the dreamer:
age: 54
gender: female

i was at home with my husband and he was combing my hair

kristo’s dream interpretation...

This is a fairly straightforward image of domesticity...and as far as dream symbolism goes, rather simple.

Jung was actually quite specific in mentioning that many of his patients dreamt of him as either their barber or hairdresser...and his conclusion...based on the context of many of those dreams...was that hair tended to signify thoughts and mental attitudes...which were, naturally, being attended to and altered by his services as analyst.

Of course such dreams imply the idea of changing of one's mind...but in Jung's case...it wasn’t his job to do the changing.
It was simply that the dreamers experienced his work as being the cause of their change in attitude...i.e. changing their mind.
So what was it about Jung that catalyzed the change?

I always do my best to remind my interns that the job of the physician is not to try changing anything in anyone...except themselves.
And that the true job of the physician is not to heal anyone...which is simply an impossibility anyway...but to rather Be Present to their patients, as well as to anyone they wish to interact with, for any reason.

That said...this dreamer has had an interaction with her husband that was translated by Psyche into this rather quiet image.
Now...if you’re the type of person who prefers going to the barber or hairdresser for a bit of gossip...well maybe that’s all that happened here.
Husband may have shared some juicy bit of office gossip with wife...and that may have changed her attitude about a certain person or persons involved.
Without further elaboration by the dreamer...i.e. as to what home is like, and what other details of the situation (both of the dream and of her day) she might remember...we're left to speculate.
And gossip is one of the possibilities.

There is another, more likely possibility, however...and considering the relative quiet of the presentation...it’s just possible that the husband was paying close attention to what the wife may have said or been saying.
Husband may have been particularly present and attentive to wife...and that attention seems to have had an effect on the wife similar to what Jung’s patients experienced...i.e. a change in attitude.
Even a bit of calm and a kind of clarity.
Combing the hair is an act of order.
One that eliminates the chaos of hairs (read: thoughts) going in all different directions.
And this just goes to show us all how powerful an effect even a little bit of attentiveness...i.e. Presence...can have.

To my mind, Multitasking is the opposite of Presence.
And if you think about it...multitasking (as popular as it is) is the single worst thing we can ever do to ourselves and others.
Since it’s impossible to be in 2 places at once...i.e. both mentally and physically...by multitasking, we simply disappear between the floorboards of doing 2 or more things at once.
Multitasking might imply some sort of dynamism and power...but what it really translates into is lack of Presence.

There’s plenty more to say about this...but I’ve got other things to do right now.... If you’d like to hear more...I’ll need your generous support.
...Thanks!

kristo

You’ve seen the way I look at the sometimes baffling riddle of dreams...
and you know how rich my interpretations always sound and feel...
Now you can easily have me apply that same depth of insight to your own dreams...