I don't see my nieces that often or I'm not too close to them. i've also bee away for awhile. It's too late to get close to my older nieces since they're in their own worlds now, but I thought I had a chance to develop a relationship with my younger niece. However, when I recently took her out I noticed that she had behavioral issues which makes it hard to bond with her. I think I might have thought I needed to mediate in church after the day with her.

Here are the details I remember in this dream. I somehow ended up at a hotel with my younger niece. It was a large cathedral style building which I didn't know was a hotel. I was given a key to a room on the first floor just around the corner. My niece and I were walking around the building. I don't remember if it was like a shopping mall. Then, I had to go to the bathroom. Although there was a public restroom right there, I preferred to take my niece to the hotel room so I wouldn't lose her while I was in the bathroom stall. When we entered the hotel room, there was a short guy already occupied in the room. I told him that he was in the wrong room, but he told me it was his room and we could share it. I left, and I walked to the front desk to get another room. I didn't see any staff around to help, though. I thought we'd walk around untill we saw staff.

All of the sudden the building transformed into a church mass. I sat down at the end of the last aisle waiting for mass to end to see staff. I thought my niece would follow me. She was walking around behind me at the back of the church, but she didn't sit down. In real life, it's hard for her to sit still. I didn't see where she went. I thought she would show up since she's the kind of person who disappears and reappears, but when mass ended she was still gone. I checked outside the building. There was a small playground, but I didn't see her there. I saw police and paramedics in front of a sandbox to the right of me. I was afraid she was buried alive in the sandbox when kids were digging somerhing out. I was relieved when it was only gigantic drink bottles under the sand or not a person. I went back inside walking around thinking she had to be somehwere in the building.

This time when I walked by the church mass area, it turned into a banquet reception area. I recognized one of my brother's childhood friends who I no longer know in real life. He saw me, too, when a woman tried to get my attention. This woman was a friend of his. She said he recently got married and asked me which woman next to him was his wife since she figured I must know because I told her before that I was close friends with him. I wasn't close friends with him so I didn't know which woman was his wife. I knew I once sat by this woman and told her that I knew him in this dream. However, I no longer knew him and felt embarrassed if he thought I told others we were close when we didn't even know each other.

I walked around some more looking for my niece. I went back to our original hotel room to see if she was waiting there, but I didn't see her. I tried to find staff again to get a new room. All of the sudden, I entered a new hotel room. It was hotel room designed by a famous person. I can't remember the name of the person. In the back, there was a closet full of things for you to borrow that you may have forgotten like purses. I didn't understand why the last closet was full of so many table placemats...enough placemats for a banquet reception. I was about to use the bathroom, but then my room became more public and someone else walked in.

I slept overnight at the building. My dream didn't show where I slept...only that I was afraid to tell my sister that I couldn't find her daughter. My youngest niece somehow turned into one of my older nieces as a child now. I was still hoping that I would findher b somewhere in the building. I felt so much anxiety. Then, I woke up.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 31/F

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Anonymous,
The title of your dream includes a the word church. The dream also has several mentions of a church mass {are you Catholic?}. Do you rely on your religious beliefs as a tool for helping you with your problems? Have you recently had a 'transformation spiritually or had experiences related to such experiences? {All of the sudden the building transformed into a church mass}. The dream may be pointing to the spiritual aspects as compensation for emotional malnourished {This time when I walked by the church mass area, it turned into a banquet reception area}. This is where your brother's childhood friend entered the dream. There was something as a child in this that you do not know now {to do with masculine aspects, he being a boy}. This whole paragraph may provide extra clues. Think back to when you were a child and this same boy and see what experiences there were that could be relevant to your life. Dreams will point to past experiences in this way to highlight experiences that possessed emotional energies, often so strong they left a life long impression {and helped formed your personal attitudes}. The next paragraph has other interpretations as well {more personal} but I would need more info to understand what they are.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 66 Cocoa, Fl

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

Anonymous,
I don't necessarily believe the dream is saying you need to have a relationship with your family. It is pointing to the conflict you have with your family and finding a way to resolve that. If possible a good relationship would be desirable but outside that finding a way to overcome the past experiences with your family and putting that in order is the prime message of the dream. The conflict is from both past and present experiences. It is the past experiences that helped form your personality and personal attitudes. Resolving the negatives in those personal aspects will bring about a better personal life. The primary function of dreams is to show what is out of balance in a person's life so they can understand what they are and find ways to resolve the issues. Therapy may help, an avenue that could help resolve the issues with family without having the positive relationship that is impossible.

As for the spiritual aspects. The impressions you have about the priests, the nuns and the church in general are the reason for their inclusion in the dream. It is a conflict that seeks resolution. Your attitude isn't wrong, in fact it is pretty much how I felt about religion until I found my true calling and found a spiritual ground in nature {Karma and the laws of nature-cause and effect}. Religious dogma isnt true spirituality unless you abide by the rules of what is naturally right opposed to what the church {created by man} says is right. Jesus is the example and when you live how he directs you you have reached a higher level of consciousness that puts you in accord with natural law. This is Buddha consciousness, the higher level within oneself that follows a true spiritual path. A good, loving person doesn't need religion, they need only to follow the soul and be the best person they can be. Not only toward other people but also toward other creatures/animals and nature itself. I believe nature has mechanisms that reward a person for being good and right and penalizes a person for misdeeds and doing wrong. What goes around comes around, naturally {what happens to you in life is more often caused by your own actions and not just random good/bad luck}. Here are two pages from my Myths-Dreams-Symbols website that may help in understanding the natural laws Parallel Sayings of Jesus and Buddha and NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY. The first gives a sense of the commonality between Jesus and the Buddha and the second shows how nature is important in spirituality. All religions are myths {exaggerated truths} and the symbolic references in religion are just that. Symbolic.
It is not what you believe, it is what you do that determines your spiritual worth.

As for your niece and her/your personality. Medications do alter personality but there are a lot of similarities between the two of you. This is why she is a part of your dream. The important aspect is 'why you were so quiet and/or too anxious' as a child. Because you obtained these characteristics as a child they have carried over into adult life. Look back at your childhood and try to determine why you have this type personality. Parents are a big part of the reason but the specific experiences are what are important. Were there any traumatic or memorable experiences that stayed with you? The experience with your brother's friend is one that would fit. Examine that experience as well as the bullying and any other experience with him there may have been. Something emotional happened that made you retain these memories.

The bullying is common for personalities that are shy and to themselves. Surely this had an affect on you and helped shape your personality and attitudes. Again the early life experiences/influences, especially the first early years in life are most important {the first 3 years are when the psych is most influenced and personality has pretty much been shaped by age 9}. Understanding why you are the person you are is important in resolving issues of personality. Your personality is who you are and goes with you in every experience in life.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 66 Cocoa, Fl

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

Anonymous,
Your brother's friend being in your dream probably represent's an animus aspect. Something about him would fit with some aspect of the masculine identity within you. It would be difficult to discern what that is without a thorough and deeper examination of your life and psyche. The positive aspect you saw in him would likely fit in some with your personalty issues. The same holds true with the experience with your neighbors {mother and daughter}. Those experiences may have possessed emotional energies that you unconsciously stored in your mind. What still needs to be determined is why you possess the personality issues that stand in the way of you finding wholeness in life. Examining the relationship with your parents and your early life in general may produce results. Of course part of personality is related to dna, you were born with a predisposition to possess certain personality traits. But early life would still have had a great influence on your personality. Perhaps future dreams will help clarify this.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 66 Cocoa, Fl

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

Since he's more of a gentle and kind male, I wonder if the masculine side of me could be that way since I don't like the opposite.

Anonymous,
Could very well be. There is something about him you identify with {either consciously or unconsciously}. Future dreams may expand on his involvement. Post any future dreams becuase they do tend to add to previous dreams.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 66 Cocoa, Fl

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

Could it just be that I identify with him because he's a loyal friend or dependable person. I identify myself as a loyal friend, but I haven't come across many people with this trait.

Anonymous,
It is a good possibility. He would represent the qualities you mentioned, dependable and loyal {which are masculine aspects of the psyche}. There are probably other reasons but these could be a primary reason for him being in the dream. Because dreams are therapeutic and seek to help resolve issues {including personality traits} the dream may be 'asking' you to focus on your better qualities in order to booster those qualities that are lacking. My sense of the dream is it is attempting to help resolve the reasons you keep to yourself and trust issues with other people. Those issues began in childhood and are now key components in your adult personality. Until you resolve the negative aspects life will not eb as happy as it should/could be.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 66 Cocoa, Fl

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