Lost Keys and Recurring Dreams

Never a Fun Combination!

I was recently asked about “Lost Key” dreams – dreams that are obviously frustrating at best!  The frustration is multiplied when the dreams are recurring, like this particular dreamer’s were. When a dream puts itself in reruns, it always leaves the dreamer perplexed.



Why is my mind doing this?!

The wonderful thing about “lost key” dreams is the fact that they’re usually pretty easy to interpret and analyze.  Simply put… something’s missing! When we dream that we can’t find an object (or person, place…), the symbolism is generally of something we’re “looking” for in our day to day lives.  This could refer to any number of things, such as:

  • love
  • peace of mind
  • an answer to a particular problem
  • better health
  • weight loss
  • money
  • job or career
  • car, house, or furniture
  • better relationship(s)
  • school or college
  • how to find enough time for everything you need to do
  • etc…

It could be absolutely anything that you’re searching for on somewhat of a daily basis.

When you have recurring dreams, you can rest assured that your subconscious mind is trying to tell you something. More importantly, it’s actually trying to “work something” out in the dream(s).

Our minds are amazing and complex things.  The mind knows that when you’re asleep, all distractions are gone. The mind sees this scenario as the perfect time to “work out” issues or even hammer things out in an attempt to find a solution or a “best possible answer.”



If you’re experiencing recurring dreams (whether they’re about lost keys or something else), your mind is working hard to come up with an answer that’s eluding it. It may or may not mean that the problem is huge.  In fact, if the problem WERE really big, it’d be pretty obvious to you when you were thinking about the dream.

Here’s an exercise that works for analyzing key dreams:

  1. Write down the first 3 things that come to mind after reading this question: “”What am I looking for that seems to be eluding me lately?” You may very well answer only one thing – if so, you certainly know your answer!
  2. If you do come up with 3 different answers and each seem to “weigh” the same in your mind, you’ll discover that you’re looking for more than you realized. If this is the case, it’d certainly explain why this dream is recurring. You’re looking for more than one answer.
  3. When coming up with the 3 (and remember there may only be 1 or 2), DON’T force it. If you have to pause and think, the answer isn’t that important to your subconscious mind. The answer(s) that really matter will come to you almost immediately.

More about Recurring Dreams in the next post.