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What are fighting dreams about?

This symbol is identified by words like fighting and quarrel.

Fighting in dreams is a common dream symbol, occuring in about 5.6% of dreams. That's about 1 out of every 20 dreams.

What are the major highlights of fighting dreams?

Fighting is a very interconnected dream symbol. Having fighting in a dream substantially changes the nature of the dream.

Dreams of fighting are aggressive

Fighting dreams have more aggressive interactions than a lot of other dream symbols. This doesn't mean that all fighting have aggressive interactions or only aggressive interactions. It simply means that having fighting in a dream increases the probability this dream contains aggression. Other symbols that are like this include walls, Kuwait, ankles, ammunition, east, servants, executing, talismans, invading, and friendly interactions.

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

Explore different elements related to dreams of fighting

Who is in fighting dreams?

Overall, dreams with fighting are aren't really related to characters in dreams. Specifically, dreams of fighting are more related to animals, more related to different roles, and more related to fantastic beings than dreams in general.

Animals

more than usual

Insects

the same as usual

Different roles

more than usual

Fantastic beings

more than usual

Distant people

the same as usual

Close people

the same as usual

Family

the same as usual

Romantic partners

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

Overall, dreams with fighting are aren't really related to emotions in dreams. Specifically, dreams of fighting are more related to pain and more related to hatred than dreams in general. They are less related to happiness.

Happiness

less than usual

Sadness

the same as usual

Grief and sorrow

the same as usual

Embarrassment

the same as usual

Confusion

the same as usual

Fear

the same as usual

Pain

more than usual

Hatred

more than usual

Fun

the same as usual

Love

the same as usual
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Who is in fighting dreams?

Overall, dreams with fighting are less related to places in dreams. Specifically, dreams of fighting

Home

the same as usual

Work

the same as usual

Human places

the same as usual

Transportation

the same as usual

Natural places

the same as usual

Magical places

the same as usual
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What happens in fighting dreams?

Overall, dreams with fighting are aren't really related to events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of fighting are much more related to aggressive interactions than dreams in general.

Aggressive interactions

much 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 fighting in dreams related to other dream phenomenon?

Overall, dreams with fighting are aren't really related to dream events in dreams. Specifically, dreams of fighting are more related to sleep paralysis than dreams in general.

Lucid dreams

the same as usual

Nightmares

the same as usual

Recurring dreams

the same as usual

Recurring nightmares

the same as usual

Sleep paralysis

more than usual

Sleeping

the same as usual

Waking life

the same as usual
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How do fighting in dreams related the senses?

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

Hearing

the same as usual

Smelling

less than usual

Taste

the same as usual

Vision

less than usual

Touch

more than usual
Show Detail

How can you make sense of fighting in dreams?

Fighting dreams are common. Among other things fighting dreams are very postively interconnected and aggressive.

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

What are possible meanings for dreams of fighting?

Fighting or battling in a dream presents many possibilities for symbolism. In simplest terms, a fight is a conflict or struggle, and it could symbolize a conflict or struggle with yourself, a situation, a person, or a group of people.

For most people, the majority of their dream characters are projections, so fighting a character can mean fighting with yourself. It might connect with conflicting needs, desires, sides within yourself, interests, or roles. It implies that you need to consciously mediate your internal conflicts.

A fight can show a battle within yourself, such as when you fight against discouragement, pessimism, or temper—feelings that are likely to be strong if they’re symbolized as a fight or battle. Pay attention to the details of the battle to gain insight into the nature of it—to the settings, combatants, uniforms, weapons, tactics, and especially the actions. It’s all symbolism and the details fit together somehow to tell a story.

Dreams exaggerate, so the situation symbolized as a fight might not be at the level of “fight” but instead fall somewhere in the range of skirmish or conflict. It’s a subjective portrayal.

A man dreams he’s in a home-improvement store battling against a hugely overweight man who floats in the air between the aisles hurling objects at the dreamer. The dreamer shoots him down with tongs from an electric mixer, fired like missiles. The dreamer is about to finish off the man with a grilling fork when the character asks, as a last request, to be fed meatballs from a can lying nearby. The dreamer agrees.

The dream is a classic example of fighting with yourself. The dreamer is trying to lose weight by modifying his diet, so the home-improvement store setting is apt because he’s trying to improve his body, which is the home for his mind. The man he battles is the side of himself that wants to eat the foods that have made him overweight, and the last request for meatballs is hilarious. It really sums up the dreamer’s internal battle. The weapons of battle, all related to food, are also funny and ironic. All the details tie together to tell a story about the dreamer’s internal struggle to lose weight.

You can fight yourself to work harder, to be more outgoing, to regulate your impulses, to stop procrastinating, and to overcome weakness, habit, and addiction. Or the conflict might rage inside you between sides of yourself, between your rational and impulsive side, between your head and heart. If life is you against the world, you might feel as if you’re constantly fighting something.

The symbolism can show in figures of speech and phrases that use the words “fight” and “battle.” Fight boredom, fight for your rights, fight for what you believe in, fight for your life, fight for independence, fight like cats and dogs, battle temptation, battle a workload. Your dreams act out those ideas.

For example, a young doctor dreams he’s in an arena and faced off against himself in a fight to the death. The version of himself he battles is presented as clean and angelic, while the “other him” is dirty and sweaty. The dream is a great representation of an internal battle for this young doctor. On the one hand, he has a strong desire to live up to the typical image of a doctor as clean and angelic. On the other hand, that’s not who he really is. He gets down and dirty. Doctors are held in high esteem and have an image to maintain. The dream’s portrayal of the situation as a fight to the death is an apt way of describing his inner struggle between expectation and reality.

Fighting can crop up in dreams when you’re not paying attention to your feelings or expressing your emotions. Dreams act as outlets for feelings and emotions and are a safety valve. Fighting can mean you are not consciously processing emotional content from the day, and if you want less conflict in your dreams it is wise to give them fewer unprocessed emotions as fodder. If emotions are repressed or ignored, they come out in exaggerated form in your dreams. If the situation causing you conflict can’t be addressed directly, some other strategy for emotional release is needed. See: Emotions

For example, you are frustrated and upset about a situation at school, but know better than to say anything because teachers punish students who speak up. Or you are really frustrated with a parent and know that expressing your feelings will only make the situation worse. The ensuing dreams put you in situations where you fight for your life, but it’s not your physical life you are fighting for, it’s your emotional and psychological life. Something needs to be done either to change the situation or provide emotional release.

Interpersonal conflict is another good possibility for the symbolism of fighting. Arguments, hostility, battle of wills, something ongoing—often reflected in recurring dreams—or one-time. Something that happened or you expect could happen.

You argue with your spouse or significant other, then dream about being attacked by a tiger or wolf. You disagree with your supervisor, and dream about a wrestling match. An angry customer at work acts hostile, and you dream about a random person attacking you on the street. You’re really mad at your dad, and dream about punching him in the face.

Also consider the possibility you are fighting or battling a situation. For example, battling problems at work, fighting to save your marriage, rescuing your child from making big mistakes, or saving your home from going under.

A woman dreams about traveling forward to the end of time, only to loop back to the beginning of time, to a world that’s rocky and blanketed by thick mist. There, she joins a group of super-soldiers in a never-ending battle against insect-like humanoid creatures that stream to the surface from the center of the planet. The battle is going badly for the humans, so the dreamer tells the leader about it, and the leader fires the general overseeing the battle.

The dream symbolizes the dreamer’s work environment, which is like a never-ending battle against a massive workload. The humanoid creatures in the dream represent the impersonal forces of work and responsibility the dreamer faces every day working in the front office of a school. The key clue is found in the detail about time reaching the end and looping back to the beginning. That symbolizes the never-ending and cyclical nature of the work. Firing the general is the dream’s suggestion for helping the situation. A general delegates responsibility, and the dreamer tends to take everything onto herself rather than delegate.

A battle that involves an invasion might symbolize interference in your personal matters. An invasion can symbolize unwelcome guests, invasion of privacy, or invasive thoughts. The idea of invasion applies far and wide to situations in your life and yourself. See: Invading

A battle with an animal can symbolize fighting your instincts or feelings. Or the animal represents someone you know, or a situation you are in. See: Animals

A key fact to keep in mind when interpreting dreams about battles is that they use symbolism. Even dreams featuring carnage, death, and violence are using symbolism to express an idea. Don’t take the imagery literally, but do acknowledge that in most battle dreams there is something trying to get your attention. Something needs to be addressed and resolved: stress, fatigue, conflict, personal disappointment, bitterness, unfulfilled desires. It might be affecting you more deeply than you realize.

People who have fought in combat or lived in gang-infested areas are deeply affected by the experience and can dream about it in a literal sense, reliving battles and specific experiences of combat or shootings. Usually, though, it relates back to something within the person that is trying to find release or resolution. A dream-based technique that helps is mentioned in the entry for: Nightmare.

Fighting with weapons can have specific symbolism. See: Fists, Guns, Knives

The seriousness of a fight in a dream reflects the seriousness and emotional charge of whatever it’s connected to in your life. A fight might just be a squabble, but a war is next-level, and a nuclear war takes it to the max.

See also: Abusing, Ambushing, Animals, Apocalypses, Stadiums and arenas, Armageddon, Armor, Armies, Attacking, Bullets, Bullies, Drowning, Emotions, Enemies, Erupting, Fists, Guns, Invading, Knives, Nightmares, Nuclear bombs, Opponents, Pain, Strangling, Tackling, War

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 fighting

Read some real dream reports of fighting 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 girl asked me to marry her

So i was fighting in the "origins" (Call of duty black ops 2 zombies map) with a wind staff against the zombies, i got downed eventually and then i got teleported into the "real world".

The staff looked more like a toy and all the i injures and dirt i had from fighting zombies was gone!

I get up and a girl i know approach me! She says "Did you speak to my father?"

I replied "No, I never met him".

She says "No, what I mean is", she holds my hands and look me in the eyes "Won't you marry me?"

Also there's a second dream that kinda adds up to this one, i might post it here later!

So i was fighting in the "origins" (Call of duty black ops 2 zombies map) with a wind staff against the zombies, i got downed eventually and then i got...

Source | Show dream

Strange dream last night - chased by a giant hostile Dark Souls boss kind of worm thing. What does it mean?

This dream was in what I like to call “video game perspective” - where I am watching something happen but also controlling a specific “character” in the dream. Sometimes it can feel like this even in first person perspective, where I am somehow disconnected from being the person, even if I am the person, not watching a screen or using a controller.

So in the dream there was this giant worm creature. It wasn’t really a worm, more wormlike, as in it was oblong and had no limbs and wasn’t reptilian enough to be a snake. First it chased me through a corridor (this was in the perspective of a 2d sidescroller video game) trying to I think eat me or at least somehow kill me and I ran from it and it would smash stuff behind me. Sometimes I was really close to being caught by it but I managed to get ahead. Then I got into a chamber place (it was more in first person now) and it was at the bottom of some stairs. When I would go down the stairs there were smaller worm things that would attack me. I felt like I was struggling with fighting the worms and I thought I was not strong or skilled enough to fighting the big worm.

When I am awake and I think about the worm it reminds me most of a Dark Souls boss since it was very strong and big and it was sort of eldritch horror-like. Through the whole dream I was scared of the worm and I felt like I was not strong enough fightingght it but I was progressing forward anyways. I alsfightingghting it in some sort of ruin, like ruined stonework everywhere and stuff. The closest I can describe the ruin as is maybe the Arbiter’s Grounds dungeon from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but not as dark.

This dream was in what I like to call “video game perspective” - where I am watching something happen but also controlling a specific “character” in the dream....

Source | Show dream

Vivid dream about my boyfriend

I had a really vivid dream a couple months ago.

It started with me just standing outside an old rundown gas stations. It looked like no one had been there in years, and no one else was around. I walked inside and I saw three figures sitting at a table on the right, but I didn't pay much attention to them. The only thing not covered in dust and rust was a shiny new vending machine to the left. There was no employees behind the counter, in fact, the counter was completely torn apart.

I walked to the vending machine to get a snack. As im looking I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and my boyfriend is standing there. But hes standing weird, he seemed more confident then usual. I now see the other two people at the table. They're both also my boyfriend, but they were different. One looked meaner and was wearing a baggy tshirt. The other was sitting with their legs crossed, smiling at me kindly, and he was wearing my clothes. It was kinda like his feminine and masculine sides, and the one that tapped me on the shoulder was more like normal him, he was the "leader". It wasn't too weird cause sometimes he is more masculine, talking about football (soccer) and play fighting with me. Other times hes more feminine, he'll wear my clothes and makeup and watch rupaul's drag with me. So I think my brain just split him into 3 different people. (Imma just call them main boyfriend, feminine boyfriend, and masculine boyfriend to tell them apart)

The main guy asked me how im doing. I just said im good. He introduced me to the other two, and they both said hi. I started to get really nervous, and I didn't know why. I started having a panic attack, and main boyfriend reached out to comfort me, which freaked me out even more. I screamed for them not to touch me, I didn't want anyone near me. I ran to the corner and curled up into a ball. I was breathing heavily and crying and I didn't know what was going on. My boyfriend's circled around me, but gave me some space. They kept asking me what was wrong, but I didnt know. I just kept screaming and telling them to not get near me. My main boyfriend just stood up, walked over, and sat down on the ground next to me. He just "well, now im next to you" and a wave of calm rushed over me. I immediately stopped screaming and crying. I just looked over at him, and he was smiling at me.

Then I woke up, that was the end of the dream. Does anyone have any ideas on what this might mean?

I had a really vivid dream a couple months ago.

It started with me just standing outside an old rundown gas stations. It looked like no one had been there in...

Source | Show dream

I dreamt what happens after I died

This has never happened to me before and its kind of freaking me out. Im wondering if anyone else has experienced this before because nobody in my circles that I asked ever had.

This is the dream:

This was a few nights ago and im still fucked about it.

I was at my childhood home, my parents were really old and frail (75/80’s, they’re actually in their 40’s irl) I felt like i was 24/25 (Im 19). The tv was on and I was cleaning not paying attention when the tv had a really loud alarm. The news guy said that america has fallen and showed huge street fights with fire everywhere and people getting shot and falling by the hundreds. The same dude came back on with another alert and said that the outsider countries that were waiting to attack have just declared war too. The phone rang and I watched my younger brother (18) answer it and hang up. I couldn’t hear him or anything else. He didnt say anything but him and my other brother (17) went upstairs, got a bag and left the house. I knew they got drafted to fights and I knew they didnt say anything bc they weren’t going to come back. My dad got up and hobbled to the door and said he had to protect the family, but I knew he didn’t want to go. He was doing it out of duty, and everyone knew he was too old he would die for certain. My mom was crying and so was my little sister (9) and so was I. Then there was another emergency alarm on the tv to immediately get underground and put something between your teeth and bite down, North Korea was coming. I got my family to go the basement and I was coming behind them, still upstairs when I looked out the window and saw a blinding white light growing and I knew I was going to die right then and I had this huge feeling that I had let it get to that point. It was MY fault that it did.
The light became everything and then it became all dark and my eyes adjusted to see that I was in a moving hallway of sorts. It in space, made out of space, and I could see outside of the area but I was confined to the inside. It was like a black space snake and I was inside riding it like a train. Some of the space scales of the snake worked as doors and I could go into points of time in the future/past, of my life which was a tiny section of it overall and in general too. I looked inside one room but I didn’t go in. It was just trees in a swamp. I opened this other door that had a vibe™️ to it and instantly I was met with this warm yellow glowing light that filled the entire room (which had no walls, it was just the light) and it had the MOST loving feeling ever. It felt like the ultimate motherly warm love ever and I could just melt into it and be happy and safe forever and I was about to step in when the light shifted and formed the face of a lady. The lady opened her eyes and looked directly dead in my eyes and without opening her mouth or anything she said loud and clear: Speak. The sound was in my body and everywhere at the same time.

And then I woke up. And I remained fucked up because I’ve never died in a dream and continued dreaming ever before.

Also my interpretation of the dream was: i have to speak on what ive been meaning and KNOW i need to speak on in order to not let bad things happen. Im trying to write a book and Ive been too scared to start.

This has never happened to me before and its kind of freaking me out. Im wondering if anyone else has experienced this before because nobody in my circles that...

Source | Show dream

Ok so super weird, never even thought about something like this

Ok, backstories for what I gathered it this dream it was weirdly vivid, this dream takes place in a world where there are humans and neko’s, but humans are racist towards the neko’s, anyways it start with me in a park bent over looking at the flowers, this dream was really vivid, the color of the flowers were blue and yellow they were mixed I think, but I got up and turned around I see a neko in a cloak I think, it was either a cloak or a Japanese outfit, she touched my chest with two fingers and my entire body was encased with ice, then a split second later the neko was gone and the ice shattered like glass, but she was behind me, I was about get up and then my neck started to feel extremely cold, then I think I was knocked out, but when I woke up I got up and headed home, but I saw people giving me weird looks and whispering to each other, i never made it home though, this whole bit is a bit of a blur but I remember I got it a fight, I crossed a little bridge then after that everything was clear again and I was at a friends house, he didn’t know who I was and I was super confused, I told him it was me, and he squinted his eyes and said “Logan?”, I said yeah and he said,”you do notice you have ears and a tail, right?”at first I thought he was joking, until I looked behind me and saw that I had a tail, I looked in a mirror and saw cat ears, I told him I couldn’t go back to my normal job, he agreed with me

Ok, backstories for what I gathered it this dream it was weirdly vivid, this dream takes place in a world where there are humans and neko’s, but humans are...

Source | Show dream
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