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What are dead end dreams about?

This symbol is identified by words like dead end and impasse.

Dead ends in dreams is a very rare dream symbol, occuring in about 0.2% of dreams. That's about 1 out of every 600 dreams.

What are the major highlights of dead end dreams?

Dead ends is a negatively interconnected dream symbol. Having dead ends in a dream reduces the presence of other dream symbols.

Dead end dreams are friendly

Dreams of dead ends have greater increase of friendly interactions within the dream than most other dream symbols. While not all dreams of dead ends will be friendly and they can also contain aggressive interactions, dreams of dead ends are more likely to have friendly interactions than most other dream symbols. Other symbols that are like this include escaping, giving birth, shoulder, Argentina, accents, India, Haiti, embarrassment, pressing buttons, and Cameroon.

Dreams of dead ends are aggressive

Dead end dreams have more aggressive interactions than a lot of other dream symbols. This doesn't mean that all dead ends have aggressive interactions or only aggressive interactions. It simply means that having dead ends in a dream increases the probability this dream contains aggression. Other symbols that are like this include ducks, motorcycles, cutting, infecting, abandonment, stabbing, blood, safety, roofs, and Iraq.

Dreams with dead ends might be a nightmare

Dreams of dead ends are frequently associated with nightmares. Of course dreams that contain dead ends might not be a nightmare. Plenty of dreams with dead ends are not nightmares. But, dreams of dead ends are more related to nightmares than 80% of all other dream symbols. Other symbols that are like this include kidnapping, mouths, Kuwait, silence, youtube, tools, dissecting, insanity, parts of buildings, and shaking.

What symbols less present in dreams of dead ends?

How does the dream symbol of dead ends affect the different aspects of a dream?

Explore different elements related to dreams of dead ends

Who is in dead ends dreams?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are aren't really related to characters in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to different roles and more related to fantastic beings than dreams in general. They are less related to insects, less related to close people, and less related to family.

Animals

the same as usual

Insects

less than usual

Different roles

more than usual

Fantastic beings

more than usual

Distant people

the same as usual

Close people

less than usual

Family

less than usual

Romantic partners

less than usual
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What are the emotions in dead ends dreams?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are more related to emotions in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to happiness, more related to sadness, and more related to confusion than dreams in general. They are less related to love.

Happiness

more than usual

Sadness

more than usual

Grief and sorrow

the same as usual

Embarrassment

the same as usual

Confusion

more than usual

Fear

more than usual

Pain

the same as usual

Hatred

much more than usual

Fun

more than usual

Love

less than usual
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Who is in dead ends dreams?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are more related to places in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to human places, more related to transportation, and more related to natural places than dreams in general.

Home

the same as usual

Work

the same as usual

Human places

more than usual

Transportation

more than usual

Natural places

more than usual

Magical places

much more than usual
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What happens in dead ends dreams?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are aren't really related to events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to aggressive interactions, more related to friendly interactions, and more related to disasters than dreams in general. They are less related to sex.

Aggressive interactions

more than usual

Friendly interactions

more than usual

Sex

less than usual

Disasters

more than usual
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How do dead ends in dreams related to other dream phenomenon?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are much more related to dream events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to lucid dreams, much more related to nightmares, and much more related to recurring dreams than dreams in general. They are less related to waking life.

Lucid dreams

more than usual

Nightmares

much more than usual

Recurring dreams

much more than usual

Recurring nightmares

much more than usual

Sleep paralysis

the same as usual

Sleeping

the same as usual

Waking life

less than usual
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How do dead ends in dreams related the senses?

Overall, dreams with dead ends are more related to senses in dreams. Specifically, dreams of dead ends are more related to hearing, more related to vision, and more related to touch than dreams in general.

Hearing

more than usual

Smelling

the same as usual

Taste

the same as usual

Vision

more than usual

Touch

more than usual
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How can you make sense of dead ends in dreams?

Dead end dreams are very rare. Among other things dead end dreams are negatively interconnected, friendly, aggressive, and nightmare.

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

What are possible meanings for dreams of dead ends?

A dead end in a dream can mean that you see no way of moving forward with something. The road isn’t leading to where you want to go in life. Progress with something isn’t being made. It can relate to an external situation such as a project or idea, or an internal situation such as where your feelings have been headed.

A dead end can mean that something has come to an end; for example, a relationship or job. It can express the feeling that something has trapped you or is pointless.

It can mean that time for making a decision has run out.

Everyone knows what a dead end means, but we tend to make dreams too complicated and miss the obvious. In simplest terms, a road or path that ends is a dead end.

See also: Abyss, Alleys, Cars, Cliffs, Roads

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 dead ends

Read some real dream reports of dead end 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 dream about safely falling.

I had a dream where I was falling from the sky, I was calm for the most part. While I was falling, I had my backpack, phone, and I think one more item that I was juggling in the sky. When I held onto these possessions, it slowed down my fall and I would fall faster when I wasn't holding onto anything (defying gravity in my dream, lol).

I tried to hold everything but I had to sacrifice a few. I remember distinctly that I stuffed my phone into a rolled up newspaper and just hoped that it would be safe and I could find it later.

I got my backpack and landed safely and softly to an unknown land. When I landed my phone in the newspaper ended up right beside me and it was perfectly safe which I was happy with. I think I also found my third item which I can't remember what it is.

I started exploring the new land and it was in a new language and I got scared about being in a place with a totally different culture and language alone. I walked quickly trying to find someone who I could communicate to. It's a blur at this point and at the end of my dream, someone is asking "Did you hear about [my name]? She fell from the sky." and that was the end of my dream.

If you have any interpretation to this dream, I would love to hear about it!! A little background to what's currently happening with me: I've been stressed because of my romantic relationship and how often we've been fighting in the last month. We've been doing long distance for two weeks now, on the first week we got into a fight on the phone and he stopped calling me after. On the day he was supposed to visit me, neither of us wanted to see each other but I still wanted to resolve it despite him thinking negative things about me and not knowing what to do. He told me in person that he wanted to take a break from us and see where we stand in 2-3 weeks, which was what I originally wanted to do, I just hate being at an impasse because it feels like I'm not moving forward.

Thanks for reading!

I had a dream where I was falling from the sky, I was calm for the most part. While I was falling, I had my backpack, phone, and I think one more item that I...

Source | Show dream

Creepy Dream About Art School

I was walking through Philadelphia talking to an old friend from art school on an old flip phone from the early 2000’s. I walked through city hall and told her the story of my freshman year at a different school before I met her. I described everything and relived the experience. She told me she had Crohn’s disease and that she had lost her faith in religion. As she said this, I saw a medieval friar dressed in a dusty brown robe in the middle of city hall. He looked like an ancient painting had come to life. There was something menacing and feral about him.

I left city hall and headed east. I came to a sort of dead end that consisted of a gazebo and the edge of a cliff-like hill. The ground in that area was made of dry, grey dirt, but the way it was shaped resembled ground meat.

I woke up and then went back to sleep.

In the next dream I was back and forth between my previous apartment and my old art school. I had so much crap in my studio. Terrible unfinished paintings and poorly stretched canvases made with cheap materials. I felt hopeless. Every time I thought I could salvage something or continue working on a painting, I’d realize it was pointless or even futile. I just wanted to throw everything away and start from scratch, but there was so much stuff to get rid of that I exhausted myself just throwing it away.

At some point I was approached by a striking looking older man with piercing eyes. I recognized him as a certain teacher of mine but he looked nothing like him in real life. He showed me a large self portrait that was absolutely stunning. I was inspired by it but also full of anxiety because I was so dissatisfied with my own work and felt as though I was running out of time.

I told the man that his painting had life in it. It was like it was imbued with a kind of life force or energy that far surpassed realism. I had been trying to bring my images to life but I only got so far.

He proceeded to tell me to just keep working and that one day when I least expect it, the energy will creep in and take on a life of its own. He said it was like being alone in a room full of wooden marionettes year after year, and one day realizing that they had been alive all along. His eyes momentarily traveled to opposite sides of his head as he said this (like Marty Feldman). I could see wooden puppets twitching and starting to move behind us in the reflection of a mirror.

I was walking through Philadelphia talking to an old friend from art school on an old flip phone from the early 2000’s. I walked through city hall and told her...

Source | Show dream

I never post here, just curious how you'd interpret.

Background: 31/f/usa, i/enjf, scorpio, worked a lot of dead end jobs, terrible upbringing, poor etc. Did work at Walmart irl.

I worked at target, about 5 years, and this old guy bothered me all the time but my boss wouldn't do anything about it because he was a customer. One day he came up to me on my break and asked me to marry him, and I was so appalled that I wanted to run away, but instead I just shot right up in the sky and flew. I hovered around, watching him, waiting for him to leave. He didn't leave so I started dive-bombing him. Eventually I landed and mentally pushed him out of the dream.

Background: 31/f/usa, i/enjf, scorpio, worked a lot of dead end jobs, terrible upbringing, poor etc. Did work at Walmart irl.

I worked at target, about 5...

Source | Show dream

Pain During Dream - Real or just Afterthought?

Hello! So I have a weird question. My gf told me she had feelings of pain in her dream. After discussing it we were at a dead end as we couldn't decide whether this pain was 1) Real, as in actual neural activity interpreted as pain during the dream OR 2) a simple remembrance of pain AFTER waking up (ie. seeing yourself getting hurt in the dream and after waking up you just remember feeling pain without actually having felt it \*during\* the dream, because your brain assumes that you must have felt pain)

Any thoughts on which of the two is going on?

Hello! So I have a weird question. My gf told me she had feelings of pain in her dream. After discussing it we were at a dead end as we couldn't decide...

Source | Show dream

A theory on what death feels like from my dream

I’d like to share theory on death that I have that happened in my dream.

I won’t go into detail of the dream, but in the dream me and a friend were being chased and reached a dead end. The man who was chasing us came up to me and shot me point blank. I fell to the floor and started to bleed out and die. As I was laying there, bleeding out, a small timer appeared in the right hand corner of my vision. This timer showed how long I had until I would die. It said about 10 seconds. With this time, my eye slowly shut every second, until it reached zero and my eyes were completely shut and I was dead. It was such a surreal moment, and I didn’t feel any pain. This timer worked as a way for me to say goodbye to the friend I was with, and I knew exactly how long I had left.

I’d like to share theory on death that I have that happened in my dream.

I won’t go into detail of the dream, but in the dream me and a friend were being...

Source | Show dream
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