An incident I recall clearly is a childhood memory that I have re-occurring dreams about anytime I feel stressed or fearful in my life.
When I was 4 years old, my mother and I went to visit my older sister in her new home. Since my sister had no furniture in the home yet, my sister, mother, niece, and I made a bed on the floor in the middle of the living room that happened to be directly under a sky light.
In the middle of the night I woke up from a bad dream and sat up for what felt like a few minutes. While I sat awake, I looked up at the sky light and saw a bird’s claw print on the window and then an earthquake occurred;
My individual perception of the event is that a bird shook the house. Whether or not there was actually a bird sitting on top the sky light is still unclear to me as no one else was awake to witness it but the earthquake was real and my interpretation of this event has made a lasting impression on me.
As a child, experiencing an earthquake for the first time is an emotional experience that one cannot comprehend.
As an adult, when faced with an emotional experience that I have a difficult time comprehending, I subconsciously revert back to my childhood memory and have the same re-occurring dream. Why is that?