Section Gee! Advice, Humor, Comics, Horoscope, Kids : In Your Dreams : Mobster Image May Signify Control Issue

Dear Cynthia: I am a 35-year-old female. I have experienced the same dream every six months to a year for about 20 years. I don’t own a gun, nor am I affiliated with any kind of gang.

My dream is that mobsters, with their typical black suits, guns and hats are chasing me. Sometimes I am alone, other times I have a partner (a stranger). We are running from the bad guys while they are constantly shooting. We shoot back and dodge their bullets by going behind a parked car or tree. Nobody dies. My dream never really ends, we just continue to run and shoot back. Sometimes the bad guys are not mobsters, but street gang members, and they are always all men. My partner is also always a male.

--EMILY ESGUERRA

Long Beach

Dear Reader: The stereotypical mob guys in your dream could obviously represent organized crime as could the gangs that appear in the alternate version. But more likely they symbolize the feeling of being up against a large and powerful group. Both images are associated with control, the underground, power, immoral and criminal activity, and they are also types of family structures.

Your occasional partner could represent the balanced approach you take when dealing with the pursuit (your partner is always male), but even though you have him with you, the “bad guys” still pursue you and shoot. You engage in the conflict by shooting back but can only protect yourself by hiding.

So who are the large organized groups in your life and what are they shooting? A school, family or religion force-feeding a particular doctrine or specific advice could fit this description, especially if you are not a willing recipient of what they have to offer. The pressure to accept what they put out may spawn this dream. Bullets can penetrate the body; those you oppose are directing something your way, something they want you to accept.

Ask yourself when and how you feel ganged up on, and determine a strategy to reinforce your own choices and beliefs. That way no matter what comes at you, you will have defined your core beliefs. This will reinforce your foundation and give you a psychological bulletproof vest when dealing with unwanted advice and the pressure to conform.

Fax your dreams to Cynthia Richmond at (213) 237-0732 or e-mail them to in.your.dreams@worldnet.att.net. Please include your hometown and a daytime phone number. “In Your Dreams” appears every Tuesday and should be read for entertainment purposes only.