Dream Characters

Why are dreams sometimes more like movies cast with a selection of your greatest friends and worst enemies? It's time to discover the meaning behind the characters who frequent your dreams!

Here's what to do:

Step 1
Think of three people who have been in your dreams. Write their names on a piece of paper. (They can be real people you know, or famous people, or characters from fiction - as long as you have dreamt about them!)

Step 2
Take each person in turn and think of three words to describe their personality. Write them down. If you find it hard to do this, think of how they approach their lives and write that down instead.

Example:
Dave                 kind, easy-going, quiet
Uncle Steve      loud, busy, doesn't care
Bart Simpson   doesn't mind being different, tricks people, speaks out

So where does this get you?

There are many reasons why other people turn up in our dreams, but mostly it's because of what they represent to us. Our dreams go over things we are dealing with or trying to work out in our everyday lives, looking for new ideas and solutions. Mostly, throughout our lives, we try out different ways of acting and behaving in the world, different ways of relating with people, looking for the way that works best and feels right. As we do this and experience other peoples reactions to us, our thoughts, feelings and attitudes about the world change. Other people often come into our dreams as symbols of certain ways of behaving and being that we have come up against.

In the example, perhaps the dreamer has been working out how to get a balance between being too quiet and too loud. Perhaps the dreamer feels that being quiet is linked with being too easy-going but being loud is linked with not caring. Perhaps the dreamer is experimenting with being more like Bart: speaking out, not minding being a bit different, but having a kind heart underneath all the fun and games.

Can you see why the people on your list might be have been in your dreams at one time or another?

Although there are many other reasons why various people come into our dreams, one of the most important reasons is because we are such complicated people ourselves. We are 'made up' of little bits of all the people we have ever known, or seen, or read about. We take thoughts and attitudes from some people while we dislike other people so much that we become very different from them to avoid being anything like them. In this way EVERYONE influences who we are, how we think and how we approach the world. Like many dream interpreters, I see other people in our dreams as representing ASPECTS of ourselves because of this.

We are made up of so many aspects - so many parts - perhaps, at the end of the day, we are all ONE after all.

Further Reading:

1. "How to Interpret Your Dreams", Chapter 2: I'll See You In My Dreams - The People Method.
An online book by Jane Teresa Anderson.

2. "Sleep On It and change your life", Chapter 15: Who Are All Those People?
Published by HarperCollins Australia, 1994, by Jane Teresa Anderson (read online at the link).

Further Project Resources Pages:

Dream Puns & Puzzles
Ideas for Dream Projects