Chased

What does it mean to dream about being chased?

Chased by lions…

Dream: Being chased by lions and being bit from behind. My young son has been dreaming this over and over for a month or so.

DreamsMaster: A lion generally symbolizes strength, power, courage, pride and leadership. It may also symbolize cruelty, especially if it has turned on you. The core question is whether the lions in this repetitive dream represent certain others in your son’s life that he’s feeling threatened by, or if they represent another aspect in his life or a trait in himself that he’s trying to run away from.

The fact that this dream began about a month or so ago is a significant clue to its meaning. Have your son think back on what started happening in his life back then. Did something of concern occur at school? For example, is he being bullied by someone he perceives to be a leader of an intimating group? If he cannot identify any external threat like this, ask him what else he may feel threatened by, such as overwhelming demands of school and fearing falling behind (“being bit from behind”). Most likely an event in his daily life triggered this feeling of being threatened, and the threat persists.

Regardless of whether the perceived threat is external or internal, work with your son to draw on the lion’s courage and transform the symbol from a threat to a friend. Have him draw a picture of a lion that represents strength, power and protection, and then encourage him to hang the picture where he can look at it frequently. Once he can tap into his own personal power and with your support face the threat head on, the dreams will become less threatening and likely cease altogether.

Chasing me…

Dream: I used to dream someone was chasing me to kill me. It was always a different scenario but same situation. I had a similar dream last night again. They never catch me. I always manage to get away.

DreamsMaster: Being chased in a dream immediately raises the metaphorical question, what are you running away from? The dream often involves a sense of vulnerability and lack of control, and implies there’s something in your waking world or psyche that you’re trying hard to deny or ignore but is chasing you down.

Here are some things to explore as you unravel the mystery behind this particular recurring dream of yours…

1) To start, write the theme of the dream and underline key symbols. There was not much detail in the dream you submitted, so in this case it can be as basic as: I am feeling threatened by someone, but I manage to escape.

2) Ask yourself some questions about the dream to try to recall more details, which may provide more symbols to work with. For example:

– Were you being chased by a man or a woman? When a person is undefined in a dream, s/he often represents a disowned part of oneself (our “shadow”). Describe this person in detail, perhaps even imagine interviewing him/her and asking questions such as, “Why are you pursuing me?”

– Did this person carry a weapon? If so, what was it? A gun? Knife? Do you have any personal associations to this particular type of weapon?

– Where were you when you were being chased? Was there anything familiar about the setting?

3) After you’ve probed your memory for more details of the dream, ask yourself these other questions as you try to associate the feelings and symbols from the dream to your waking life:

– What was on your mind when you went to bed last night?

– Recall the feelings you had in the dream. Did you have any similar feelings like that yesterday or last night?

4) If you don’t already have one, start keeping a journal where you can track these recurring dreams. Each time you have the dream, write it out in as much detail as possible, and be sure to note what was on your mind or what occurred the day/night before. A trend will appear, which will shed light on the message your inner self is trying to send you.

On a personal note, I used to have a similar recurring dream where I was being chased by unknown others threatening to kill me. One night while I was having this dream, in the midst of the chase the thought occurred: I’m going to die sooner or later. I’d prefer later than sooner, but if this is it, so be it. With that, I stopped running and calmly turned to face the pursuer, then gently awoke. Having faced my fear of death, I never had that dream again. And that calm acceptance of death stayed with me in the waking world, bringing a core sense of peace I had never before experienced.

Car chase…

Dream: I had a dream about being in a car chase. I wasn’t driving, a girl with brown hair was. We were being chased and I sensed rivalry between the 2 cars. The second car was being driven by a guy, but at the end 3 or 4 girls came out. I don’t understand what this means!

DreamsMaster: There’s a lot going on here. Let’s take a piece at a time then pull it all together and see what comes. I’ll project my own thoughts onto your dream, but then it’s up to you to provide your own meanings and make it your own.

First, I’m going to call out the main symbols and themes and suggest what they might mean if it were my dream…

– Car: Vehicle for getting from one place to another; source of independence.

– Someone else in the driver’s seat: Not feeling in control.

– Girl with brown hair: How would you describe this girl’s personality? I’m going to project onto her the character traits of Courage and Drive (pun intended).

– Rivalry between two cars: Could represent two parts of myself in conflict, competing.

– Second car being driven by a guy: How would you describe this guy? I project onto him the character trait of competing for the sake of ego.

– Several girls come out of the second car in the end: To me this adds to the idea that the second car represents ego, and the girls represent admiration – stroking the guy’s ego.

Putting this all together, if it were my dream, it could mean that there’s a part of me with the Courage and Drive to achieve my goals, competing with another part of me that’s caught up in my Ego and need for Admiration. The fact that I’m a passenger in this drama means to me that I’m not taking control of the situation.

All that said, the message I might take away from the dream is that I need to be a more active participant in my life right now and not let circumstances and opinions of those around me dictate the goals I need to set for myself and my path to achieving them.

Submit a dream of your own to the DreamsMaster…