What Do Collision Dreams Mean?
Plus: Why Recurring Dreams Deserve Extra Attention
What does it mean to dream about colliding with people or things? I had my first dream like this about 3 weeks ago. I was driving a car on a street and suddenly a train (on the road for some reason) came right at me. I woke up right before it hit me. The next collision dream was about being in a grocery store when a store worker collided her huge cart with my grocery cart. The most recent one got my attention the most though. I was walking in a field when I suddenly realized that I was walking on an old railroad track. Just as my mind registered what it was, I heard a loud train whistle and looked up to see one coming right at me. My feet couldn’t run sideways – they had to stay on the old train track. I couldn’t even turn around to go the other direction. I had to run backwards trying to get away from this big train that was speeding at me. I woke up and sat straight up, breathing deep like I’d been running. It has left me shaken for days.
First of all, let’s look at what collision dreams mean. Ancient dream guides say that dreams like the ones named here are omens to slow down. The thought is that if your mind is “set” to this type of panic mode, it’s because it is over-stimulated and in need of a rest.
Generally speaking, I read old dream guides with a measure of skepticism – after all, most of them talk about “foretelling” and “omens,” as though dreams are psychic and we don’t have a lot of say in the matter. I’m certainly not on board with that line of thinking, so I never put FULL trust in ancient dream guides. However, when it comes to dreams such as this – I think they’re right on the money.
A stressed brain will “conjure” up far more stressful dreams than a well-rested, peaceful brain. The same can be said for a dreamer’s brain when the dreamer is sick, injured, or under any sort of grief or prolonged sadness.
Dreams of colliding with other people or objects generally mean the dreamer is “on guard” about something in his/her life. There is something in particular that they’re “watching out for.”
I’ve heard of people who have been very unlucky in love having these types of dreams when starting a new relationship. Bad things have happened in the past and, in an effort to protect themselves, they now “watch” for warning signs.
It doesn’t just have to romantic relationships, of course – it can be jobs, friendships, finances, health, etc.
Only the dreamer can say for certain, but more times than not, a collision dream indicates that the dreamer is anticipating something coming at them that they want to “brace” against.
The fact that this is a recurring dream, in my opinion, makes it even more important. When a dream’s “prophecy” is something the dreamer’s brain deems extremely important, it will put the message in reruns in an effort to get its point across. Very often, simply consciously confronting the dream’s meaning will be all it takes to end the recurring dreams.
It’s as though the brain realizes that it got its message across, so it relaxes. I certainly hope that’s the case because a relaxed brain’s dreams are FAR less disturbing!
What Does it Mean When you Dream About Losing Your Glasses (Or Contacts)?
This Dream Interpretation Differs from Most “Lost Dreams”
We’ve looked at “Lost Dreams” before on Dream Prophesy (Lost Key dreams, for example). People frequently dream about being lost or about having lost an object or objects. Generally, when the object is something like a book, keys, or other “impersonal inanimate object,” the dream interpretation (analysis, meaning…) is pretty basic. More times than not, the dreamer is afraid of losing something in their “real world” and a scenario of losing is thereby played out in their “dream world.”
Naturally the thing they’re afraid of losing isn’t actually the book, keys, or object that’s lost in the dream. The same object (or person) COULD show up in the role, but it’s very rare.
However, when it comes to dreaming about losing your glasses (or contact lenses), the dream interpretation goes deeper. Of course, we’re talking about vision-correcting glasses, not sunglasses, drinking glasses, or other types of glasses. All of these would fall under the previous category of impersonal inanimate objects.
Eyeglasses (also: contact lenses) are one of the most personal possessions an individual can have. For those who wear vision correcting lenses, they’re the difference between sitting in a room with no windows to the outside world and sitting in a room filled with windows.
In many ways, our eyeglasses are our windows to the world and we rely and depend upon them more than anyone could imagine.
When you consider their importance and think about their vital role in the wearer’s quality of life, you can better understand WHY dreaming about losing your glasses is an intensely deep dream.
Basically, if you dream that your glasses (or, again, contact lenses) are lost or missing, it means that you are experiencing great amounts of either helplessness or self doubt in your real life – maybe even more than you realize.
Here are a few examples:
- “James” begins a new job as principal at a local middle school. Though he has the required schooling for the job, deep down he has a couple of doubts. He fears that, maybe, he isn’t experienced enough for the job. The self doubt leads to a dream where he has lost his glasses and can’t find them. He looks all around his house as well as the school. In the dream, teachers (and even a few students) tell him that he should keep up with his glasses. One student even asks, “What were you thinking?!” He awakens nearly in a panic because the dream seems so real. The rebuttal from the teachers and students is the self-rebuttal that he, himself, feels…. even down to the, “What were you thinking,” something he has probably asked himself.
- “Dottie” has been married for 45 years to “Thomas.” Sadly, Thomas has been diagnosed with diabetes and the doctors are having a horrible time regulating his sugar levels. She’s devoting most of her days trying to help her husband eat right, stay on top of his medications, and exercise – all while trying to “ride out” his unpredictable moods. Because she is so busy thinking about her husband, she doesn’t fully realize just how helpless and overwhelmed she actually feels. One night, however, she has a dream that her glasses have disappeared and everything around her is nothing more than a blur. She can’t make out her husband or children’s faces, can’t see the flowers in her flower garden, and can’t see to cook. She frantically searches for her glasses but they’re nowhere in her home. As soon as she wakes up, she reaches over to the table beside her bed to make sure her glasses are there. The dream leaves her shaken – even more shaken than she believes a dream could have the power to do.
In both instances, the dreams, themselves, aren’t what left the dreamers so shaken or panicked – it was the emotions revealed through the dream. The dreams simply pulled back a veil that let each dreamer see how fragile and raw their emotions were at this time.
I always point out that dreams (or, more to the point, their meanings and interpretations) can be VERY helpful to us. These cases are perfect examples because each individual – after their dream interpretations – realized they needed to make a few changes. “James” began telling himself that he was getting the best kind of “experience” available.. on the job experience. He also began to focus on the fact that he was hired over every other applicant – and if they put that kind of trust in him, he should put it in himself.
“Dottie” began taking more time to unwind. She found solace in reading novels in her backyard – surrounded by her 3 beautiful Dalmatians.
These are classic examples of ways our dreams can lead to better self understanding and, oftentimes, even a better life.
Confusing Emotions in Dreams
Sometimes, Nothing is As it Seems
Dreams don’t always make sense, do they? Sometimes you’ll dream of hurting someone you love or you’ll dream of loving someone you’d kind of like to punch.
If you’ve ever had these disturbing dreams, maybe it’ll help you to know that you’re not alone. I hear from a lot of dreamers throughout the week and many are troubled by just these types of conflicting dreams.
I always feel bad for anyone who has been kind of turned inside out by a dream because, really, there isn’t a lot you can do about it. It simply takes the mind a little time to recover from especially unsettling dreams. I’ve heard instances of people taking months to get some dreams out of their systems, but the norm is closer to about a week.
One of the most disturbing types of dreams I hear about are those that involve the dreamer harming someone they love. Someone who.. in REAL life… they wouldn’t hurt for anything. The most unsettling dreams I ever heard was from a mother who dreamed of hurting her little boy. Her agony came through in her e-mail and I spent over an hour replying because I wanted so desperately to help ease her mind.
In dreams of this nature, the dream interpretation is almost always the same: If a dreamer dreams of hurting someone they love, they feel (in their subconscious) that something they are doing – or not doing – could actually bring harm to this person. I’ve had instances with dreamers where this particular “thing” was smoking (harming them with secondhand smoke), not enforcing seat belt usage, etc. Some parents even experience dreams like this when they take their children to school for the first time!
Many times dreamers will dream of harming someone they love because they have a secret they fear will be exposed.
Finally, we sometimes take on the “guilt” of hurting them when we don’t deserve any whatsoever. A dreamer may dream that they harm someone they love simply because they question whether or not they’re doing all they can to protect their loved one from harm. This was the case with a father who dreamed of hitting his son relentless in his dream. It turned out that the son had just gotten his driver’s license and the father wasn’t convinced he’d prepared him ENOUGH to drive safely. Through reasoning that could only come from a parent, he was prepared to take on the guilt if anything ever DID happen to his son.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read words such as, “I was so angry in my dream! Why was I so angry?!” The anger simply represents intense emotion – sometimes even intense love. When we love someone, the thought of them being hurt causes us intense emotions, so the fact that they’re represented in dreams by one of the most intense emotions we possess (anger) isn’t really surprising.
The flip side of this dream is nearly as disturbing to dreamers: When they dream of being in love with and/or affectionate with someone they “hate.” I’ve gotten a lot of dream interpretation requests and questions along the lines of, “Why did I dream that I was kissing my ex-boyfriend?! I HATE him so much!”
Some will go so far as to say, “Please tell me I don’t still have feelings for the creep!”
Again, these intense emotions and actions in dreams simply stand for intense feelings in real life. I honestly have no idea why the sleeping mind won’t allow someone to simply give their ex-boyfriend a slap in the face in the dream (it’d be infinitely more satisfying, right?). Somehow, our sleeping mind simply sees the need to symbolize “intense emotion” and pulls one from its file.
It isn’t always accurate, that’s for sure.
When you have emotionally conflicting dreams like these, remind yourself that, as far as the sleeping mind is concerned, emotions are emotions. In these instances, think of your “dream brain” as a librarian trying to pull a book off the shelf in the dark. She knows she’s in the “Fiction” section but doesn’t know if she’s pulling an old Agatha Christie mystery or a Stephen King novel off the shelf .
Just as there’s a world of difference between these two authors, sometimes there’s a world of difference between your dream emotions and your real emotions. Needless to say, the latter are the only ones you really need to worry about.
How New Year’s Resolutions Can Affect Your Dreams
How You Can Use These Dreams to Keep Your Resolutions!
If you’re anything like me, you’re “all about” New Year’s Resolutions. I love them to distraction and I always have. Making a fresh new set of resolutions is such a traditional process for me that I’d never dream of breaking my streak.
I think it’s safe to say that most people either make New Year’s Resolutions or at least THINK about them in one way or another each January. I’ve noticed a trend with dreams around this time of year. Resolutions actually play out in dreams in several different ways. Best of all, realizing why and how they’re affecting your dreams can actually help you keep your resolutions.
Below are the main ways resolutions show up in our dreams (with examples!):
- Annie had a “frustrating” dream that stayed with her for days. Although she was actually bank teller, in her dream – she worked in a library. She said that as soon as she put a book on the correct shelf, it’d turn up somewhere else. She’d take the time to put all of the books exactly where they were “supposed” to go, but someone would always be unable to find the book they were looking for and when she went back to the shelf to get the book for them, it would be gone. She said the dream left her feeling “frustrated and helpless” and feeling like she was “letting everyone down.” Because the dream was around the first of February, I saw a correlation between potential resolutions and wayward books. I told her that the books represented at least one resolution that she’d probably made. The fact that she felt frustrated and helpless in the dream indicated that she lacked confidence in being able to keep at least one of her resolutions. Also, the fact that she felt that she was letting people down in her dream suggested that she was afraid of letting people down if she were unable to keep her resolution. She replied that she’d made a resolution to lose weight but that it had been the same resolution she’d made for at least 6 years in a row and had not been able to keep it yet.
- Jack began having a series of dreams in January that had similar themes. Although the situations in each dream were different, the gist of each dream was indecisiveness. Irregardless of what was going on in his dream, his dream self couldn’t make a single decision. In one dream, he couldn’t decide which top to wear to work and ended up being an hour late. In another, he was in a restaurant and couldn’t decide what to order and the server got angry. The third dream involved indecision in choosing a cell phone – and leaving the store without one because he couldn’t decide. Because each dream had its own consequence, they stemmed from the fact that he wasn’t fully committed to one of his resolutions. It turns out that, sure enough, he wasn’t 100 percent behind his resolution to give up eating meat. His indecisiveness was manifesting itself in his dreams. When he realized that he wasn’t really feeling this particular resolution, he changed it to simply cutting back on red meat and the frustrating dreams went away.
- Not all resolutions dreams are negative. In fact, many people are so inspired by their own resolutions (or, more to the point, by the promises they bring) that they dream about positive results that the resolutions will bring about. Someone who resolves to lose weight may dream of fitting into a smaller size. Someone who vows to control their anger may dream of being level-headed and calm (even in a trying situation). By providing a “taste of things to come,” dreams of this nature inspire the dreamer to stay on track!
Whether your dreams follow under one of the three categories above or branch off into their own category, spend a little time with the dream and try to discover what it’s trying to tell you. Is your subconscious mind inspiring you to stay on track because the goal is worth the struggle? Is your subconscious telling you that you need to find ways to build confidence if you’re going to be successful? Or, maybe, your dream is suggesting that your heart really isn’t even in it and that one of your resolutions should be scratched out altogether???
Only you can say for certain, but make no mistake about it – your dreams are trying to tell you something!
Dreaming About Clowns: What Do Clown Dreams Really Mean??
It All Depends on Your Feelings About Clowns
Clowns can mean many things to many people. In fact, you could say the word “Clown” to two different people and get two different reactions. When I hear the word, I think of positive words and emotions: Fun, laughter, free-spirits, happiness… But I know several people who actually have clown phobias and when they hear the word “clown,” they grimace like they just saw a three headed snake with a nasty attitude.
If, like me, you associate clowns with happiness, dreaming about clowns is an expression of happiness and fun. It could be that you’re having a lot of fun with life lately and your dream is just an extension of this fun. However, it could also mean that life isn’t all that fun recently and you’re CRAVING laughter and happiness. Needless to say, when you have a clown dream, you’ll know which of these is the case simply by thinking about where you are in life right now.
If you have a clown phobia – or even if you simply think they’re a little scary – your dream has a different interpretation. When we dream about our biggest fears, most of the time it indicates that we are apprehensive about something in particular. We know something lies in front of us that we’re fearful about and this fearfulness takes on the form or our biggest “real life” fear(s).
However, when we dream of personal phobias, it could also indicate that we’ve recently overcome a particular fear or faced a problem head on. The dream is sort of a celebration of this achievement! Generally, when this is the case… in the dream, we will either overcome the thing we fear the most or will simply see it with an absence of fear.
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