Common Dreams and What They Mean

Sometimes a recurring dream can really make you start to question what your subconscious is trying to tell you at a particular time in your life. Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, proposed that symbols in dreams belong to a collective unconscious shared by all humans. The other night I woke up and instantly remembered that in my dream I dropped an egg on the ground, and wondering what this could possibly mean, I turned to google. A broken egg symbolizes a fragile state in your life, which is actually pretty accurate and definitely had me thinking about the other more common dreams and what they could be secretly hinting at. If you’re wondering what your recurring dream symbolizes, look no further!

Teeth Falling Out:

This is a common one for me, and I can’t say I particularly enjoy feeling like I’m losing my teeth in the middle of the night. Losing teeth can indicate a sense of loss, such as the death of a family member or loved one. Losing teeth is typically the first experience one has of losing something from the body, so it can signify the aging process as well. Losing teeth is also a common pregnancy dream and can represent a feeling of losing control.

Being Chased:

Researchers discovered that among more than 1,000 college students, being chased was not only the most common dream theme among them, but it was also the one that most remember as their earliest dream. Being chased can be viewed as both positive and negative because it indicates fear, but it also suggests that it is time to confront that fear. According to Jung’s theories, the “monster” chasing you could be a part of yourself that you’re trying to deny.

Sex:

If you dream about having sex with someone, it could indicate the very obvious: you want to have sex with this person. It could also mean that you wish to gain specific qualities of that person. Sometimes we may find ourselves dreaming about having sex with someone that we wouldn’t have considered having sex with in real life, and this can represent the role of the “shadow,” the part of ourselves that we are unable to accept.

Water:

This is a very different kind of wet dream. Water symbolizes emotions and the flow of energy. Water can represent the feeling of drowning in emotions, but it can also indicate a feeling of cleansing one’s emotions. Dreaming about entering the water, in particular, can indicate entering into strong feelings, such as a new relationship. Dreams that involve water are common for women who are menstruating.

There you have it, hopefully, some of the most common dreams make a little bit more sense, if you believe that dreams have meaning at all.

References:

Crisp, Tony. Dream Dictionary: an A to Z Guide to Understanding Your Unconscious Mind. Dell Pub., 2002.