Wednesday Whatever – Dreams, Continued

Falling

Falling dreams are another theme that is quite common in the world of dreams. Contrary to popular myth, you will not actually die if you do not wake up before your hit the ground during a fall. As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling over-whelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. Dreams that start off with flight but end with crashing to earth usually indicate a loss of control or fear of failure. Ironically, these dreams may also point to a fear of success.

They may reflect the way you feel in your relationship or in your work environment. You have lost your foothold and can not hang on or keep up with the hustle and bustle of daily life. When you fall, there is nothing that you can hold on to. You more or less are forced toward this downward motion without any control. This loss of control may parallel a waking situation in your life. Falling dreams also often reflect a sense of failure or inferiority in some circumstance or situation. It may be the fear of failing in your job/school, loss of status, or failure in love. You feel shameful and lack a sense of pride. You are unable to keep up with the status quo or that you don't measure up.  According to Freudian theory, dreams of falling indicate that you are contemplating giving into a sexual urge or impulse. (go figger – Freud blaming sex..? lol) The implication being you may be lacking in indiscretion.

Falling dreams typically occur during the first stage of sleep. When falling asleep, a healthy person may experience an alarming jerk that brings him suddenly wide awake, often with the vivid impression of a frightening dream, e.g., one involving a fall. Sometimes when we have these falling dreams, we feel our whole body jerk or twitch and we awaken from this jerk. It is thought that this jerking action is part of an arousal mechanism that allows the sleeper to awaken and become quickly alert and responsive to possible threats in the environment. Many people, asking their physicians about these jerks, get some such explanation as, "It's your muscles relaxing suddenly as you unwind." This explanation sometimes helps, but it makes no scientific sense. The fact is, medical science knows little about the phenomenon. Falling dreams that occur shortly after sleep can occasionally be blamed on more mundane causes -  shifting from an upright to prone position may cause a drop in blood pressure which the dreaming mind then translates into a falling sensation.

According to biblical interpretations, dreams about falling have a negative overtone and suggest that man is acting and walking according to his own way of thinking and not those of the Lord.

Taking An Exam or Test

To dream that you are taking an exam indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinized in some way. Such dreams highlight your feelings of being anxious and agitated. You may find that you cannot answer any of the questions on the test or that the test is in some foreign language. Is time running out and you find that you can not complete the exam in the allowed time? Or are you late to the exam? Does your pencil keep breaking during the exam? Such factors contribute to you failing this test.

These dreams usually have to do with your self-esteem and confidence or your lack of. You are worried that you are not making the grade and measuring up to other people's expectations of you. You may also experience the fear of not being accepted, not being prepared, or not being good enough. You feel nervous, insecure and tend to believe the worst about yourself. These dreams also suggest that you may feel unprepared for a challenge. For example, maybe you feel you have been put under too much strain in a new job recently or you feel like you’re losing control over your relationships with others. Perhaps you are not ready and feel unprepared to move onto a new stage in your life.

Rarely, are these dreams about the content of the test, but rather the process and how you are feeling during the exam taking process. Generally, you feel distressed and frustrated. These feelings may parallel how you are feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like. The effect of such test and exam dreams is not pleasant. Test dreams leave a person with a thought that he / she would not able to accomplish anything in their life. They are left frustrated and disappointed. Exam dreams can lead to low self-esteem and insecurity in the life of the individual.

Dreams of this nature are also an indication that you are being judged and this dream is a signal for you to examine an aspect of yourself that you may have been neglecting and need to pay attention to. You may harbor some guilt because of your neglect in preparation for a school exam, meeting, business project, or some challenge. Most of the time people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real life. This dream goes back to their fear and anxiety that they may not meet other's standards of them. They are afraid to let others down. What you should try to do is to make a link between the dream and the current situation you are in. If you are able to find that missing link then you can find ways to sort it out. Stress could also be one such missing link example. You need to gather yourself up and take on the challenge that life has posed before you. Always try to put in your best and leave no room for regrets.

Next, we’ll look at some more specific symbols that appear in dreams and what they might mean. Some dreams leave a general impression, while others burn their specifics into your mind, there to stay for the rest of eternity (or until CRS* kicks in…)

Sources:

Dream Moods
Bella Online
So You Had A Dream
Time Magazine

*Can’t Remember Shit

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