Dream

As I age and lose more and more brain cells, my dreams are becoming more stereotyped. This morning I dreamt that I am travelling in a train, we arrive to a station, I step out with other passangers, the train moves on and we are stranded. After a moment of panic, we run after a wagon, it slows to take us and we continue travelling. It is the most ordinary king of dream, that of missing the train. I used to have more exquisite, classy dreams.

What Dr Freud says about my dream?

In connection with dreams of missing trains, looking in vain for the lost article, etc., one is often justified in interpreting these as implying an unconscious wish not to have the difficulty removed. In daily life we often put obstacles in the way, sometimes consciously, at other times unconsciously, so that we may not have to do something or other. Many people quickly contract a headache when called upon to perform a certain action; others find plenty to do when asked to go somewhere when they prefer not to go. Often we can see behind these things, and realize the true motive of the individual's conduct, which is to avoid something disagreeable. However, the motives are often hidden, even from the individual. For example, we forget to do many things in waking life because they are associated with something unpleasant, though, until an analysis had been made, we would deny the assertion, and be honest in the denial. So, in dreams we may be acting quite in accord with daily life, and the dream-difficulty may be the means of escape from a more intolerable situation.

From: Interpretation of Dreams, by Dr. Freud, 1913, p. 232; authorized English translation of 3rd edition by Dr. A. A. Brill. London, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd.; New York, The Macmillan Company.