The other night I dreamt that a friend and I were talking and all of a sudden I ran away from her because my face was bleeding and wouldn’t stop. This is the first time I’ve had this dream. I remember waking up and then quickly falling back to sleep. –Dana, 34, Naperville, IL

Lauri: Oh wow! I’m surprised you were able to fall back asleep after that one! Your face, in a dream, usually refers to something in your waking life that you need to face. At the time of this dream, was there anything you were afraid to face and deal with? Or was something going on that was causing you to feel that you needed to “save face”? Were you losing someone’s respect? Were you perhaps overly concerned about how you may appear to others? All the bleeding is a warning your inner mind was sending you that you were wasting a lot of time or energy on this issue. There was a lot more of you going out than you were getting back in return.

Dana replies: Wow. You’re really good! My dad recently passed away, and this will be the first holiday season I’ll have to “face” without him. The whole needing to save face thing might have to do with always feeling I need to “show the perfect face” to my sister. She is always putting me down and telling me I don’t know what I’m doing in life. I often feel that no matter what I do it isn’t good enough in her eyes. Thanks so much!