What Do Repeating Dreams Mean?
Repeating Dreams are one of the top three types of dreams I advise to pay close attention to and I’ll get into why in a bit, but first I’ll explain what a repeating dream is…
Repeating dreams, aka ‘recurring dreams’, are exactly as they sound, it’s the experience of having the same dream more than once, either every night, once a month or a few times a year.
There are different types of recurring dreams
recurring dreams
The main type of dream people are talking about when they refer to a recurring dream is when someone experiences the exact same dream on several different occasions. It’s as if you’re rewatching the same movie again and again.
recurring dream themes
Recurring dreams can refer to having the same type of dream such as dreams of being chased. The other characters and details might be similar or different each time, but the recurring theme is the dreamer is chased.
The recurring theme can occur in the main story or in the background of the dreams. For example, in one dream, the dreamer is walking through a circus and they see two clowns getting married. The second dream shows the dreamer getting married at the beach in front of an audience of trees. In a third dream, whilst gardening, they briefly notice two ladybugs standing under an archway made out of twigs making it look as if they were getting married.
In these examples, although the scenes, characters and series of events might be different, there is a repeating theme occurring.
recurring dream symbols
Recurring dream symbols is possibly more commonly experienced than having a whole dream repeat itself. A recurring dream symbol is seeing an item, character, colour or scene again and again, but in very different dreams.
Why do repeating dreams happen?
The core reason as to why dreams start to go on repeat is because something is trying to get your attention which you’re either intentionally or unintentionally avoiding.
Ultimately, if you start noticing a whole dream or an element of a dream repeating itself, it’s something worth looking into.
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What can cause a dream to repeat itself?
supressed emotions, feelings, opinions and desires
We all too often deny ourselves the chance to do something we want to do or express. When we suppress emotions, feelings, opinions and desires, we can often find ourselves expressing them in the safety of the dream realm. Sometimes the need or desire is so strong, it triggers a repeating dream.
a current situation
If it’s a current situation that is causing the recurring dream, the unconscious mind is trying to get the dreamer to pay attention and take action on what needs to happen in order to live a happier and safer life. The dream realm commonly provides a safe space for us to express our supressed emotions, feelings and opinions that we don’t feel safe expressing in our waking lives.
a past trauma
If the recurring dream is about a past traumatic experience, the dream is repeating because there’s further healing that needs to be done. Sometimes the dream can be repeating the traumatic events as if they’re happening all over again. Other times, the dream may seem unrelated to the past events until the dream is unpacked and interpreted.
These dreams aim to help us become aware of what past or current events are triggering and influencing us either consciously or unconsciously. We may have snapped at someone, started to negative self-talk or make life decisions based on avoidance without really knowing what we’re doing or why. Often. it’s due to the wounds caused by trauma or adverse experiences being triggered. Unhealed wounds can cause us to make decisions we that may or may not have been the best decisions or actions to make. Or, what we would have actually chosen for ourselves if we didn’t have those triggers.
something triggered an old healed wound
Now, let’s say you’ve healed the trauma wound, it’s been many years since and it’s now a faint scare that can hardly be seen. But suddenly, you’re experienced the recurring dream again, why? Often it’s because something happened recently, or you saw something that consciously or unconsciously reminded your nervous system about your past experience, trigging the recurring dreams to happen again.
If this happens, journal, meditate, go to therapy… do what you need to do to give this healed wound a top up of love and affection.
Keep in mind, dreams aren’t always straight forward. Dreams are more often than not, quite abstract and speak in symbolism, allegory and metaphors. If you’re experiencing a recurring dream or would like to explore a recurring dream you had in the past, you’re welcome to book in a dream interpretation with me.
How to record repeating dreams
When writing down a recurring dream, highlight any details in the dream that are different from the last time you dreamt it.
These differences between each “episode” can reveal key pieces of information. Such as, provide new information about the situation, where you are on the journey of handling the situation, give clues as to what triggered the recurring dream, and much more…
Once you have written the dream down, journal and explore what you think may have triggered it. It could be something that happened the day before the dream or a few days before.
As with any message obtained from a dream, to honour it is to put action towards it, and to put action towards it, is to live the most authentic and best life you could possibly live.
Do you have a dream journal to write your dreams in? Grab one of mine here. You get a beautiful dream journal with all the optimised features and you also get to support my work.
