[ManniRenee]

I had this dream last night and I was wondering what it meant:

I was in my pool and I dove in and was just like floating at the bottom
And I was breathing through my nose but no water was coming in
But it felt like I was drowning and I was trying to swim up to the top but
I couldn't move I was just like doing flips and I was breathing underwater
But there was nothing coming in, no air no water, and I couldn't swim to the surface I was just like floating at the bottom, flipping, and felt like I was drowning. Yet I was content.


Any thoughts?

[Couchcarrot]

I'm no psychologist, so this is just an opinion. Could it possibly be that you
Are in a job or a personal relationship that you feel is going nowhere, or in which
You feel you are not moving ahead (advancement/marriage), as quickly as some
Others you know think or may have suggested you should?

You said that you felt content just floating at the bottom, yet you felt like you
Were drowning. Could it be that you are drowning by concerning yourself
With the pressures or opinions of someone other than yourself? This is just
A thought. Many of us in modern society put more emphasis on what others
Think of or expect of us than we do on our own sense of fulfillment. It's probably best
Not to spend a lifetime groping toward someone else's dreams/wishes.

This is, of course, just one of many other possibilities. :confused:

[Alder]

When I'm doing a lot of swimming in the waking world, I sometimes have dreams about swimming under water. Then I realize I'm breathing (because, of course, my body is breathing as I lie there dreaming), and I have to keep telling myself not to pay attention to that or I'll keep reminding myself it's a dream. And while lucid dreams are useful, it's sometimes a shame to break the fourth wall, the "mimesis" of the dream.

Sometimes I have dreams about driving my car to the beach, and having waves come up and start to wash it out to sea. Those are usually associated with times in my waking life when I'm stressed out and don't feel in control. Couchcarrot may well be right that the symbolism of this dream is that you are "in over your head," but let me give you a few positive spins you can put on this dream:

Air is an element, the environmental element that you are used to. In this dream you found yourself in a new element, water. You couldn't relate to it in the ways you would in your old familiar surroundings, you couldn't get out of it, and you were "drowning" in it, dying to the old environment. And yet you were content. You mainly felt you were drowning because you knew you should be. Actually, you were OK, adapting to this new circumstance. Are you going through a major change in your life? Or are you about to? If so, this dream could be a reassurance: It will all be OK, just stick with it and learn to live in a new way.

Think back hard: Was there ever a time when you were submerged in water, never breathing, and yet perfectly content? Actually, there was: When you were in the womb. This dream actually has some powerful archetypal stuff to it: Death (drowning), but new life ready to be born, too. Why do you think baptisms involve water? Sometimes even being submerged under water? It's all about being born to a new you.

In depth psychology, water is usually a symbol for the unconscious mind. Getting in touch with the unconscious is how you discover your talents, your creativity, your imagination.

Sit with this for a while and let yourself focus not on the drowning, but on the feeling of contentment. Sometimes dreams are just a tad lucid, just enough to let us feel in the back of our minds that no matter what happens, we can't get hurt, we can't be killed. In the shamanic perspective, "Everything is a dream, and all dreams are real." So there is a lot of value in carrying that feeling of contentment into your waking world, so you know that no matter what is happening, there is a core of self deep inside that will always be OK, that will always survive and thrive.

Blessings,

Alder