an unpleasant dream - advice gratefully received

[Rosewolf]

Note – unpleasant dream detailed in this post.

I have had a problem recently with an under performing member of my team who is creating a very negative vibe at work and bringing the morale of the team down in general. Two days ago it came to my attention that she had caused chaos in a meeting when I was absent, winding up the other staff and bemoaning the pressure of the job and working conditions.

I went to bed that night thinking that something would have to be done and I had this strange dream. In the dream, we were walking together when we were interrupted by an elderly tramp asking for money. My staff member seemed to be really panicked by this and became so agitated that she killed him – a violent murder, she repeatedly hit him over the head with a shovel. In the heat of the moment, I agreed to cover it up and I buried the body with her. (Interestingly, the body we were burying turned to nothing but bones even though it was a fresh corpse).

In the dream I was very worried about the consequences of being an accessory to the murder and I watched the spot where we had buried him constantly and became very stressed about it. Shortly afterwards, the police cordoned off the area and recovered the body. They came to my headquarters (far grander than my real office and I seemed to be a much more important person than I am in reality). I was interviewed and with very little prompting admitted it was my staff member who was the murderer and asked them to take her away. She confronted me and told me I had promised to keep it a secret but I just felt relief that all the blame was at her door and I had got away with my part in it.

The day after the dream, I confronted the bad behaviour and she walked out of the job.

I was just wondering if anyone would place any interpretation on my dream and how it fits into the series of events.

[Ligia]

I'm no expert on dream interpretation, but if I had a dream like that I think I would want to know what the hell it means too. So I don't blame you. I personally don't believe that any one person can tell you exactly the meaning behind your dream or it's exact relation to your life. However, I do believe the best thing you can do at this point is hit the books. I would do some research using several books actually. Start by looking up the key events and the most memorable symbols in your dreams. Since no one person can tell you exactly what your dreams mean, it's the same with books. Books can't understand the feelings and emotions invoked in your unconscious but my hope is that using the books will guide your own mind in a direction of thought. Since various books will have various interpretation hopefully you can find one you can understand or relate to and you'll be able to interpret your own dream using your own feelings and knowledge. Hopefully this helps a bit. Good luck!

--Ligia

[C u l a i n]

The exaggerated imagery and events involving the tramp and murder probably could have been anything, but its core purpose seems relatively simple. You could have just gone along with her behavior at work (walking together in the dream), but some consideration caused you to do what you felt was right and in the best interests of all. I mention exaggerated imagery (also exemplified by the grander office and police investigation) because you knew you had to do something soon.
I'm in a similar situation, actually with several people at work. It's always strange: disruptive people do what they do, many others kind of get used to it, then when someone comes along and actually does something about it, the disruptive person acts bemused or like it's out of the blue, or incredulous that someone called it for what it is.