Dream Dictionary An A to Z Guide to Understanding Your Unconscious Mind

A abandoned Feeling unwanted, particularly by parents. May have become habitual. It can lead to feelings of being unloved in the midst of what is really a happy and caring relationship; sometimes self-pity; can represent big changes in your life, such as leaving home, or traveling and living in another country, so feeling abandoned by one's friends and support. Such dreams may occur if you had to spend time in hospital as a child, or one of your parents died. If by a friend or relative: anxiety about losing friendship, or of illness creating a loss. Being abandoned in the sense of allowing sexual and emotional liberty: finding a new freedom; dropping usual social codes and unashamedly expressing yourself; it can be an example of one of the functions of dreams, to release held-back sexuality and emotion. See alone; hero/ine. abbey See abbey under house, buildings. abdomen See abdomen under body. abduction Happening to someone else: the desire to influence or have power over someone. Happening to yourself: feeling influenced by someone or something else, against your inclinations or desires. This can occur when events in life, such as leaving school or home, push you into changes you do not embrace with pleasure. Or you may feel people you are involved with are forming a clique and pressuring you. Sometimes the pressure arises from within, from a part of you that is trying to emerge. aboriginal The unsophisticated; inner contact with the natural life-processes within; feeling unified with nature. This often brings an intuitive wisdom. See Africa, African; black person; natives. abortion Suggests an idea, a direction, or an area of one's feelings such as surround a love affair that has died or been lost; an attempted relationship, direction, or project is not supported by your confidence or desire. If dream connects with actual abortion: the emotions surrounding an actual experience of abortion; sense of guilt; the fears of damage to future possibility of childbearing; the feelings about loss of the baby. All these need to be healed in some measure. See baby. Example: "I dreamt that my mum had a miscarriage. When I woke up I knew she had split with her current boyfriend. She rang up and I said, 'Mum, don't tell me, I know why you've rung, you've broken with your boyfriend.' She was amazed and asked how I knew." (Jane) above See positions. abroad Your feelings about that country, or the culturally held view of it; being in a new or changed life situation. If abroad or going abroad: making a change, doing something new; wanting to escape your present environment; getting away from it all. If someone or something arrives from abroad: a change; something new arising in your life. If you have lived in that country: overall experience of that place. Were you happy there, lonely, what characteristics of the people did you take in? Someone of the opposite sex from abroad: hopes for a new relationship; a relationship that has new features; difficulties with intimacy in present relationship. See travel. absorb Dreams often represent learning as an organic process. Ideas are taken in, digested, then form part of an organic whole in an integrated system. Seeing something absorbed in a dream may represent absorbing ideas, or even poisonous feelings, depending upon what the dream images are. abyss If feared: fear of losing control; fear of failure; lack of confidence; loss of identity; feelings about death; the unconscious. Having these fears in no way suggests the external or internal world warrants anxiety. But lack of confidence will obviously hamper performance in dealing with the difficulties represented by the abyss. Without fear: being able to take risks, not being afraid of illness and death in a paralyzing way. The void depicts the aspect of human consciousness existing beyond the opposites, such as good and bad, right and wrong. Access toCrisp, Tony is the author of 'Dream Dictionary An A to Z Guide to Understanding Your Unconscious Mind', published 2005 under ISBN 9780517224656 and ISBN 0517224658.