Ian Wallace Interpretation:
Dream: You have suffered some sort of terrible injury to your body but are viewing this situation with a strange air of detachment. The injury may be a dismemberment where some part of your body has burst open and your insides are spilling out. You may have lost a major part of your body, such as a leg or an arm, or your head may have been cut off. Even though you are horrifically injured in this gory situation, you try to carry on as if nothing had happened and are working out how you can continue to function with this debilitating injury.
Meaning: When you dream of suffering a major bodily injury, you feel that your usual ability to take action is somehow being impaired in your waking life. You use the different parts of your body image to represent different aspects of your purpose and potential. When these parts of your body are mutilated or missing in your dream, you are concerned that your ability to function in that area of your life is somehow being debilitated and compromised. If you have been dismembered and your insides seem to be spilling out, then you sense that you may be opening up too much to other people and are forgetting to look after your personal boundaries and needs. Losing other body parts can show where you feel frustrated from reaching your potential. Your legs carry you forward through life and give you power to progress. Your feet are where you stand and what you value. Your arms are the ability to take action and assert yourself. Your hands are how you shape and control your future. Your head is how you think and contains your sense of logic and rationality. Your heart is how you feel and connect to other people close to you. Even though you have lost a seemingly vital part of yourself, you just work around it and try and carry on with what you are doing. Rather than ask for help, you may continue to conceal your frustrations.
Action: This dream is reconnecting you with your ability to take vital action. Although you may initially feel at a bit of a loss, you are making the most of the remaining resources you have. These surviving parts of your potential may take some time to develop again and the best way to reconnect with them is to start connecting with other people. Even though you would like to try and resolve this situation on your own, there are others who will be more than happy to lend you a hand until you find your feet again.
Background: Much of our language about taking action, or being frustrated from taking action, is based on body parts. We tend to view our bodies as machines made from discrete components rather than as organic wholes, and so we speak of our ‘heart not being in it’, ‘not having the stomach for a fight’, ‘head ruling the heart’ and ‘not having a leg to stand on’. Although the vast majority of us will be fortunate enough not to sustain any bodily injuries during our lives, we often encounter graphically gory scenes in films, on television and in computer games.