Quite an adventure

The tiger snarled at me. Its skin resembled golden sand and maroon stripes. Up close, it’s head looked more like a snakeskin leather purse. My husband and I saw the giant cat and ran for the bedroom. We went inside and slammed the door shut. My heart was pounding. We looked at each other as we heard its claw scratching the door. A moment later the animal slid its paw under the door and as we looked agape, the rest of the tiger’s body followed. In no time it was inside the room. I remembered what I had read in books. Animals can smell fear. I tried my best to act casual. After all, there was the possibility the animal was not a man-eater. Even though that did not explain its eagerness to chase us down, I chose to ignore that fact. My husband was stiff, and the tiger passed him to arrive at my side. In one swift move it took my left wrist in its clenched jaw. It must have been fright, flight, fight. My right hand instinctively dug into the eyes of the tiger and I continued to exert force to suffocate it. Oddly, the tiger’s face grew smaller and smaller till it totally fit inside my palm. The animal gave up after some snuffling. Phew!

As I carried out the tiger, I awoke from my slumber and noticed I had broken into a sweat! The room temperature had fallen to under 60 deg, why was I sweating so profusely? It must have been all the hard work in my dream.

I recently read dreams can be very useful tools for self-discovery and problem solving. Dreams result as our mind adjusts to the happenings in life and prepares and incubates ideas. As per WebMd, “On one side of the aisle are psychotherapists, many of whom believe dreams are a key to unlocking and liberating repressed memories of past traumatic experiences. On the other side are neurobiologists, many of whom hold that dreams are just byproducts of electrical activity -- random firing of brain circuits during sleep that cause bizarre images and weird associations.”

If I went by the psychotherapists, then what is it I am preparing for or what am I reminiscing? I can’t envision a situation in the future where I would share a room with a tiger! The only incident in my past that involves animals, me and fear is when I was 3-4 years old and felt the cows outside the grocery store were out to gore me till my rescuer (my Mother) appeared. The possibility that that event triggered this dream seems very remote. If I went by the psychiatrists’ opinion, part of the dream where the animal crawled under the door, looked like a snake, then the shrinking face all makes sense –these are weird and unreal. However, it does not explain the fact that I have struggled, but killed 2 other tigers in the past (in dreams, of course!)