Shatobrian,
Certainly what you state how your father put pressure on you because you were the older sibling could stimulate the dream to use the images of you against your brother. Those early years of imprinting are powerful and although you don't now see any competition between you and your brother, as a child it would have different. Those experiences and feelings go with you as you age. The way you were 'brought up' is what you become later in life. Imprinting is a part of every animals structure, be it human or otherwise.

The bad guy in your dream could very well be your father. There may not be a deep mistrust an adult would consciously have over such minor experiences as a child. But for a child they would be real. As would the feelings about your classmates. If we could sit down and go over your early life in great detail I have no doubt we could connect every aspect of the dream to your life.

But what is important now is the total influence of those experiences and what influence they have over your adult life. Fear of failure could very well be from relationship with your father {seeking approval from the father is a 'biggie', as it was in my life and the influences it unconsciously had on my actions as an adult}. In your second dream there is a massive engine failure and losing altitude very fast. I see that as your fear of failure and perhaps addressing a particular incident that caused you to succumb to those fears in a very short amount of time {situation drew desperate in a few seconds}. Those type of experiences leave you feeling helpless, a feeling you will not survive through the experience. The fact you woke up before you hit the ground and were killed {dreams will usually end this way because it is not literal but symbolic}. The fact you had an experience later that day that caused you to think of the dream was probably because of an heightened awareness because of the dream contents {and a fear it was literal}.

I think we've identified your problem and a great deal for it goes back to childhood {as is usually the case}. Now the question is what to do about your fear of failure? I am not a trained psychologist and although I have used Jung's Individuation Process to resolve my issues, I don't know if it will work for you. It is a time consuming and demanding way to reach wholeness and takes a lot of discipline and study to get there. Are you able to acquire the services of a trained therapist or psychologist? Especially someone who works with dreams and/or is familiar with Jungian psychology. Working through those early life imprinting is what needs to be done. Once you begin you will immediately show results but the time it takes to resolve the problems will take time. The good thing is you do know what the underlying problems are and you won't have to sort through that. There is likely more to be discovered but the primary issues are known. Resolving the issues is the next step. How to go about that is something you need to work on. You can overcome your fears and be whole if you really want to do what is necessary to get there.

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Hello Jerry,
Thanks again for your detailed answer. I think that I will have to work on this problem on my own, since finding a trained psychologist/therapist who also works with dreams in my area would not be easy at all. Moreover, due to my long working hours it would be very difficult for me to visit a therapist on a regular basis in their usual office hours. But I am highly motivated to work on this problem alone and I really want to get rid of my fear of failure and the shyness which have been hampering my everyday life for many years. I will surely need to educate myself for this purpose. What would you recommend me to read, could you point me in the right direction? (For example appropriate Internet resources or books, if available.) Thanks again.

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Shatobrian,
I'll give a response to your most recent post tomorrow. Spent all day defending defenseless cats and dogs at the local animal services department.

Jerry

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Shatobrian,
I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. Involved in saving animals at the local animal shelter and that has become a time consuming effort {but worth it}.

How I was able to resolve my inner issues from childhood and get myself on a path to wholeness was from Jung's Individuation Process. The definition of this process is:

individuation is the process of transforming one’s psyche by bringing the personal and collective unconscious into conscious.

Individuation has a holistic healing effect on the person, both mentally and physically.

Individuation is a process of psychological differentiation, having for its goal the development of the individual personality. In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology.

Besides achieving physical and mental health, people who have advanced towards individuation, they tend to become harmonious, mature, responsible, they promote freedom and justice and have a good understanding about the workings of human nature and the universe.
_________________________________________
In short it is the process of analyzing your own self, your own life, looking 'within' yourself to discover your true self, your true identity. You begin the process by analyzing all aspects of your life starting with your earliest childhood memories and experiences and taking those and seeing how they have affected who you are as an adult. What you will find, with a deep reflection that will take time, are foundations of unconscious motivations. For instance, if you grow up where there is an absence of a father there is a good chance you will in later life unconscious substitute the love and acceptance you never got from an absent father with some time of negative behavior. often that behavior will be similar to that your actual father {as was my 'addictive' behavior}. When you begin to understand these unconscious motivations you can correct them. This is one aspect of dreams, what dreams attempt to do by provide insights to the unconscious stimuli for conscious behavior. If you remain unaware of these motivations you will continue to let the energies they possess control your conscious life. Because many of these unconscious energies are painful the ego will attempt to deny you access to them by repressing or ignoring them. But the ego has no control over dreams.

Read the link I provided [and related pages listed in that page} and then research other sources on the subject until you understand exactly what the process involves. Although may be able to understand in words what is being stated, it often takes a deeper sense of understanding for one to realize the full meaning. Then begin a self analyzation of your life and see what comes up. Take time to 'remember' specific periods of your life and give deep thought to them and let new memories come up. You will be surprised what comes up.

Also continue to listen to your dreams and interpret them.
They are a direct link to your unconscious and when you begin a self analyzation your dreams will also present new materials that will help in memories. Realization comes with understanding your foundations. Uderstanding your foundations will help you understand your true self as you are today. Removing the negative aspects will allow you to find balance and harmony, and overcome disabilities {since most of those disabilities will be linked to early life influences/experiences}.

The key word is discipline. Stay with the process and see will, over time, see results from it. It will take time. But the end result will be worth it. And you can always post questions and dreams at the Dream Forum if you need assistance.

Jerry

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Jerry,
Thank you for all the information and help you have provided. I wish you all the best!

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