INTERPRETATION
If you can find a set of opposites in a dream, you can identify the main issue your dream is exploring. Your opposites are ‘heavy, weighed down’ and ‘light, ascending up’. Here they are:
At the start of your dream you “waded” through the people near you. Wading is the kind of walking we do against a resistance. When we wade, we are slowed down by whatever it is we are trying to move through. So, in a way, you were weighed down in your progress.
You were also carrying a bag, and later you referred to the luggage terminal. Bags and luggage can weigh you down if they are heavy or awkward to carry.
On the upside, there was the elevator. And, as you were making your way to the elevator, the girl ran “up” before you both got on the elevator and ascended together. Presumably you also put any remaining bags down during the ascension, also easing the weight.
The words you write or speak when describing a dream contribute to the interpretation, especially if you write or speak your dream without too much thought. When you write without too much thought, the words come from your unconscious mind – the same source as the dream – so they tend to add further weight – excuse the pun – to the interpretation.
A plane takes you up, and you also had your feet up as they were “resting against” the seat in front. You took the weight off your feet, lightened the load.
How does a set of opposites – ‘heavy, weighed down’ and ‘light, ascending up’ help you to identify the main issue your dream is exploring? The opposites describe the push and pull of a situation in your life at the time of the dream – they describe an issue. Your issue was emotional, torn between feeling down (weighed down, perhaps depressed, resisting going forward), and feeling up (light hearted, looking up, ready to take off and fly with no resistance).
It’s hard to feel motivated when you’re feeling weighed down, and this was the issue your dream was exploring. You were at an airport right at the start of the dream because you had the goal of taking off (getting somewhere), but even though you were there you were going through wading heavy paces instead of excited, motivated ones.
How does this relate to the 24-48 hours before your dream? What goal did you have? In which situation were you finding it difficult to motivate yourself, even as you took steps in the right direction? What extra weight (bags and baggage) were you handling? For example, were you feeling weighed down by physical tasks and duties, or by emotional baggage from your past, or by fears and doubts about the future? Take some time to pinpoint the situation where you felt unmotivated, dragging your feet, and take time to pinpoint what was holding you back, what you really were resisting.
Whenever we resist moving towards a goal, when we feel down and unmotivated, it’s usually due to unconscious beliefs, fears and doubts about what will change for us or challenge us if we achieve that goal. What do you feel will change for you or challenge you when you reach your goal?
One key, in your dream, is the luggage. This is a time to re-evaluate how much emotional luggage from your past and present you want to take forward with you into your future.
The other key is the red-headed girl. Everyone in a dream represents an energy or belief of you, the dreamer. She’s red-headed. How do you feel about red hair? What, do you feel, is red-head energy? Red, in a dream, often symbolises fiery, excited energy. She seems energetic and motivated in your dream, running up to you, going up on the elevator with you. In the dream she is associated with going up.
I feel she represents fiery, motivated energy. In the dream you met, went your separate ways, then met again on the way up. Your dream suggests she is your motivation – but you keep separating from this energy. When it’s there, you’re on the up, when it’s not there you’re wading towards your chosen destination in a less-than motivated way.
It’s time to integrate this motivated energy back into your being, and the way to do this is to do an inventory of which ‘baggage’ you want to take with you and which you want to leave behind. What motivates you? What weighs you down (e.g. feelings of guilt, remorse, failure, duty and so on)?
It’s time to lighten your load if you want to stay motivated. Do this by examining every ‘heavy, weighed down, wading’ thought or feeling that comes up for you, until you understand where it is coming from – then simply let it go. (See the dream alchemy practice I have suggested for you.)
It’s also time to invite that red-headed, motivated energy ‘back on board’ so it can lighten you and you can fly. As there was no-one sitting next to you at the end of the dream, and as you were poised for flight at that moment, this suggests you did integrate this energy into your being during the dream (no longer seeing it as separate), which is the reason why you woke up feeling a lot more enthusiastic and motivated than usual. As you said, the sun was out and you wanted to enjoy it - red hair, yellow-orange sun, both hair and sun fiery and energising, ‘sunny’ and full of joy. Your waking feelings confirm the symbolism of the red-haired girl – joyful, fiery, sunny, motivating.
Though your dream shows you got your motivation back, beware that it may come and go until you solve the baggage issue, as described above. To stay motivated, make serious life-baggage decisions.
DREAM ALCHEMY PRACTICE
Every time you notice heavy, weighed down, wading thoughts or feelings, stand up, take a deep breath, clench your hands and tense and shrug your shoulders as if you’re carrying a heavy load, then breathe out, open your hands as if you’re releasing baggage, and release and relax your shoulders as if you have just put that heavy load down. Feel a lightness seeping through your body, energising and uplifting you. Imagine the red-haired girl standing close, and feel her joy and enthusiasm seeping into your body. As you do this exercise you will be surprised at the spontaneous insights you get about the emotional baggage that’s been weighting you down. Things will get clearer, lighter. You will know what to take with you – one thing will be a light-as-air bag of joy.
Jane Teresa Anderson
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