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What are bear dreams about?

Bears are large mammals that hibernate during the winter. This symbol is identified by words like bear.

Bears in dreams is a relatively uncommon dream symbol, occuring in about 1.1% of dreams. That's about 1 out of every 95 dreams.

What are the major highlights of bear dreams?

Bears is a normal dream symbol. Having bears in a dream changes the dream in the same way as most other dream symbols.

Dreams of bears are aggressive

Bear dreams have more aggressive interactions than a lot of other dream symbols. This doesn't mean that all bears have aggressive interactions or only aggressive interactions. It simply means that having bears in a dream increases the probability this dream contains aggression. Other symbols that are like this include cameras, strangling, Afghanistan, holding, helicopters, creatures, wildfires, wind, Darth Vader, and escaping.

Bear dreams are very social

Dreams of bears contain more characters than most other dream symbols. While dreams are often about other people and social relationships, dreams of bears are especially related to having lots of characters. Other symbols that are like this include witches, friendly interactions, general insects, worms, friends, robots, lions, seeing a dead relative, spirits, and teenagers.

How does the dream symbol of bears affect the different aspects of a dream?

Explore different elements related to dreams of bears

Who is in bears dreams?

Overall, dreams with bears are much more related to characters in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are much more related to animals than dreams in general. They are less related to different roles, less related to distant people, and less related to close people.

Animals

much more than usual

Insects

the same as usual

Different roles

less than usual

Fantastic beings

the same as usual

Distant people

less than usual

Close people

less than usual

Family

the same as usual

Romantic partners

the same as usual
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What are the emotions in bears dreams?

Overall, dreams with bears are aren't really related to emotions in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are more related to happiness, more related to grief and sorrow, and more related to fear than dreams in general. They are less related to embarrassment, less related to confusion, and less related to hatred.

Happiness

more than usual

Sadness

the same as usual

Grief and sorrow

more than usual

Embarrassment

less than usual

Confusion

less than usual

Fear

more than usual

Pain

the same as usual

Hatred

less than usual

Fun

less than usual

Love

the same as usual
Show Detail

Who is in bears dreams?

Overall, dreams with bears are less related to places in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are more related to natural places than dreams in general. They are less related to work, less related to human places, and less related to transportation.

Home

the same as usual

Work

less than usual

Human places

less than usual

Transportation

less than usual

Natural places

more than usual

Magical places

the same as usual
Show Detail

What happens in bears dreams?

Overall, dreams with bears are less related to events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are more related to aggressive interactions than dreams in general.

Aggressive interactions

more than usual

Friendly interactions

the same as usual

Sex

the same as usual

Disasters

the same as usual
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How do bears in dreams related to other dream phenomenon?

Overall, dreams with bears are aren't really related to dream events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are more related to recurring dreams than dreams in general. They are less related to waking life.

Lucid dreams

the same as usual

Nightmares

the same as usual

Recurring dreams

more than usual

Recurring nightmares

the same as usual

Sleep paralysis

the same as usual

Sleeping

the same as usual

Waking life

less than usual
Show Detail

How do bears in dreams related the senses?

Overall, dreams with bears are less related to senses in dreams. Specifically, dreams of bears are more related to smelling than dreams in general. They are less related to vision.

Hearing

the same as usual

Smelling

more than usual

Taste

the same as usual

Vision

less than usual

Touch

the same as usual
Show Detail

How can you make sense of bears in dreams?

Bear dreams are relatively uncommon. Among other things bear dreams are normally interconnect, aggressive, and very social.

Do you think this is true for your dream of bears? How might your dream of bears be different?

All dreams have meaning

You can gain insight from thinking about any dream, no matter how strange. Only you, as the dreamer, have final say on what your dream may or may not mean. Each dream is unique.

Look for the differences

The DreamWell dictionary provides information on how each dream symbol appears in dreams in general. Finding how experience bears in dreams can be a key to understanding its meaning.

Return to the feelings

Our emotions in dreams can help us understand its meaning. Pay attention to how you felt in the dream. Pay attention to how you feel about bears in dreams. See how you feel about bears now, in your waking life.

What are possible meanings for dreams of bears?

Depending on the breed, a bear can be aggressive or docile, and the difference has implications for the meaning of the bear in your dream. For example, Winnie the Pooh is a docile characterization of a bear, and panda bears are thought of as cute and harmless. But grizzlies are known for their ferocity. A grizzly is more likely to be a symbol of ferocity than docility.

Large bears are very powerful and can symbolize great strength. It’s a coarse sort of strength, and when mastered can make you master of your domain, a pillar, especially in difficult situations.

A wild bear can symbolize that your strength and instincts are untamed.

A powerful bear can symbolize a situation that can’t be changed, or a person is set in their ways.

A bear can symbolize something menacing—especially the menace of a powerful or intimidating personality.

Bears are slow to anger but overwhelming when they attack, which is a great metaphor for when a usually docile person is poked one too many times. The same association can be used to symbolize the unconscious mind. It too moves slowly but can be fierce and unstoppable when roused or protective.

The unconscious mind is the primary source of human creativity, so a bear, as a symbol of the unconscious, can symbolize powerful creativity. See: Unconscious minds

Befriending a bear can indicate a harmonious relationship between your conscious mind and the unconscious mind, but a hostile bear can indicate an adversarial relationship.

Bears hibernate, so dreams can associate them with dormancy and long periods of introspection. Hibernation is also associated with death and rebirth. You might be going through some sort of big personal change and will emerge as a changed person. A sleeping or hibernating bear can symbolize someone or something you want to avoid arousing. See: Caves, Comas, Sleeping

Possibilities for symbolism can be found in figures of speech like “hungry as a bear,” “a bear to deal with,” and “overbearing.” The meaning will show in the actions and other details. For example, feeding a bear (it’s a hungry bear), or a bear on top of you (the bear is “over” you, aka “overbearing”).

Because bears are mostly solitary, they can symbolize a “go it alone” attitude or desire to be away from people. The idea can stretch to include characteristics such as introversion, independence and self-sufficiency.

Animals in dreams can represent related instincts in you, such as bear-like instincts to defend, to mother, and to view strangers with suspicion. See: Animals

Bears are associated with sexuality and the dark, devouring aspects of it. Coming to terms with the power of sexuality, the hunger, can be a struggle, devouring people who can’t control it. See: Devouring

A bear in a woman’s dreams can symbolize the power of her sexuality, and more, her inner strength and connection with nature as a vessel for offspring. The same idea can apply to a man—he too can be a life-giver—it’s just more likely with a woman because of her innate connection to Mother Nature. See: The earth, Vaginas

Being devoured is often symbolism for something figuratively devouring you such as stress or fear. But dream imagery of a devouring bear is also common to an experience known as dark night of the soul. These rare dreams feature bears that shift shapes, often from a wolf or dog to a featureless human, then to a bear, or any combination of this imagery. They also feature a theme of death, and, of course, a bear dining on you.

The devouring bear in these dreams represents the unconscious mind, come to eat away the old person so the new one can emerge. You are “born again,” but first the old person must pass away, and it’s gruesome when represented visually. Some people give in to the beast and let it eat them, allowing the process of transformation to happen. Others resist, holding onto something about themselves that doesn’t want to die figuratively—or they’re unable to let go, because the process of healing isn’t complete.

Bears are traditionally associated with nature and motherly instincts. When kept in check, the motherly instincts of a “momma bear” create peace and security for her children. But when unchecked the motherly instinct can smother, stifle, and psychologically devour her offspring.

Any female figure—sister, girlfriend, aunt, wife—can play the role of momma in its positive or negative aspect and be symbolized in a dream as a bear. A bear can symbolize the desire for a strong mother figure, or a good or bad attachment to one. Your feelings help you determine the difference, because you subconsciously recognize what momma bear symbolizes in your dream and you react based on that knowledge. See: Mothers

A mother dreams about walking through the woods with her teenage son. Suddenly, a bear emerges and mauls him. It’s a way of saying that momma bear’s motherly instincts are smothering her teenage son. She is overprotective and needs to allow him room to take risks and make his own decisions.

And let’s not forget poppa bear—strong, rugged, instinctual, protective. He can be symbolized as a bear.

A bear can be used in a wordplay for “bare,” as in bare your soul, or bare naked. See: Being naked

A teddy bear can symbolize a childlike desire for protection and comfort. See: Children

Personal associations come into play, too, to create dream symbolism. For example, perhaps you once encountered a bear in the wild and remember well the adrenaline rush and cold feeling of fear. Or you felt sorry for a bear you saw in a zoo. Those associations could be used to symbolize an encounter with a dangerous or wild person, or a feeling of sadness or loneliness.

See also: Animals, Anxiety, Caves, Comas, Devouring, The earth, Eating, Emotions, Hunger, Mothers, Being naked, Sleeping, Unconscious minds, Vaginas

This interpretation is from ""The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings" and is provided by J.M. DeBord aka "RadOwl". He is the author of several acclaimed books about dreaming, the host of The Dreams That Shape Us podcast, and is a moderator of r/Dreams, one of the largest dream sharing communities on the internet.

Examples of dreams of bears

Read some real dream reports of bear dreams.. These real life dream reports come from the moderated dream sharing communities of Reddit including r/Dreams, r/Nightmares, r/DreamInterpretation, or r/thisdreamihad. Please note that some of these may contain graphic, sexual, or violent images and text. Use the source link for each dream to view and join the discussion of each one.

My sister and I had the same dream, saw different parts, and woke up at the same time. We live in different states...?! What does this mean?

Both my sister and I moved from our home state. We both live in the South now, but in different states.

Our dream took place at our childhood home, a big horse farm. We were all outside finishing up feeding the horses. My sister asked if she could close up the barn, and I said yes. I just needed to put a horse in a pasture.

I noticed that a bunch of Amish-looking people parachuted into the pastures I was walking toward. They seemed to be landing and walking away from the farm, so I didn’t think anything of it.

The mare, J, was roaming freely. I was going to put her in a pasture with another horse, F. J and I would meet up on different sides of the gate. I had to walk through one pasture to get to the pasture J would go into. As I approached, I saw a bear fighting with the F. I called F and she came. I got the gate closed in time, but when I turned around, somebody knocked me out.

My sister remembers walking into the house and downstairs to her bedroom. She heard a lot of noise and my dad yelling at someone and the phrase, “Put the gun down.” My sister was scared so she waited downstairs until everything quieted down.

When she went upstairs, my parents told my sister that I was gone and they were filing a missing persons report.

***

How do two people have the same dream, and actively participate in different scenes? We woke up at the same time. She texted me right after I woke up. It was really unnerving.

Both my sister and I moved from our home state. We both live in the South now, but in different states.

Our dream took place at our childhood home, a big...

Source | Show dream

Pinned down by a large magical cat but it doesn’t kill me. Meaning?

Hi there this is my first post on this sub so apologies if I’ve misunderstood post/flair etiquette!

*TL;DR: I am taking photos at a lake on my phone when a magical seeming Big Cat approaches me with its mate and cubs then pins me to the ground but doesn’t injure or kill me just licks me. I am stuck in its embrace but allows me to wriggle an arm loose to use my phone. I wake up before I know whether I really was in danger or not.*

Dream night of 22/03/19:

I am alone at the shore of a large lake with pale blue mountains in the distance on ther opposite side. I am taking photos on my iphone of a beautiful lake with the pale blue/pink early morning sky in the back ground. The cold breeze creates thousands of tiny ripples on the flat water. The shore is full of smooth loose pebbled stones.
By being there I feel like I might have walked off the beaten path into a restricted area of a nature reserve perhaps.

I am taking pictures when suddenly two large creatures come out of the shoreline shrubbery and approach me, like they knew I was already there and aren't surprised to see me. They are two beautiful, mystical-seeming big cats (as in predator Panthera class cats) but they're not like any sort of Big Cat known of in waking life. Two small cubs are at thier feet milling around and following them as they slowly walk casually towards me.
They are around the same size as a lion or large dog. They both have bright white fur with grey and black streaks, a bit like an albino tiger but with thicker/longer, softer fur and a less defined pattern or 'stripes'. Thier most distinguishing feature however is long tapered pointed ears with thin black tips. In the dream, I think to myself they must be like a Lynx but about 4 or 5 times the size.

They seem to have a grander intelligence about the, like a curiosity or cunning. I am impressed by them and feel privileged and in mild awe to be seeing them up close. They appraoch me at a leisurely pace without stopping. The cubs aren't looking at me.

I am watching all this through the screen on my phone. I am holding it up portrait style and taking dozens of pictures of the approaching animals because I am excitied to see them and feel safe, I do not feel like they pose a threat to me.

However as soon as the lead adult is upon me it stops briefly for a second then pulls me to the ground and pins me in an embrace while it is on its side. I feel as if I am in a tight bear-hug of sorts. The animal begins to lick my feet and finger tips. I am unsure whether it is doing it out of affection or if it is 'tasting' its prey and just playing with its food. I do not make any sudden movements or attepmt to escape. Perhaps out of I feel like I am definitely in peril and my inital thought is to just let myself get killed and eaten because now is as good a time to get killed as any, and that being eaten my a mystical seeming big cat is pretty unique.

My right hand still grasps the iphone and I wriggle my right arm down along the inside of my body. The feline allows me to make this movement without hugging me tighter. I take this as maybe a sign that it doesn't actually mean me harm but I am still very unsure. All I can see in my vision is being pressed up against the white belly fur of the animal.
The other adult feline is nearby but I cannot see them and I also cannot see or hear the cubs. I sense that they are still present though.

My thoughts are to tap the power button on the iphone 5 times to activate the GPS alarm. I remember thinking that I am concerned that I would get dragged off into the shrubs and that only my abandoned phone would be found on the smooth pebbles on the shore or my emergency contacts wouldn’t get here in time or ignore the call for help.

I wake up before I do anything about it, and confused about whether I was about to be big cat food or if I was being used by the parent cat to train the cubs to kill/hunt.

Can anyone help with potential meaning here? I can give details about my waking life if needed!

Hi there this is my first post on this sub so apologies if I’ve misunderstood post/flair etiquette!

*TL;DR: I am taking photos at a lake on my phone when a...

Source | Show dream

The weirdest dream ever

Hi everyone I'm new here, do you help each other work out dream meanings.... Would you help me with mine please?

I was back at school and a pen exploded in my mouth, and I was desperately trying to get the ink out of my self... My blood turned blue and I couldn't seem to get it to "run red" the more I tried the more I was bleeding blue ink

I was taken to hospital and collapsed.... The next thing I remember I was getting resuscitated (I'm not sure what it's called but it's where they shout "clear") I then recover and am taken to a table where they found all these items of mine I had eaten that had to be removed... Glasses, plastic, Teddy bears, passports etc.
I'm thinking it might be something to do with shedding my youth(I'm 26)..... Any ideas?

Thanks xxx

Hi everyone I'm new here, do you help each other work out dream meanings.... Would you help me with mine please?

I was back at school and a pen exploded in my...

Source | Show dream

I met the Devil??

Hi All, please help me interpret this dream because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what this means. For context, I'm 24f. just lost a job because it wasn't in my field at all, and earlier this year I found out my ex cheated on me. As a hopeless romantic I was just devastated because I thought he was The One.

Let me tell you the story.

So it started off in a warehouse/flat situation where everyone was just hanging out, and I assume it was a sort of medical centre for crackheads too since we'd have a couple come over and some doctors would take them in. Then I eventually decided to follow my friend's sister and mum to the beach outside (think southend-on-sea but barren and with seating areas like in The Minnack Theatre in Cornwall).

We settled on the beach and sat around for a while until two of my friends came over, and we started talking about the Devil being on the top floor of this specific skyscraper, and how he tells you your future. Bear in mind that I didn't see skyscrapers surrounding the beach until they said this, and there was a specific black one which tbh looked pretty cool. So one by one everyone at the beach went to go see him, even my friends, and by the end of the day it was my turn.

My friend showed me the way into the building, but couldn't go up with me since the elevator warning said it was only for one person. As I went up, the elevator started getting smaller and smaller until I was compact. Then it turned out that there were some renovations going on on the top floor, and I was stuck for a little bit until this old couple pulled apart the elevator and got me out.

So, it was time to see the Devil. I started walking around the floor a little bit, it looked like a standard office building, walls were all white and there were accents of wood, loads of meeting rooms too. I found the room where the Devil, as it was the only room occupied, the door was wide open and it was lit with shades of purple, green, and black. So I walk in expecting to see him, but it looked like some generic-ass dude with a flarey costume and a skull mask, which was very underwhelming as you can tell. He explained the rules of visiting him to me, I

had to come up with a question like everyone else did and he would show me an answer/my future. I spent a lot of time at the beach wondering if I should ask about my career or my love life, I'm extremely indecisive and ended up choosing the latter last minute, maybe because I thought it was more important to me (dumb, I know, I should've picked career). He said that's fine, the question can be about anything I want and gestured at this little mountain in front of him. It was like a greyish purple colour and looked like dried lava, and it has a button that you pull out, which I assume is like a pull up to show you your future. He told me to pull the button and I did.

​

And then I woke up.

and now I'm so frustrated because I'll never know the answer, but also curious. I'm not majorly into dream interpretation, I used to do it a bit more in my teen years or only if a dream freaks me out and I wanna know what it means. But I cannot interpret this at all. Please help, lol.

P.S. I wasn't feeling particularly scared throughout this dream, I was pretty calm the whole time, I kind of thought of it as visiting a funfair attraction. There was a bit of anticipation when going up the lift, but otherwise I was carefree the whole time.

Thanks for reading!

Hi All, please help me interpret this dream because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what this means. For context, I'm 24f. just lost a job because it...

Source | Show dream

Had a real bad nightmare last night.

Don’t know if this is the right place for this but I couldn’t find anywhere else for it. It’s kinda silly but it still really got to me.

I remember I was playing the original black ops zombies on Kino, but it was more like I was actually there in the game fighting the zombies. I was doing solo and everything was going exceptionally well until round 11/12. Round 11 was a significant challenge for some reason but I managed to get through it with enough ammo in my LMG to start off the next round. I came around to the diner room and I found the random box, so I decided to switch out my pistol for the launcher it gave me. Not the best choice for that room but oh well. I roll it again and get a ballistic knife. Again not a great choice but oh well I needed something. I roll it again and by this time there’s crowds of zombies flooding in but I’m mostly able to hold them off with my launcher. I get the ballistic knife again and again until I roll it one more time and get the teddy bear, where I’m totally fucked because I’m all out of launcher ammo and what am I gonna do with a ballistic knife against hundreds of zombies right? I manage to hold off most of them, standing on a table in the diner but then this really weird looking zombie shows up and stares at me for a couple seconds, then it disappears and it feels like my whole body is constricted, and I can’t control it. Against my own will I get off the table and start walking down to the backstage area and past a zombie that doesn’t attack me for some reason. I’m struggling against myself to kill it, but I have no weapons. I try to grab the zombie, try to rip its head off but I can’t move my arms, can’t control my body. I’m just walking forward like I myself am a zombie. I feel slight control over my legs but when I try to walk to the other zombie my right leg crosses in front of my left leg and I fall over, bash my head on the ground and then I wake up, feeling like I just ran a marathon. I check the time and see it’s four o’clock in the god damn morning and I can’t go back to sleep.

I just sat there scared and confused about whatever the fuck was going on in my head and why I had such a terrible dream. Before that, I hadn’t had a dream in over a month so this one really felt like a fuckin anomaly. If anyone could interpret this dream or shed some light on what’s going on in my head it would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I’ve been completely exhausted since I woke up. It’s now nine o’clock and I haven’t been back asleep since.

Don’t know if this is the right place for this but I couldn’t find anywhere else for it. It’s kinda silly but it still really got to me.

I remember I was...

Source | Show dream
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