The People in Your Dreams
Dreams are an amazing tool of self-exploration! When we observe our dreams, we observe the internal conversation or narrative of ourselves. Therefore, dreamwork can be an incredibly useful tool along the journey of self-discovery.
Some of the most common pieces of imagery you might find in dreams are both the people we know and love and complete strangers. As a social species, this makes total sense! Our need for community is a primitive drive we all share and the basis for how we interact with the world and the people in our dreams can tell us a lot about our own lives.
In this post we’ll discuss how to identify the meaning and purpose of particular individuals in your unique dream space from both a psychological and spiritual perspective.
*Note: dream interpretation is completely subjective to your unique life experience and dream language. Always listen to your gut, take what resonates and leave the rest.
The Psychological Angle
The majority of our dreams are psychological in nature. This is because, first and foremost, we exist in a very 3D human lifetime and it’s a top priority to process our earthly experiences. Therefore, most of people you meet in your dream space will be representative of a psychological concept.
Let’s take a look at a few different psychological meanings for the people in your dreams.
Representing a Part of You
As a professional dream interpreter I’ve found that the majority of people depicted in the dream space are not actually representing that individual — their imagery is actually a part of yourself!
The dream space is typically not a literal space. It’s designed to help you understand the context of your reality by distilling information, acting out scenarios, and gaining a solid understanding of who you are. This means that the imagery in our dream space is often not literal either.
Imagery in the dream space represents the concept behind it.
In the context of people, this means that the imagery of a person represents the concept of what they represent to you.
For example, think about a parent for a moment (everyone has or has had parents). When you think about them what emotions come to the surface first? What is your relationship with them like?
Some people may think of a healthy, loving relationship and others might feel sadness if their parent has passed on. There could be anger, regret, happiness, support, and any other emotion associated with a parent.
When I think about my mom, I think about our estranged relationship, the fact that I look almost identical to her, and complicated love. These are the concepts I have associated with her. In my dream space she usually represents a part of me that is estranged from myself, in conflict with myself, or the part of me that feels complicated love.
The people in our dreams can represent the parts of ourselves associated with the concept that person represents to us in waking life.
Here’s a few other examples:
A partner or significant other — love and how we love others
A child — sense of responsibility for what we love and what we have created
Friends — represent the activities you do with them or the version of you that comes out around them
I have a group of disc-golfing friends that I really only see when we disc golf so they usually represent the part of me that connects to nature and gets active outdoors.
I have a friend I catch up with but we really only hang out when we get food together so they represent the part of me that shares my life and practices storytelling.
A stranger — these individuals are most often representing parts of ourselves that are just emerging, memories we have not yet accepted or feeling like a stranger to your own life.
Whatever the concept is behind your relationship, the purpose of their imagery in this definition is to help you interact with the parts of yourself in your dreams. When we interact with the different parts of ourselves we can explore our experiences in greater detail, allowing us to know ourselves on a deeper level.
Representing the Relationship
This is the definition most people think of first when encountering people in their dream space. However, in my work as a dream interpreter I’ve found that this is less common than the previous definition. This is because our dreams are a completely personalized experience. Your dreams are more concerned with you.
When we’re not interacting with ourselves in the dream space though, we can absolutely explore the relationships we have with others and their imagery can represent the direct relationship.
So how do you tell the difference between a person representing a concept and a person representing your relationship with them?
Begin by defining both dreams and then feel into the definition that resonates the most and reflects your reality the most at the time of the dream.
Let’s say I have a dream where I get in a fight with my disc golf friends.
By the first definition, I determine the dream as indicating that I’m in conflict with the parts of me that like to get outside and be active. I ask myself if I’ve been avoiding exercise lately or feeling guilty for not getting outside regularly, a practice I strive to embody.
By the second definition, I determine the dream as indicating that I’m actually quarreling with my disc golf friends in waking life. I ask myself if we’ve argued about anything that could blow up into a bigger fight or if there’s tension beneath the surface.
Looking at the two interpretations I feel like the first one is accurate. I’m not currently quarreling with my friends and there’s no tension, but I haven’t been getting outside as much as I’d like to. I then determine that I’ll make an extra effort to exercise outside that day.
It really does come down to what resonates for you most.
The Spiritual Angle
Spiritually, the people in our dreams can represent everything not found in this physical existence. When determining if your dream is psychological or spiritual I recommend asking yourself about the gravity of the dream. Did the dream feel like a “meh” dream and clearly psychological or did you wake up with a sense of unexplainable profoundness and the knowing that this dream was something more?
Ancestors and Passed Loved Ones
In many spiritual dreams our ancestors and passed loved ones come to visit us. They may have wisdom to share, memories to review with you or a need to just stop by and say hello! Whatever the case, these dreams can help us connect to the sense of love that remains after they pass and work through any part of the grief process we might be ready for.
Spiritual Guides
If you’re someone who keeps asking to meet your guides within a dream, know that they may actually present themselves as a human being in your dream space.
Our dreams are the easiest place for us to digest difficult to comprehend content. As our guides exist in spaces outside of the physical, it can be a challenge to digest what we’re seeing and the purpose behind it when they show their true selves to us (also because they may not have any sort of imagery - they could be entirely made of energy).
To make a little easier for us to receive their message and interact with them, they can take on a human image in the dream space. Think of as “ease of use.”
Aliens or ETs
In a similar vein as spiritual guides, aliens and extraterrestrial beings can visit us in the dream space using human imagery to avoid the impacts of fear.
It’s in our nature and basic survival instincts to feel fear when we encounter something we do not know. These beings are aware of this and when they work in our highest good they can use our imagery to more easily and calmly connect us to helpful information.
Building Your Dream Language
Now that you have some ideas about what the people in your dream space might mean it’s time to build upon this knowledge!
Keep recording your dreams and thinking back on the individuals that show up there. Note any trends between the emotions you feel in the dream and the people who appear. Begin to identify what these people mean to you within your dreams.
Over time, your observations of these people can be added as definitions for your unique dream language, expanding your understanding of self and your internal narrative.
Meg 🐝
