Skip to main content

toothache?

I woke up this morning and had to shake my head at my latest dreams.

I don't know how many people even remember their dreams at night let alone take the time to think about them, but they are fascinating. I'm one of few people who have vivid and often intense dreams everyday and actually remember them. According to studies that have been done on this topic, everyone dreams every time they sleep (whether they remember it or not). The brain takes the last 24 to 48 hours worth of material (everything you see and experience) every night and processes it in the filing cabinet that is your memory.

My dreams sometimes have similar themes to my day to day life, or are full of childhood memories, or are recurring and nightmare-like with no direct connection to my everyday life. It is clear that the world of dreams is a world of symbols. You would think this would make it easy to interpret them, but certain symbols can mean one thing to one person and something completely different to another. For example I am terrified of spiders so if I happen to dream about spiders they often represent something that scares me, but for someone who likes spiders this would likely not represent the same thing.

Last night I dreamed a lot of strange dreams, but the one that stuck out to me the most was one where I vividly remember my surprise when about 3 or 4 of my bottom right teeth fell out and my mouth was bleeding quite a bit. Now this may sound pretty gross to some people, but this is a dream that I have had often when things around me seem to be changing faster than I am comfortable with or I'm bottling up my feelings or thoughts on something.

According to an expert in this field,
"When you dream of your teeth falling out it is often because you are feeling similar emotions in your waking life to those you felt as a child. Your dream uses the lost teeth symbol as a kind of shorthand for all those feelings and memories you had back then." Jane Teresa Anderson (http://www.dream.net.au/)

This makes me wonder how well I am dealing with recent changes in my life (Jonathan's death, my family being away, etc). I know I felt frightened and overwhelmed a lot as a child. There is so much to growing that is hard, but besides that I also had a very difficult childhood. I'm going to take this dream as a gentle reminder to care for myself and to not avoid my pain.

Comments

  1. MichelleNovember 13, 2009 at 1:03 PM

    I'm blogging about a dream I had last night too!
    I figured I'd find my dream on the dream analysis site you linked to (I was sure it's a relatively common dream), but I didn't... is there a "search" option?

    I agree with you that growing up is hard.
    Whenever you need an outlet to express some bottled-up thoughts or feelings, you are welcome to call me and we can go for coffee. Of course, that's not the only time/reason we can do coffee!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmandaNovember 13, 2009 at 2:21 PM

    Hi Michelle!

    Haha that is too funny. I guess we sometimes think similarly when it comes to desserts, so why not when it comes to blogging! Try looking up your dream at the below link. Jane looks at common recurring dreams here and that is where I found mine.
    http://www.dream.net.au/library/recurring_dreams.cfm

    Thanks for the offer of being someone I can talk to about the hard things. I'll let you know if such an occasion pops up and just enjoy your presence during our upcoming get-togethers for now(are you still doing the candy dipping party?)

    See you tomorrow at Coras!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ~mNovember 13, 2009 at 5:06 PM

    i dream about wiggly teeth and such on-and-off. i've heard it can also have something to do with relationships/balance... because each tooth has a pair. but maybe that's a crock :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2010

So once again it is that time of year when people reflect back on what they have accomplished in the last year and make plans and goals for the next. I have spent some time looking over the last year and have been very happy with positive changes I have made in my life and tough challenges I have faced. It wasn't an easy year by any means, but it brought many neccessary changes in my life. This year I want to continue that trend and work on one of my weaknesses. Tne biggest weakness I think I need to work on is my lack of consistency. You see I tend to be very good at starting things, often too many things at a time, but I lack the discipline to carry things through. I tell myself I'm going to write down all of my purchases and track my spending...yeah that plan lasts about two days before I toss it. I say I'm going to do my exercises every day...but really it ends up happening very randomly and not nearly as frequently as it should. So this year instead of making a huge...
3 comments
Read more

Jonathan

I wanted to take a few minutes to write about someone who became very dear to me in a very short time. Jonathan and I had been exchanging regular e-mails asking each other everything about our lives and hopes and dreams. I tend to be a very private person (runs in my family), so I wouldn't normally share this much with someone I've only known for such a short time, but after reading his first few e-mails I found myself surprisingly comfortable with this partial stranger. Over the months of getting to know each other I learned about his past, his hopes for his future, and even the sweet little details like what he wants to name his first child. We talked theology, philosophy, literature, movies, and anything else that popped up. Eventually we made plans to get together and went out for tea at a local tea house. Despite live music that, though well performed, made conversation difficult, we talked and enjoyed our time together. We continued to dat...
2 comments
Read more

no pain no gain?

I've discovered that there is something worse than pain...self induced pain. Also that there is something worse than self induced pain - waiting to hear back from the bank to find out whether or not you are approved for a loan to pay for self induced pain. Okay, so it's not exactly pain alone - it's neccesity. According to my insurance company it's cosmetic, but I'm pretty sure a back molar will be more functional than aesthetically pleasing. My dentist recommended that I get an implant put in because it lasts 25-30 years and will not destroy other teeth in the process (like a bridge might). She sent my x-rays to a periodontal clinic and after a few days I was set up with them for an initial consultation. I went to the consultation nervous as I have never been a big fan of dentists and I wasn't really sure what to expect. They were very warm and so willing to answer every question. Of course for $250 I would expect at least that at an initial consultation. The...
3 comments
Read more