
What does it mean to see an night in a dream?
Night Dream Meaning: From 28 Different Sources
Night
(1) Night is a common symbol of the unconscious; the ‘dark’ other side of your personality; the primitive or negative (‘evil’) aspects of yourself. See also Evil.
(2) A night journey, and especially a sea journey, may symbolize a ‘journey5 into the unconscious, or the process of individuation, or its second phase.
(3) If moonlight is in evidence, see Moon.
A Dictionary of Dream Symbols | Eric Ackroyd
Night
Example: Three of us were on our way to a lively night out and I suggested a short cut through Richmond Park’ (Jasmine C). In Jasmine’s dream the night depicts her feelings of relaxation, pleasure and sexual encounter. This aspect of night also suggests feeling the absence of the workaday world; time for reflection and being by oneself; intimacy with others; introspection.
Example: ‘It was a very dark night with thunder and lightning, heavy rain and high winds. I am in a waiting room at Heathrow airport’ (Mrs W). Night in this dream shows a period of difficult change in the dreamer’s life. It represents a period of darkness or depression, loneliness; difficulties; sometimes negative feelings about old age and death.
Example: ‘I was creeping through a field at night. In darkness I and others were trying to accomplish some secret act, rather as spies or underground agents might. I also remember another where I was near a house at night. There was some special reason for getting to the house. Again an “agent” son of feeling’ (Sam K). Sam is experiencing areas of his unconscious or unknown self, thus the secrecy, as he probably has hidden something from himself. This aspect of night suggests turning our attention inwards to an extent where we discover insights, memories or mysteries which were previously unknown to us. These can be painful areas of our experience, or very positive and life enhancing realisations. It depicts the times in life when feelings arise from within when we are alone, or in a receptive mood—or go in search of who we are.
Idioms: it’s about time; all in good lime; at one time; do time, for the time being; half the time, gain time, have no time for someone; lean times; time after time, time flies; behind the times; big time. See dark; light; sun.
A Guide to Dreams and Sleep Experiences | Tony Crisp
Night
Symbolic of danger or an enemy, Job 24:14, Ps. 55:10. Night can also symbolize worldly living, Jn. 8:12
Christian Dream Symbols | Tyler Wolfe
Night
1. Evil;
2. Absence of God;
3. Trial;
4. Time of partying and doing evil deeds; time when evil spirits may gain entrance; Gen. 1:2, 5; 1 Thess. 5:5; John 13:30.
Dream Dictionary The Biblical Model | Vincent Wienand
Night
A dream of a clear, starry night, with a full moon, is an omen of positive things to come.
A dark, cloudy night with no moon represents the dreamer’s fears. Look to other symbols in the dream to discern what the fears are.
If in the dream the night is hindering the dreamer, he should expect obstacles and delays in something dear to him. Astrological and Tarot parallel: The Moon.
Dream Explanations of Astro Center | Astro Center
Night
Night symbolizes the intense darkness that occurs before rebirth or initiation. There is a disintegration, which has to occur before there can be any possibility of enlightenment. Night can also signify death or drastic change.
Dream Meanings of Versatile | Versatile - Anonymous
Night
Psychological / emotional perspective: Physiologically, night is a time when the body is supposed to be renewing itself. Dreams at different times of the night may highlight emotions formerly associated with various organs.
Dream Meanings of Versatile | Versatile - Anonymous
Night
Material aspects: Night signifies a period of rest and relaxation, both in dreams and in ordinary life. It can, however, also suggest a time of chaos and difficulty. More positively, it is a period that allows us to create a new beginning with the dawning of the new day. Used constructively, night is, therefore, the fallow period before fresh growth. Also consult also the entries for dawn / day and night and time.
Dream Meanings of Versatile | Versatile - Anonymous
Night
Dreaming about the darkness of the night often indicates that situations are not clear or need to be put to rest before accurate decisions can be made.
If nighttime indicates pleasure to the dreamer, then recreation and entertainment may be in order.
Dream Symbols in The Dream Encyclopedia | James R. Lewis and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver
Night
Vision: Wandering around in the night: a warning about “invisible” dangers.
The night might also represent an uncertain future.
A starlit night means you’re on the right path. See Darkness.
Depth Psychology: Night is always a period of transition, with the promise that morning will always follow. It also symbolizes dangers lurking in our unconscious. See Evening, Morning, Noon.
Dreamers Dictionary | Garuda
Night
To dream of night shows that you will encounter obstacles in reaching your goals or some serious setbacks. This kind of prognostication must be tempered by all the aspects in the dream and other things used to offset the adverse effects such as: Clear and bright moonlight, stars and celestial bodies seen clearly, and , of course, the dreamers feelings. See also dark for more.
Encyclopedia of Dreams | Michael and Elizabeth Thiessen
Night
(Darkness; Heedlessness; Ignorance) In a dream, a moonless night represents lack of work, stagnation, or losing one’s job.
If one sees the whole world in the dark and the moon is still radiant in the skies in a dream, it means that the governor will temporarily relinquish his entire duties to his chief minister or secretary, and that thieves and robbers will cluster around them for business.
If one then sees the daylight in his dream, it means that such an adversity will pass.
If people are under siege in the dream and the daylight dawns after a long dark night in a dream, it means that their siege will be lifted.
If people are suffering from high prices and someone sees that dream, it means that prices will go back to normal.
If they are suffering from tyranny, it too will pass.
The night in a dream also means marital relations, while the day means separation between them. In a dream, the darkness of night also represents heedlessness and particularly if one witnesses thunder and lightning in his dream. Seeing a complete darkness inside one’s house in a dream means taking a long journey.
The night and the day in a dream represent two adverse rulers, or two competitors or adversaries.
The night in a dream also represents an atheist, while the day in a dream represents a believer.
The night in a dream also signifies comfort and rest, while the day means toiling and hardships. In a dream, the night also means sexual pleasures, while the day means divorce or separation.
The night in a dream signifies economic stagnation, while the day means business, travels and hypocrisy.
If the night in a dream is interpreted to represent the ocean, then the day means land.
The night in a dream also means death, while the day represents life and resurrection.
The night and the day together may represent the two guardian angels who record each person’s deeds and who are God’s witnesses.
If a sick person sees the dawn in a dream, it means that he will recover from his illness, or die from it. Ifhe is imprisoned, it means that he will be released.
If he is a sinner, it means that he will repent for his sins.
If he is a merchant and his business is not moving, it means that his merchandise will be finally sold.
The nightfall at the end of the day in a dream also could mean the opposite. Seeing the night in a dream also denotes constant changes in one’s life, poverty, hunger, starvation, or death.
The night and the day in a dream also represent wisdom and protocols, or indulging in something one will regret.
The nightfall in a dream also may denote changing times, or changing trends.
The night in a dream also could represent an African woman, while the day may represent a Caucasian woman, or a pregnant woman.
The night in a dream also represents the evening gown, while the day represents work.
The night in a dream also means veiling one’s difficulties and taking refuge in a safe place, except if the one seeing the dream is a traveller, then the night in his dream means injustice and ignorance.
The night in a dream also denotes devotion, holding a night vigil, attaining one’s goal, or meeting with one’s beloveds.
(Also see Darkness; Evening; Moon; Night ofpower)
Islamic Dream Interpretation | Ibn Seerin
Night
The unconscious and unknown—the other world. Often also that which is frightening. End-of-the- workday, Darkness, Evening, Moon.
Little Giant Encyclopedia | Klaus Vollmar
Night
To dream of night time, signifies obstacles to achieving your goals. You may find that some issues you are facing are still unclear. Take more time to think before making a decision. Also see “Darkness.”
My Dream Interpretation | myjellybean
Night
1. Doubts.
2. Feelings of ignorance, inferiority.
3. A feeling of misfortune, serious obstacles in the offing.
4. Feelings of family contentment (at home at night).
New American Dream Dictionary | Joan Seaman - Tom Philbin
Night
If you dream of nighttime, then your unconscious desires and the shadow aspects of your life are being allowed to express and reveal themselves. In terms of the stages of life, nighttime represents the end of life, wisdom and old age.
If this is a dark night of the soul, this is a time when the light/solutions/hope/God feels distant, and clarity is waning. This period is usually followed by an extreme breakthrough. See Breakdown/ Breakthrough and Dark.
Strangest Dream Explanations | Dream Explanations - Anonymous
Night
also see Time
1- Night signifies a period of rest and relaxation. It can, however, also suggest a time of chaos and difficulty.
It is a time for ‘ghosties, ghoulics and things that go bump in the night. More positively, it is a period which allows us to create a new beginning with the dawning of the new day. Used constructively, night is therefore the fallow period before fresh growth.
2- Physiologically night is a time when the body is supposed to be renewing itself. In Chinese medicine, certain hours of the night correspond with the renewal of certain organs in the body. Madness would eventually ensue if the body were not able to repair itself properly (see Sleep Deprivation in Introduction).
3- Night symbolises the darkness that occurs before rebirth or initiation. There is a disintegration which has to occur before there can be enlightenment. Night can also signify death or drastic change.
Ten Thousand Dream Dictionary | Pamela Ball
Night
If you are surrounded by night in your dreams, you may expect unusual oppression and hardships in business.
If the night seems to be vanishing, conditions which hitherto seemed unfavorable will now grow bright, and affairs will assume prosperous phases. See Darkness.
Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation | Gustavus Hindman Miller
Night
A nighttime setting is common to many dreams. However, extreme darkness suggests that you are hiding something or are unwilling to see things clearly. You may be the type who likes to ignore, minimize, or hide problems.
The darkness represents a lack of awareness and illumination.
If you honestly look at the content of your dream, you may be able to identify some areas of your life or personal experience that need warmth, light, and airing.
The Bedside Dream Dictionary | Silvana Amar
Night
According to the Greeks, the night was the mother of the gods because they believed that the darkness preceded the formation of all things. As a result, like water, the night also has a meaning of fertility, of seed. In our culture, tradition has linked night with the unconscious. Moreover, it is also often linked to the color black, death, ignorance, evil, and despair. To dream about it thus portends misleading, artificial, unclear, and sordid situations, especially as related to economic and sentimental matters. As with death, the night may say that something is coming to an end, or that some limitations will emerge that you should follow.
An old superstition says that you can avoid nightmares by hanging your
stockings or socks on the edge of the bed. According to gypsy tradition, unless the sky is starry, night dream announces despair.
The Big Dictionary of Dreams | Martha Clarke
Night
Obstacles and delays are the keynote of this dream, but the interpretation should be modified by the prevailing conditions.
The clearness of the night, any moonlight, stars or sign of dawn reduces the adverse aspect See also Darkness.
The Complete Guide to Interpreting Your Dreams | Stearn Robinson - Tom Corbett
Night
Mystery or uncertainty.
Stealth or sneakiness.
An action or activity of a questionable nature.
Rest, sleep, or peace.
Something happening at night can represent: something in your real life happening without others finding out; an action with stealthy motives; something you keep to yourself and do not tell others about.
See also: Time of Day; Darkness; Black; Evening; Twilight; Sunset; Moon; Star
The Curious Dreamer’s Dream Dictionary | Nancy Wagaman
Night
Not seeing things clearly; cut off from inner light of guidance. Moving into unknown parts of self.
The Dream Books Symbols | Betty Bethards
Night
To be suddenly overtaken by night, a sudden adversary.
To walk on a dark night denotes grief, disappointment, loss.
It is ominous to dream of night-birds, with the exception of the nightingale, which denotes joyful news to the dreamer, if a married woman, she will have children who will be great singers (Artemidorus). It is said that Jenny Lind’s mother dreamed of a nightingale.
The Fabric of Dream | Katherine Taylor Craig
Night
If it is very dark in many of your dreams, it suggests that you are hiding something or are not willing to see things clearly. You may the the type who likes to ignore, minimize or hide your problems.
To dream of night shows that you will encounter obstacles in reaching your goals or some serious setbacks. This can be offset by other aspects in the dream such as: Clear and bright moonlight, stars and celestial bodies seen clearly, and your feelings while in the dream.
Tryskelion Dream Interpretation | Pagan - Anonymous
Night
lucky numbers: 01-07-12-14-17-24
being in the dark: are under heavy influence of harmful personality.
home, at: unexpected hardships in immediate intimate life.
entering a dark place at: wil lose at gambling to one who has hurt you in the past.
friends on a dark, with: a fascinating event leads to a discovery about yourself.
children: great satisfaction that your ambitions are fulfil ed by your children.
enemies: your lack of clarity al ows others to control your thoughts.
of the nighttime: period of crises, secrets are being exposed.
starlit, a: your direction is determined; decisions must be far reaching and accurate.
Zolar’s Book of Dreams Numbers and Lucky Days |
40 dream interpretations related to the symbols you see in your dreams.
Many dreams lead us to feel an intensity of emotion we may seldom if ever feel in waking life.
If the emotions felt are frightening or disgusting we call the dream a nightmare. One of the common features of a nightmare is that we are desperately trying to get away from the situation; feel stuck in a terrible condition; or on waking feel enormous relief that it was just a dream. Because of the intensity of a nightmare we remember it long after other dreams; even if we seldom ever recall other dreams, even worry about what it means.
As so many dreams have been investigated in depth, using such varied approaches as hypnosis, exploration of associations and emotional content, and LSD psychotherapy, in which the person can explore usually unconscious memories, imagery and feelings, we can be certain we know what nightmares are. They arise from six main causes.
Unconscious memories of intense emotions, such as those arising in a child being left in a hospital without its mother. Example: see second example in dark.
Intense anxiety produced—but not fully released at the time—by external situations such as involvement in war scenes, sexual assault (this applies to males as well as females, as they are frequently assaulted). Example: ‘A THING is marauding around the rather bleak, dark house I am in with a small boy.
To avoid it I lock myself in a room with the boy.
The THING finds the room and tries to break the door down. I frantically try to hold it closed with my hands and one foot pressed against it, my back against a wall for leverage. It was a terrible struggle and I woke myself by screaming’ (Terry F). When Terry allowed the sense of fear to arise in him while awake, he felt as he did when a child—the boy in the dream—during the bombing of the Second World War. His sense of insecurity dating from that time had emerged when he left a secure job, and had arisen in the images of the nightmare. Understanding his fears, he was able to avoid their usual paralysing influence.
Childhood fears, such as loss of parent, being lost or abandoned, fear of attack by stranger or parent, anxiety about own internal drives.
Many nightmares in adults have a similar source, namely fear connected with internal drives such as aggression, sexuality and the process of growth and change, such as encounter with adolescence, loss of sexual characteristics, old age and death. Example: see third example in doors under house, buildings.
Serious illness. Example: ‘I dream night after night that a cat is gnawing at my throat’ (male from Landscapes of the Night).
The dreamer had developing cancer of the throat. These physical illness dreams are not as common as the other classes of nightmare.
Precognition of fateful events. Example: My husband, a pilot in the RAF, had recently lost a friend in an air crash. He woke one morning very troubled—he is usually a very positive person. He told me he had dreamt his friend was flying a black jet, and wanted my husband to fly with him.
Although a simple dream, my husband could not shake off the dark feelings. Shortly afterwards his own jet went down and he was killed in the crash’ (Anon.).
Understanding the causes of nightmares enables us to deal with them.
The things we run from in the nightmare need to be met while we are awake. We can do this by sitting and imagining ourselves back in the dream and facing or meeting what we were frightened of. Terry imagined himself opening the door he was fighting to keep closed. In doing this and remaining quiet he could feel the childhood feelings arising. Once he recognised them for what they were, the terror went out of them.
A young woman told me she had experienced a recurring nightmare of a piece of cloth touching her face. She would scream and scream and wake her family. One night her brother sat with her and made her meet those feelings depicted by the cloth. When she did so she realised it was her grandmother’s funeral shroud. She cried about the loss of her grandmother, felt her feelings about death, and was never troubled again by the nightmare.
The techniques given in dream processing will help in meeting such feelings. Even the simple act of imagining ourselves back in the nightmare and facing the frightening thing will begin the process of changing our relationship with our internal fears. ... nightmares dream meaning
There is amusement in store for you after a dream of wearing a nightcap to bed.... nightcap dream meaning
To dream you eat the fruits of thii deadly plant is a favourable dream, meaning new interests and surroundings.... nightshade dream meaning
To dream of wearing one denotes an honorable career; to dream of tearing it, hasty action (Gypsy). ... night-gown dream meaning
If a scene in a dream takes place at night, it signifies exploring what is hidden or shadowed in the subconscious. Nighttime may reflect your unconscious concerns versus your conscious concerns.... nighttime dream meaning
To dream of any sort of night birds, as the owlet, the great owlt bittern, and bat, is ominous; and Anselmus Julian us advises those who have such dreams to undertake Do business on the day following.... night birds dream meaning
(See Night)... moonless night dream meaning
(See Darkness; Evening; Night)... nightfall dream meaning
If a person sees the crescent of the first night of the lunar month, but in reality it is not the first day of the lunar month, one of the following interpretations could be given : (a) he will been entrusted with someduty pertaining to governing of the land or country, (9) a child will be born in his home,(c) a missing person will return, (d) some new event will occur.... the moon of the first night of the lunar month dream meaning
Magical hour. Greatest strength of the super-consciousness.... night (especially midnight) dream meaning
Messenger of joy, success, faithfulness.... nightingale (singing) dream meaning
Feeling overburdened, fear of the difficulties ahead. Descending into an abyss means paying attention to the unconscious, because that is where the reason for the present difficulties resides. Falling into an abyss is usually accompanied by feelings of depression, similar to those connected to Ashes, Murder, and Trap. Turning away from an abyss is often a sign of having turned a blind eye to the facts; it points to emotional grief.... as a nightmare dream meaning
For a woman to dream that she is dressed in nothing but her negligee means that she has a secret that she is fearful of having discovered.... negligee / nightgown dream meaning
To dream that you arc suddenly overtaken by Night, or by an unexplained Darkness is a bad sign; misfortune will be your lot. But if you persevere, in your dream, and once more see the light of day, then you will recover your losses.... night or darkness dream meaning
To dream of walking in the Night signifies trouble.... night-walks dream meaning
whoever sees that he has left from the darkness into the light, and is from the people of righteousness then he will leave from neediness [and go] into wealth / sufficiency. As for the light which is the day then it is interpreted by: right guidance. And the beginning of the day, is interpreted by: the beginning of the matter which he asks for. Its middle and last parts are compared against that.... night and day dream meaning
Pyjamas or any type of nightclothes suggest relaxation and hence openness.... pyjamas / nightclothes dream meaning
If you dream about a night light, you have understanding and insight about a situation that was once confusing to you. You have the answers within you.... night light dream meaning
A social gathering to enjoy the spirit of competition in a fun atmosphere is at the heart of game night. As a symbol, it represents the need to express the fundamental drive to compete and win but to do so in a way that is harmless and playful. Game night in a dream may be pointing to a buildup of stressors and drives that need release in a constructive manner.... game night dream meaning
In ancient times, nightmares were thought to be caused by evil spirits. The word, in fact, derives from a Scandinavian legend in which a ‘nacht-mara’—the ‘mara’ being a female demon—came and sat on the sleeper’s chest at night, leaving him with a heavy, suffocating sensation of being awake but paralyzed. Nightmares have been known to inspire great artists: John Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting ‘The Nightmare’ caused a sensation with its depiction of an incubus crouching on the body of a sleeping woman. John Newton—a slave trader and the composer of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’—became an abolitionist after a nightmare in which he saw ‘all of Europe consumed in a great raging fire’ whilst he was the captain of a slave ship. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was inspired, in part, by a nightmare. Elias Howe, who invented the sewing machine, came up with the breakthrough concept of a needle with a hole at the pointed end after he had a nightmare in which jungle warriors brandished spears that had holes in their blades.
As we have seen, both Freud and Jung had theories regarding nightmares: Freud tried to explain them as the expression of unfulfilled wishes, whilst Jung described them as part of humankind’s ‘collective unconscious’ and argued that the helplessness we feel in nightmares is a memory of the fears experienced by primitive peoples. Today, in medical textbooks, nightmares are most commonly defined as a disturbing dream that results in at least a partial awakening.
Nightmares, in common with most dreams, occur during REM stages of sleep and they generally cause the dreamer to wake up.
If you don’t wake up, the dream is not technically a nightmare and could be described as a bad dream. Nightmares are often characterized by the following symptoms: a sense of fear and dread that lingers for hours or days after the dream upon awakening; the ability to recall all or part of a dream scene; in most cases the dreamer is threatened or actually harmed in some way; a recognition of powerful images in the dream or the repetition of the dream itself for months or even years after; and a physical paralysis or lack of muscle tone called atonia which signifies REM sleep.
Drugs, alcohol, lack of sleep and spicy food can alter the quality and quantity of REM sleep and perhaps trigger nightmares but there is no hard evidence to support this. Whilst these things can increase the risk of nightmares, the mundane struggles in daily life are generally thought to be the cause of most nightmares. Sleep researchers have discovered that long-standing nightmare sufferers tend to be emotional, creative, sensitive but prone to depression.
Modern sleep researchers have identified the following causes for nightmares:
• Unconscious memory of intense emotions such as that of a child being abandoned by its mother. Many people have had the experience of feeling trapped in a difficult situation—a terrible marriage or another situation they want to get out of—and nightmares can hark back to that situation, mirroring the intense feelings of being trapped associated with it.
• Intense experiences produced by external situations, such as involvement in war or being a victim of assault. Trauma, surgery, a death in the family, crime and accidents can also cause them to proliferate.
• Many nightmares in adults arise from fears connected with repressed internal drives or from fears concerning the process of growth and change.
• Threats to self-esteem. People may be faced by or fear the loss of something important to them, such as the failure of a relationship or the loss of a child, being seen to fail at work or not being able to cope with life in other ways. Nightmares may arise out of feelings of inferiority or loss of self-confidence.
Some sleep researchers consider the occasional nightmare to be a natural response to stress; the dream is seen to be the body’s way of practicing its ‘fight or flee’ response, providing us with a way to work through aggressive feelings in a safe way, given that the body’s muscles are essentially paralyzed during REM sleep.... the history and science of nightmares dream meaning
Even Nightmares Have a Helpful Purpose. A nightmare is easy to recognize: You wake up feeling anything from mild fright to a complete terror that can leave you screaming. Yet even dreams that scare you come to help. The topic of a dream may well bring up a serious and intense message. However, the message comes from a friendly source—your own psyche—whose purpose is to help and support you. No matter how serious or scary the subject of the dream, the communication from your psyche is an attempt to help you resolve the matter or get through a challenging situation.
WHY A DREAM TURNS INTO A NIGHTMARE. Most nightmares are simply mirrors of your internal fears and anxieties. Paradoxically, as the following reasons explain, it is those very fears and anxieties that “flip” a dream that is otherwise benign into a nightmare.
Think of a dream as a carriage transporting a needed insight about an important problem; the carriage is merely a vehicle for the helpful message. However, the topic of the dream terrifies you. The topic could be about a failing relationship or a career that is falling apart. Because of your terror, as you watch the carriage approach, the shadows of your fears make the carriage look scary. You do not notice the carriage is driven by your psyche, who approaches as a friend and just wants to help.
One way of coping with an anxiety or fear is to distance yourself from it—to push it away. This is a normal reaction. Yet the very act of distancing yourself from a scary topic that a dream may address is what “transforms” a normal dream image into a scary one. It is like a tasty dish that curdles, and your fear curdles the dream dish.
THERE ARE ONLY FRIGHTENED DREAMERS. Though it is natural to run from what scares you, the very act of doing so is what often creates a nightmare. That is why one way of looking at most nightmares is to say, “There are no scary dreams—only frightened dreamers.” If we could put aside all of our fears, there would be few nightmares or frightening dreams.
WHAT CAUSES NIGHTMARES. Mild to severe stress tends to be the main underlying cause of most frightening dreams.
• Daily Stress. Daily stress that ramps up your feelings is the most common reason behind a nightmare.
• Out-of-Control Fear and Anxiety. Like a wheel spinning out of control, negative emotions can unbalance your perceptions and lead to nightmares.
• Emotional Dissonance. The daily push-pull between competing feelings or choices is called “emotional dissonance.” If making a choice feels so unpalatable and impossible that no choice seems right, the pressure can drive you to the edge. This form of extreme anxiety, related to difficult or impossible choices, often invites nightmares.
• Physical or Mental Imbalance. Conditions like fever or depression can produce bad dreams. When the condition passes, the nightmares may disappear.
• Traumatic Events. Repeated bad dreams can happen after a painful event that leaves you feeling vulnerable, such as losing a loved one or the loss of a home after a natural disaster. As the psyche tries to digest the pain, the mind may replay the event as a nightmare. Such dreams are the psyche’s attempt to digest the painful feelings while you sleep. As a person heals and increases their coping skills, the bad dreams lessen and eventually disappear.
• The Nightmares of Those with an Artistic or Sensitive Temperament. Highly sensitive and creative individuals tune in more deeply to the world’s pain and suffering, and as a result, they often report nightmares. A man at a seminar shared his constant nightmares about war scenes and mangled bodies, even though he lived a normal life and worked as a bus driver. Digging deeper, he began to see that he was tuning in to the daily pain that he saw on the faces of his passengers. Witnessing their distress gave his sensitive heart emotional indigestion, which he experienced as frequent nightmares.
• Traumatic Stress. Those with a medical condition called post-traumatic stress disorder, such as combat veterans or rape victims, can have nightmares that are different in content and structure to regular nightmares. Experiencing extreme forms of trauma can produce nightmares that are more severe and that disrupt sleep cycles, which regular nightmares do not. While researching the nightmares of combat veterans, I created presleep stories as a sleep aid that attempts to restore the normal sleep cycles of combat veterans; details are available at InterpretADream.com.
NIGHTMARES: THREE TYPES
Like other dreams, nightmares can be distinguished by their origin and purpose. The most common nightmares engage your struggle to grow in character and personality. A few bad dreams deal with specific life fears, and fewer still predict actual tragic events.
1: The Most Common Type of Nightmare
A NIGHTMARE THAT UNVEILS A NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAIT. Facing an unpleasant truth about yourself is never easy. Everyone glosses over shortcomings like anger, acting stupid, or failing at something, and no one wants to face a weakness. As a result, when a dream holds up a mirror about a trait that does not jive with your “I am great” image, your normal reaction is to say, “That can’t be me.” In colloquial terms, such nightmares expose your blind spots, which is an unpleasant experience for everyone.
For example, a man had a nightmare about a raging bull charging through his grocery store and wondered if the dream was a warning that vandals would soon raid his premises. Since most dreams are about you—the dreamer, he came to see that the bull was a metaphor for his short temper when dealing with employees. Seeing himself as an out-of-control bull was not easy, but the image produced the desired effect. The man softened his attitude and as a result, the atmosphere at the grocery store became more relaxed and as a bonus, his sales improved.
When a nightmare acts as a mirror of a not-so-great trait, it invites you to grow into a better version of yourself. After an initial “ouch,” you realize that the dream is an ally, helping you correct what could cause problems down the road.
2: A Scary Dream That You Meet Less Often
FRIGHTENING DREAMS THAT PORTRAY ACTUAL, SPECIFIC FEARS. One of the functions of dreaming is to process your emotions. When a fear gets out of hand, a nightmare that relates to that fear is the equivalent of a pressure cooker’s safety valve that allows the hot steam to escape. In this case, the experience of having the nightmare, in and of itself, becomes an outlet for your exploding feelings.
Acting like an emotional digestion system, fear-processing nightmares let you experience a fear as an external picture that your mind can examine and label. A “see it, name it, and label it” nightmare helps you digest your fear, and as a result, whatever tied you up in knots begins to unravel. Such nightmares handle actual fears, one piece at a time, until they disappear. You may encounter a sequence of nightmares during a time of enormous challenge such as a divorce or the sudden loss of a loved one. Then one day, a morning arrives when you feel a sense of peace. You do not know why you feel better, but you know you have turned a corner. Your dream digestion system—that you experienced as nightmares—has done its work.
Nightmares that deal with true fears come with a bonus. A bad dream that relates to a painful issue can include an insight about how to handle what frightens you. A woman kept dreaming of a terrified young girl who walks to the edge of a murky black pond in the middle of the night. As she is about to fall into the deep black water, she sees a light in the distance and becomes aware that the light can lead her to safety. Upon discussion, those images brought back memories of the dreamer’s terror of being raped as a young girl. The light in the distance made her realize that she could resolve the unexpressed pain that had been festering for years. Thanks to the dream’s metaphor of a distant light as a place of safety, the dreamer became aware that she needed a counselor who could help her confront the emotional leftovers of her childhood trauma.
3: Actual Warnings—A Rare Type of Frightening Dream
FRIGHTENING DREAMS AS TRUE WARNINGS. Most scary dreams are stress-related, a few may tussle with your actual fears, while a miniscule percent can be actual warnings about something dire. Nightmares can warn you about the possibility of a real tragedy that may involve death, serious illness, or a natural disaster—whether in your life, someone around you, or in your community. Or sometimes they are warnings about less serious matters.
LESS URGENT, YET TRUE WARNING DREAMS. Before examining frightening dreams that are dire warnings, let’s take a look at dreams that address issues which are not life threatening, yet still urgent. For example, a dream may give you a heads up about how your words hurtfully impacted another’s feelings that you missed, and as a painful issue, it becomes cloaked in scary images. Or, a dream may point out what will happen if you keep eating three desserts a day; seeing what you look like in a dream, with an extra fifty pounds on you, can be pretty scary. Or, a frightening dream may point out a topic such as an unpleasant relationship, that you have put on hold, which now needs attention. Because these less urgent issues deal with topics that make you anxious, the warning dream can still be experienced as a nightmare. Such not-so-dire warning dreams touch upon intense topics that are not life threatening, but can still intensely shake you up.
DREAM EXAMPLE: A FRIGHTENING DREAM ABOUT A NORMAL ISSUE—MY DAUGHTER IS IN A CAR CRASH. A mother dreamed that her daughter was in a car crash, and from a distance, she watched as her child was taken to the hospital. Afterward, a doctor announced that her daughter was okay. The dream felt so intense that the mother woke up terrified, fearing for her daughter’s safety. The mother brought up her dream at a conference. A conversation brought out how, at the time of the dream, her only daughter announced that she was about to relocate because her new husband had been transferred to a job a thousand miles away. Since mom and daughter had never lived more than a few streets apart, the mother experienced a nightmare that registered her shock and distress at the news. Nothing terrible had happened. The nightmare simply registered the mother’s reaction to the sudden, unexpected news of being separated from her daughter.
A TRUE WARNING NIGHTMARE ABOUT A POTENTIAL TRAGEDY. Though extremely rare, a nightmare can be a warning about an actual tragedy as a type of ESP dream, as in the following example.
DREAM EXAMPLE: A NIGHTMARE AS A TRUE WARNING—MY DAUGHTER IS IN A CAR CRASH. Another mother had several dreams that showed her only teenage daughter getting into a car with friends, then seeing the car in a deadly crash. Each time she had the dream, she debated whether to talk to her daughter about safe driving with her teenage friends but decided against it. Sadly, the repetitive dreams turned out to be an actual warning and she lost her only daughter. Meeting this woman at a seminar, I marveled at the grace with which the mother had resolved to learn about dreams, and to use future warnings for herself and loved ones. That took great courage.
Only the divine hand can know whether a tragedy foreshadowed in a dream can be averted. However, no matter how a predicted event turns out, such actual warning nightmares serve a constructive purpose. On the one hand, they give a dreamer time to build up their strength and cushion the shock of the actual event, if it comes about. On the other hand, according to stories exchanged in dream circles, such warning dreams can, at times, avert the real danger.
True dream warnings about dire events are extremely rare. They have noticeable features like repetition, intense emotions and literal details.
For more examples of nightmares and frightening dreams of every kind, have a look at the e-library of dreams at InterpretADream.com which is searchable by keyword.... nightmares and scary dreams: frightening dreams are your friend dream meaning
Generally, nightmares come from a range of emotions, including anxiety, guilt, confusion and stress. If you are going through a tough time in your life, then you’re more susceptible to this type of dream. Depression is another cause, but while stress is a major factor, other things can trigger these types of emotionally charged dreams. Eating late at night, consuming too much caffeine and even certain medications all produce nightmares. If you continue to be plagued by the same dream and it’s affecting how you feel in your waking life, then try and change the narrative. You can do this by bringing the dream scenario to mind, but instead of letting it play out in a negative way, change the ending so that it becomes positive – in other words, the monster turns out to be friendly and only wants to play. Repeat the positive version of the narrative every day, running through it in your mind and over time the original nightmare will dissipate.... nightmares in general dream meaning
If your dream finds you having a brief fling with a complete stranger, then this suggests you’re tempted to throw caution to the wind. This could be a good thing, if you’re the type of person that always sticks to the rules and needs to be more spontaneous, however, there’s an element of danger here. Deep down, you know there’s a risk involved. You need to weigh up whether it’s worth it or not.... one-night stand dream meaning