What does your recurring dream actually mean?

Do you keep having the same dream over and over again?

Maybe you’re constantly waking up after having dreamt you were naked and exposed in a public place. Or free falling to your death from an aeroplane. Well, don’t panic because the good news is, you’re not alone. The less than comfortable news is however, that recurring dream says a lot about your life while awake.

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A recurring dream can reveal some very valuable information. Often it points to a conflict; a situation or a matter in your life that remains unresolved or unsettled. In fact, a dream that repeats itself with any kind of consistency, indicates an underlying message in your unconscious that is demanding to be understood.

What is comforting to know though, is that if you are having the same dream with any level of regularity, odds are, other people are too. There are common themes that almost everybody dreams in. In no particular order, the following are ten of the most common recurring dreams (and importantly what they mean):

1. Falling

Falling in your dream is your minds way of alerting you to a situation in your waking life where you feel out of control. You should examine your relationships, finances, and career and decipher which one is going in the wrong direction.

2. Being chased

This indicates that you are avoiding something in your waking life. Are you trying to avoid a confrontation at work? With a partner or friend? Perhaps you are trying to get out of responsibility or obligation? You are best to stop running and face the situation if you want to stop having these dreams.

3. Teeth falling out

When you dream that your teeth are falling out, it represents survival challenges and instincts. As we need good teeth to eat and attract mates and therefore reproduce, dreams about teeth indicate a concern about appearance. It also may mean you are lacking in confidence. You need to examine your life and pinpoint the situation that is eroding your self confidence. Then do your best to leave that situation.

4. Getting lost

When you get lost in a dream or are searching for something, this denotes anxiety. Perhaps it could centre around a new challenge you feel ill prepared for. If you are dreaming that another person is lost, this could mean that you have unresolved feelings for that person.

5. Water

If your dream revolves around water, it could represent purification, change, renewal and new life although the context is important. Offering water to others means you are offering new life or positive change. Being caught in a major wet weather event however, indicates that you are feeling overwhelmed by a life change.

6. Spiders

When you dream about spiders, you have an underlying problem with manipulation. You are either being manipulated or you are manipulating someone. Spiders weave webs and trap others. This is where the significance of being trapped or trapping someone else, comes in.

7. Being naked

Dreaming about being naked can either represent an inflated sense of self or, vulnerability. Perhaps you are pretending to be more than you are? This dream diminishes the lies you may be leading. In primitive terms, being naked in public puts you at a disadvantage – you have nowhere to hide a weapon for example. You need to examine your ego or, in some cases, your lack thereof.

8. Getting pregnant

Dreaming that you are pregnant indicates that you need to tap into your creative side. You have an unacknowledged desire to come up with a new idea, create a piece of art or embark on a new creative project. Men who dream about being pregnant are just fucking weird may be craving the power that women are able to wield by becoming a mother.

9. Death

When you dream of death it doesn’t mean you are going to die. It actually symbolises the end of something. It can mean you are looking for a new start or are going through a spiritual transition. When you dream about the death of a loved one, this indicates that you lack a certain quality that this person embodies.

10. Being late

When you are late in your dreams, this can suggest that you feel like you’re losing the opportunity to experience some sort of fulfilment in your waking life. It may also indicate an inability to make a connection, a regret about a missed opportunity or a need to get your life in order. Focus on engaging in things you care about and stop overbooking yourself.

So what about you? Is there a particular dream you continue to have? Do you dream at all? Like me, do you have unfortunate dreams about plane crashes the day before someone very dear to you is about to fly? Most importantly, are you, like me, having peculiar dreams about being caught standing naked in front of '80s pop stars that you've never admitted to before in public?