“Each Time I Dream About Someone, I See Them Soon Thereafter…”
Recently a Dreamer Wrote:
I’m a rational adult and I know – without a shadow of doubt – that dreams don’t tell the future. I’ve read on this website about how that some people are more intuitive than others and how this makes them have dreams that often seem to tell the future. It makes complete sense to me and I totally agree with it. I just wanted to run something by you because it is so uncanny. Each time I dream about someone, I see them soon thereafter. I’ve noticed it for about 3 years now. When I dream about a person or several people, I always end up seeing them either the next day or one of the following 3 days. Always! I was just wondering what your thoughts were about this. Thanks a lot! – CB
CB, Ironically my oldest daughter and I have noticed something kind of similar. It seems that whenever we think about someone we hadn’t seen (or even thought of in a while), we end up seeing them – either that day or the next. In a lot of ways, dreams are our subconscious mind’s thoughts, so I think the situations kind of go hand in hand.
Personally I think a lot of it has to do with a good old fashioned “sense of timing” that we’re all born with.
For example, have you often felt like “it’s time for a storm” – even without seeing the weather? Or maybe you’ve kind of gotten a sense that “it’s time for something bad to happen.” Life is a series of cycles, strewn together and sometimes I believe we simply “sense” when it’s time for something – yes, even time that a certain familiar face show up!
Our subconscious mind is aware of A LOT more than we ever give it credit for. Fact is, if we could somehow sit down and have a conversation with our subconscious mind, we’d be blown away by its insights. We’d also come away with a lot of answers and solutions to problems that have been hounding us.
Which is the main reason behind delving into dreams for dream analyses and interpretations!
Sometimes our subconscious mind simply knows when it’s “about time” to see someone. In turn, it’ll present the person in a dream or thought during the day.
Other times? Chalk it up to good old coincidence!
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!
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.
The Dream Prophecy for Ex Dreams Usually Isn’t What You Think…
Someone recently left a comment on Dream Prophesy about dreams their ex was having. Apparently, even though the ex now as a family of their own, they still often have dreams about this person.
First of all, everyone involved in the scenario can relax – because, ironically, dreams bout exes isn’t always as much about the EX as it is the PAST. Sure, there are instances when the dream COULD be about the person – but when that’s the case, the dreamer pretty much knows this right off the bat. The dreams will make them genuinely miss the person and long for what they had.
More times than not, however, the WHO in the dream isn’t even the most important part of the dream. Most of the time, the most significant part of the dream is the WHERE and WHEN – the fact that the individual is present in the dream is simple – they were there in the dreamer’s REAL LIFE timeline.
Here’s an example. A man was married for 7 years to a woman. Most of his 20’s were spent with this individual. After they’ve divorced (and even after he has happily moved on) she may show up in his dreams. It doesn’t mean he still has feelings for her and it certainly doesn’t mean he misses her.
He’s simply dreaming about a period of his life where she happened to be present.
Our dreams are like little movies that play out in our minds while we’re sleeping. Our memories build the build of the content in our dreams. If – while awake – we could actually SEE our dreams play out, we’d realize that there are TONS of people in our dreams from our past – teachers, cashiers, acquaintances… even old friends. In an unconscious state, we don’t often “register” these faces. However, we do recall the more familiar ones, such as loved ones, family members, close friends, and… yes… exes.
Back to the man in our example – His dreams of the past could have to do with several different things:
- He may miss something about the past – maybe in the past he had more money, better health, a job he liked better, maybe family members who have died were alive THEN, etc. The ex could simply represent a period of time.
- He may have regrets or guilt about something he did during this period of time. Maybe even something he did to the ex that he carries guilt from
- He could also carry “scars” from the relationship, along with a deep-seeded fear that what happened THEN could happen again one day.
- Finally, it could simply be a case of the sleeping mind “casting” a movie – using the only “cast” that’s available to it: people from the dreamer’s life, past and present.
I hear so often from people who either have had dreams about exes or who currently love someone who’s dreaming about their ex. Sometimes I even hear from the ex who is showing up in someone else’s dream. The top 3 things I always stress to them are:
- The dreamer (9 times out of 10) is simply dreaming about a period of time that the ex happens to have been present.
- Every individual in our dreams is someone we have seen or met in our lives. The brain is incapable of “dreaming up” (pun unintended!) someone. The people the unconscious mind casts in its movies have to come from the dreamer’s past.
- If someone shows up in someone else’s dream in in NO WAY means they had been thinking about them. Think about your own dreams, how many times does someone randomly show up and – upon wakening – you’re like, “Why in the world would I dream of her/him?!?!“
- If the dreamer (or the ex or the individual currently “with” the dreamer) puts too much importance or emphasis on the dream, only bad things will happen. Absolutely no good comes from focusing undue attention or attaching uncalled for emotions around something like a dream. In fact, the more attention given to this kind of dream the worse it’ll be for everyone involved. Write it off as irrelevant and it’ll be just that.
- Finally, remember these words: THE PAST. The ex is symbolic of one thing – THE PAST.
Generally speaking, that’s exactly where the past should be left.
Why Does Our Mind Choose the People it Chooses?!
A question I’m asked a lot has to do with the people who show up in our dreams. Questions like Why Do We Sometimes Dream About People We Haven’t Thought of In Years? and Why did (a particular actor/actress) appear in my dream are a couple of examples.
While there are instances where the individual or individuals are a part of the dream interpretation or meaning, itself, most of the time, the individual is used simply because there was a role to be filled in the brain’s “movie” and it’s a one organ casting department. More times than not, the brain will “cast” someone who’s name it heard or who’s face it saw during the pat 48 hours.
A perfect example actually happened to me a few nights ago. While my husband and I were watching a great college basketball game on television, the announcers brought up a recent Luke Bryan concert. One announcer said that his favorite Country artist was Toby Keith. In a dream, that night, none other than Toby Keith was the barista in a coffee shop my husband and I went to. In all honesty, I’m not that familiar with Luke Bryan and I’m only about 45 % sure I could pick him out in a lineup.
On the other hand, Toby Keith is one of my favorite artists ever – Country or otherwise.
The funny thing is, I had not thought of Toby Keith for weeks when the announcer brought up his name. What’s more, I was so invested in the ballgame, I only barely “registered” what he’d said. In fact, I didn’t think about it the rest of the night. However, my brain had taken note of the name and had it on “standby” when it came time to cast the barista!
Because I had not given this particular singer any thought in weeks and because the mention of his name barely even registered on my radar, I know that he had nothing to do with the interpretation of the dream. He was simply a “handy” name (with a face my brain would recognize) when a barista was needed.
Sometimes your brain will “pull” someone from the “casting pool” that you saw (and possibly barely recognized) on a magazine cover, in a commercial, online, or in a movie. Other times, like Toby, it’ll simply be the mention of a name that’ll earn them a spot in your dream. Zero meaning, zero significance.
It may seem strange for someone who studies dreams to admit this, but sometimes even our dreams hold no real meaning. I refer to these as “throwaway” dreams. They’re the type of dreams that simply don’t hold any significant meaning, premonition, reflection, or depth whatsoever. Ironically, the dream I mentioned earlier was, itself, a “throwaway” dream. Coffee is a HUGE part of life in our household. We are serious, serious coffee drinkers. We talk about coffee, we brew coffee, we go out for coffee, we drink coffee, we think about coffee… and so on.
So the fact that we were in a coffeehouse in a dream is absolutely no surprise. The fact that the barista was someone who’s name I’d heard a few hours before – also no big surprise.
A throwaway dream… although it did make me wake up at 3:00 am craving coffee in the worst way!
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