Our Most Common Dreams
Our Most Common Dreams
Our Most Common Dreams
Dreaming is the only time we’re disconnected from living – from our
busy waking life and from NOISE! Your subconscious can only speak to
you while you’re quiet or asleep so use this blissful ‘out’ time to gain
perspective on what’s really going on in your life.
The fascinating thing about dreams is that we all have them – even
animals! Yes, your pets dream too. Remembering dreams is another thing
altogether. What’s even more interesting is that there have been
international studies on dreams and amazingly there are at least 20
dreams we all share around the world.
1. Being chased/attacked/paralyzed
2. Being hurt/injured/ill/suffocating
3. Driving or riding in a car – mostly out of control
4. Property loss – money keys, wallet, valuables, children
5. Exam – poor performance, being late, being unprepared
6. Falling/Drowning
7. Flying/swimming
8. Being naked in public/having no privacy with toilet
9. Missing bus/train/plane/boat
10.Machine or phone malfunction
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©Rose Inserra
It’s no surprise then that the top dreams we all share are highly emotional
and mostly negative.
See how many of these dreams you’ve experienced. You may have not
dreamt them often, but in our lifetime, you will have dreamt these at least
once. For many people, these dreams keep coming back as a reminder of
things not dealt with or as a reflection of something happening in their
life at that moment. For example, if you only dream of being chased
when you are under stress, then every time you are under stress, there will
be the dream.
Once you gain insight into what’s going on in your emotional world, you
are empowered to do something about it. Your subconscious has revealed
all that you need to know at this point in order to gather information
about your life matters. How you then deal with your life situation is up
to you – your conscious, rational ‘you’.
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©Rose Inserra
General meaning:
Being chased and or attacked as a result of the chase is our most common
dream world wide. It is an anxiety dream reflecting insecurities or fears
we experience in our waking life. It is also a very ancient dream going
back to people’s earliest encounter with being chased by wild animals –
so it’s a familiar emotional response to the ‘flight or fight’ situation we
still have today.
We don’t have wild beasts chasing us but we do have other monsters that
chase us and certainly won’t let us get away. On a wider scale and on
what we all feel collectively in the universe, we’re running away from the
greatest fear we all share as humans – DEATH.
It’s not so much the physical death which we know is inevitable, but
endings – death of a relationship, death of a lifestyle, death of a career.
Just as there are endings there are beginnings. Change is just as terrifying
as death.
If it’s not an external situation or person, then the monsters chasing you
could be parts of yourself - the hidden or shadow self - that you do not
want to confront or acknowledge in waking life.
Emotional beasts such as fear, anxiety, anger, envy and aggression can
seem to overtake us at times. Maybe you don’t want to ‘own’ these scary
qualities because you won’t know what to do with them. By running
away from these volatile emotions, you avoid having to face them.
However, it’s best to remember that these dream ‘beasts’ won’t give up
and they’ll keep hunting you down, if not in this dream, there are always
those recurring dreams which keep coming back.
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©Rose Inserra
Keep in mind the emotion you are feeling in this dream. Ask yourself
who is chasing you. Is it
Someone you know
A shadow or stranger
An animal or creature
If it’s someone you know ask yourself what this person represents to you
in real life and how you feel towards this person.
If it’s work, look at your relationship with your boss and colleagues. Is
there someone hounding you for work you haven’t done or not done
well? Are you trying to avoid some aspect of your work? Perhaps there’s
competition and you’re running the race, which is making you feel under
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©Rose Inserra
pressure to succeed. How you are feeling in the dream can give you a
clue.
If it’s related to home there may be chores that you need doing but you
have avoided or family issues that simply won’t go away.
In terms of relationships, you might be feeling guilty that you have been
neglecting your partner, spouse, children or friends. If you look at the
words ‘catch’ or ‘pin down’ see if these words apply to you. How easy
are you to catch or pin down to make a commitment? It may be just in
socializing or being emotionally unavailable.
“Let’s catch up” might be a catch-phrase you often hear. If you dream of
being paralysed while you are being chased, it could indicate that you
may be feeling trapped in a relationship. You may be feeling
overwhelmed by anxiety and fear as demands are being placed on you.
It may be that whoever is chasing you represents your health and fitness.
Fear of ageing and illness is an anxiety most of us will admit to having.
Appearance and the obsession with youth are an unfortunate and
debilitating symptom of our society today. Is age ‘catching’ up with you?
Guilt or fear of this ageing process where the dreamer feels helpless or
overwhelmed by the demands to look good is likely to be another reason
for the chase fear. If you fear ageing, it may be for a different reason
altogether.
Many women who’ve put off having children are faced with infertility or
an absence of a partner who will provide them with children. Perhaps it’s
the biological clock that’s chasing you.
Look for clues in your dream to see whether any of these feelings
resonate with you.
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©Rose Inserra
Ask yourself what you’re going to do about them. Will you suppress
them and continue to put up a front so everyone sees only the good side,
which you’ve manufactured? How long will you hide the dark self – the
parts of you that make you feel bad, flawed, imperfect, not good enough,
not up to other’s expectations?
What about those bad habits or addictions like alcohol, drugs, gambling
or smoking etc? Anything that makes you co-dependent is causing you to
run away from the truth.
Consider someone around you who might be making you feel threatened
or who displays animal-like behaviour. It may be someone who’s on the
prowl, trying to get to hunt you down or a pest who won’t leave you
alone.
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©Rose Inserra
Water
Water is a powerful imagery in dreams. Generally, it represents your
emotions on a practical level. Ask yourself why you are running away
from your emotions – are you feeling as if they will drown you and as a
result you will feel helpless and out of control? Perhaps you are running
away from the intuitive part of yourself.
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©Rose Inserra
your way out is one of the most common scenes in a chase dream. An
abandoned building mirrors our own sense of feeling abandoned and
alone.
If you dream of being chased to the attic, it suggests that the situation in
your life is literally occupying your mind. The attic represents your mind
and thoughts – being located at the highest part of your body, your head.
Are there matters that you’ve been trying to store away from your
conscious mind that you don’t want to deal with?
Perhaps your dream had led you to the attic because there’s nowhere else
to go – you can only jump! You have to take a leap of faith and get on
with facing your life issue.
A basement, on the other hand, is where you keep most secret fears or
undeveloped side of yourself. However, being chased down a long
narrow corridor reflects how restricted you feel in real life. The dream
might be pointing out that you’re afraid of being aimless and getting
nowhere fast.
Open field
Fields indicate your hopes and your unlimited potential for growth. If
there’s a fence in your dream, it represents an obstacle that you need to
overcome. Something is fencing you in and not allowing you to get reach
safety. Perhaps you need to ‘get over’ a relationship or work situation.
Fences can also be boundaries or our own inhibitions. If your boundaries
aren’t’ being challenged, then perhaps you are anxious to overcome your
inhibitions.
Forest
Forests symbolize our feelings of uncertainty about the future. The trees
obstruct our view and we can’t see far ahead (can’t see the forest for the
trees). Trees in the forest represent our old thought patterns or value
systems that no longer work because they block out the big picture in our
lives. Ask yourself why the chase has brought you to the forest – a place
generally associated with a place of hiding, overgrowth or dangerous
encounters with the wild.
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©Rose Inserra
Mountains
Mountains are larger than life obstacles that, once we climb, we conquer.
A chase dream in the mountain indicates a fear of success or that you
might lose your lofty or ‘top’ position. It may suggest that you can’t meet
someone else’s high expectations. Look to the emotion in the dream to
guide you to understanding.
In other words, fear of using your individuality as this may change the
way you see things and live your life.
Words are powerful. They create realities. Every language has its
particular expressions and can offer another type of clue in dreaming. In
English, there are a number of popular expressions on the topic of chase.
They may give you more clues into the meaning of your dream, whether
it’s advice you should be listening to, the state of a situation or strategies
to put in place.
Chase your own tail: This is an endless chase – something futile and
completely worthless where nothing is achieved. You’re getting nowhere
fast.
Cut to the chase: Procrastinating. Think about whether you’re putting off
doing something. Perhaps you’re doing something the hard way and
there’s a short cut.
A wild goose chase: Looking in the wrong places. Shift your focus and
adopt a new perspective.
Thrill of the chase: Do you want something badly enough or is it just the
exercise in getting it that’s exciting? Think of your relationships, how you
commit and the part your ego plays.
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©Rose Inserra
It’s common to feel as if you are running in slow motion or your legs are
as heavy as lead and won’t move. You may even lose your voice.
If your are caught and you face your pursuer, this will empower you to
face your worst fears and resolve some underlying issues that you hadn’t
previously dealt with effectively.
You may feel paralysed, trapped or running in slow motion because the
dream is telling you that you have to face a problem or an unresolved
issue and wont’ be allowed to run away. Running away is no longer an
option in your waking life. It could also be pointing out how you are
emotionally feeling in real life – trapped and powerless. Think about
whether you are feeling overwhelmed by some aspect of your waking life
and what demands are being placed on you.
The endless chase in the dream when you wake up and you’re still being
chased is the most frustrating of all. It’s showing you that your ego won’t
be pinned down. You don’t want to face something that is now staring at
you.
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©Rose Inserra
In fact, you are in denial. Instead of confronting the situation, you are
running away and avoiding it.
Make yourself stop and face your pursuer and then ask, “What do you
want?” Once you do this, you will get find an answer, If not in your
dream world, then in your real world once the conscious has been made
aware that there’s a question to be answered You may not be able to
manage the first few times, but lucid dreaming is like everything else,
with practice you can it.
To grow and change, you have to get away from what’s no longer
working for you. That’s what your unconscious is telling you, but your
conscious self – your ego – doesn’t want to let go. It’s frightened of
change. Hence the chase.
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