Nicole,
I look forward to your response. Mythical characters are most interesting to anyone who works with dreams since much of what they represent have associations to dreams. Myth is the universal dream. The patterns of myth show up often in dreams. Are there any characters in your fictional world that you identify with?

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 67 Cocoa, Fl

That I can answer easily.

Not other characters in the dream, but I myself am often represented by something like a Valkyrie. A common theme is fighting for people I don't know in a world that I don't belong in. I don't really want to do it but it's my job and it's all I know how to do well.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 34

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

So many cats! I'm glad they have somewhere to go. For you to keep helping people with this forum, you must have a very altruistic soul.



I re-wrote this over and over and found that every version was far too long and maybe gave up a little too much information. This still-too-long-was the best I could do.



So, suffice to say that it makes perfect sense. The thing being suppressed would be my entire self.



When alone, left to my own devices I am capable of pretty amazing things. Things that I know most people aren't but around other people I feel ( with reason) that I am really not allowed to be myself.



I'll keep it simple and say everyone I've known has micromanaged my life-on a moment to moment basis- that I've become paranoid and as soon as someone enters the room I am in I stop what I'm doing and wait until till they leave. It isn't that I can't do anything without being told but out of fear that they'll either tell me I'm doing it wrong or that I'm not allowed to be doing at all.



For more personal reasons that would be difficult to explain,I've also learned that I'm better just never expressing myself or my emotions.

Every time I do my words and intentions are almost always misinterpreted in the worst possible way. I've been excluded from many groups because of it. Of course I try to be introspective and so I have considered that it may be my own fault but I have tried everything to the extent of not even standing up for myself anymore and it's done no good. I know it's trite but I really feel that I just don't fit in and am not welcome by any group at all.

It's gotten pretty bad.



I tried going and dressing up at convention for the first time in years. I organized the group but let someone else take over because I thought no one would listen to me. When he called for the people in my particular costume to come up for photos I stayed put because I imagined that if I did join in everyone would yell at me "We didn't mean YOU!"



What I'm describing sounds like a pathetic-down-trodden person with no self esteem. That isn't me. I'm bold, I'm direct. I love life. I've always been confident. I take pride in being strong. It's like everyone projecting thier negativity has finally gotten to me.



My husband's Step Mom visited a while ago. She is a Buddhist teacher/therapist. She taught me some of meditation that includes opening chakras while she cleans the "dirt" off the soul. I joked that she would need a long time to clean up all of my "dirt."

In the end she said she was very surprised by how easily I was able to open the Third eye, that I needed almost no direction. She said that while most are blocked by mental demons I had none, only flowers ( ...with eyes in the middle) that she felt only a warm summer rain. She said that I had almost no dirt on me and that what had been was not my own. It had been put their by others.

It makes sense. I dream of Lotus flowers more than anything. I strongly relate to the lotus flower; I worked so hard to rise above the muck and reach the sun but feel like my roots keep trying to pull me back down and that when I do manage to pull myself above the mud again others just throw more on top constantly asking " Why are YOU so negative?!" "What's YOUR problem."



What my husbands stepmom discovered was reassuring but I still cannot get others to understand no matter what. I am not someone who strives for negative attention just to have any attention at all. So, I just sort of shut off my own personality completely because at some point I found it better than being constantly misunderstood.

That's not me at all but I've been doing this for so long that I don't know how to myself anymore. Which means I'll never grow ( like a Treant).

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: female 34

Nicole,
As often is the case the title of your post names what the issues are in your psyche life. 'A stronger power'. I'll explain.

If you will look back at early childhood you may find this fear began during those years. A constant repetition of being told you are doing it wrong. This is imprinted on your psyche and has become a motivating energy in your adult life. Because of the imprinted notion you can never do it right you abandon projects no matter how well it is put together. You are unable to express your true self because the imprintation of the early experiences govern your psyche. You find it better not to express yourself in fear you will be told 'you are doing it wrong'. Your inner child is still living in the early years of your childhood. This idea is re-enforced by your husband's step Mom. "She said that I had almost no dirt on me and that what had been was not my own". It had been put there by others. The stronger power is the imprinted notion you can not do it right. This idea was implanted by others. Resolving this issue will help in finding wholeness and resolving the issue of the ability to express your true self.

A note about Jungian psyche. His concepts were greatly influenced by Eastern philosophy especially Buddhism {Buddhism isn't a religion, it is a psychology}. Along with Gnosticism and alchemy.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 67 Cocoa, Fl