Do your dreams have recurring symbols?

It’s not quite a proper answer but I often dream I’m in a little house and when I open a door, it becomes another room, another room, and on and on. And each room is furnished, beds have linens, there’s interesting knickknack things on shelves, and great lamps!

Very interesting, @faye! I have similar dreams involving a diner with multiple rooms, but it’s not quite as expansive. Thank you.

Aren’t you going to tell me what it means?!

Sorry, @faye, I don’t really buy into the idea that dream symbols have definite meanings. That’s why I worded my question to ask people what they think the symbols mean, or if they have assigned any meaning to them.

However, in order to not leave you high and dry, I think I can spare to warrant a guess:

You are always looking for the hidden meanings to things and alternate ways of looking at the world, symbolized by the many rooms, but at times, you feel as though you will never find the truest or most interesting reality/perspective (since each room always leads to another, and you can’t exactly compare them all side by side).

How’s that?

Great! I also think I’m looking. Your symbols are more elusive unless you think your life is literally a shipwreck.

Apparently you look at the emotions that go with the dreams rather then the actual images. So reflect on how you feel rather then what you see. I often dream of disasters, crashes and torcher….. fear and helplessness is the predominant feeling. I tend to have epic dreams and chew over them at the back of my mind all day. I also have nightmares quite often adn wake out of them sweating and panicking and have to turn the lights on and the radio. I check the front door is locked and I make a cup of tea.

I think for me they occur because I am trying to avoid thinking about things that scare and worry and haunt me about the past and the present and future. I put so much energy into ignoring it during the day that at night my subconcious bowls me over with it!

Some people have amazing dreams. I overheard this lady in a cafe once telling her friends about a dream she had had and it was like listening to a radio story – it was awesome! Maybe thats how writers and directers and maybe artists create their work?

My life definitely isn’t a shipwreck, and I think the shipwreck symbolism goes back to when I was a child, I used to build model shipwrecks (strange hobby, I know) and much of my dream imagery is based off childhood experiences, @faye.

@zookeeny, I have personal emotions that I associate with the symbols more than actually looking at the symbols themselves. Most of my dreams have very distinct plots and dynamic characters as well. Consequently, I am a writer and a painter!

I found Myth of Cyprus Tree by Mark Eades on google, just interesting.

This? Interesting stuff indeed!

Yeah, I don’t know how to link.

See down below the answer box where it tells you how to whisper and emphasize stuff? All you have to do is either simply paste the link, or you can type the word link in parentheses with a colon directly afterward, and paste the link immediately after that.

Well, it isn’t really a recurring symbol, per se, but rather a theme. In my dreams, I fail continuously again and again and everything seems to go wrong. However, the dreams are so literal that I can sleep for 10 hours but only feel like that I’ve slept 6. Anyone else having similar experiences like this?

That’s troubling, @belakyre, and there have been times that I’ve had nightmares that cause the same effect (often on nights when I’m having caffeine withdrawals, or am under considerable stress). I also have dreams that are so incredibly lucid and realistic that I wake up exhausted as though I’ve actually experienced the journey I took part in in my dream.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard thanks I’ll try when I’m a bit brighter.

lol, I have alot of recurring symbols in my dreams, they are very…..interesting. though I don’t believe they mean anything.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard
as being a regular lucid dreamer are you putting your symbols into your dreams?

That’s a good question, @tyrantxseries. The thing about my lucidity is that I can control my own movements and such, but not what makes up my surroundings- much like in the real waking world. I guess you could say I’m only partially lucid, since I don’t have power over the actual scenery, objects, or characters themselves in my dreams, only where I go, what I look at, and what I do.

I’m not sure I understand what you mean….
I have 1647 repetitive dreams, where after the first time I dream it, it always plays out the same next time I have it…
Eg: I am running down a hallway and come to a fork, the first time I had this dream I went left (but could have gone right) but now I always go left, I can’t go right unless I’m lucid dreaming (then I can do anything)...

so if you had this dream, you could choose to go right instead of left? but still have no control over the rest of the dream?

@tyrantxseries,

“so if you had this dream, you could choose to go right instead of left? but still have no control over the rest of the dream?”

Yes. And I could stop in my tracks, stand on one leg, and touch my nose if I wanted to. However, if I willed the walls to melt, or a beautiful woman to suddenly appear, it wouldn’t happen. The true definition of lucid dreaming states that you can manipulate every aspect of your dreams. That’s why I say I’m a half-assed lucid dreamer. I live my dreams like I live my waking life. Is that more clear?

I have had dreams of grizzly bears for along time.They were never nice bears.In fact,I fought one in one of these dreams.It told me that I didn’t know how to punch.I have concluded that all bears are @$$#o1es.

Haha, that’s definitely interesting, @lucillelucillelucille. Thank you!

@I have been able to control my dreams to a certain extent

I notice an awful lot of donkeys and spiders!

I don’t know why, I haven’t checked it out… I don’t really believe in dream analysis as given by a book or a website. Without knowing anything about psychology at all (!) I think that it just seems like something I should decipher on my own. I don’t think one symbol can mean the same for all the millions of people who may dream about that symbol.

In terms of awarding my own meaning to the donkeys and spiders – I haven’t done that either =)

@Jadey “I don’t think one symbol can mean the same for all the millions of people who may dream about that symbol.”

Agreed. That’s why I asked if anyone had invented their own meanings for commonly recurring imagery in their dreams. Not sure what I make of donkeys though :D Thanks Jadey.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Yeah I got that from your question =) Ha that’s a shame! As much as I don’t believe, I would be interested to know what it means! It may be fun to look it up =)

Even if I take them with a very large grain of salt, @Jadey, I do enjoy reading dream dictionaries. Some of the stuff could make sense, I suppose.

Bodies of murky water. Since childhood I’ve had dreams/nightmares where I’m always in the water, having to feel stuff bump and brush against me, never being able to see far into the water and never being able to swim to a shore to get out. For some reason these treams terrified me into panics and sweats. I can’t remember which came first, the dreams or near drowning for the first time but every now and then my body seizes up in water and I sink like a stone, doesn’t even have to be deep water. I make sure to never swim alone.

Yes. I have this recurring dream that I host a party, and one of the guests inevitably abandons a baby boy at my house, and I end up having to take care of it. In the dream, I get angry with the irresponsible guest, but I plan to keep the baby and not return it to the family if they come back to claim it. I think that the dream symbolizes my frustration with the people around me who try to make me responsible for their feelings and actions, but at the same time, I have a hard time saying no to other people who ask for help, hence the reason that I keep the baby.

Dinosaurs and knives. A lot of my dreams are about a dinosaur attack, though those have been fewer since time has distanced me from the release date of Jurassic Park some years ago. Many more of my dreams feature scary men trying to kill me with knives, or I have a knife of some sort.

@hungryhungryhortence, your case is testament to the power of dream imagery. I’ve had dreams that have influence my opinions on people and interfered with my daily life. I once had a horrible dream about my art teacher in high school, and I wasn’t able to communicate with her the same way after that. I’m curious as to what kind of experiences have led you to have these water dreams, if any at all.

@lonelydragon, that’s an interesting analysis that definitely makes sense to me. Do you happen to have children, if you don’t mind me asking?

@ubersiren, I have dreams about zombie attacks, so I suppose I can relate ;-)
The knife issue is very interesting. Have you ever had an impactful experience with a knife?

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard: the first water mishap I recall was about 6yrs old. I fell off an innertube while crossing a river with my father and another adult. I remember seeing my body in front of me while I sank, saw dirt, leaves, twigs and stuff moving in the current past me, saw the two men above me dive down, resurface and come down again looking for me. The dreams could have started after that. Another time I was swimming in a lake with a group of people and about three feet from shore, my body went under in very shallow water. I don’t remember if it went still or I was moving my limbs but people around me reached down and dragged me out, they said I just sank backwards but didn’t seem panicked. Thing is, I LOVE water!

Almost all of my dreams take place in the house where I grew up, even though I haven’t lived there in over 20 years. Like @faye I have a lot of hidden rooms in my dreams, only they are always filled with treasure left by the previous owners that I plan to sell. I always plan to sell all the stuff in these rooms and get rich!

Another interesting recurring thing in my dreams is that my boyfriend, who is quadriplegic and has been since long before we met, is always walking. I find myself constantly asking what he is doing walking. I told him this the other day and he told me to stop asking why he is walking and go with it. That made me laugh and I can’t wait to have another one of those dreams so I can try that!

You’re a brave soul, @hungryhungryhortence. If I was in your situation, I’d probably be terrified of water.

@SuperMouse, I have dreams about finding valuable stuff and either selling it or keeping it too. I think that’s a pretty common thing. I find it funny that you question your boyfriend’s walking in your dreams. I think that shows that you accept him for who he is not that I’d expect otherwise, of course

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard No, I don’t.