July 1, 2011

I come out of a building and begin to run down the sidewalk and am surprised that I am able to stride out after having been injured and rehabilitating! It is morning and I run until I am at a place where I finish and go inside. I clean up and wake up besides my wife and we are involved in pleasurable love making. Suddenly I realize it is 11:27 a.m. and I am supposed to meet my board chair at 11:30 for lunch! For a very brief moment I say I need to go and quickly change my mind and we continue. I then get up and send a text message suggesting we meet at noon. I get cleaned up and dress for lunch. I arrive (for some reason it seems downstairs from where I was with my wife) and meet my board chair. We visit a few minutes and I realize my former board chair is standing next to him where he is seated in a Queen Ann chair and they have been visiting. My former board chair is consoling him through comforting talk and compassion. Suddenly my board chair (who has become an intimate friend—just as my previous one) begins to cry and share that the senior partner in the law firm where he works is not pleased with his work and he is really doing a great job and does not understand why. He is also a partner. He then cries profusely and two ladies dining at a table are looking at him and us. After crying profusely he stops just as suddenly, dries his eyes with a handkerchief and says OK, let’s go to lunch. We stand to go and I realize that I have on flip-flops with my suit and tie. I ask to be excused to put on shoes and I do so. I decide not to wear socks with my dress shoes.

I rejoin them and we (current board chair and me) head to lunch. We are driving along and I realize his father is in the backseat (whom I know) and he is directing me to a building where he wants me to drop him off. He tells me to make a sharp left at the next intersection and there is a tall, stately white building on the left in the curve and I let him out. His wife is with him but she does not say anything. We drive on and I am driving down a separated road with a wall on the left and driving carefully but all of a sudden we come upon a railroad track and a train is coming and I have to break very, very hard not to go on the tracks! Just as I stop a moving ‘cow catcher’ swings through the air near the windshield and barely misses the windshield. I question why the conductor has the ‘cow-catcher’ moving in the city. He tells me that some cows are potentially just down the way and I realize we are in a slightly rural setting. We then proceed across the tracks and arrive at a place. We are sitting talking and the location is familiar and I ask if St. Clair County AL is around the corner of the next block and he says yes. We walk outside and look that way. I am a bit perplexed because I had not realized at this point that I was living that close to St Clair County AL. I discuss some familiar stores on the street and he says they are all there I express surprise that I have lived in the location where we are and did not realize that I have relatives that close. I remain a bit perplexed that I am living in WV and AL is in the next block! I remain a bit puzzled. We are then standing outside looking around and the day is slightly overcast but quite pleasant…

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 63-WV

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

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Lawrence,
I will tackle your dream post either later today or in the morning. Family get-to-gether today so I must get ready. My mother, two of my sisters, family gathering. My brother-in-law is a retired butcher so there is always a great meal to be enjoyed. Hope your 4th is full of positives also.

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

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Lawrence,
I had a problem with deciphering this dream. Don't know if it was because of demands of the outer being {part of my mind this morning is on choirs to do with social obligations/work} or if there is something different about your dream I normally would not expect. Your response may help clarify it the later is at play.

The pleasurable life you have created for yourself is interrupted by the 'demands' to focus on an other aspects. There seems to be some 'restlessness' about those other aspects. My suspicion is part of it has to do with the complexities of the outer life vs the inner self, perhaps to do with balancing a wonderful exterior world with that inner world of spirit and creativity. Could it be a feeling you have of neglecting those inner aspects and a worry you will lose sight of its importance? If the outer world is pleasurable then the need for the inner self is not as demanding.

The second part of the dream seems to be focused on the same subject. There is balance in both aspects {wife} but in the later stages of the dream the 'wife' is not saying anything. You are at a stage of 'crossing over' but there are aspects that involve an examination of where you have been and where you are now. The 'living so close to St. Clair, Al.' could be a clue to recent experiences that 'take you back'.
Looking back, and knowing what you have created in the present time, there may be fears of 'regressing'. {if so, is this regression addressing both outer and inner concerns?}
Perhaps a fear of the neglect of the 'inner world' is the cause. The need to be sitting in the 'Queen Ann chair' {the feminine aspect as creativity/spirit, the 'greater' aspects of the psyche} vs. the outer world of time and space. I suspect the outer world you have created for yourself is so well balanced that the time you would usually give to those inner callings is not getting the attention you feel necessary. A perplexing situation.

Has there been recent experiences that 'took you back' which could have caused you to realize the need to always keep an eye on the 'inner world'?

I sense a play of recent experiences inter-mingled with the symbolic world of inner experiences. This would be interesting since I often find such combinations in a young person's dreams. Of course a young person's primary focus would be on looking forward whereas someone past the mid-life years would be looking back. The 'looking back' is still visible but a greater focus on current experiences would not be something I would expect. Of course few have attained the position of comfort you have created in your life. Without any great demands by society perhaps the need to look back is not as great and you can focus on the present. That very well may be the case. If not for that balance in your outer life I doubt your dreams would be so 'relaxed' that they would reflect more about your everyday waking life. A great position to be in. Perhaps that is the regression I sense. If so it could be a positive. Lately I have given much thought to my retirement and the possibilities it will 'take me back' to those early years in life that allowed me to be 'care free' about the worries in the world. That would be a wonderful life.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I am always looking at the new possibilities that come about when exploring the deeper psyche. Greater understanding the dreams of someone past 60 is a new avenue to be explored. Now only because of the lack of experience with that aspect of dreams but also because I am at that stage of life.

Note: For anyone interested in how I interpreted some of the symbols in this dream here is an explanation

Board Chairman- Lawrence is the 'chairman of the board' in all aspects of his life. The senior partner may be addressing his age as well as his status as a sage...and could be addressing actual recent waking personal experiences

Crying- A release of negative emotions

Queen Ann chair- Positioned in the higher aspects of the psyche-the feminine

flip-flops with my suit and tie- Balancing the desires of a casual life with the demands of the outer world.

no socks with dress shoes- Not letting social obligations dictate how to live his life.... rebelling against the social dragon

father in the back seat- the higher masculine self.
Note the interplay here. The father has his wife with him. A balanced psyche. But SHE is silent {see interpretation of dream}

Train and railroad tracks- Conformity is required-he has to once again 'cross those tracks'. It is hard to have to face something he has already reconciled in his life, the demands of social as well as other 'obligations'.

Cow-catcher- obedience to obligations/authority. The social community {city} is making certain demands. This could be addressing both outer waking experiences as well as his 'inner community'.

St. Clair County AL- named places often reflect past experiences having to do with those locations. Living close to this location may suggest anxieties of 'returning to those past experiences'. This would have to do with the regression I sense.

living in WV and AL is in the next block!- living in the present but with anxieties from the past

the day is slightly overcast but quite pleasant- the ending of a dream is important. Although there are aspects to his life that are 'overcast' his life overall is quite pleasant. This may suggest anxieties 'of the moment' but not a constant source to be of a great concern


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

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Evening Jerry,

Thank you for the interpretation and providing additional insight as I had struggled with it as well. The interpretation raised thoughts concerning the “complexities of the outer life vs. the inner self is a struggle at this point due to the demands of the outer life (the requirements are demanding just getting the right players in place). The issue of ‘making’ time for the inner life is of concern due to the demands of each day. The challenges of the outer world (work) require planning attention and focus. All is going well but there is not the time I previously allowed for ‘paying attention’ and ‘being present’ are not available. I believe a part of the interpretation now is to remember the ‘Divine’ in ALL things, places and people! There is beginning to be a more organized balance in the outer world and, maybe the need to ‘be still’ and listen to the still small voice’ is reaching out! I have always struggled with social responsibilities even though I do it very well. Most people don’t know I am an adapted extrovert.

I had thought hard about retirement a year or so ago and realized it was not the right time for me, I observed those around me who chose to ‘retire’ early and ‘aged’ quickly. This new challenge has rejuvenated and recharged me which may account for the ‘looking forward’ instead of looking back. The days of ‘care free’ about the worries of the world I can now look back upon realistically and remember there were great and bad moments. Yes, there were ‘care free times’ but there have been, and are, time when the pleasures of what I do in my leisure allow for a great deal of enjoyment. It is difficult not to be care free and ‘in the present moment’ hiking and running in the Colorado Mountains, Sleeping at high altitudes under the stars, reflecting on the Hero’s Journey.

I will work with the symbols a bit more and would appreciate any additional insight this might provide.

Blessings for the journey...Lawrence

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 63 MD

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

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Lawrence,
Are you talking about me? As I 'look in the mirror' and read your response I think of Robert De Niro and his famous line while looking in the mirror, 'you talking to me?'. Your response makes me think of my own “complexities of the outer life vs. the inner self struggle". And your statement,
"There is beginning to be a more organized balance in the outer world and, maybe the need to ‘be still’ and listen to the still small voice’ is reaching out!" is a prefect description to where I feel I am at in my journey.
Are you sure you are not taking about me?
Bam!! Bam!!! goes De Niro.

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

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Jerry,

Having never met in person I feel a strong ‘kinship’ with you through our communications! When I have been stumped you always pull me through! So yes Brother, I was talking to you! We will continue to live a dual life and struggle with our inner core/being but will continue to be good for the universe. Thank you for your continued insights.

Blessings and Grace for the(our) journey…
Lawrence

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 63 WV

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