Interpreting your relationship: 5 common dream symbols and their meanings
It can be familiar or alarming when partners, lovers, strangers, and former spouses or boyfriends make an appearance in dreams, especially when the dreams in question may concern power and sex. Dreams can increase during times of stress. They may also be more prevalent after the creative process and may help process PTSD. What does it mean when your love interest or sexual partner makes an appear your dreams?
Driving with partner
I often have dreams about driving. After suffering through two car accidents in one week in 2009, some of these dreams felt very real and literal. Whether the dreams were recollections of the accidents or occurring under other circumstances, my husband was with me in the car. Sometimes he was driving and other times he was asking me to drive.
The worst dreams involved me in the driver’s seat-especially when the brakes gave out. This likely indicated that I couldn’t control (or slow) the aftermath of the actual car accident. It impacted our lives severely and there was no slowing down.
Jumping off of cliff
Every now and then, I have dreams about jumping or driving off of cliffs. In these dreams, sometimes I’m alone and sometimes others are with me. When I was in the midst of making a career decision, my husband encouraged me to take a risk. When I fell asleep, I dreamed that he pushed me off of a cliff.
This represented his desire to push me a bit further than I was willing to push myself. He believed in my ability to cope with a career change. When I woke up, I made the decision about the change-and went through with it.
Losing teeth
Dreaming about tooth loss is a recurring and disturbing dream for me. It’s worse when others are near me in the dream. Sometimes I’ll have tooth loss dreams and I will beg for help-but due to the loss of teeth, my husband can’t understand me or he doesn’t know how to help. Other times, I know the tooth loss will happen and no one will believe me.
Losing teeth represented a loss of power. After the tooth loss in the dreams, I felt embarrassed and exposed without my teeth. What bothered me more was seeing my husband (also my financial partner) unable to help me cope with the stress of losing social influence or money.
Nudity
Nudity in dreams may represent feeling completely exposed. Dreams about going to work or school in one’s birthday suit can induce a sense of panic in the dream. When I had a standard ‘naked dream’ one night, my husband was also there. However, it wasn’t a fun bedroom dream. In the dream, I was embarrassing him because I was being completely inappropriate by wearing no clothes in public.
After this dream, I reassessed my behavior and checked in with him. While he didn’t find it embarrassing or extreme, he did feel that I was over-analyzing some social situations.
Sex with strangers
As a happily married woman, the ‘sex with strangers’ dream is most disturbing. I’ve only had this one a few times and have had it while single, in a relationship and married. In the dream, there’s intercourse-but I can’t discern the identity of the male in the dream.
Experts reveal that the ‘sex with strangers’ dream are expressions of desires for more bedroom adventures or general mystery and excitement in life.
While some of the dreams are rather shocking, I’ve learned how to deal with dreams involving romance:
- Don’t over-analyze
- Recognize that some occurrences and objects are symbols for other things
- Laugh about them and discuss what they might actually mean with my husband
Recognizing the fact that my body is using dreams as healthy means of processing conflicts and anxiety also helps, highlighting the issues that require my attention during the day.
