Though not everyone concerns themselves with the content of their dreams, certain symbols can correspond with common work and life stresses. Unsurprisingly, recurring signs may indicate subconscious struggles or emotions in our waking lives. Especially when it comes to work, understanding your latent desires can help you better handle real life. Decoding the following eleven dream patterns may uncover hidden stresses and opinions, letting you function more effectively.
Houses
Houses are believed to be complex dream tokens. Different rooms in a house may be analogous to different parts of your mind. Each room may represent a memory, an event, an emotion, or an interpretation of events. For example, basements usually reflect emotions or experiences you’ve suppressed or neglected. When it comes to work, dreaming about a house could reflect a desire to compartmentalize your life, or it might be a sign you are nervous that you’re missing something.
Demons
If you’ve been dreaming of demons, this may also stand for repressed emotions. When these troublesome creatures pop up, it may be a sign that your heart and your head disagree. Especially when it comes to your career, demons may personify past conflicts you’re still struggling to get over.
Animals
On the other hand, animals are believed to represent the parts of us that are connected to nature. Animals may connote primal urges or a need to survive, which makes them common symbols if work stress is infiltrating your dreams.
Murder or Violence
If you’ve ever woken up confused from a strangely violent dream, don’t panic. Killing in dreams is thought to be an expression of your wish to kill off challenges in your own life. A dream about killing usually symbolizes hostility towards a person, and may symbolize conflict at work.
Dying
On the other hand, dreams about dying yourself signify big changes in life. Dying in your dream is thought to reflect the end of one thing and the beginning of another, and may pop up when you’re taking on new projects at work.
Being Chased
Another common dream is being chased by something. When you are being chased by something in a dream, it’s usually a reflection of feeling threatened. Unfortunately, these uncomfortable dreams are all too common when we are under pressure at work. Though the anxieties we feel dreaming about being chased are real, it’s better to focus on what you’re trying to get away from in your career.
Transportation
Missing a flight or train usually shows the frustration over missing out on opportunities.This dream will usually come up if you’re facing a big decision at work. However, dreaming of taking transportation is often a symbol of how much control we feel we have over life. If the car, train, or plane you’re on is in control, it may symbolize successfully completing a career task. However, an out of control vehicle could reflect your fear of challenges that lie ahead.
Flying
Another way in which our dreams show how in control we feel are dreams about flying. How adept you are at flying in your dream and what you are flying away from expresses how prepared you feel for upcoming work challenges. However, both at work and at home, dreaming about flying can be an indication of trouble letting go of certain things or feeling out of control in your waking life.
Money
Additionally, money is believed to symbolize self worth. Especially if you are exchanging money, this may be a subconscious sign that you are putting yourself in a compromising position at work.
Other People
If you are seeing groups of other people in your dreams it may be a reflection of your own different qualities. Other people we talk to in dreams are believed to be projections of different sides of yourself. Conversations you have with these apparitions could be indications of repressed feelings at work.
Water
Finally, a common dream symbol that has different meanings, depending on the way it appears, is water or bodies of water. Believed to symbolize the unconscious mind, calm pools of water tend to appear when you’re generally peaceful and feel in control of your career. A choppy surface on an ocean or lake usually indicates inner tension, which may be a sign you need to take time away from work to relax.
Featured photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker via flickr.com
