Dear Claire,
I had this dream playing over and over in my sleep the other night. But it wasn’t really like a normal dream. Because it was like I had this television screen completely take over the inside of my head. There was no actual picture of anything in my head, no outline of anything, nothing. It was just like some television frequency took over my brain, and it looked like what happened on television in the old days when the channels turned off for the night. Back in the days when it got really late, and the television stations would turn off, and all you would have was a white, scratchy-looking television screen and the sound of static. In my dream, that same type of white, scratchy-looking screen filled my head, but the sound that I heard was not static. It was this really slow and really sad voice saying over and over, “I’m sad. I’m sad. I’m very, very sad.” This kept going on until I finally woke up just to make it stop.
According to Carl Jung, the prominent psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and founder of analytical psychology, one of the primary purposes of dreaming is “to restore our psychological balance” and bring about “psychic equilibrium”—in other words, to bring us mental and emotional stability.
The above dream appears to be a classic example of this attempt by the subconscious mind to achieve or regain “psychic equilibrium” and mental and emotional balance—as well as an example of the proverbial “cry for help”—and the very first questions that should be asked of this particular dreamer would be “Are you sad?” and “Are you very, very sad?” If the dreamer is not sad himself, the next question should be whether there is someone close to the dreamer who is extremely sad or grieving—and whether this knowledge is weighing heavily upon him.
A dream like the one above is usually an emergency signal and call to action from the subconscious—a message of warning being issued from deep within the dreamer’s psyche in order to alert the dreamer to the fact he is either neglecting, repressing, or in denial of his emotional state, and that this lack of attention to his internal well-being is affecting his mental, emotional, and physical health. The fact that a television frequency appears in his dream—something which is a means for sending signals and a symbol for communication—just further reinforces that this is, most likely, a dream message. In addition, the appearance of the blank, “white, scratchy-looking” television screen appears to be significant in that, at one time, television programs would often go “off the air” when emergency messages were being communicated. As a result, this screen image most likely signifies that this dream message is one of high importance and is intended as a warning. Furthermore, the sad words and the sorrowful tone of the voice in his dream appear to be either a mirrored reflection of the dreamer’s inner angst, or a message of concern for the dreamer and his current state of well-being.
Dreams are continually used by the subconscious as an internal warning system—a warning system put in place by the brain not only for the purpose of alerting the dreamer to waking world issues which might be affecting personal health and wellness, but also to impel the dreamer to take the actions needed to preserve that health and wellness.
For this reason—if the dreamer continues to neglect and/or avoid taking the necessary steps to resolve his inner sadness and grief, the frequency and/or intensity of these types of dreams may increase until the personal attention required to resolve this emotional turmoil is finally given. Again, this dream warning was most likely sent to force the dreamer to confront his neglected emotional state and motivate him to take action. In order to regain or achieve “psychological balance and equilibrium”, a beneficial first step—especially if the dreamer is in denial of the issues troubling and/or affecting him—would be to attempt to identify any areas/aspects of his life which could possibly be the source of the excessive sadness.
If no areas can be concretely identified, the dreamer should then attempt to examine any areas/aspects in his life which might be causing emotional and/or mental imbalance—or situations which might be promoting negativity or feelings of loss. By pinpointing the areas in his life where problematic issues, imbalances, and/or insufficiencies exist, the dreamer may be able discover the origin of his present feelings of inner sadness and grief—and this will allow him to determine how to address and resolve the issues which are bringing such angst to his dreaming world. It may be an issue which can be quickly amended or eliminated—or it may be a situation which requires a grieving process or counseling and will take a longer period of time to work through. However, as the old saying goes, “Whatever gets your attention thrives”—and that is especially true in this case. The dreamer needs to take action—and give himself the time and attention that he needs—in order to stop the excessive flow of inner sadness that is seeping into his dreaming world.
***Please submit your dreams for analysis to: dreams@thevailvoice.com . All shared information will stay anonymous.
