Common dreams

“Let’s go back to basics today,” suggested the producer of a television show I’m on from time to time, “and give people some tips about those dreams we all share: teeth falling out, being naked in a public place, falling, being pregnant, being chased.”

I thought I’d follow the same cue for today’s blog. Much as I enjoy getting into the nitty-gritty of more complex dreams in my day-to-day work as a dream analyst and dream therapist, it’s the common dream themes so many of us share that people want to know about when they first become interested in dreams.

In my book, The Dream Handbook, (published by Hachette in Australia and by Little Brown in the UK), I introduce over 40 common dream themes, and give questions and tools you can follow to discover the meaning of your unique variation of the dream and how it relates to your life. I also suggest dream alchemy practices (exercises) you can do for each type of common dream to help you resolve issues and move forward.

Why do we often share the same dream themes as millions of other people, now and throughout time?

Well, because we’re all human we tend to share similar challenging life experiences such as loss, grief, fear, self-doubt, betrayal, and emotional overwhelm, and these grand themes are frequently processed by our dreaming brains and dreaming minds in similar ways. So you and I and a million other people across time might dream about an oncoming tsunami when we are feeling overwhelmed, but the details of our individual dreams will differ. It’s those details, once interpreted, that throw light on the specific meaning of each individual’s dream within the grand theme of the matter.

Here’s a quick take on five common dream themes, followed by a video clip from the television show I mentioned.

Dream of teeth falling out

There are so many variations of ‘teeth falling out’ dreams, but in general people often have these kinds of dreams when they’re worried about communication. Maybe you feel you’ve said too much, and you can’t take those words back (just as you can’t take the teeth back in the dream), or maybe you FEAR saying the wrong thing, worrying that it will come out all wrong (like broken teeth in the dream). Maybe you’re worried about your image, not only how you look but, more importantly, how you come across, and the dream might picture this as you being worried about flashing your smile because you’ll reveal your not-so-solid confidence (like your not-so-solid teeth in the dream).

Dream of being naked in a public place

Again the details of each person’s unique dream points to the correct interpretation, but in general being naked in a dream may reflect your feelings or fears about people seeing the ‘real you’ in waking life: not your body, but your personality, your thoughts, your mind, your agenda. Deprived of hiding behind an image (like the clothes you have chosen), you risk baring your soul, or your true self. If you feel good about your nakedness in the dream, that’s great! Perhaps we should all feel comfortable with being our authentic self. If you don’t feel so good about your nakedness in the dream (the more usual scenario), the other details in your dream will help you to understand why you feel this way, and what you might want to do to change this.

Dream of being chased

If you’re being chased in the dream, presumably you’re running away, trying to escape. What are you running away from in waking life? Is it a fear, a worry, a deadline, something about yourself or your life that you don’t want to face but no matter how much you try to avoid it it’s always just there, on your tail? The other details in your dream can help you to discover what you’re running from, and why you’re not turning around to face it and deal with it. If you have this type of dream, you might like to do this dream alchemy: when you wake up, re-imagine the dream only this time turn around and face what is chasing you, transforming it from something negative or bad into something positive or good. Even imagine yourself hugging that chasing thing. This helps program your unconscious mind to face your concerns and find the positives. It can be very healing too, as that thing that is chasing you represents something in your life or within yourself that really needs your attention and acknowledgement.

Dream of being pregnant

Think symbolically. Often this kind of dream (which can happen for men as well as for women) reflects something you’re creating, gestating, and getting ready to launch into the world – like the pending birth in the dream. What are you thinking about birthing into the world? Your feelings about the dream pregnancy, along with the other details in your unique dream, help you to understand and explore any issues, worries, or limiting beliefs you have around this new step. It can be as simple as a growing desire to be different in the world, to change your attitude or approach to life, something you feel you’re preparing to do, or it can be more obvious, like a book or project or business idea you’re getting ready to launch.

Dream of falling, and why do we wake up before we hit the ground?

We don’t always wake up before we hit the ground, though we usually do. What wakes us up is usually the fear: when you feel fear in a dream, your brain and glands produce fear hormones which enter your bloodstream and produce real physiological fear in your body: racing heartbeat, maybe feeling frozen to the spot, goose bumps across your skin. If you manage to stay asleep and dreaming through the fall, typically you’ll either find you can fly (and miss hitting the ground), or you’ll bounce when you hit the ground and go on to do something else, or you’ll die and then step out of your dead body and continue with the dream as a new self (as if leaving the old self or an old way of being behind). Every falling dream has its own unique meaning depending on the details of the dream, but in general it can be about letting go (what are you clinging onto in life?), or fear of falling behind, or a feeling of not succeeding in your climb to some imagined goal. It can be about letting go of control, but it can also be about feeling unstable in some area of your life, mentally, emotionally, or physically.

Here’s the video clip of me talking about common dreams on one of Australia’s national morning shows, Today Extra:

 

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