I have been having recurring dreams where I am driving on a dark road and I don’t know where I am. Suddenly I jerk the wheel, always to the left, spin and then crash. I’ve been having it at least once a week for the last 2 months. –Jaime, 29, Virginia Beach, VA

Lauri: The road represents a path you have chosen to go down in waking life. Since it is dark, it is either connected to the fact that you are in a dark time in your life (have you been depressed?), or it is connected to being uncertain or “in the dark” about the direction your life is taking. You always jerk the wheel to the left. Going left is the wrong direction; had you turned right, that would indicate doing the right thing. The left also points to the past, that which you have left behind. Are you dwelling on the past? That may be why you continue to crash in the dream. Do you keep dwelling on a mistake or “accident” you believe you made? When you stop dwelling on the past and start looking forward, the dreams will stop.

Jaime replies: Wow! I think you hit the nail on the head. I am dwelling on the past a lot, because I am in an unspoken battle with my ex-husband. I have not received child support since June, and I am working with the local Division of Child Support Enforcement to collect. I am also angry at him because he has not seen our daughter since the beginning of August, which is causing me to think a lot about the time we were married and how excited he was when we found out I was pregnant—our daughter will be 5 next week. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t want to see his child, and it’s also making me think about attempting to file for full custody. I don’t know where all of this is taking me, and I don’t like not knowing.