What Makes People Dream Article

Common Dream Themes

We all dream and the dreams can sometimes be bizarre, scary, or even funny. We are often left wondering what on earth caused such a dream to manifest. Many times though, dreams are common and tend to be universal in that everyone has the dream in some form or another. Patricia Garfield wrote a book called The Universal Dream Key about dreams that transcend all generations and cultures. She conducted an international survey and discovered the top then dream themes that we all share.

Dreaming of Being Attacked and Chased

Being chased in a dream is extremely common and may even result in a nightmare. This type of dream is often the result of being under a lot of stress in the waking world.

Dreaming of Being Injured or Dying

There is a myth that if you dream of dying, then you will die in your sleep. That myth has been proven to not be true simply because dreams of dying are so common and the dreamer suffers no ill effects. Death in a dream such as this is usually a symbol for something else going on in the dreamer's life which is no longer thriving or wilting so to speak. This could be a relationship or a personal attribute and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Dreaming of Car Trouble or Losing Control of a Vehicle

This is another very common dream which is thought to symbolize the feelings the dreamer has in waking life of not being in control. The dream probably invokes fear as control of the car is lost and it veers over a cliff, and in waking life the dreamer may be feeling fear and stress that his life seems to be out of control.

Dreaming of Property Loss

Dreaming of your house being destroyed by fire is distressing. It might be a symbol from your subconscious that it is dealing with the loss, or fear of loss, of something very important to you in your waking life.

Dreaming of Poor Performance

If you dream of some aspect of poor performance in your dream, you may be feeling like you are constantly being tested in your waking world.

Dreaming of Drowning and Falling

These dreams are also extremely common and can be very distressing. It is possible that these dreams signify that you are feeling very overwhelmed in your current life situation. A drowning dream might be interpreted as your basic survival instinct trying to take over to rescue your situation since drowning battles your natural instinct to breathe.

Dreaming of Being Nude in Public

Another quite common dream theme, dreaming of being nude might indicate that you are feeling vulnerable in your waking life.

Dreaming of Missing the Bus, Plane, etc

If you dream of missing your ride, it may mean that you feel like you are missing out on something that's happening in your waking world.

Dreaming of Things That Don't Work Properly (Phones, Doorknobs, etc)

If you have a dream that your telephone is not working properly, it might be a signal from your subconscious that a part of your body is not working properly. It could also indicate that you are losing touch with something or someone in your waking life.

Dreaming of Natural Disasters

This type of dream may arise if you feel that you have personal problems which are raging out of control.

These are ten of the most common dream themes that we all share. You probably have had some of these dreams yourself and will probably have many more of them in the future. Now you have an idea of what they might mean.