OUR DREAMS DO NOT COME TO TELL US WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW. Rather, they come in service of our health and well-being. So, when today’s dream offers a picture of the dreamer’s daily life, it is presented so that she sees clearly the effect of her life choices.

This in turn offers her the choice to accept her status quo — or to take further action.

Dear Carolyn,

I wouldn’t call this a recurring dream because I have only had it once. But it keeps popping into my mind, so it might as well be recurring. It won’t leave me alone! I first dreamed it about two years ago, right about the time my husband of 35 years and I separated. We are back together now. Everything is back to normal with us, which is OK, I guess. We don’t argue or have that kind of stress. We just go through our daily motions without too many ups and downs. It could be a lot worse!

Anyway, here’s the dream that just stays with me: I am standing in the doorway of an apartment that reminds me of the place where we used to live, but everything is white. I see a man and woman lying on a kind of bed in front of me. The bed is white and they are white, their clothes are white and so are mine. The man and woman are very still. Their eyes are closed and they are almost floating. I cannot quite tell if they are alive or dead. It is upsetting to see them there. I wonder what I should do. Then I decide that I don’t want to disturb them. I’m not motivated to stir things up.

Signed, Nagged by My Dream

Dear Nagged,

Your dream’s setting provides the first clue to its message for you: Everything is white, without color. While there are many possible analogies to the color white, what seems to fit is the way you describe the circumstances of your renewed relationship with your husband. You say you guess that it’s OK that things have returned to the way they were — no deviation, all the same — white.

While there is no advocating for arguing and stress, there is also no denying that what your dream depicts is colorless and devoid of emotion. The couple are suspended — trouble-free, perhaps — but not quite alive either. You might say that like you and your husband, they don’t have many ups and downs.

What might be most telling is that in the end, you decide not to disturb them. This is the choice you must make consciously in your waking life, Dear Dreamer, for it foreshadows the era ahead. If you are not motivated to disturb the lifelessness of this color-free, emotion-free scene, then you have set your course.

You must decide if a lack of motivation is sufficient to sustain you in your remaining years together.

Sweet Dreams to you!

Carolyn Plath, M.Ed., is a Benicia resident and member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Reach her at sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com.

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