Dear Dr. Tonay,

I had a dream the other night about somehow getting into water. I can’t remember where I was prior to that or the area I was in. Once I’m in the water I see a tidal wave from afar and I come into contact with an Asian woman and her young daughter. They were in a tiny boat and I was just swimming in the water.

The prior post, Water Dreams, describes what these dreams are typically about:  unconscious emotions, or feelings we aren’t paying attention to. Here, this female dreamer is “in the water” (immersed in feelings) and about to becoming overwhelmed (tidal wave).

All of a sudden the tidal wave was very close so I felt that I need to help the mother and daughter as well as save myself. I told the mother that we need to swim under this, and she seemed very scared. I turned to the little girl and told her she needed to hold her breath for a little bit.

This scenario is unlikely to happen in everyday life. Dreams like that often hold particular, important meaning, and can have a mythical quality–like a fairytale. The dreamer is alone, she sees others in the same predicament, there’s an impending danger, and then, she copes by instructing the others on what they need to do.

The obstacle is natural (ocean); my research found that natural obstacles are the most common obstacle in creative people’s dreams (they also have more dreams about water than do others). What the dreamer does to cope in the dream often mimics what s/he does in waking life when encountering an obstacle. In this case, she takes charge and focuses on helping others, something feminine people (male and female) tend to do first.

At a deeper level, the dream may also be representing the dreamer’s relationship with aspects of her self–a ‘foreign’ (unknown) woman and a little girl part of her own psyche, floating on the surface of feeling and afraid–possibly herself as a child, or a new, emerging, creative aspect the dreamer has been nurturing for about as long as the age of the dream child.

The moment we came back up to the surface I felt so relieved! All 3 of us swam in, to a dock where there were other people who had survived as well.  I saw everyone with a loved one and being so happy to find each other.

And it works! Nurturing others, and directing them about how to cope with their feelings (hold your breath, dive in and through!) enables the three to reach safety and solid ground.

I remember walking through a warehouse type of place searching for someone as if I had lost someone and I was seeing if they had survived. I felt very alone at that point and all of a sudden I woke up.

And now, the mystery… for whom is she searching; without whom does she feel alone? From the outward perspective, this could be a real person. It’s more likely, though, that the searched-for other is another, deeper aspect of herself she just began to explore when she dove under the wave.  Warehouses are where things are stored; sometimes, they represent memories and experiences from our past, waiting to be rediscovered or worked through.  This dreamer might want to imagine herself back in the warehouse as vividly as possible, and draw the space, or write a story about entering it.  Often, the unconscious will reveal itself when we use our dream images creatively. The more we know of ourselves, the clearer our creative spring will flow.

Well, the garden is blooming, a charm of goldfinches arrived last week, and a pair of nesting chickadees from spring returned to chirp and splash.  Have a cup of tea, and enjoy your summer dreams…

I dreamed there was a huge tidal wave and it was wiping things out miles and miles from the shoreline… I was running from the wave, trying to keep ahead of it. I was miles from the shoreline. Just when the wave would ebb back to the beach another big one would come and I would have to keep running…

Tidal waves dreams are actually pretty common, even amongst people who don’t live near the ocean! What do tidal waves mean? You could check your handy dream dictionary to find out. But, sadly, dream dictionaries are written by people who know little or nothing about dreams, and have just made up compelling meanings for various dream images.

Water is the only dream element all dream experts agree upon. It has represented the same thing across time and across cultures, and as such, it really does seem to be an archetypal symbol.  Water enables life and renewal, and psychologically, it symbolizes unconscious emotions, feelings we aren’t aware of. Creative people actually remember more dreams with water in them than those who are less creative. Creative people translate the unconscious as they create; this process seems to make its way into their dreams…

So, dreaming of a tidal wave suggests the dreamer is overwhelmed by feelings which come in “waves.” For this dreamer, just when one goes, another one comes crashing down, and they encroach far upon the “ground” (the foundation of the psyche). It seems to her like they are wiping everything out–and overwhelming emotional crises do that.

Action of dreamer. It might be helpful for the dreamer to consider what she does when feeling overwhelmed. Here, she runs. This makes sense; most of us would try to run in such a situation! But this is the dream world, and the dreamer created the situation in which she finds herself. She might explore what else could be done with waves of feeling.

Now, if you were threatened by an actual tidal wave, what could you do? List as many things as you can, as fast as you can, without editing any (creative brainstorming). Build a boat? Snorkle? Dive under the waves? Find a vehicle and move inland at a faster rate? Get behind a large wall? Get help? Trust your ability to swim?  In a tidal wave situation, you are safer at sea!

Dream coping and waking coping. Remember that water represents deep, unconscious emotion, so the way we interact with water in dreams may indicate how we cope with feelings when awake.  Each of the possibilities listed above requires a different kind of coping with feelings (diving into them, versus finding a way to quickly move away from them through distraction, versus staying on their surface),  and might be less exhausting than running.  Imagine yourself doing one or more of those as vividly as you can. See if you feel differently (calmer, more relaxed) after having done so.

Naturally, if this were a real situation, you’d have to act immediately to save yourself! But, since it’s a dream, and you gave it to yourself, consider it a gift, showing you something about the way you characteristically might cope with being overwhelmed.  Try exploring some new options. You might find something that works or feels better!

Next time, in honor of the season, I’ll write about scary dreams, what they might mean, and what to do about them.  For now, time to refresh my tea cup, build a fire, and listen to the rain…

May you have a lovely day, and sweet dreams!