""I had a dream the other night that I was receiving a gift from a cousin of mine," David began. "He lives very far away, and I very rarely see him, nor have I received many gifts from him. "In the dream, he gives me a small box that is made of hard transparent plastic. The box is wrapped in a thin paper-like wooden cover. It is the size and shape of a small watch box."
""As I unwrap the wooden paper cover, I get stuck with tiny splinters in my fingers from the wood fibers," David continued. "When I pull them out, they get stuck in the other hand. Someone comes to help me, and the splinters get stuck in theirs, too. Once I open the box, I see it's a watch strap. It's nice, but it is too small to fit any of the watches I own.""
David, a 33-year-old man, is highly particular about gifts and resisted a conciliatory gift from his mother-in-law. He dreamed of a distant cousin giving a small transparent plastic box wrapped in a thin paper-like wooden cover. Unwrapping the cover caused tiny splinters to lodge in his fingers and transfer to another helper. The opened box contained a watch strap that was attractive but too small for his watches. He felt confused yet familiar in the dream. Reflecting on the dream revealed parts of himself shut down in the mother-in-law relationship and allowed consideration of a more nuanced response.
Read at Psychology Today
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