home and noticed the broken window. I knew I should not walk in the house and immediately resolved to call 911, but could not use my work cell phone; my other cell phone was laying on my dresser, partially buried under a bunch of stuff. I picked up the cellphone and noticed the intruder had used that phone...

My neighbor is on my back lawn. She makes no mention of the break in, although I am in a state of panic. Conversing with her calms me down, and we gaze out across the lawn. The lawn is beautifully tended, lush, green and sloping to a body of water (a creek or pond, I am not sure). there are children playing on the lower part of the slope. I walk all the way to the water with this neighbor; we both have our purses on our right arms. The children do not seem to notice us.

THE REALITY The dreamers son had temporarily moved back home. He had lived on his own for the previous 4 years and was used to doing things in his own way. The dreamer was used to having things her own way - she had raised him to be his own person and did not care for some of his ways. She adopted the perspective that he was her tenant - drawing up a lease giving him cabinets for his food storage.

THE INTERPRETATION Parts of this dream were easier to interpret than others. The first part clearly features the dreamers daughter and the later parts are probably more clearly about the dreamers son. The first part probably simply reveals her frustration with her childrens actions and out of control behavior. The out of control behavior of her daughter is being used merely as a symbol for how things would not be allowed to get out of control with her son. Indeed they all have to get out of the house because of the military manoeuvres about to start. That is symbolic of how things will not get out of hand at home because strict rules will be laid down just like in the military.

House in dreams symbolise the type of approach you have to adopt in some situation. The dreamer clearly recognised this as her home though it clearly was not. The shack is very much a symbol of having to make do - life is tough and things are not perfect. That was a clear parallel to her situation with her son.

The bedroom in dreams symbolises your own very private and personal space. But in this case an intruder has invaded it. That symbolises the way in which the dreamers own space has been invaded and how this has upset her. Her son has intruded on her way of doing things.

The countryside is often symbolic of how you would ideally like things to be(as opposed to cities which symbolise a need to compromise and think of others). So this represents how the dreamer had laid down rules.

The mobile phone is a symbol of constant communication. But in this dream the dreamer could not find hers. That shows how she was not always able to get through to her son. He was not always listening.

Symbolic Meanings
911 : The situation involving her son was a crisis (we phone the police during a crisis). He was in urgent need of help due to being unemployed so in these circumstances she asked
BEAUTIFUL : "an idea of perfection / aiming for perfection"
BED : "your very private and inner self - something that affects you personally"
CELL PHONE : "a constant need to understand how someone thinks"
INTRUDER : The symbolised the dreamers need for privacy. She had lived alone for years and now felt intruded upon with her son staying.
MILITARY : "the need for discipline - the dreamer is imposing rules on her sons behavior"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "My son is coming back to live with me. I do not really like the idea as I have become attached to my own independence. I have laid down rules to make sure that he respects my home and does not start disrupting things too much "

See how the Symbolic meanings weave together to form a key insight