DREAMS ABOUT CARS ARE PERVASIVE IN OUR SOCIETY. Such dreams have the potential for meaning on several levels. Today’s dreamer brings an opportunity to explore the possibilities.

Dear Carolyn,

I just turned 70 and I am amazed at life and a little baffled by what lies ahead. I have been reading your column for a while now, so I know you say that cars might stand for our bodies. That’s one of the reasons this dream bothers me. I’m worried that it is telling me that something’s wrong with me health-wise:

I’m driving along in an older car that I don’t recognize. It’s red, but the paint is oxidized and the car needs to be washed and vacuumed. It’s dark outside and I’m on a road I don’t recognize either. I come to a stop sign and try to start the car even though it is already running. This makes it stall and I can’t get it to start up again.

Next, there’s a sharpshooter in the area. I fall to the ground to protect myself, but I get hit by a grazing bullet. It scrapes some skin off my spine and somehow lodges under the skin in my thigh.

Signed, Worried About Myself

Dear Worried,

Thanks for reading the column! In our American culture, cars appear in many dreams. Depending on the dreamer and the circumstances, a car may be just a car.

So, if you dream that your car won’t start, it could be time to check the starter or the battery. Some dreams are as straightforward as that!

As you mentioned, a car in your dream also can be an effective metaphor for health issues. In that case, a dream of an overheated car that blows a fuse could be cautioning the dreamer to slow down and manage her temper.

Your dream has clues to another interpretation of a car — as the method, or state of mind, by which you maneuver your way through life.

Perhaps you find your circumstances and feelings unrecognizable, Dear Dreamer: Are you feeling older and a little worse for the wear — needing to be spruced up? You find yourself in the dark and on a road that is unfamiliar, like the phase of life you are entering. It is unknown to you and daunting, no doubt.

The car may not look as good as it once did, but it is already running. It could be that by trying to start it anyway, you are trying to get yourself motivated to move along the road ahead and enjoy this sometimes mysterious and often dreaded phase of life.

Is that sharpshooter an astute observer in your life whose remarks were aimed to take you down? The good news is, you dodged the bullet. It does only minor damage to you, taking only a little skin off your back — notice the play on words? And another one — it just got under your skin. Maybe you are cursing the inevitable, Dear Dreamer, but you’re not dead yet!

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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