Dream strangers

Why do we sometimes dream of people we don’t know, complete strangers?

While many of your dreams probably feature people you know, or have known, or people you know about (celebrities) or fictional people you feel you know (characters from movies and books), your more dramatic or vivid dreams may often feature strangers. Those strangers may have uniquely detailed faces, leaving you in awe of your dreaming mind’s creativity, or wondering whether these are people you’ve fleetingly noticed in life, or people you’re yet to meet.

So who are these strangers, and why are they in your dreams?

Begin by noticing the role the stranger plays in your dream. He or she might be a driver, a guard, a thief, a liar, a lover, a passer-by, for example.

Then give each stranger a voice, summarising their role and their feelings about you in your dream.

Their feelings about you may be obvious in the dream, but if not, close your eyes and imagine what they might say. Here are some examples:

 

Driver’s role: I take you where you want to go.

Driver’s feelings about you: You work me too hard.

Ask yourself: Are you driven to work too hard? Is there a part of yourself that drives on relentlessly?

 

Driver’s role: I drive you against your will.

Driver’s feelings about you: Why don’t you stand up for yourself?

Ask yourself: Do you find it hard to stand up for yourself? Is there a part of yourself that drives you to do the will of others?

 

Guard’s role: I protect you from harm.

Guard’s feelings about you: You need protection.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that believes you need to be protected from harm? Is it true, or are you overly protective?

 

Guard’s role: I stop you from going where you want to go.

Guard’s feelings about you: Who do you think you are?

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that stops you from going where you want to go because you doubt your abilities or suffer low self-esteem?

 

Thief’s role: I steal things of value from you.

Thief’s feelings about you: You don’t protect the things you value.

Ask yourself: Do you deprive yourself of things you value: time, attention, energy, relationship?

 

Thief’s role: I rob you of your belongings.

Thief’s feelings about you: I don’t care about you at all.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that cares so little about you that it robs you of a sense of belonging?

 

Liar’s role: I cover up the truth.

Liar’s feelings about you: You would hate me if you knew the truth.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that protects you from discovering a truth?

 

Liar’s role: I manipulate the truth.

Liar’s feelings about you: You don’t like to be judged.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that lies to you, that guards you from the truth, that preserves how you like to be seen?

 

Lover’s role: I charm and seduce you.

Lover’s feelings about you: You need what I have to offer.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that knows how to seduce you into fulfilling your needs?

 

Lover’s role: I am devoted to you.

Lover’s feelings about you: I want to be with you forever.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that is devoted to being with you forever, perhaps lost or forgotten qualities that you can now integrate into your life in a positive way?

 

Passer-by’s role: I pass you by.

Passer-by’s feelings about you: I can’t help you.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of you that dismisses your needs?

 

Passer-by’s role: I am insignificant.

Passer-by’s feelings about you: You wouldn’t be interested in me.

Ask yourself: Is there a part of yourself that drastically undervalues what it can contribute to your life?

 

These are simply examples. The drivers, guards, thieves, liars, lovers, passers-by, and other strangers in your dreams represent your own unique unconscious voices.

Dream strangers often feature in our more dramatic and vivid dreams when we’re processing highly emotive issues, or touching on deep unconscious conflicts, as the examples show.

While many of our dream strangers’ faces are indistinguishable – with the dream focussing more on the character’s role and energy – some are quite detailed. They may be snapshots of faces you have unwittingly accumulated in your memory, faces that are called into play to suit the role, while others, if you look at them closely, may remind you of people you know, or be combinations of people you know. These form extra clues about the what these dream strangers represent.

In my online course, How to interpret your dreams step-by-step, you learn further techniques for elucidating the meaning of strangers in your dreams, as well as tools and techniques to interpret the meaning of people known to you who appear in your dreams.

The full meaning of any dream takes the whole dream story into account, but the exercises I have given you here can quickly shed surprising light on your inner world. Stay playful for best results!

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