Types of Dreams: Why Do Some Dreams Reoccur?

There is a type of dream that many people are familiar with called a recurring dream. This is a dream that repeats itself or a variation of itself many times over the course of a week or a month or even a lifetime. The topic of your dream can vary from mundane, everyday occurrences to extreme events like failing a test or being chased or sensations like that falling or not being able to breathe. They vary in intensity but are often traumatic and hard to forget. They stay with you in the daytime and many people can remember the details of the dream quite clearly.

Many ancient societies like Greece and Egypt believed that dreams were a method of communication from the heavens or a divine source. There are people today that still believe that and others with more scientific theories about why we have recurring dreams. The most common ones involve the speculation that it is our subconscious mind’s way of trying to send us an important message.

Still, others propose that they are triggered by stressful situations that arise in our lives such as a move, job change, or change in finances. No matter what the theory – the common theme remains that our recurring dreams mean something and it is our job to analyze them to get to the source of the meaning.

Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous dream interpreters and he proposed that all dreams are bringing to light our deepest wishes and desires. He said the main source of our dreams is problems or events that have occupied our thoughts within the last day. Modern research seems to agree with his theory and it is believed that when we stress or dwell on something in our waking hours, it tends to show up at night in our dreams as well.

So then why do some dreams become recurring? Well, there are common recurring dreams that seem to be universal, such as failing a test or still being in school years after you have graduated, being chased by a scary person or an animal, falling out of the sky right before you wake up, and seeing or communicating with deceased people in a dream. While these dreams often sound familiar to everyone, it is important to remember that meaning of the dream is quite unique to the individual.

The message or question in the dream will often relate to a problem being faced in the that person’s life. It is widely believed that the only way to stop these types of dreams from recurring is to analyze the dream to find its meaning or purpose. Once you can get to the heart of why you are having a particular dream, you can face the problem, find the solution, or vow to make the change in your life that your dream is asking you to make. Once this happens it is very often the case that the recurring dream stops showing up and your dreams take a more pleasant turn.

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