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What are compensation dreams about?

Compensation has a couple of different senses. First, compensation often refers to the total amount of money or benefits one receives for employment or payment in exchange for work. Second, people can compensate for perceived shortcomings. For example, someone could overwork if they feel they are less intelligent than their coworkers. Someone could pay extra attention to clothing if they feel they are less than attractive. In both cases, the person would be compensating for a perceived shortcoming. This symbol is identified by words like compensation.

Compensation in dreams is a exceedingly rare dream symbol, occuring in about 0.02% of dreams. That's about 1 out of every 6,000 dreams.

What are the major highlights of compensation dreams?

Compensation is a very negatively interconnected dream symbol. Dreams of compensation greatly reduce the presence of other dream symbols.

Compensation dreams are friendly

Dreams of compensation have greater increase of friendly interactions within the dream than most other dream symbols. While not all dreams of compensation will be friendly and they can also contain aggressive interactions, dreams of compensation are more likely to have friendly interactions than most other dream symbols. Other symbols that are like this include blue eyes, Argentina, lifeguards, beggars, waiters, robots, below, wounds, tackling, and teenagers.

Compensation dreams might be sexual

Dreams of compensation are more related to sex than 90% of all of the other dream symbols. If compensation is in a dream, this dream is far more likely to contain sexual symbols. Other symbols that are like this include falling in love, snapchat, Somalia, bathrooms, undressing, infidelity, Cyprus, dating, bankruptcy, and instagram.

Compensation dreams have a surprising lack of characters

Dreams of compensation usually contain less characters than 90% of all other dream symbols. This does not mean they do not contain characters at all. Rather, they simply contain less characters than most other dream symbols. Other symbols that are like this include Argentina, nose bleeds, Estonia, nuclear bombs, precognitive dreams, characters, Darth Vader, pluto, large celestial bodies, and Donald Trump.

Compensation dreams are associated with lucid dreaming

Dreams of compensation are much more related to lucid dreaming than all other dream symbols. Lucid dreams are dreams in which you are aware that you are dreaming. Of course, not all dreams of compensation are lucid dreams. But dreams of compensation are more related to lucid dreams than 90% of all other dream symbols. Other symbols that are like this include fingers, mars, sparrows, tests, venus, authors, heroes, mirror, Gandalf, and seeds.

Compensation dreams focus on sounds

Dreams of compensation have more words related to sounds than 90% of all other dream symbols. In other words, compensation dreams involve the auditory world. They focus on sounds and hearing. Other symbols that are like this include worms, aquariums, tyrants, ovaries, donkeys, crushes, casinos, Somalia, menstruation, and vaginas.

Compensation dreams focus on taste

Dreams of compensation have more words related to taste than 90% of all other dream symbols. In other words, compensation dreams involve the perceptions of taste. Taste is a chemical sense. We taste things through interacting and touching the object we are tasting. Other symbols that are like this include turtles, Fiji, Algeria, Jamaica, bird cages, saturn, embarking, cutting hair, Ecuador, and toenails.

What symbols less present in dreams of compensation?

Compensation dreams are notable because they have substantially less dogs, hiding, injuries, nightmares, reading, spouses, voice, weapons, and health events than 95% of other dream symbols.

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

Explore different elements related to dreams of compensation

Who is in compensation dreams?

Overall, dreams with compensation are much less related to characters in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are more related to different roles than dreams in general. They are less related to animals, much less related to insects, and much less related to fantastic beings.

Animals

less than usual

Insects

much less than usual

Different roles

more than usual

Fantastic beings

much less than usual

Distant people

less than usual

Close people

much less than usual

Family

much less than usual

Romantic partners

less than usual
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What are the emotions in compensation dreams?

Overall, dreams with compensation are aren't really related to emotions in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are much more related to happiness, much more related to sadness, and much more related to grief and sorrow than dreams in general. They are much less related to fear, much less related to pain, and much less related to fun.

Happiness

much more than usual

Sadness

much more than usual

Grief and sorrow

much more than usual

Embarrassment

more than usual

Confusion

much more than usual

Fear

much less than usual

Pain

much less than usual

Hatred

much more than usual

Fun

much less than usual

Love

much less than usual
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Who is in compensation dreams?

Overall, dreams with compensation are more related to places in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are much more related to home and much more related to work than dreams in general. They are much less related to transportation and less related to magical places.

Home

much more than usual

Work

much more than usual

Human places

the same as usual

Transportation

much less than usual

Natural places

the same as usual

Magical places

less than usual
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What happens in compensation dreams?

Overall, dreams with compensation are less related to events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are much more related to friendly interactions and much more related to sex than dreams in general. They are less related to aggressive interactions and much less related to disasters.

Aggressive interactions

less than usual

Friendly interactions

much more than usual

Sex

much more than usual

Disasters

much less than usual
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How do compensation in dreams related to other dream phenomenon?

Overall, dreams with compensation are aren't really related to dream events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are much more related to lucid dreams than dreams in general. They are much less related to nightmares, much less related to recurring dreams, and less related to recurring nightmares.

Lucid dreams

much more than usual

Nightmares

much less than usual

Recurring dreams

much less than usual

Recurring nightmares

less than usual

Sleep paralysis

much less than usual

Sleeping

less than usual

Waking life

less than usual
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How do compensation in dreams related the senses?

Overall, dreams with compensation are aren't really related to senses in dreams. Specifically, dreams of compensation are much more related to smelling than dreams in general. They are much less related to hearing, much less related to taste, and less related to touch.

Hearing

much less than usual

Smelling

much more than usual

Taste

much less than usual

Vision

the same as usual

Touch

less than usual
Show Detail

How can you make sense of compensation in dreams?

Compensation dreams are exceedingly rare. Among other things compensation dreams are very negatively interconnected, friendly, sexual, lack characters, are associated with lucid dreaming, focus on sounds, and focus on taste.

Do you think this is true for your dream of compensation? How might your dream of compensation 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 compensation 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 compensation in dreams. See how you feel about compensation now, in your waking life.

What are possible meanings for dreams of compensation?

Paying compensation in a dream can connect with a situation where you owe something or feel like something is owed to you.

It could relate to actual compensation, such as paying off a loan or other monetary obligation, but think beyond material compensation. You might feel that you’re owed for something you have done, such as a favor. For example, you watch the kids for your spouse and feel that you’re owed time to do something personal. You then dream about it as contributing to the Save The Children Fund.

Compensation is linked to guilt, grievances, and shortcomings. For example, a person might compensate for losing her temper by acting extra nice, or compensate for a shortcoming by excelling in another area. You then dream about it as financial compensation.

Compensation has another sense of the word used in psychology, meaning “go equally far in the opposite direction.” It’s the psyche’s way of creating balance and reflecting the ego back to itself. If you think you’re the smartest person ever, your dreams will show you as the biggest idiot. If you think you’re stupid, you might dream about a genius, and in it see your own capacity for it. Beauty is compensated by ugliness, and vice-versa. Arrogance is compensated by dreams about being humiliated.

Compensation plays out in dreams through absurd imagery and situations. Characters are grossly disfigured and out of whack. Situations are outrageous. Settings can be like scenes out of Dante’s Inferno, completely unreal. Reactions are out of proportion. These are signs of compensation.

For example, a grown man dreams about being surrounded by women with massive breasts and exposed genitals. At first, it’s like heaven for him, but as the dream continues the woman change form into ones he knows, such as his sisters. He sees a nun acting like a whore and flashing her goods. The woman leer at him and act like harpies. It makes him extremely uncomfortable as he’s forced to view scenes that sicken him, like the character Alex in A Clockwork Orange, strapped down and his eyes pried open. The dream shows him the ridiculousness of his attitudes toward women and his sexualization of them. He’s a grown man who’s like a teenage boy who can’t stop sneaking peeks into the girls’ locker room.

Psychological compensation is a function of the self-regulating psyche, a hard push on the other end of the scale, showing that strong measures are needed to rein in the ego. If the ego doesn’t get the message, well, things only get worse.

Another meaning of compensation comes into play when your dreams compensate for something missing in your life. Are you feeling lonely? Your dreams might give you a friend. Feeling sexually unfulfilled? Here’s a dream lover for you. Need inspiration? Your dreams will conjure a muse. Missing a loved one who died? You can dream about the person in the most vivid and realistic ways and wake up feeling like the hole in your heart has been plugged.

See also: Beggars, Bullies, Egos, Heroes, Mirror, Money, Psyches

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 compensation

Read some real dream reports of compensation 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.

A weird dream that I had a while back...

I was in some kind of cooking competition alongside Andrew from Binging with Babish. We were on a team of people that had to cook something for some reason. It was complicated, but I don't remember what the dish was. The oddest thing, was that the owners of the kitchen we were using wouldn't let us inside unless we followed their one rule: No penises allowed in the kitchen. All the males on my team, me and Andrew included, had to get our dicks removed before entering. It wasn't painful, but I remember feeling creeped out looking down and seeing a small dark hole where my dick used to be. The owners were very apologetic, and gave us all giant 2 foot long pencils as compensation for our inconvenience. We retrieved our penises at the end of the competition.

I was in some kind of cooking competition alongside Andrew from Binging with Babish. We were on a team of people that had to cook something for some reason. It...

Source | Show dream

interesting Work Related Dream

Just woke up from this dream.

I started the dream working as, what i can only describe as an animal control officer apprentice. Basically I had finished training but I hadn't been promoted to officer yet. We got a call that there was a situation, so me and a small team (one or two others) went to take care of it.

It turned out to be an overwhelming amount of Feral cats that the others up and left me to take care of. I ended up doing all the work: Capturing them (just chasing them around and grabbing them with my bare hands lol i got all scratched up), taking them back to the shelter, putting putting them all into their cages, and having to a rearrange where the other animals were already in the cages to make room for the new cats.

This project needed to be done that day and I  worked well into the night to get it all done. At one point, animals were getting out or being left out of their cages in the common space, because my cooworkers were being lazy. I had to deal with that too.

At that point I was really fed up. I was basically doing all the work and not getting proper compensation for it. but that day the only thing my higher ups cared about was that my attitude seemed poor.  My "manager" said "You need to take care of your additude, do you even want that promotion/raise?" And I exploded "do you even want me to work here? because I've been done training and doing the job I trained for for 6 months while you're still dragging your feet to get the paperwork done for the change in my job title and the raise i was promised when i finished my training. Today I captured, checked in, and did all the paperwork on 15 feral cats. I had to pick up after everyone around here too just to get those cats into crates." They basically scoffed at me and then I got my belongings out of my locker and walked out. Quit on the spot.

Side: I've never worked for the animal shelter or Even looked into into how to become an animal control officer irl btw. This might be an average day for an animal control officer idk, but in the dream I was going above and beyond.

The next morning I was wandering around in the countryside, kinda melancholy feeling.  I saw people tending to cattle and doing farmland work (they're all really weird and warped dream versions of the jobs). the people there were working as a community and seemed happy but I but I didn't feel like I was capable of the physical labor it took to do those jobs. then I stumbled on this job/group that naturally dyed cloth for work.

I started this new job and i thought 'this is some hippie thing'. We were outside in the woodsish, not actually the woods, similar to a clearing or a public park. We were all sitting on tree stumps and They gave us a short speech like introduction. then They told us what we're gonna do and then put us into groups. 

My group made dye from blue flowers. then we prepared the huge swath of fabric for the dye together. then we dyed it and hung it out to dry. and that was my whole day. (I started in the late morning and finished just as the sun barely began to set btw)

after the day was over I felt super happy and proud of what we'd done. I was living in a small community now and thought "if I see anyone wearing periwinkle shirt, then i'll know that I took part in dying that fabric." At the end of the dream all of the fabrics that all the groups had finished were hanging up on a giant clothes line to dry, and I was just looking at it all and thought it was a really pretty sight. then I woke up

There's alot of elements from this dream that my brain totally pulled from my life but it made a new narrative out of it. What happened at the first job was like a combo of the two "career jobs" I had. I've been learning about making pigments and dyes (mostly for paint making purposes but I do have plans to dye cloth) recently but I hadn't really considered doing it for work, let alone seeking out any job like this. Does my subconscious want me to live on a commune lol?

Just woke up from this dream.

I started the dream working as, what i can only describe as an animal control officer apprentice. Basically I had finished...

Source | Show dream

High society

I dreamt I was poor and rejected by society but suddenly found myself taking the place of a socialite, there was an unknown turn of events where I was awarded a lavish life as compensation for injustices I'd suffered. Initially everyone hated me and was angry saying I had no business there, trying to undermine, slander and steal from me and I had to lock myself in my new home so they couldn't attack me. I stepped directly into the life of the kind of woman who'd done the injustices right down to the parties she'd planned for her home and the gifts she received effectively dethroning her. I now owned a grand Southern style property that was a cornerstone venue in the community with high society events running there.

Next I was a guest at a party but people were worried about making a good impression on me. The hostess had a deep pool she used for free diving, I was impressed by her skill and bravery. The couple were very concerned that I approved of every detail of the event.

Next newcomers to the area were trying to impress me and gain my approval but their teen children kept being rude and unruly. I had come full circle from being the outsider to being an elder member of that society.

I dreamt I was poor and rejected by society but suddenly found myself taking the place of a socialite, there was an unknown turn of events where I was awarded a...

Source | Show dream

Looking for help with a dreaming research study

Hi all,

My name is Michael Hoefer, I’m with a group of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder conducting a survey on dreaming and dream tracking practices. The purpose of the survey is to learn about individual’s relationship with dreaming, including dream tracking practices, which will inform the design of new technologies to help individuals connect with their subconscious through dreaming.

We would appreciate getting your response to the survey. The survey will take approximately 5-20 minutes to complete and can be accessed at the following link:

[https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_d5z2HBk03YS3bKt](https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5z2HBk03YS3bKt)

**Compensation:** by completing the survey, you will have the option to provide contact information and be entered to win one of two $100 gift cards. In addition, you will also have the option to opt in to a pool of participants who will be contacted to participate in a remote interview over Zoom. Interview participants will be provided $10. Opting into this pool is completely optional.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank you for your time,

Michael

(cross posted in the lucid dreaming subreddit)

Hi all,

My name is Michael Hoefer, I’m with a group of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder conducting a survey on dreaming and dream tracking...

Source | Show dream

Revisiting an old dream sorta after a new dream about school stuff?

Ok so after like this weird game where I guess it's based off the games I played growing up - where you take turns vs you and the enemies to either defeat them or proceed and reach the goal destination, it's a school thing in my dream for some reason.

The game was sorta you shoot the enemies to death/hp bar empties but the enemies are just disruptive students and you can also stomp on them to quickly k.o. them. Anyway I didn't realise you could actually shoot while moving thinking it was a one turn thing and ended up nearly losing and dying thankfully I got it last minute and quickly got on the escalator with some others and we did like math worksheets? And I said oh remember how I transferred from our Canadian school to an american one I said to my childhood friend and she goes ow right and I'm like yeah. So I ended up not doing calculus because they do geometry and actually algebra was apparently done earlier or something

Anyway after talking about that - even had an old schoolmate from the US school pipe in and I used to hate that one but for some reason I was ambivalent this time - and finishing the worksheet and being allowed to head home at like 7pm??! It's dark rip I complained. also for some reason everyone had towels going up and some people littered their towels going down on the escalator????

Anyway. Revisiting old dream time! And I think before the game and math dream I had a gardening dream where we had a class teaching everyone how to propogate properly and wouldn't that be nice to have irl. Anyhoooooo. Walked all the way home, saw plants, took cuttings, saw other people, I scuttled along feeling like a criminal and then bam. Got home for some reason no longer dark I just realised, sunlight all over, blinds were up, and actually on the way home, I went over a bridge overseeing a river and my home is apparently upwards after a stairs from the ground which is different from irl where it's flat on the ground.

Except. Wtf people were going up to my house???? Huh??????? Bit embarrassed people can look in my house but like wtf ???? And also thankfully I cleaned up a bit the night before I think so it wasn't too bad. But also still. Wtf? People were poking their heads in like whatever and I'm like excuse me this is my house please leave. They leave usually after that. Had one ask if this is where the restaurant is and I'm like um.no. fudge off. Anyways afterwards for some magical reason there actually is a restaurant right by my veranda and then the chef / owner came out saying oh shit I forgot to tell them but then I remembered we actually had an email about this a few weeks ago.

So apparently we shared the same agent. Same name irl as the one I use. Then we somehow made a compromise. It's just 20mins a day. I get some occasional free meals for letting then use my veranda. Even tho apparently we both paid rent and happened to share the same fucking thing.?!

I'm like ok great forward me everything and it took them almost an hour to fucking copy and paste my email and I watched with painstaking detail in my dream until I woke up shouting/exclaiming no thank you! To their compensation gift I guess as they can tell I was getting frustrated with one of the waitress unable to just copy my fucking email down j even typed it in but they couldn't even copy paste it what

So their compensation gift was some kind of American meat. They emphasised the American bit. Not sure why. Owner seemed Chinese. Place I guess was fusion but super red. Anyway. I said no thank you! I'm vegan and I can't even give this to my cats because this is garlic yoghurt flavoured.... And I woke up. Saying that. I think. Lol. And I woke up way too early like just six hours nooo

Anyway. ..... What the fuckkkk does any of this mean ......? I had an app to record if I talk or other noises going on as I sleep but I realised shouldn't have put it under the pillow I think if I want it to record better wew

Ok so after like this weird game where I guess it's based off the games I played growing up - where you take turns vs you and the enemies to either defeat them...

Source | Show dream
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