THE DREAM I was in an abandoned building. It was like a warehouse or factory. There was this homeless guy there. I was trying to avoid him. Later on I bumped into my Mom (I usually try to avoid her). She had some sad DVD's and videos off TV and had been watching them (I have been doing a lot of that in real life just recently). She was bored trying to fill her empty life up. I was reluctantly talking to her.

THE REALITY The dreamer had just lost his job and was feeling bored and lonely. He was a workaholic and disliked being on his own and with nothing to do. In real life he did not see his mother much and tried to avoid her (she was retired). He had been trying to keep himself occupied by watching TV and DVD's. His mother tended to spend a lot of time recording lots of dull TV and seemed to spend her life watching them. He even made fun of her for this - she was notorious for it. Most of his social contact was at work. He had enjoyed his job as it had a very homely atmosphere to it.

DREAM INTERPRETATION The dreamer was facing a lot of change. He had just lost his job and was finding it difficult to occupy himself. In particular he had lost a whole social network - most of the people he knew were at work. The dream features the homeless - the classic definition of homeless is someone without a home. This could clearly be seen as a metaphor for the dreamer as work had a very homely atmosphere to it.

The dreamer made a very clear association with the dream. The TV and DVD references reminded the dreamer of himself. To occupy his time he was watching a great deal of TV and watching DVD's. His mother often did the same thing - she watched lots of TV and recorded many programs. Significantly his mother was retired so this may have been a link to her symbolic meaning in the dream. After all he was unemployed and she was retired. They both had lots of time on their hands. She tended to watch lots of DVD's and was ridiculed by the dreamer for this. So the dream may hint at the dreamer not wanting to be like his mother - watching TV endlessly.

The dream involved him avoiding two things - his mother and the homeless man. Avoiding these hints at the dreams meaning. The dreamer wanted to avoid being like his mother (watching lots of sad TV) and also wanted to avoid this feeling of being homeless (in the sense of a homely home with friends and social contact).

Overall the dream captures these precise feelings - "I lost my job and now I cannot occupy myself. I lack friends - most of the people I met were at work. It was a good friendly atmosphere there. It was like a home. Now I cannot occupy myself - I am watching loads of boring TV and DVD's."