Today’s Dream from Alan:

I was sitting in the driving seat of a left hand drive, open-backed truck, trying to turn it around. However, I was attempting the manoeuvre on a thin pathway that had been carved into the side of a huge mountain.

I was near the top of the mountain, which meant there was a long drop if I made any mistakes.

For some reason I had been driving up the mountain but now wanted to go down.

A man stood by the truck, who said he would offer advice on turning the truck around. I was pleased with the advice but at the same time terrified.

It took some knife edge steering, but I managed to face the truck downwards.

At this point I noticed the path was made up of steps carved into the wall of the mountain, nevertheless I decided to carry on, feeling the truck jolt as it moved down the steps. As I moved faster the bumping became more violent.

I decided to run the side of the truck against the mountain to slow it down but it didn’t work and the journey became more and more frightening.

The last images in the dream were of the truck running out of control, spiralling down the mountainside. I woke up at this point.

Dream Interpretation:

The dreamer finds himself in an unusual position. He is stuck and feels exposed. He wants to turn a precarious situation around and try to change his position within it.

His options are narrow and fraught with dangers if he makes a ‘mistake’.

The dreamer is unsure about how he has reached this place in his life but knows it has taken effort and there is a repeated theme in the dream of wanting to turn his situation around.

He has received advice and as a result, has chosen a direction which he thinks will take less effort. However, he continues to face barriers, represented by the ‘steps carved into the wall of the mountain’ and although determined to succeed the ‘journey’ is extremely difficult.

The dreamer is trying to control his emotions but feels he is currently ‘running out of control, spiralling down’.

This dream suggests that the dreamer is facing a critical issue in his life and although trying to control his emotions as he acts to resolve it, he remains in a high state of anxiety at this time. This is a ‘statement dream’ bringing unconscious anxieties to his attention.

If the dreamer would like to provide feedback about the interpretation, please send it to ACDreamcatchers@mail.com.

Interestingly, we have found it is not always possible to interpret your own dream, probably because it often represents the sublimation of feelings or thoughts that we are trying to avoid in our waking lives. However, with a little assistance from the dream interpreter, the symbols and themes can start to make sense and help us to move forward.

If you are interested in having a particular dream analysed, please send us an account of your dream to the following email address: ACDreamcatchers@mail.com We only have space to interpret one dream a week which will be selected from those received. Please refer to the guidance provided to describe your dream as this will enable us to provide a full interpretation.

Guidance for the Dreamer:

• Record your dream in writing as soon as you wake up with as much detail as possible.

• First of all ask yourself who is in the dream.

• Where are you, what is happening to you and what is happening around you?

• Record how you are feeling about what you and/or others are doing.

• Are there particular symbols or objects in the dream that are unusual?

• Are there any sounds and is the dream in colour or black and white?

• Are you watching yourself in the dream or are you experiencing it first-hand ie: through your own eyes.

Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey are Public Service professionals with years of experience as practitioners and managers in the Criminal Justice System.