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Recurring Dreams
If we keep a record of our dreams it will soon become obvious that some of our dream themes, characters or places recur again and again. These recurrences are of various types. A certain theme may have begun in childhood and continued throughout our life – either without change, or as a gradually changing series of dreams. It might be that the feature that recurs is a setting, perhaps a house we visit again and again, but the details differ. Sometimes a series of such dreams begin after or during a particular event or phase of our life, such as puberty or marriage.
The theme of the dream can incorporate anxious emotions such as the example below, or any aspect of experience. One woman, an epileptic, reports a dream that is the same in every detail and occurs every night.
In general dreams recur because there are ways the dreamer habitually responds to their internal or external world. Because their attitude or response is unchanging, the dream that reflects it remains the same. It is noticeable in those who explore their dreams using such techniques as described under processing dreams, that recurring themes disappear or change because the attitudes or habitual anxieties that gave rise to them have been met or transformed.
Example: ‘This dream has recurred over 30 years. There is a railway station, remote in a rural area, a central waiting room with platform going round all sides. On the platform mill hundreds of people, all men I think. They are all ragged, thin, dirty and unshaven. I know I am among them. I looked up at the mountainside and there is a guard watching us. He is cruel looking, oriental in green fatigues. On his peaked cap is a red star. He carries a machine gun. Then I looked at the men around me and I realise they are all me. Each one has my face. I am looking at myself. Then I feel fear and terror.’ Anon.
A recurring environment in a dream where the other factors change is not the same. We use the same words over and over in speech, yet each sentence may be different. The environment or character represents a particular aspect of oneself, but the different events that surround it show it in the changing process of our psychological growth and experience. Where there is no such change, as in the example above, it suggests an area of our mental emotional self is stuck in a habitual feeling state or response.
Some recurring dreams can be ‘stopped’ by simply receiving information about them. One woman dreamt the same dream from childhood. She was walking past railings in the town she lived in as a child. She always woke in dread and perspiration from this dream. At forty she told her sister about it. The response was, ‘Oh, that’s simple. Don’t you remember that when you were about four we were walking past those railings and we were set on by a bunch of boys. Then I said to them, ‘Don’t hurt us our mother’s dead!’ They left us alone, but you should have seen the look on your face.’ After realising the dread was connected with the loss of her mother, the dream never recurred. Another woman who repeatedly dreamt of being in a tight and frightening place, found the dream never returned after she had connected it to being in the womb.
Recurring dreams such as that of the railings, suggest that part of the process underlying dreams is a self regulatory homeostatic one. The dream process tries to present troublesome emotions or situations to the conscious mind of the dreamer to resolve the trauma or difficulty underlying the dream. An obvious example of this is seen in the recurring nightmare of a young woman who felt a piece of cloth touch her face, quoted under nightmares. See: processing dreams.
But recurring dreams can arise because there is a need to learn something. Also the growth instinct is incredible powerful one and pushes us through growth, sometimes unwillingly. And if we resist it can cause recurring dreams.
Here is an example:
A young girl kept coming up to me and placing my hand upon her breast. She was just developing her breasts, and they felt so very beautiful.
Still asleep I asked myself what the dream meant, and saw that the young girl is the divine female that I long for. At present she can only relate to me as a young girl whose breasts I caress, due to the fact that my sexuality is still developing. In other words, I have not yet developed out of my sexual stage of growth. But if I simply allow this stage to go on being experienced, it develops into a new relationship with her. She herself develops or grows as I grow, and this suddenly threw a new light on all my sexual dreams in the past.
Comments
I have a dream where the area is reccuring, its like a path into the woods. I know this path, i know everything about it, turn for turn. I could navigate this area blindfolded and not even trip on a tree root. i’ve dreamed of this area for years, im always in the same path, same trail in the woods, weather i be on foot, on my atv, driving in a car or riding through it on a bike.
Last night i changed dramatically and i cant help but feel disturbed. Im with myself, theres two of me. I dont know why but we’re tring to escape and I dont know what from, just that we need to go, and go now. we need to get somewhere safe. “I know where to go! Follow me” I lead myself to the path, everthing will be better in the woods. we run though tons of abandoned homes and yards, tring to be unseen. Its almost like we’re hiding or running from something even tho the world is so empty. finally we get to my path and i’m just so confused. I know where i am, it looks the same, but im so lost. I want to keep going but i’m scared. I feel this amazing pressure, that i need to keep going into the woods, like i know i need to be there. iI know where I am. I know I know where i am. ive seen this a hundread times, but it feels like the first . i dont know where to go, i dont know what to do, im so confused, and even tho im there with myself, i feel like the last one alive. but still i need to get somewhere safe, i want to go on further into the woods, but still im lost. and i woke up
Amanda – A powerful dream.
The first change is there are two of you, and that is a sign either of division of what you want, like indecision, or of meeting a new part of your make-up. It could of course be a mixture of both.
The urge to escape seems to be mixed up with the images of ‘tons of abandoned homes’. So it lends itself to the idea of, what were the people who left their homes escaping from? Also you felt it as an imperative to get away, and do it now!
So what have you felt like that about but kept it in the background? It is wirth thinking about it and taking it seriously.
Then there is the feeling of being lost in familiar circumstances. This might be explainable because of the second you, but also that this is a very new feeling and circumstance you are meeting. I wouldn’t class the dream as a major warning, but it should be highlighted and explored. Like your need to get into the woods, which is a classical way to get back to the natural and the inner world. Dante at the beginning of his great poem, says he is lost in a wood. Heroes lose their way in woods, or are torn and cut while searching in a wood, and so on. Here it represents all the knowledge, education, facts, information acquired in life, and yet leaving the feeling of being lost amongst them, not understanding why we are here, what life is all about, what is birth or death.
I seriously suggest you explore this dream to find for yourself the fuller meaning. You can do this be looking at and using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-in-your-dream/
Tony
Hello, I’m from the ‘Dreams of Dead’ page. This is what I meant in the last sentence.
The nightmares I have commonly are in the same place but the one from last night seems a bit too eerie. I remember a long time ago I had a nightmare about the same type, but the building was smaller, like a normal one story house, and it was filled with nothing but cheap jump scares and zombie/ghost props. Then the next time I had a Haunted Mansion esque dream it was the larger house, about the size of the official HM in Disneyland. Still filled with cheap jump scares but there was actual dead or costumed people and the scares were amped up. Also the basement was clogged with tons of random stuff and I kept my eyes closed because I was too damn scared to keep them open. Finally last night the building was huge two story mansion type and it seemed to not stay one level. I remember looking out to a balcony while inside/ being part of the ride but I don’t remember climbing down any stairs to get to the entrance/exit. Also this time there was actual deaths happening in the ride, see my other post for reference. I’m afraid that this recurring place has actually been GROWING every time I have a nightmare of it.
On a lighter note though I have a nicer recurring dream that’s only happened once. It was a mixture of fandoms I have and Sora, the character I bunked with in the apartment that needed to be opened by a triforce puzzle (Go fig) actually tackle hugged me once the door was open and asked “Where have you been!?”.
Alex – I see you like one of those plants that blows with the wind because it has no roots – the tumbling tumbleweed. Therefore you can be move by any fear, although none of them are serious nevertheless they cause anxiety – anxiety enough to cause recurring dreams.
What can you do about it? Well you need a view of life that enables you to see death and face it without fear; a view based on observable facts that enable you to see that the surface life we live in is a shifting one that has no roots.
Perhaps read the books http://www.amazon.com/Closer-Light-Melvin-Morse/dp/0804108323/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307353595&sr=1-1-fkmr0 and also http://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Death-Elisabeth-Kubler-Ross/dp/1587613182/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309172670&sr=1-3
These are not conjecture but are from experts in the field. Your dreams face you with death a lot and these books may really help.
Tony
My husband has been having a reccuring dream from the past year, it has two diffrent dreams, One is hes on a massive rock groyne, going to go fishing. And there is always people around him that he knows and sometimes random people. Another time hes driving around backroads of this rural area with awesome houses, he goes to this particular house all the time sometimes its beautiful and other times its run down. All the roads are edged with yellow grass all the roads eventually link up with eachother like a property. Then he can go into the woods if he drives up far enough, and then there is a river area. There is a five star hotel that hes driving around fixing things. He thinks it might be a whole world but he mainly dreams about these places. Could you possibly tell us if this means anything? Thank you so much
Grace – Well, I feel the dreams show your husband enjoying being with other people, and is someone who would not like to be idle.
But the main feeling I get is that this is an end of life dream – end of working life. It may be a bit premature but of course your husband may be dreaming about what he wants to do at retirement. He wants to be useful on a big property that I presume he is not responsible for, and of course spend time with other men in a relaxed situation. I see the fishing from the groyne as a statement that within constant movement and change he wants a situation he can remain stable in.
Tony
When I was little I used to have a few dream settings that would stay the same, but with different things happening. I haven’t had any of those dreams in a long time, but for the last five or so years I’ve been having dreams in five different settings that I’ve never personally been to; a burger restaurant, ski slope, grocery store, mall and toy store. Every time I have dreams in these locations, they seem special, like they have some internal meaning that I can’t figure out. The same thing happened when I was young which is why I still remember those settings too. Any idea what these particular recurring dreams mean?
Hillary – The different settings are about the environment in which the action of the dream takes place and this signifies the background of experience or circumstances that support the situation dealt with in the foreground. For instance we dream of certain places again and again because it saves time saying what the dream is about all over again.
A helpful way of defining this is to give it a name, such a name such as one does with dream people. You do this by trying to sense what your main feelings are about regarding the place, or what happened to you there, and how that left you feeling. You might have felt a lot of conflict in a certain town or while living in a particular road. So you could call that ‘My conflicts’. Or a place may be linked with a loving relationship, so could be called ‘My ability to Love’.
So see if you can see what the original feelings were in each place. For instance my home in London was the environment I went through the struggles of puberty in. So I call it ‘My adolescent struggles’.
Tony
I have a lot of recurring dreams, but here’s one: I’ve been having this dream where all of a sudden I’m standing in an abandoned street, with trees on either side, and the leaves from the trees are falling into the street in slow-motion. The sky is orange, but over the hill behind me are broken down abandoned houses, and its night back there, and the houses are lit. Everything is mute. I feel this overwhelming sense of beauty, until I realize that I’m the only one in the dream. I feel a grumble in the ground, and i look behind me. I see someone walking towards me. I think that it’s my sister, but as they get closer, their face blurs out more and more. I realize that it isn’t her. Once I realize this, I start to panic, and then I wake up.
I’ve been having this recurring dream (or nightmare) about this huge carnival, and it has two sides to it. There’s a “normal” carnival in the front, but as you walk to the back of the carnival, woods start coming up and after there’s a clearing. In the clearing, there’s a carnival full of witches and murderers (I call them that because they’re always running around with either chainsaws, or knifes screaming “I’ll cut you into little pieces” and don’t have another way to call them) that are always running around chasing people, but they can’t get past a limit where the “nice side” of the carnival is. And somehow, even though I KNOW that side is there, I always end up in it looking for something, but I never know what. I always end up running for my life, and always wake up scared and perspiring. The purpose of looking for something, and the setting has always been the same, but the dialogue and people and the scenes are different.
Since I have moved out of my parents place into my own, I have been having recurrent dreams…kinda. I have dreams that take place in recurrent dreams from my childhood. So I’ll be having an entirely new dream in the places I used to have recurring dreams in when I was a kid. Most times the dreams take place in places that let me know my dream is turning into a nightmare. I have kept the same mental symbols that I used as a kid to determine how the outcome of the dream would be when I’m having these dreams now. Everything is almost always the same so I have this kind of knowledge about the dreams except there are entirely new situations occurring. This has been happening for months now and currently I it seems all these recurrent dreams mesh into one almost every night. Sometimes the environment of the dreams makes me feel very nostalgic. I was ignoring these dreams and feelings since ive always had irregular sleeping patterns but now its compelling enough for me to want to know if anyone can tell me what these dreams could mean?
I had 3 (I think) recurring dreams when I was young, 1 was very important that it started in this building that I still dream of now though I don’t remember ever seeing this building, I go to a patient in the hospital in the upper corner of this building, always in the corner in top level I knew exactly where this patient was, I saw doctors and everything wearing green was vividly real, the patient looked exactly like my great grandmother exactly, and I would go and cry there and talk to her and she wore exactly the same glasses and everything except I didn’t know then it was her, she used tape recorders and recorded all my things that I told her this was quite scary because when I got older I had this dream again my grandmother was gone then and I knew it was her I went through some bad things at high school and it came and I told her I knew who she was and that I don’t need her help anymore and I threw away all the tissues and burned all the tape recorders in the dream she had a whole tissue box but she wasn’t a sympathetic person, I never had this dream again, after that one I had one same building over and over again same escalators, long escalators the toy/video arcade at bottom floor always have the horsey thing and the colorful balls I always go there to play but it’s so blurry I don’t remember everything I know the toy place well I see it each time, then outside it looks exactly like the way our town was before it changed and I am always lost I could never find my way home I always get stuck there but I do sometimes it just ends but it keeps coming back? Then I had a dream about my old red car before I had the car and we kept on being stuck inside it couldn’t open the doors and then one day I discovered how to interact in my dream and I opened the door now I can’t interact anymore I’m either to tired or to afraid.
Shade – It seems that the building is very important to you. Such a building usually indicates an aspect of your body and mind. In this case a healing function; and the top floor is about having a wider view of your life – more awareness.
But I also see you used your dreams for support and then you got rid of an aspect of that support, but there are things perhaps helpful to know. So read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/
Tony
I’m not crazy or anything. I’m going to say this first . I keep having this dream. I’m coming home from work, or school. I haven’t that part out. I decided to run to the store, its like gas station, but it bigger. I’m in there with my little cousin but he is super tall. He need some stuff for school. I think I’m older than what I am now. (freshman in college) and in the dream I feel like I’m a senior in college or something. I needed stuff for school too that’s why I got this feeling.
Anyways, I’m picking stuff out that I need. My little cousin is talking to me, and were just conversing. He tells me something, and I’m half paying attention. I tell him I will be leaving soon so be ready. I’m getting checked out. I pay for my stuff. I see this guy, and I’m thinking to myself “He good good,” and I’m laughing. I trying to put my debit card back in my wallet. I have a long line behind me. I hear people sighing and getting angry because I cant get situated like I always do before I walk away from a cashier (im a cashier myself) I finally get myself together and my keys are in hand. I’m pushing a small buggie to the front of the store. This old lady is in my way and I’m trying to hurry up, and its making me mad. I than hear an explosion, something. I know in my heart that I’m going to die right then and there. It’s like I want to run, but I can I’m frozen. I right at the entrance and I can make it out.
I feel the building shaking and I feel like my body is on fire. I wake up in my bed sweating, and everything. The dream itself doesnt scare me. I had like nautral disater dreams, or dreams where I died from when I was a kid. I have crazy dream and I can remember them play by play. I have always been like this. I never forget. I’m also a writer so its easy for me to write. I’m also a journalist so I can remember. The thing with this dream is that I feel like I had it before. I never had this dream. EVER! I don’t know if its possible that I had this dream in a past life, and I don’t even believe in that past life.
I don’t know why it feels like this out of all the dreams I have has a purpose or meaning that I cant figure out. I feel like it was sent to me … how can you have a recurring, but new dream. I know I was dreaming that is a lucid dreams. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME GET SOMEWHAT OF AN UNDERSTANDING. WHAT IS GOING ON???
Sarah – It could be many reasons why you seem to remember a dream you haven’t consciously remembered. I have many times when writing a dream down remembered dreams from years ago that I never remembered before. So it is quite possible you have had the dream many times but never been able to bring it to consciousness.
But it doesn’t sound like past life dream, which usually give a different view and feeling.
However, the interesting thing is that perhaps you were, in the past, in a catastrophe and so keep having dreams like it. Also that it keeps repeating. Why don’t you explore one of your dreams and see what you find – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/
Tony
LET DREAMS COME TRUE N HELP MANKIND TO BE HUMAN..
I have a nightmare that is always the same and I find it occurs I am too hot when I go to sleep (it occurs in the summer more) anyway, this dream is the same in every detail every time. I wake up on a sofa in the dark with just the tv on, which is facing away from me, so I get up and go to turn the lights on and none of the switches work the lights in this room just other rooms, anyway, i go to the next room which happens to have acaffolding in it and look out the window and the back gate is open so I lock the back door, an notice a huge spooky conservatory frame with overgrown Plants in. I ignore that and go to walk off, now I normally wake up here sweating and out of breath, but if I don’t wake up I go upstairs where in different rooms I find dolls with messed up faces and people trying to kill me but I can’t get out the house because I have locked all the doors. Now I either wake up when they kill me or sometimes before because I have sweat so much the sheets have become soaked through and disturb my sleep. So basicly I want to know what the hell this means and off I can stop it. Thanks
Dan – Look, I am going to tell you what I see in connection with your dream. It isn’t an easy dream as you know. It appears to be about guilt, about things you have grown and done in your life – the conservatory – and the huge changes going on in you – the scaffolding.
It has been with you all your life because it isn’t as far as I can tell things you did in this life. But the faces are a reminder and a way of facing what happened. The people trying to kill me are a way of getting through to a new life. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/nightmares/
Having had some really bad nightmares myself and gradually explored them and got to the root of the troubles, I know that if you have the courage to face what you fear it will heal you. But it takes practice and perseverance to do. So try using this http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/the-arm-circling-meditation/ If you manage to get spontaneous movements then use the process again with the question of what your dream means. Obviously it is no good ‘thinking’ about your nightmare, you most trust your self to a life process.
Remember that dreams arise, your existence arises, from a process you may label in some way but barely know about. You do not have to believe in your existence. You are convinced of it because you exist. So can you believe that it is the process of Life that keeps you alive, so why does it create nightmares? In my opinion it is because it is attempting to heal us not scare the daylights out of us.
If you cannot get anywhere using that method try http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-exploring-your-dreams/#TalkingAs
Tony