DREAMCATCHER: Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey interpret your dreams. If the dreamer would like to provide feedback about the interpretation, please send it to ACDreamcatchers@mail.com.

Alan’s Dream:

I am travelling/flying above a road that consists of rushing water and crosses a bridge that I recognise from the past.

The river/road turns a corner with me watching myself from a height. I can see a shark ahead of me in the water but it's not threatening.

I am now in the water but getting out, getting dried and finding dry clothes is a major issue. Luckily when I do get out from the 'river/road' there is no-one around initially, but I coyly hide behind a pole as people pass by.

I find myself in a charity clothes shop where there is a bed which I get into with a women, it wasn't sexual. We fall asleep, her arm is around me. I wake up when her partner comes and she goes with him.

I talk to the assistant who is very pleasant, I find some clothes and leave the shop, walking confidently out onto a pavement. There may be more but I can't remember.

Dream Interpretation:

ravelling high above a road made up of rushing water, indicates a disconnectedness with what's going on in the dreamer's life. He is being carried along by the pressures of the day and the dreamer feels he is an observer of his life rather that an active participant, which may be due to the 'rushing river' - that is, life is moving too quickly for him.

However, at some point the river has 'turned a corner' suggesting that he accepts it is time for change as he takes a new direction. This is also represented by his connection with the water and 'being in it''.

The shark in front of him suggests that he still has concerns about the pressures of life, but they are not too threatening.

Within the above context the dreamer is not totally prepared for the change in his life, symbolised by him searching for dry clothes to reduce his anxiety. He is fearful of the reactions of others represented by hiding himself as he does not have any clothes on.

Having a woman's arm around him in the shop on this transitional journey indicates his need for comfort.

Latterley however he appears to have resolved some of his anxieties suggesting the time is right to create a better life for himself. Removing himself from the water indicates an active approach to a new start. He acknowledges his passivity in the past and recognises the necessity for changes in the future.

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.