Hello!

I was curious as to others' experiences as to when a recurrent dream drastically changed.

For example, I had two recurrent dreams (one a dream, the other a nightmare) that suddenly changed while I explored myself through counseling:

1. The dream was that I sought this one very important person to me, but I could never find him or her.
I felt as if I could interact with everyone but this person.
And then one night I dreamed I caught that person.
I can't fully explain but I felt inexplicably healed after that dream because I recognized that that person wasn't a person but a symbol. That person symbolized the innocence and joy that I felt I lacked in my own childhood due to my circumstance. And I saught after those qualities in my own waking life. I haven't seen this person in my dreams since.

2. The nightmare was being chased by a malevolent force. The force was often unseen or was symbolized by the undead.
But one night I dreamed that I fought back and 'killed' the figure. I ripped it's jaw open and it's face off (eww!) to recognize that it wasn't a man but a beast-machine hybrid.
I felt the force represented my own unrecognized power (constructive and destructive) to act against what I felt was oppression.
Now I can feel that force in my dreams and in my waking life.

Bizarre.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?
If so, how did those dreams help or hinder you?