Ever have a dreams that was so bizarre that there must be a reason for it? ”Only a dreamer can understand the dream”, says Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard medical School and editor in chief of the journal Dreaming. There are no simple answers or one size fits all interpretations. Basically, your dreams are personal to you. “A thoughtful analysis of the images in them can lead to surprising insights and sometimes even life altering decisions”, says Gayle Delaney, Ph.D., the founding president of the international Association for Study of Dreams. Here’s some common dreams and the possible meanings:
You’re flying — When you feel exuberant and in command of your destiny, you fly far above the landscape. People almost universally report such flying dreams as enjoyable. On the other hand, if you fall into an abyss or drive a car off a cliff in your dreams you feel scared and out of control.
You’re being chased — Being stalked or chased by a malevolent person or animal is the single most common bad dream among both children and adults, Dr. Barrett says. “It’s about being afraid of others who have bad intentions.” But it can also reveal fears about a part of your personality you’re avoiding.
You missed the exam — You show up in the classroom for the test, but everyone’s leaving and you’re too late to take it. You never studied and are completely unprepared. Or you haven’t even been to class the whole semester. Such dreams are common among people who care about achievement and are most often about general anxiety or a feeling you didn’t live up to your potential in some way. Sometimes a specific event you missed an important family party, you blew a work project could be a trigger. Test anxiety dreams also have a flip side; You might be dreaming about receiving a great prize or some other form of recognition for mastering something.
You’re naked in public — Nude dreams may represent shame or worry about social acceptance. Maybe you’re anxious about a performance evaluation at work. Or perhaps you did something embarrassing. If you spill wine on someone’s white carpet or said something stupid you wish you could take back, you’re most likely to have a naked in public dream, says Dr. Barrett.
You’re waking — The dream of waking and getting up when in fact the dreamer is still fast asleep may signal reluctance to face unfamiliar challenges at times of change – such as marriage or a new job. Then again, perhaps this disconcerting dream-state of false wakefulness is the mind’s way of subverting the signs that we are about to wake up for real, thereby fulfilling what Freud himself described as the main purpose of all dreams – “prolonging sleep instead of waking up”.
You dream an object coming to life — Bizarre transformations of objects into living creatures, such as a table turning into a horse, or a bed into a herd of sheep, suggest that the dreamer feels able to release some hitherto untapped inner potential. If an object turns into a monster, this could be a warning from the unconscious not to antagonize others in the process of realizing your potential.
You dream a changing season or time of day — A sudden switch from winter to summer or from night to day may indicate a positive new development in the dreamer’s life. On the other hand, a change in the opposite direction summer turning to winter, or day to night, might point to the need to confront and deal with some potentially dangerous impulses.
You dream of unfamiliar surroundings — An alarmingly grotesque landscape suggests an unwillingness or inability to cope with the unfamiliar. However, friendly people beckoning into strange but intriguing buildings may point to the stimulation and satisfaction that a new opportunity, such as a change of job, may offer. A return to the comfort of a once-familiar environment, the classic experience of deja vu, is widely interpreted by Freudians and Jungians alike as a desire in troubled times to return to the womb.
You dream about a bridge — A bridge marks the frontier between the comfortable present and the unpredictable future. Crossing the bridge indicates our ability to move forward, our underlying strength to cope with life’s journey, especially in the face of difficult events such as divorce, a new job or moving home.
You dream you’re in a labyrinth or maze — Jung saw the dark, enclosed labyrinth as a symbol of the tortuous depths of the unconscious, and a dream of entering a labyrinth as representing a journey of self-discovery. A void at the heart of the labyrinth may suggest the emptiness of despair, but according to the circumstances could also symbolize the serene centre of our being. As in the Greek myth of Theseus, who penetrated the Labyrinth of Crete to slay the Minotaur, our personal descent into the unconscious may involve confronting impulses that threaten our well being. Similar to a labyrinth but open to the light, a maze can reflect the difficulty of finding a direction to follow in life. No one can predict the future, so we may have to rely on our instincts. A map or chart can reassure us that we are on the right path.
Being lost in dense vegetation — Lost among towering trees or tall reeds, we may feel our progress to be impeded by insurmountable obstacles. As in the tale of Hansel and Gretel that many of us will recall from childhood, this feeling might evoke a profound longing for the comfort of a mother.
Destruction and ruin — Images of destruction can relate to life changes that quite literally break with the past. A house standing in ruins may convey the broken family that will be left by an imminent divorce; fallen trees can symbolize a family uprooted by emigration, exile or just a move to a new locality.
A car losing control — Dreams of a vehicle careering out of control evoke worries about losing all sense of direction in life, especially if we are a passenger or bystander, powerless to influence events. Anxiously searching for the right road in a strange town could point to fears about losing our personal identity.
Wearing a mask — The wearing of a mask in a dream relates to the appearance we present not only to others but also to ourselves. We often cannot remove the mask or are forced by others to keep it on. This may be a warning that we risk losing all contact with our true self.
