A 52-year-old woman has the following recurring dream:
“I have recurring dreams that I am back in school and about to take a test, when suddenly I realize that I have not studied, nor did I ever attend the class! I go into a panic. In other versions of the dream, I can’t find the classroom or registration office, can’t open my locker, or I don’t have enough credits to graduate. Please help me understand these dreams!”
“Back in school” dreams, where we are unprepared, lost, or otherwise challenged, are some of the most common dreams experienced. They usually occur when we are feeling tested in some area of life. Feelings of inadequacy and incompetency prevail, and are usually reflective of a lack of confidence in our selves at the time of the dream, in regards to the area of life that the dream is about. Sometimes this dream theme comes up when we actually are unprepared for something, as a reminder that a little preparation could do us some good. However, more frequently they occur for the type of person who would never let themselves be caught unprepared. This type of person may put too much pressure on themselves to perform, especially for other people. Perfectionist and overachiever tendencies may be at the emotional root of this type of dream.
Thoughts such as “what will others think?”, “am I good enough?”, and “will I live up to their standards?” may run through this person’s mind. “Will I make the grade?” is a pun not to be overlooked, as dreams love to use puns and plays on words. These are the same types of thoughts that often occur when we first experience test taking in school. Those early experiences form an emotional imprint, which comes up later in life when we experience the original feelings in different situations. The dreaming mind brings up the original imprint as a template (i.e. test taking) associated to the feeling, and uses it to convey the dream story and show us how we truly feeling about things, even though we may not have been in school for many years.
Not being able to access the locker may have to do with feelings of being cut off from an essential part of your self. In the dream, other people seem to be opening their lockers with ease, “so why can’t I open mine?” a dreamer may ask. This theme comes up when a person feels they have difficulty accessing something important and vital to themselves.
Being lost on campus often manifests in dreams when we feel like we have lost our way in life. “Where is it that I am going?” we may ask, “what direction do I want to take in my life right now?” Getting in touch with our authentic self, and on track with our life purpose, can help to clarify who we truly are and where we really want to go.
In some versions of the school dreams a person may find them selves naked in school. This is usually symbolic of feeling vulnerable and exposed, though it is always important to check in with the dreamer how they were feeling in the dream to get to the true essence of its meaning.
Dreams of not having enough credits to graduate often come up when we are not giving our selves enough credit for what we have accomplished.
Through a dream interpretation session, the woman who had the recurring school dreams realized that her perfectionist tendencies at work were getting in the way of her self-esteem. While a high level of standards had brought her far along the career path, regardless of how well a job was done she always worried if her work, and her self, were good enough. Thoughts of whether or not she pleased her boss, did her co-workers approve, could she have done better or more, and similar themes of self-doubt ran through her mind.
When we separated out feelings from facts, it turned out she had achieved a very high level of professional accomplishment. The only thing that didn’t measure up was her self-esteem and self talk. Learning to give herself more “credit” for her accomplishments was part of her dream homework.
We also looked at how to use discernment for when holding high standards would be useful and relevant, versus when to ease up a little and adopt the mantra of “good enough.” Another tool we worked with was a visualization technique where she would imagine being able to open the locker with ease, and find out what treasures were stored inside for her. This helped her to “open the door” and connect with what was truly important to her, creating easier access to, and not feeling so cut off from, the deeper part of her authentic herself.
This ‘Ask The Dream Detective’ post is from Mimi’s Dream Column for the New Spirit Journal
