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9 Spiritual Meanings & Interpretations When You Dream about Dreaming

9 Spiritual Meanings & Interpretations When You Dream about Dreaming

Many people believe that when we dream, it can carry an important message that we should try to interpret or that it can presage the future. And when we have the rare experience of dreaming about dreaming, the message can be even more powerful and important.

If you have recently dreamt about dreaming, you should try to understand what it meant since the dream may carry a vital message that you shouldn’t miss. So to help, in this post, we discuss how to interpret a dream about dreaming.

Dream about Dreaming – What is a dream within a dream?

Whether we remember them or not, everybody has dreams. Currently, science doesn’t know exactly what function dreams have, but some theories suggest that they help to cleanse our minds of unwanted junk as well as playing a role in memory formation and retention.

At the same time, many people also believe that some or all of our dreams carry messages from our unconscious minds or even from the spirit realm and that the meaning of the dream can be determined by trying to interpret the symbolism of what happened in a dream.

However, while many dreams are common, dreaming about dreaming is something we encounter much more infrequently – although it’s still something that many people experience.

Dreams within dreams can take several forms. Perhaps the most common example is when we dream about waking up and being late for school or work. This is a kind of dream many people will be familiar with, and often, the shock of this type of dream causes us to wake up for real.

Less common is when we dream that we wake up – but in reality, we are still dreaming. In the dream, we think we are awake, but everything feels somehow “off” in subtle and almost imperceptible ways.

This second type of dream within a dream can feel particularly disconcerting since we believe we are awake, but the world around us feels strange and unfamiliar.

If you have a dream of this kind, it’s important to try to interpret what happened because dreams like this can carry important, powerful or even urgent messages that we shouldn’t ignore.

How to interpret dreams within dreams

having a dream within a dream

Just like with any other type of dream, interpreting a dream about a dream is subjective and depends on several factors.

First, you need to pay attention to the exact details of what was going on in the dream. Where were you? What happened in the dream? What did you see? And how did you feel about what was happening and the things you saw?

Then you also need to think about any issues you are experiencing in your waking life at the moment. What preoccupations or anxieties do you have? Which areas do you need help or advice in? What are the answers you are currently searching for?

With this information, you should then find a quiet space to meditate and reflect on your dream, and by applying what you dreamt about to your current life situation, your intuition will guide you to the correct interpretation.

Now let’s have a look at some possible meanings a dream about a dream can have.

Meanings of dreaming about dreaming

There are several possible reasons for us to dream that we are dreaming. Here are some of the most likely explanations.

1. Trying to hide or bury emotions

If you dream about dreaming, it could be an indication that you are suppressing or trying to hide your emotions.

If you bury emotions, especially negative ones, instead of facing them and dealing with them, they will try their hardest to come out somewhere.

This means if you push them down to a place where your conscious mind is unaware of them, they will try to surface in any way they can such as through dreams – or even dreams within dreams.

If you dream about dreaming, spend time reflecting on whether you are suppressing important and powerful emotions. Is there something in your life you are unwilling to face up to? Has someone hurt you, but you don’t want to confront the emotional anguish?

By facing thoughts such as these through deep reflection and meditation, you may be able to find the truth of why you are dreaming about dreams while you sleep.

2. Anxiety or stress in your life

Another reason for dreams about dreaming is that you are experiencing anxiety or stress in your life – and this is especially true when we try to “soldier on” rather than confront the issues in our lives that are causing the negative feelings.

Perhaps you are subconsciously convincing yourself that everything is ok, but deep down, you have issues that need to be dealt with in a more open and honest way.

Consider what is making you feel this way and think about how you can resolve these issues in your life. A message like this in your dream is not one that should be ignored since it points to problems with your mental or spiritual well-being.

dream in a dream

3. An important message from the spiritual world

Dreaming about dreaming is not common, but when it happens, you should never take it lightly.

Rather, you should spend time analyzing the dream – as well as your reaction to it, your feelings and your current life situation – because it may carry an important message from the spirit world.

In our daily lives, we are constantly being watched over by guardian angels as well as the spirits of our departed loved ones, and sometimes, these angels and spirits try to contact us.

Since they can’t do this directly, they use a variety of mediums, including angel numbers – and dreams.

However, sometimes we might not be receptive to the messages they send, and we may ignore or suppress these messages.

When this happens, it’s possible that the spirits or angels can try even harder to contact us, and when a regular dream isn’t enough to get through, a dream within a dream can be an indication that they are striving to communicate with us.

For this reason, when we dream about dreaming, it’s important not to ignore it. Take time to meditate on what occurred in the dream and analyze it closely.

What was happening at the different levels of the dream? What were you experiencing when you awoke from the dream within the dream? How did you feel? Were you happy or sad? Were you anxious? Were you afraid?

What are you going through in your life at the moment? And what answers are you seeking? How could this dream within a dream be interpreted as an answer to an important question you are asking?

Perhaps the angel or spirit was offering encouragement, but according to the context of the dream, it could also be a warning.

Sometimes it can be difficult to unravel all of these elements, but by following your intuition, you will be able to understand what message the dream was meant to bring.

4. You are trying to block a message

Just as angels and spirits can send messages to you in dreams, so can the wider universe. And when you dream about dreaming, it can indicate that you are unreceptive to messages that are being sent to you in other ways.

If this is the case, it’s a good idea to think about the spiritual side of things more deeply.

Are you neglecting your spiritual life in favor of the material world? Why are you not receiving the messages that are being sent to you? What is blocking the messages? Is it because you are unreceptive or because someone else’s negative energy is blocking them?

To live a healthy and fulfilled life, we need to balance the physical with the spiritual, so even if you can’t find the correct interpretation for the dream, it could be a clear indication that you are neglecting the spiritual aspects of your existence.

In this case, simply opening yourself more to your spiritual side may allow you to receive the message in another way. Alternatively, the message itself could be that you need to pay more attention to the spiritual side of your life.

5. Self-deception

Another possibility when you experience a dream within a dream is that you are somehow deceiving yourself. The first dream represents the falsehood that you are telling yourself, and waking from that dream into another dream symbolizes the truth you are hiding from.

If you dream about waking from a dream, you should consider if there are any aspects of your life you are not being honest about – even with yourself.

Are you in a relationship that you know is toxic but yet you continue to convince yourself that everything is fine?

Do you need a change of job or a change of direction, but you keep telling yourself that what you are doing or where you are in life is all ok?

As always, when you have a dream like this, take time to reflect deeply and meditate on what happened and how you felt. Apply the dream to different areas of your life and try to ascertain what part of your life the message was about.

Then, once you understand what the message meant, you can then take the necessary steps to rectify the problem and start enjoying a more fulfilled life.

6. Good news on the way

Often dreams about dreams can be warning signs or messages that something needs to change – often the dream is about something being hidden from you or you being unreceptive to a message from the spirit world.

However, sometimes the message can be positive too.

In some cases, this message can tell you that good news is on the way, and to understand what it is, you should pay careful attention to what happened in the dream.

For example, in the first dream, you could be concerned about your financial situation. It could be that you owe money, and you were dreaming about not being able to pay back your loans.

However, when you awoke into the second dream, you may have felt the weight of owing money being lifted – in which case, it could be a sign that your problems in real life will also soon disappear.

Similarly, such a dream could announce a new baby in the family, a wedding or some other such momentous occasion.

dream inside a dream

Other reasons for dreaming about dreaming

There are some other reasons why you might dream about dreaming other than receiving messages from the spirit world. Here are a couple of the more common possibilities.

7. After a difficult day

If you come home after a difficult day, when you go to sleep, your mind will have a lot of emotions and thoughts to process.

As a result, you can end up dreaming about dreaming as your subconscious mind attempts to deal with everything that has happened during the day.

8. Going to sleep in a troubled state

Similar to coming home after a difficult day, if you go to sleep with too many worries, preoccupations or anxieties, it can cause you to dream about dreaming.

Again, this is your brain’s way of processing your various emotions when it is struggling to deal with everything that is going on.

To avoid this, you should take time before you go to bed to meditate on everything that is troubling you in your life. This way, by dealing with negative emotions consciously and while you’re awake, you will ensure you can have deeper and more rejuvenating sleep at night.

9. Boredom

It’s also possible that if your mind is simply bored and unstimulated, it may cause you to dream about dreaming.

This is nothing more than your mind trying to amuse itself, and the way to avoid this is to make sure you live a full and fulfilled life, both in the physical world and in the spiritual one.

An important type of dream to interpret

As we have seen, there are several possible interpretations for dreaming about dreaming, but in almost all cases, the message being conveyed to you is important and shouldn’t be ignored.

Interpreting any dream is a personal and subjective matter. However, by using meditation, deep thought and reflection – and allowing your intuition to guide you – you are sure to come to a full understanding of what the dream meant.