Ghosts May Mean Unfinished Business - Los Angeles Times

Dear Cynthia: I’ve been having recurring dreams for several years now. In these dreams, I am always trapped in a haunted house. The ghosts there are either trying to scare me out of my mind by making noises, saying horrible things to me, physically holding me or throwing stuff at me, or they are trying to get me with a knife or ax. Either way, no matter how much I try to reason with them or fight back, I cannot stop their terror nor can I get out of the house. On a few occasions, the ghost in the house turns out to be a loved one who has recently died and all the ghost wanted to do was give me a message (these messages are never for me but for me to tell someone else, which I usually do). In general, however, these dreams are terrifying and I have never felt more scared or hopeless than I do in these dreams. Whenever they occur, I wake up scared and cannot go back to sleep for the rest of the night. If you have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate them.

TERESA

Carson

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Dear Teresa: Your recurring dream is a classic nightmare. Since a house can be a symbol of the physical body and since we think of the body as the home for our thoughts and our feelings, your dream may reflect old scary thoughts or feelings that you haven’t finished dealing with.

These unfinished issues are trying to get your attention in a dramatic way. Throwing stuff would certainly get your attention, and attacks with a knife or an ax would symbolically be cutting into you, opening you up to recognizing the destructive nature of the unfinished business dwelling within. When the dream involves a departed loved one, the business may involve unresolved feelings regarding your relationship with them or the person they have advice for in your dream. By delivering the message from your dream to the person, you are making contact with them, thus giving you an opportunity to heal something as well. You might try thinking back over your life, digging up any unresolved issues especially pertaining to relationships, then do what you can to mend any misunderstandings so that your subconscious mind will release you from the terror of these hauntings.

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Cynthia Richmond is the author of “Dream Power: How to Use Your Night Dreams to Change Your Life” (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Fax your dreams to Cynthia Richmond at (818) 783-3267 or e-mail them to [email protected]. Please include your hometown and a daytime phone number. In Your Dreams appears every Tuesday and should be read for entertainment purposes only.

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