Dream: I dream of people who interact, demand, irritate and get in my way. I try to get rid of them, but it is not possible. They demand, but without saying what they demand. I shout at them, scream no, but they do not care. It is as if the struggle and resistance only make them stronger and stronger and more and more insistent. First they are where I go, then they are in the house, and they become more and more numerous. They look mean and want something, but without saying what, they are simply demanding. It is as if they are squeezing me out of my life and my everyday life.

 Dream vision: Lord Shiva hovers over me and says: “Demands are mandatory in their existence, they cannot be fulfilled, only multiply to more existences”. “Prioritize yourself and your breathing. No demands are from the Gods”.

 Demands take on and have their own insistent life and become more and more numerous. If you try to fight them, avoid them, they become more and more numerous and press you out of your life with insistence and drawing attention to your incompleteness. You cannot feed them, because they are only demanding your life and your place.

 Demands: You are caught by the need for demands. They are like irrepressible beggars. They are only fed by more demands. They get in the way of you and what you want. They press you into inferiority and incompleteness and dependency.

 The demands that we burden ourselves with creep in everywhere. We see them as our own demands, demands founded in childhood, demands from our partner, demands from others, demands from work, demands from society, demands from social groups, demands from friends, etc. The list is very long, but common to all demands is that it is something we feel we have to live up to, and if we don’t, self-judgment is harsh.

 What do you do yourself to avoid demanding from others, from yourself? When do you say no to demands, and when do you not dare?

 We have difficulty separating demands and needs and often weave them together with the right to and permission to exist.

Help from others will be both caring and sharing the help to say no to demands we feel we must live up to.