Ingrid Tiriana: Don't delve into dreams

I don't really believe in the so-called meaning of dreams. Probably because I'm peeved I've never woken up having dreamed I just won the lottery and was rolling around on a bed of money.

The other reason is that some dreams are just so weird and outlandish they can't possibly mean anything - other than we have terrifically wild imaginations that we sometimes can't control.

However, a dream I had the other night had me checking online to be informed - rather obviously I thought - that dreams about being chased and shot are, well, generally, not good.

Apparently a dream has the power to "unify the body, mind, and spirit", provides you with insight into your own self and is a means for self-exploration. Hmmm, if only they were that peaceful. I'm not so sure I want to explore my propensity for dreams about being shot.

Chase dreams are apparently quite common and I have had these quite often. They're said to stem from feelings of anxiety in one's waking life. I'm picking a lot of people are having chase dreams.

When you're running from your dream chaser your reactions are said to reflect how you react to situations in real life - you either just run like mad to avoid something or you hide or you try to outwit your pursuer.

In the case of my dream the other night, Hubby and I (naturally) outwitted our pursuer. We grabbed her, even while she was still shooting. Problem was, she got us both - Hubby in the foot (I'm wondering what that may have been symbolic of) and me in the chest, although, miraculously you might think, I did not immediately fall on the ground and bleed to death.

In fact, the bullet hole was quite small and not even bleeding (I was almost disappointed) and although I started having trouble breathing I managed to make my way through the house we were in (while Hubby stayed with our gun-toting chaser) to find a telephone so I could call for an ambulance.

I'm hoping I made it but I'm not sure because I woke up while I was still wandering woozily from room to room.

I'm thinking the dream may actually indicate that in my waking life I work on a problem until I've outwitted it, that I'm a practical, commonsense kind of person and that I can perform under duress ... but I don't always find what I'm looking for.

Well, that's my spin on it. I got to the stage of online dream information overload and decided to ditch my search in favour of coming up with my own analysis.

Dreams are definitely funny things. Sometimes you wake up knowing what you were dreaming ... but seconds later you totally forget what it was. Sometimes, as with the shooting dream, you can vividly recount it.

There seemed no reason for the dream. I hadn't been feeling particularly stressed or upset and I'm wondering if a more plausible explanation was the television series Hubby and I had been watching. It featured gun-toting gangsters galore.

Whatever the reason, I'm not too keen to relive that particular dream.

I was in a friend's dream recently. She dreamed she was at the supermarket and I was one of the checkout girls. A much more sedate scenario than being chased and shot at.

We definitely have very different personalities but I'm thinking my friend's dream would be much more pleasant.

Knowing my luck, though, if I dreamed I was a checkout operator in a supermarket there would probably be a robbery.

Contact Ingrid at editor@northernadvocate.co.nz