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Swimming pool

I've had a recurring dream -- a few times when I was married and also after being divorced -- about a huge, Olympic size swimming pool. In one dream (when I was married) the swimming pool is in the basement of our home... it deep, covered and ominous and I am afraid to go into the basement. In another dream, my ex-husband is in his home office. It is a very large room and in the middle of it is a huge swimming pool, covered with an oriental rug but you can see water coming up through it. My husband is seemingly oblivious to it and I am, again, fearful of it.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: Eagan, MN

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? No

Re: Swimming pool

Jackie,
Olympic swimming pools hold large quantities of water and water is usually symbolic of the unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Being a large 'pool of water' may suggest at the time of the dreams you were 'swimming' in a lot emotional stress. Basements are also symbolic of the deep unconscious {the deeper the basement the deeper into the unconscious, and the deeper the emotions}. The home, or house is a symbol for the dreamer, you are the house. At the time of the first dream you were married thus the home would likely be symbolic of the relationship with your ex-husband. The 'covered' aspects may have been emotions that you covered up about the relationship, your true emotions that you may not/would not/could not express when you were married. The 'ominous' would have been feelings associated with the relationship. Ominous can represent some type of 'danger'. Being afraid to go into the basement may be about emotions so deep you were afraid or unable to express them properly. Did the relationship involve emotional or physical abuse?

In dreams after your divorce which included your husband, those dreams were likely reflections of the relationship. The very large room, his office, may symbolize the large emotional 'charge' in the relationship. Again there are unconscious emotional forces, the rug perhaps covering up deep emotional wounds. The oblivious attention may represent his attitude was something that was the norm, something he did not think unusual when in fact it was.

There does seem to be something very emotional disturbing about the dream contents. The basement and the 'covering up' may indicate something you are unable or unwilling to confront. Something fearful. Is there some fear of your ex-husband that remains as a stress in your life? Or aspects of the marriage that instilled fear in you?

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 Murfreesboro, Tn.

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Re: Swimming pool

Here is Jackie's response as posted in a separate post:

Hi Jerry,


Thank you so much for your interpretation of my "swimming pool" dream. Yes, I was married to a very emotionally abusive, controlling, high-strung man. I was afraid of doing something that would set off his anger or sarcasm/contempt. It was not safe to have my own opinions or be real or open with my emotions because he would use this information against me later and tell me I was "weak" or I was a "child" or I had "emotional problems." It felt like gaslighting sometimes and drove me into a depression for many years. I was always so shocked by his obliviousness to how mean and cruel he could be. He was very closed off about his emotions... would never let me get too close to him or try to understand him deep-down. He wanted to have the upper hand... it was never to be a marriage of equals. It's been five years post-divorce and he still has that same threatening, controlling, mean-spirited approach in the occasional interactions we have (we have a daughter). I still don't know how to deal with him except to avoid him as much as possible.

I very much appreciate your analysis.

Jackie

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 Murfreesboro, Tn.

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Re: Swimming pool

Jackie,
Very few people know how dreams function. When there is thought given to dream interpretation it is Freud who often comes to mind. But Freud only opened the doors to the dream world and his one time student and '*heir apparent' provided through research and theory the true 'inner' workings of the dream. The important discovery was dreams spoke in a language of symbol and metaphor. And they were about the emotions.

A brief lesson of 'other people' in a dream. This is a rule of thumb and although true in most cases can be different depending on the individual life.

An example of how symbol and metaphor work can be seen in this common dream:

It is important to remember that your dreams are about you, my dreams are about me. Anyone or any action in the dream is addressing relationships/experiences with the dreamer.

I was seating in my car in the back seat and my mother was driving.

Such a dream would be focused on an 'emotional' relationship with the dreamer's mother, with some aspect of the dreamer's life being controlled by his/her mother.

The car is the dreamer, a symbolic reference to the dreamer's life. This is a metaphor, the car is the dreamer.
Most often a named person that is a close relationship to the dreamer can be taken as a literal reference to that person with the focus on the relationship between the dreamer and that person.

A named person who is not a close relationship usually is focusing on qualities or aspects of that person that has an emotional attachment to the dreamer. For instance, if the named person in the dream possess personality qualities that the dreamer associates with, then that would be a reason the person is included in the dream. A personal relationship with the person can be partly reason for the inclusion but there would have to be an emotional attachment or experience to the dreamer with the focus on an emotional conflict within the dreamer. The dream is about the dreamer's life and the named person is related to that life.

An unnamed person is usually a reference to an aspect of the dreamer's psyche. If the person is of the opposite sex then it would likely be a reference to that person's anima or animus. An unnamed woman in a man's dream would be a reference that man's 'feminine' aspects, either a reference to an outer feminine relationship or more often a reference to the 'inner feminine' aspects of the man's psyche
IE, caring, sensitive, giving, loving aspects}.

The opposite is true in a woman's dream. An unknown male would usually represent the woman's masculine aspects or qualities.
i.e, taking control, being strong, achieving, the inner warrior}.

These unknown people would represent possible unknown or unrealized aspects about the dreamer. The unfolding dream language will provide clues to what the dream is trying to communicate about these 'unknown' aspects.

Another possibility to seeing an unknown person in a dream could represent an experience that is repressed or covered up from earlier life. This type 'unknown person' in the dream can be of either sex. The person would be someone who left an 'emotional impression' on the dreamer, more often a negative impression such as an abusive relationship or traumatic experience. The emotional charge of the experience would have been so frightening the dreamer blocks it out, represses the memories.



Your Dream

As I stated in my interpretation water is usually symbolic of the unconscious with the contents being about the emotions that are in conflict in the dreamer's life. The deeper the water {small puddle, a lake, the deep ocean} the deeper the emotional conflict or stress. Basement's are also a common symbol for the unconscious. The deeper 'down' you go in the 'underground' basement the deeper the 'unresolved' emotional conflict. Swimming in these waters represents the dreamer emotional 'swimming' in the conflicts associated with the other symbolic references that represent aspects of the dreamer's life. Your dream plainly states the waters you are in are 'deep, covered and ominous'.

Then there is the mention of your ex-husband. Being someone 'intimate' in your life he would most likely be himself in the dream, a literal reference. Apply the proceeding adjectives from the dream, deep, covered, ominous' and we begin to see a picture that represents actual waking life experiences associated with the relationship with your ex. Your response verifies this as a true experience in your waking life. The dream is reflecting the deep emotional conflict of the relationship. The word fear {ful} is mentioned twice in the dream. This is a clue to your emotional state of mind when it comes to your ex. He was oblivious to your needs. You are probably 'covering up' some of worst aspects of the relationship, yet having the courage to confront them, or him. This may be a weak aspect in your personality, the dream addressing a second aspect of your 'masculine' life, your animus, your inner masculine. A statement in your response, and all too often the case, these personality traits are a result of childhood, influences carried over into adulthood.

You may also be 'covering up' the emotional strain he still has over your life, having to do with your daughter and that interaction. Not a covering up as in a repression but covering up his abusive attitude so you can have a relationship to benefit your daughter. If not for her you would not need to interact with him at all. But since you do you have to 'cover up' the past emotional and move on so to benefit your daughter.

All in all the dream is a reflection of your outer life, the reflection being on the inner emotions as they exist in the present world around you. You are doing what has to be done when it comes to your daughter. Avoiding him the rest of the time is the best you can do, the right thing to do. All that is lacking is finding ways to resolve the emotional issues surrounding the whole experience with your ex. Moving on is one way to do this. Avoiding him another. Time will heal some of the wounds but as long as you have to interact with him there will always be conflicts, past and present. Perhaps the dream is also trying to inform you of a weakness in your 'inner masculine' qualities that need to be strengthened. I don't know your age but this is something you will have to confront at some time in your life {mid-life is the usual time frame this begins}. This may require you to take a 'deeper' look at your whole life, beginning in childhood, to determine what factors have caused you to possess a weak masculine self.

Helping to resolve emotional conflicts, a therapeutic device nature has provided. Such is the 'nature' of the dream.



* Jung and Freud parted ways largely due to Jung's refusal to adhere to Freud's demand that the sexual aspect is the 'bulwork' or primary stimulus for all other aspects in human life. Although Jung recognized the tremendous influence of the 'natural' aspect of human sexuality he rejected it as the only aspect that 'drives' the emotions. We all have shadow, aspects we may have rejected about ourselves, often repressed aspects. We all also have masculine and feminine aspects, the anima/animus aspects I mentioned above. What is truly enlightening, and a tool that life should be lived in, was Jung also discovered we all have a spiritual aspect, more closely tied to nature and less so to any dogma of organized religion. I like to describe this aspect as nature's way of give and take, the opposites in life, the yin & yang. A path one should live by as illustrated in the proverb 'what goes around comes around'. Its nature's way of balancing what is out of balance, correcting what needs to be corrected, bringing about good results with good intent, and bad results when there is bad intent. If we give deep thought to it all that happens in a person's life is most often the result from what they do in life and not something that just happens.

In nature's response, in your husband's life, his abusive attitude will come to haunt him, if it is not already. It nothing else psychologically. Often such people are psychologically tormented from their own life experiences.

Jerry
think psychologically......live spiritually

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 61 Murfreesboro, Tn.

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes


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