Dreams About Snakes in the Grass
I had a dream three nights ago that I can’t shake. I was in the yard, at a picnic or something like that. I looked down and saw a snake coming toward me in the grass. No matter where I tried to run, there he was following me. I felt so scared and helpless because no matter where I went, he came.
I ran into a circus type tent and thought I was safe. But then the ring leader, who looked more like a talk show host, held the snake up in the air and started walking toward me with it. The snake still had grass on it and was, at first, playing dead. Then he reared up and looked really angry. I knew he was mad that I had tried to get away from him. Thankfully I woke up before the ringleader and the snake got to me.
I can’t get this dream out of my head and keep expecting a snake to be everywhere. I hate snakes anyway, so this is a really horrible deal for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. It may sound silly, but I don’t even want to go outside.
I can totally relate to you – snakes are one of my own biggest fears, so I don’t think it sounds silly. You will get over this feeling in a few days, though, so don’t worry about it too much.
A few things strike me about your dream.
- The fact that you said you couldn’t “shake” the dream and that it is affecting you so strongly that you expect a snake to be “everywhere” mean a great deal. It takes a particularly powerful and vivid dream to stay with a dreamer like this. This is almost always an indication that there are extremely strong emotions tied to the interpretation of this dream.
- Most dreams involving snakes stay in our minds because of a snake’s symbolism. We associate snakes with satan to a great extent, thanks to the Garden of Eden. It’s hard to get any scarier than that, right?! Even thought any animal could have been used to speak to Eve, the fact that satan chose a snake stays with us.
- Your snake was so persistent! This is another indication of the importance of this dream’s interpretation.
- The fact that you said you were scared and felt helpless are huge.
This dream seems to indicate that you are feeling more helpless lately than you have ever felt before. Because of the impact this dream is having on you, I’d say that feeling helpless is a feeling you aren’t at all familiar with. The fact that your subconscious mind chose something you hate so passionately (snakes) is a clear indication of the inner turmoil you’re feeling. You probably aren’t even fully aware of just how much stress you’ve been under or how helpless you’ve been made to feel.
Once you realize that the snake in the grass was merely symbolic for this emotion, you’ll realize that you don’t have anything to fear around the next corner – not even outside! This snake in your dream only symbolizes whatever it is in your day to day life that you feel helpless against.
When you find a way to deal with this particular problem, you will have won the battle!
Until then, here’s something to keep in mind about snakes – so many of us are afraid of them, but we can’t name one single person we know who has ever been bit by one. Yet, most of us can name several people who’ve been bit by dogs or cats – yet we aren’t afraid of them in the least! Or cars – most of us know of people who’ve been badly hurt in car wrecks, but we get into them every day without fear. I, myself, have been in 3 car wrecks and have never been approached by a snake EVER, yet I’m terrified of one and can’t imagine life without the other.
Try to focus on solving whatever it is in your life that has made you feel helpless and overcome it. Try not to dwell too much on snake dreams. When you do think about it – be thankful! He may have helped draw attention to something in your world that you need to address before it gets the better of you.
What Does it Mean to Dream of Death?
A lot of people have the mistaken idea that dreaming of death foretells of a loved one dying.
First of all, dreams are a many things, but psychic they are not. Our dreams reflect what is going on inside our minds and hearts. They deal with (and sort out) things that we are currently experiencing or things that we have currently experienced.
Now having said that, we can take the information and symbolism found in our dreams to help us in the future. So, in that regard, they can provide warnings and admonitions. However, please don’t ever think they foretell bad omens or that dreaming of darkness is a prediction for upcoming darkness.
If you have had a dream which involved death, rest assured that you are far from alone. We’ve all had death dreams and, while troubling, we all know that they slink out of our lives just as fast as they slunk in.
Death dreams generally mean that you are anxious or worried. You may not fully realize how much anxiety you’re actually feeling. Many times, troubling dreams like this wave a flag for the individual and cause them to realize just how much stress they’ve been under. The dreamer can then realize that they need to pull back a little bit – enjoy life more rather than just anxiously trying to get from point A to point B!
Almost all dreams of dying can be traced back to an overworked, overly anxious individual very much in need of some time off!
What Does it Mean When You Dream of Choking?
Below is a dream submitted this past week:
I every once in a while have this dream. I am eating something sometimes, but there are other times it just happens. I get a string caught during swallowing and I have to loosen my throat muscles to pull it back out. When i attempt to pull it out, it is a never ending string that just goes on and on and on. I see myself and feel myself pulling for a long time. The thing that is weird is that I can feel this and I dread dreaming this. It is soo uncomfortable. Is this a common dream? What is your interpretation of this dream? Thanks!
I’ve read your dream through four times to try to get a really good handle on it. If you had just had this dream once I would have thought it was connected to something like flossing before bed. I have a tendency to floss too hard sometimes and if my gums bleed, I can expect to be harmed at some point in my dreams. Needless to say, I’ve started being more careful when flossing!
The fact that you’ve had this sort of dream more than once leads me to believe that there’s a little more to it than just this sort of “association” type of dream.
When I read your dream I get the feeling that your predominant emotion during the dream is frustration. Sure, it’s uncomfortable and the situation puts you in a bad position, but I think the most important thing to notice is that you feel frustrated by several things:
1. You’re frustrated that the choking occurs in the first place – as you said, sometimes even when you aren’t eating in your dream.
2. You’re frustrated that you have to contort your throat muscles in a manner to try to prevent the choking.
3. You’re frustrated that you pull and pull but can’t get to the end of the string.
In dreams that I call “Frustration Dreams,” you can usually expect to hear the dreamer use the following phrases:
- It went on and on and on…
- It seemed like it took forever…
- No matter what I did, I couldn’t…..
- No one would listen to me…..
- Never ending…
- Impossible…..
They also will frequently comment about something lasting a long time. When I read “…it is a never ending string that just goes on and on and on….” in your dream description, I knew we were dealing with a frustration dream of some type. It’s an absolutely beautiful example of this type of dream.
Usually frustration dreams are brought on by things in our day to day life that we feel powerless against. These things are either courtesy of other people (things others do that frustrate us) or they’re courtesy of our ourselves (things we, ourselves, do that frustrate us).
The fact that your frustration dream involves the face is very, very important. This is a key symbolism that means the frustration is extremely personal. When we dream about a part of our body, it means that that dream meaning is a very personal one.
The tricky thing is that this could mean one of two things, and only you will know for sure which one it is. Your dream is an indication that you are either:
- Frustrated by a habit or thought that you can’t quit doing or thinking. Many people have this sort of dream when they can’t quit procrastinating, can’t “get over” an ex, can’t stop a particular habit such as biting their nails or smoking, etc. I once had a string of frustrating dreams when I consistently failed to make time to exercise!
- If you aren’t frustrated with something that the person in the mirror is or isn’t doing, then the dream would indicate that you are frustrated with something someone else does. This person would be someone extremely close to you – someone who would be of the utmost importance to you. The symbolism of your mouth would indicate that it is probably someone you are connected to in a romantic way.
I want to mention something about choking dreams. If you had experienced an isolated dream about choking and your emotions were primarily fear and/or embarrassment, I would suggest that you had recently said something you regretted. However, you have had several of these dreams and you just don’t strike me as a person who puts their foot in their mouth on a daily basis!
Also, as I said before, the primary emotion seems to be frustration.
As for bringing an end to the dreams, my first suggestion would be to try very hard NOT to think about the dreams or their details. Before bedtime, think about anything and everything BUT these dreams – or about anything that frustrates you at all. Read a great novel, watch television, or take a blissful bubble bath.
Finally, if you can pinpoint where the frustration is coming from, you’ll double your odds of ending these dreams.
Best of luck!
Dreams About Lost Loved Ones – What Do These Dreams Mean?
Over the years, the most asked questions and requested Dream Interpretations consistently involve dreams about lost loved ones. I think there are several reasons for this.
- Some people want to know what the dreams mean.
- Some dreamers believe that their loved ones are trying to communicate with them.
- These dreams are often recurring and people want to know when they’ll stop.
- If the wounds are still fresh from having lost this individual, dreamers want the dreams to go away and are seeking advice on how to make them do just that.
First of all, having never been “on the other side,” I have no idea whatsoever if lost loved ones try to (or are even able to) communicate with their loved ones through dreams. However, I’ve lost a lot of loved ones – including my mom and dad, each who passed away far sooner (and younger) than anyone would have expected. From these experiences, I do know feel 100 percent that our loved ones communicate with us in the waking world. I’ve had far too many beautiful experiences to even begin to doubt this. However, I’ve never had a dream that I, personally, felt was from a lost loved one.
They weren’t dreams that left me happy or encouraged – they always caused me to feel sad. I KNOW for a fact my loved ones wouldn’t have wished that on me.
For this reason, I believe that when we dream of our lost loved ones, it’s a clear case of one thing and one thing only: Our brains are trying to find a way to deal with and come to terms with this most unthinkable situation. The grief, complete and utter devastation and helplessness that associate the loss of loved ones is almost too much for our brains to handle. The “WHY“s and “WHAT IF“s are overwhelming. We wonder why it had to happen, what we could have done differently (while they were living), what if something different had happened – something that would have kept them with us, etc.
If you think about it, that’s an unreal amount of information and grief for our minds and hearts to cope with. During the day, we “stay busy” and “keep our minds occupied” (in other words, we do what we have to do to keep from crying and/or throwing things 24/7). So, when we’re finally asleep, it’s as though our mind says, “Finally! They’re still. They’re quiet. Let me try to sort this out.”
You’ve heard of the saying, “I’m trying to wrap my mind around something,” right? In this case, it’s as though the mind is trying to wrap itself around something. Something that, frankly, can’t totally be wrapped around.
Unfortunately, these dreams are as much a part of the grieving process as tears are. Trust me, they do go away – and, fortunately, they don’t happen every single night for most people.
The only advice I can give is this:
- Try not to focus on the dreams. Don’t replay them in your mind over and over again – it’s sort of like a slow torture. The more we relive a dream, the more likely a similar one is to recur.
- During the day, try to keep your thoughts directed more on the loved one’s life than their death. Keep them alive in your mind and heart by thinking of things you did together, times they made you laugh, times you made them laugh, the sound of their voice, etc. A lot of people try to avoid these thoughts because they think they’ll make the dreams worse. They’ll actually help. By contrast, however, don’t dwell on the funeral, regrets, etc. Don’t take part in the typical (and understandable) conversations that ask what could have been done, “Why did this happen,” and so on. Looking for answers that don’t exist will only frustrate you mind further, which will lead to it trying to sort things out while you’re asleep.
- A word about regrets. Never, ever allow regrets to dominate your thoughts. Don’t let them rent a room in your mind’s chambers and NEVER let them move in! Think about it this way – what if it had been YOU who’d passed away? Would this loved one have things he or she would regret? Of course! We’re all human, capable of human frailties and faults. But, would you want them to be haunted by regrets or guilt? Of course not. You’d want to tell them, “Forget about that. I never gave it a second thought – I know you loved me. Only remember the good times. I don’t want to be remembered with tears or pain – I want to be remembered positively with laughter and smiles.”
Your lost loved ones soon become a normal part of the fabric of your dreams. They’ll often show up, just as though they were still alive and had never gone anywhere. My dad was in a dream of mine a few weeks ago, eating green beans biscuits, and chicken that I’d cooked for him. I woke up smiling because it was like a sweet little visit with someone who always made me laugh.
If you’re experiencing unsettling dreams, just keep reminding yourself that they’ll soon become dreams you look forward to rather than dread. Until then, bear down and get through this part of the healing process as well as you can. You’re in my thoughts and I’m truly, truly sorry for your loss.
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