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THE CAR DREAMS
Car dreams are extremely common and come in several varieties. Dreams featuring cars are a prime example of why it is important to explore the action of your dream before anything else.
THE UPHILL CLIMB
In this dream, you are driving up a particularly steep hill, and it feels as if the engine of your car is about to give out. In some cases the hill feels as if it is almost vertical, and you may break out in a cold sweat, trying to figure out which gear to put your car in, and whether to slow down or speed up to make it up the hill.
Some dreamers have reported that they finally solved the problem by putting the car into low gear, proceeding slowly but steadily, and pacing themselves for the long, steep climb ahead.
Dreams of climbing hills often reflect challenges and achievement, a heavy workload and an intimidating degree of scrutiny. The law student preparing for his bar exam, the entrepreneur starting up his first big venture, or the single mom earning her degree while working full time are examples of people who have reported this dream. Sometimes we embark on a challenge, and after the thrill of adventure wanes, we find ourselves faced with a bigger mountain or a steeper learning curve than we ever imagined. Mid-way into it, the climb has become an ordeal, and enthusiasm has to be bolstered by reserves of endurance.
We can learn from the solutions that many have discovered in their dreams. The journey is a marathon, not a sprint; putting the car in a lower gear, slowing down, and keeping a steady speed reduce strain and the risk of disaster. In the midst of a big push, we have to stay calm, focused and steady in our efforts: in effect, we have to slow down in order to speed up our progress. In your car dreams, pay close attention to the nature of the challenge you face, as well as the nature of the solution that works best: there is often a direct implication for your real life scenario.
THE BRAKES OR STEERING GIVE OUT
In this common dream, you are driving efficiently down a winding road when you discover that the brakes of your car do not work properly. You are gaining dangerous speed around hairpin corners as you spiral down a road. In some versions of this dream, it is the steering that does not seem to respond to your driving, and you can only struggle to hold on as the car careens out of control, taking you to the brink of disaster.
This is a scene of losing control, either from an inability to stop the forward progress of some problem, or through an inability to correct the course you find yourself on.
The dream is not an indictment of your character, but it aptly reflects that a current problem is not responding to your normal way of handling things. One woman who had this dream was a young college student, who found that the pressure of school and being away from home had triggered her old eating disorder which was beginning to again get out of control. A man who reported this dream had borrowed money to keep his business afloat was seeing signs that his strategy was not going to be successful and that he needed to come up with a new plan, and quickly. Another woman, involved in a destructive relationship, had this dream repeatedly, each time with more drama and brushes with death. This is a crisis dream that is trying to wake up the dreamer to attend to the emergency in a new and different way. This dream is not about feeling guilty or wrong; it is merely saying – pay attention and change your approach now!
DRIVING WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED
This dream has grown in frequency in the United States over the last 10 years. I first noticed reports of it coming in waves during the dot.com bubble and after the events of 9/11. In this dream, you are driving at almost top speed in your car. You can discern vaguely where you are, but you realize at last why you cannot see very well: you have your eyes closed! As you realize this, you also feel terrible. You really should open your eyes, but it seems to be beyond your power, or you feel an incredible lethargy and cannot summon the energy to do so. You have a sickening split inside; part of you knows this is a recipe for disaster and every moment you keep your eyes closed is madness, the other part of you is just too sleepy, passive or dazed to actually open your eyes.
This dream typically recurs every couple of weeks during a period of emerging crisis – a problem that may not be consciously recognized when the dream first presents. The dream is an early warning about events in the works that may have a startling negative impact on the dreamer. Some of the people who reported this dream were heavily invested in the stock market when it dove 10 years ago. One woman who reported this dream was developing a new business with an old friend: as their debts and responsibilities mounted, a part of her mind worried that her friend was likely to drag them into trouble with her wild business practices. This was a reality she did not want to confront because of their longstanding friendship. Part of her was screaming: “wake up!” while another part of her felt overwhelmed at the idea of taking a look at where they were going and what was going on. If you dream of driving with your eyes closed, (or driving at night without the lights on) it should be considered a serious warning. The implication is of moving quickly in a direction that is not in your best interests, and doing so without “seeing” what is likely to be the result. This does not mean your investments are doomed, or that you are living under a cloud. It does suggest that you take a deep breath and consider the “unthinkable” truth about a situation that you have been of two minds about, trying to suppress a growing anxiety, and perhaps avoiding your instincts for self-preservation. These dreams are urging you to wake up: from there, you will likely know exactly what you need to do, and have the cool clarity to make it work for you.
LOOKING IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
In this dream, you are looking behind you as you drive forward. Instead of watching the road ahead, your gaze is glued to the rearview mirror, and you gage your forward motion by doing swift calculations about the landscape you have just passed through. At some point, it may dawn on you that you really ought to look ahead instead of behind as you drive, but for some reason you continue to do what you have always done: look at what has passed in order to guess where you want to go and how best to get there.
The people who report this dream also share that they have a tendency to avoid risk. They may literally plan their day or their vacation, by trying to avoid what they do not like. We all prefer to move toward what we enjoy and to avoid what we dislike, but this dream highlights an imbalance. In order to get somewhere, we truly do have to look where we want to go. In order to set your sights on a goal, you must give slightly greater weight to the goal than to the things you would prefer to avoid along the way. Other dreamers have shared their preoccupation with past wounds or injustices, and felt the dream highlighted the way their fascination with past problems echoed through the present, effectively capturing their attention at the cost of many possible future accomplishments.
If you have a dream in which you look at the road behind you, consider whether you may be looking at your situation the wrong way around, or attempting to plan your future exclusively by reviewing the past and what you wish to avoid. Steering clear of past mistakes is a wise tactic, but it works even better when it is complimented by a plan to move forward into what you hope to achieve or accomplish.
CAR AND DRIVING SYMBOLSIM
The action in your dream is the most reliable and rapid short cut to recognize meaning. There are, however, fairly typical symbols in these dreams that can be useful to understand. Keep in mind that your dream may be entirely unique, and use these ideas to stir your own interpretations.
The car or vehicle: This often represents the situation or mode in which you are traveling through life. It can be a simple as the mood of feeling dashing while on vacation (driving a red convertible) to feeling overwhelmed with responsibility when you discover you are pregnant (learning to park a minivan). The overriding quality of the vehicle is often a symbolic version of the overriding quality of your mood or situation. This of it as your current psychology or mood, and you may find a quick connection.
The road: This represents the territory you are traversing as you move toward your desires and hopefully avoid obstacles and hazards. Dangerous roads reflect risky, stressful chapters in our lives. Baffling, maze-like freeways represent disorienting choices and complex situations where it is difficult to choose between logic and emotion. Roadblocks, accidents and barriers represent real-life barriers to fulfillment or satisfaction that seem to be slowing down your progress and frustrating your plans.
Dangers: Vehicles that threaten to run you down or menace you often reflect a particular person in your life who is “running over you” in a personal sense. In such cases the dreams tend to be recurring and very similar in presentation, and their onset typically began around the time that the person or situation came into your life or took hold.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Our dreams of driving typically reflect the way we are approaching our goals and desires, and the factors and people in our lives that impact our success. These are among the most telling and concise of dreams, reaching an almost mathematical equivalence to the number of stressors we are enduring, and perhaps most importantly, hinting at ways to resolve and restore our power over the situation at hand.
Try to observe your driving dreams, not only their drama, but when they occur, and how long they have been presenting. Once you identify the situation being depicted, you have an excellent opportunity to review the implication of the dream and to use it to clarify your strategy and strengthen your determination and outlook. We do not have driving dreams when the case is impossible, but on the contrary, when we hold the power to change our course and surmount the challenge in question. | |
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