Protecting yourself in a dream is pointing out that the effect of some negative situation is causing you to protect yourself. This protection comes at a price, and the dream is asking you to deal with whatever caused you to be this way. For example, a dream where you are crouching down protecting your three year old son, says that you are protecting your inner child from an event that happened at age 3. Now is the time to look back at this and do whatever it takes to eliminate the negative effects that you still carry with you today.
