Hi all,

I'd like some insights into this dream:

I'm sitting on a very long bed, and my back is to the wall. To my right is seated my sister, to my left, my father. I'm trying to explain to my father the concept of 'publish or perish' in great detail. He is not convinced and this is why I feel he is not as successful as he could be and why I must write and be published or else my career is in jeapordy. My sister on the other hand is making statements that contradict what I am saying and as I listen to her I really feel that she is spewing forth rubish and is totally clueless about what she is talking about and also sabotaging me and reducing my credibility in front of my father. I'm very frustrated and annoyed by what she is saying.

Thanks everyone,

May

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 37/Europe

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Hi May,

Thank you for sharing your dream. Is the dream recent? Has anything been troubling you of late along the lines of self doubt or questioning yourself?

Stephen

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 49 Sydney Australia

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Hi Stephen,

This dream is about a month old, more or less.
Nothing particularly new has been troubling me, in fact, my situation now is fine. I am in a transition in my life working toward a higher consciousness and experessing more of my potential after undergoing important rites of passage and growth successfully. However, to be fair, there are things in my life that existed previously that troubled me that are still in my life, but my situation has changed such that I am on a heroine's journey to battle those negative things and work to transform them......

I hope this helps....

Thanks,

May

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 37/Europe

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May,
Look at this dream as a debate with yourself. The inclusion of your sister and father {as true subjects} may or may not be relevant. They may represent aspects of your own psyche. I see the conversation and debate as the important messages of the dream.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn. {Nashville}

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So May, how would you describe your real father and sister to me? Also, what is you relationship with them like?

Are you a writer in real life? And how does "publish or perish" fit in with it? If you are not a writer, what is it that you do in real life?

I feel the main point of the dream is the idiom "to be in bed with" (an undersirebly close association with...).

Stephen

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 49 Sydney Australia

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Hi May

taking into account the other replies I would like to add something significant about the character we play in the dream. The dream ego 'ourself' represents every day thinking patterns, behaviour and how we feel at a conscious level, that is we generally act in certain ways during waking life which is represented as our own dream character.

When paying attention to the right place in the dream it can tell us much about the unconscious patterns that mould our every day self to act and behave in certain ways.

Beds in dreams tend to reflect patterns of behaviour that 'lie' within our more intimate layers within self. Your back to the wall suggest that there are still limiting beliefs/feelings from your past that in some way impair your confidence in self at present.

Your sister likely represent patterns that you share which are still limiting you, about how you perceive what you say, and where you sabotage yourself. Your sister being on your right indicates how this particular pattern is influenced by your father, as she is actually representing the masculine 'right' side of your limiting 'beliefs' about self which contradict your creative pursuits when you decide to take on something new. In actuality your sister is a perfect mirror to see something about yourself in relation to how you sabotage yourself.

I get the sense that the symbolic aspect of publish and perish is really about asserting your self and making yourself heard. In your inner growth phase it is likely that there has been some frustration and anger 'dream ego' about putting your ideas across and feeling heard, However this sense of not feeling heard stems more from your own confidence in your self.

Just some more ideas to ponder

Goodluck Marce

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 35, uk

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Just to add whee i have indicated influenced by your father I meant masculine side of father/mother.

Your sister being on your right indicates how this particular pattern is influenced by the masculine energy of your father/mother, as she is actually representing the masculine 'right' side of your limiting 'beliefs' about self........

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 35, uk

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Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your replies. I'll try to answer/comment here collectively as the themes seem interrelated. Am I writer in real life? And if not what do I do? In all cases, I believe for most careers writing skills are essential, whether one is an attorney, a diplomat, a writer, a professor, a researcher, so on, so really it doesn't matter what I do in real life, what matters is that in real life writing is very important to me and my professional success.

I like the idea that publishing is analogous to being heard, and perhaps I need to explore areas where my inner growth has been frustrated. I agree also that its not really the characters that matter but that I pay attention to my inner conversation, and the fact that I may be sabotaging myself from a lack of confidence. In terms of my relationship in real life with my sister and father, I don't always feel heard. Sometimes I do, but if I look at the overall pattern of our relationships, there is sometimes an element predominantely of not really being heard. There is certainly room for improvement in the relationship.

I'm sure the dream is showing me the ways I don't listen to myself...and perhaps it is telling me unless I start now, I will perish. I know that dreams have value in commenting on what is happening in the outer life, but for me the real meaning lies in the inner. Since I'm having this debate in a conversation in a dream then I am feeling divided internally about an important issue. What this is telling me is that I've probably internalized things from my father (since my sister on the right represents the masculine), things that have not built up my self confidence and now I'm having a hard time hearing my inner voice which may cause me to perish.

Hopefully I will be able to become more conscious of what is going on with this inner battle so that I can be heard....literally and figuratively. I hope also that anything I do write in real life does get published but this is not the real issue...the real issue is to learn to hear my own voice....and follow that.

Thanks everyone,

May

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 37/Europe

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Well done May. A way to test if the interpretation is right for you is to check whether it "clicks". Some Ah-ha moment and something that you were not aware of yourself, because it was unconscious.

Stephen

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 49 Sydney Australia

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Dear friends,

I have decided to review as many of my old dreams in hindsight for deeper wisdom.

I posted this dream in April of 2008. That is exactly one year and a half.

I believe that since hindsight is 20/20 that the insights I have now, after the fact can build up a store of wisdom within me and knowledge for my future.

My intuitive thought about this dream at the time that I had it was that I was to publish.
As a result of that dream, I started re-editing papers and writing new ones and submitting them for publication.
As a result of that, my career took a significant upturn giving me security and a foundation. Since that date I have had 7 papers published in prestigious journals, and have 3 submitted and pending, and have three on the way.

At this time I cannot comment on the 'inner meaning' of the dream, but so within, so without. The outer meaning is obvious and I benefited from it. I believe the inner meaninging is that I must trust my voice, my intuition even if other 'voices' are sending me contradictory messages, even if it is my own shadow, or older ingrained aspects of my pscyhe....

I believe this theme of trusting myself and my intuition is and will continue to be significant until I completely learn to trust it first and foremost, no matter how loud the opposition voice, or how harsh the arguments against the voice of my intuition from outside parties....and from inner aspects....

May

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 38

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Also, because of this dream and because I started working on publication, my career took a significant upward change exactly 3 months later and I continued and continue to reap the benefits. Extraordinary! The wisdom in dreams has inner and outer signficance.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 38

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