Today i slept a few hours in daytime and had the next dream:

I am swimming in a swimming pool. The pool is quite big and there's only a few other people there. These other people are all outside the pool and they all seem to be at the other side of it. It's nice and quiet. It feels like i've been there for a long time already.
Then i am outside the pool. At a small distance i see an unknown man (about my age) appear. I feel attracted to him, even though i've seen him only for a few first seconds. I want to make an impression on him and my way to do so is by making a nice, ferm dive into the pool. Once again in the pool my best friend (woman) is swimming with me. Again no-one else is in the pool and i think there even isn't anyone around the pool anymore.
I swim around a little without much thought when all of a sudden an island appears in the pool. Like the earth has risen in a large part of the pool. There's not much left of the pool. The island consists of an almost white, sandy beach and with lots of green bushes and trees in the 'middle', though i can't really speak of a 'middle'.
Seeing the sudden appearance of this beautiful island without other people makes me feel happy; also gives me a feeling of safety, like: i still can swim, but there's earth (beach) nearby so i can take a rest whenever i want to.

A swimming pool is a body of water...handmade. Is it about emotions? Or should i see the pool as a symbol for my Self...It could be (water) my unconscious. Maybe even a certain part of my unconscious, because it is a handmade body of water...Pointing towards a certain something in my life that's still unknown to me.
The other, unknown, people around are all parts of me...unknown parts. The act of swimming may be about hoovering around in my emotions; or even more 'how' a move around in them. The fact that the unknown people aren't in the pool swimming with me, could mean that this swimming pool maybe is a symbolic quiet place in myself. My other parts (the unknown people) are there but i can look at them from a distance, which maybe points to a way of how to manage certain emotions, feeling...by being centered but observing from a distance.
The unknown man whom i feel drawn to...he suddenly appears. This man i think is my Animus. Maybe this possibly being more centered attracts the Animus to come closer...to get visible.
It's funny that in this i have not at all a fear to dive into the pool. In the past few years i've had several dream in which i was standing at a body of water but didn't have the guts to dive into it.
Then the sudden appearance of the beautiful island. Land in water...beach in water...rising land...something coming to consciousness? It also feels like: getting more grounded.

I think there's few little things in daily life that happened the past few days that have given me some insights. They were just small things, but it was like i've learned a lot from them.
According to this i think the swimming pool could also stand for just 'daily life'...simple 'daily life'. To take distance, to step out the emotions, to only observe for a while gave rise to something like stability. Not that it's in fact already there, but that little hunches were understood. The island then seems like a place where i can return to.

Well, lots of thoughts...and curious for other peoples ideas...

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Mask,
I will provide my comments later today. It will be good getting back into the routine of working with dreams. For the both of us.

Jerry

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Mask,
I see the swimming pool as you, the emotional aspects swimming within the unconscious. The outside would be your 'outside', the ego/persona outer world. The unknown man is you also, perhaps those still unknown aspects that are to be realized with time and experience. Future aspects, unconsciously contemplating the possibilities.
The island would be a symbol of the conscious ego's relationship to the unconscious. There seems to be a natural and positive relationship between the two. The 'middle' represent balance. It may also represent 'middle life/mid-life' {something perhaps that may be a result of my, and your own, focus on mid-life issues}.
Not much left of the pool? The more you explore the inner self the less there is to be discovered that was unknown. Earth and beach, residing and exploring both worlds, outer and inner.

Jerry

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Hi Mask,

Without assumption of "correctness," I offer a couple thoughts for consideration.

Looking at the function of "compensation," could it actually be that, still, you are uncomfortable in emotional waters, hence the arising of the island. However, contrasting with your earlier water dreams, there is perhaps an indication of progress.

The island could also be "self-containment," being alone, preferring to be alone ... it could be for emotional safety, but also for needed reflection/contemplation/relaxation.

A question to ask may be, why, when the man/animus appears, do you feel a need to make an impression/make a splash, resorting to emotional waters? Is it regressive? Could there have been other ways to gain and hold his attention?

Have you had any real life interactions with the masculine that this dream may have been speaking to?

Kristi

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Hi Jerry,

Jerry {Host & WebMaster MDS Dream Forum}-PLEASE READ

Mask,
I see the swimming pool as you, the emotional aspects swimming within the unconscious. The outside would be your 'outside', the ego/persona outer world.

>>> When you look at the swimming pool that way it almost would seem that there's not a lot of emotional aspects within the unconscious...only me. But it could fit because in the dream, being alone in the pool felt nice and quiet.
If the outside of the swimming pool would be my ego/persona outer world, then the dream seems to show that from looking from the inside outward (from my place in the pool) i don't know the 'me' i show to the outer world. Because the people who were outside the pool were strangers to me.
Now...i've read your reply a few days ago already and just let it 'be' for a while. But while i read it again today i had to laugh, because of 2 experiences i had the last 2 days. In daily life there were actually 2 people who told me how/who they thought i am. One thought of me of being a very busy type (not) and the other thought i was a mother with children (not). Both their visions of me had made me laugh and it also made me think about all assumptions we all make when looking/thinking about other people. It's not that this last thing is new to me, but i found it quite surprising to hear what those 2 people thought about me. It also made me question myself, what do i show then to the outer world? So the dream seems to have come a little earlier...<<<

The unknown man is you also, perhaps those still unknown aspects that are to be realized with time and experience. Future aspects, unconsciously contemplating the possibilities.

>>> I know he is me and that there's still a lot of aspects and possibilities inside, waiting to be discovered.<<<

The island would be a symbol of the conscious ego's relationship to the unconscious. There seems to be a natural and positive relationship between the two. The 'middle' represent balance. It may also represent 'middle life/mid-life' {something perhaps that may be a result of my, and your own, focus on mid-life issues}.

>>> I like that symbolism...the island as a symbol of the conscious ego's relationship to the unconscious and the thought of a natural and positive relationship between the two. It sounds logical and if the dream is really pointing to this, it makes me feel happy. But...in real life...trying to visualize this natural and positive relationship between them, is very hard....because most of the time i feel very chaotic inside. (hmm, knowing that this chaos is my own 'fault' by always thinking and analyzing, so maybe this balance is there, but am i only not aware of it.
I the dream the island covered almost the whole pool and was, at a large part of the island, 'attached' to the outside of the pool...fits in your interpretation and makes me smile.
About the 'middle'...while thinking about the dream-picture of island in pool in fact the island didn't have a real 'middle'...About half of the outer part of the island was beach and after the beach the bushes and trees...after the bushes and trees there was the outer of the pool...hmm, better draw a picture haha. Maybe this green is sort of 'the product' of both water and beach...from unconscious to conscious gives facts/knowledge/experiences. <<<

Not much left of the pool? The more you explore the inner self the less there is to be discovered that was unknown. Earth and beach, residing and exploring both worlds, outer and inner.

>>> But could all water (disvovering the inner self) really disappear? Right now i like to picture it as: living out who i really am deep inside. Like the dream was showing sort of a bridge between the inner and outer me...like you wrote about the natural and positive balance...<<<

May i thank you for your reply...
Mask

Jerry

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Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 37, Holland

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