![]() ![]() The Dream: You're back in school and it's time to get out the number-two pencil. "With help, you might even find solutions to your problems," he says. In the end, it's less exhausting than taking pains to make sure no one sees your inner turmoil. Give some thought to your insecurities and share them, Wallace advises. What You Should Do: It's time to let it all hang out-emotionally, that is. If the dream is in a cafeteria, this could reflect social anxiety, no matter how long you've been out of school. If the dream takes place in a classroom, it's possible that whatever you learned there continues to make you insecure. Perhaps your new job or relationship is making you uneasy. But just like no one notices your package, your fears remain hidden as well. What It Means: "You're feeling out-of-place, vulnerable, and scared of being exposed," Wallace says. And while no one seems to notice, you're desperate to hide yourself. The Dream: You're naked-full frontal and everything. MORE: How Your Bedroom Troubles Might Dig You an Early Grave "You need to take care of your needs first and foremost," says Wallace. Research has linked people-pleasing tendencies to everything from weight-gain to depression. Stop letting people dump all of their problems on you and look out for Number One. What You Should Do: Learn to say "no" from time to time. You may have something you need to purge-whether it's a toxic friend or a soul-crushing job-and you fear it will be messy (cue the poop humor). ![]() ![]() What It Means: If you can't take care of business in your dream, it's possible that you're metaphorically blocked in waking life, Wallace suggests. The Dream: After running around like a madman and waiting through one freakishly long line for the bathroom, you discover that the toilet you've been waiting on is filthy or exposed to the whole world-not to mention that there's not a scrap of toilet paper in sight. Similarly, research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University shows that if you dress to impress, you'll feel pretty darn good about yourself. For example, research by Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy, PhD indicates that confident body language increases testosterone levels, which leads to higher feelings of confidence. Studies show that mimicking confidence leads to the real thing. What You Should Do: Fake it till you make it, Wallace suggests. Having this dream means that your self-assurance may have taken a hit in the kisser, says Wallace. After all, you show them when you are smiling, biting, or even snarling. What It Means: Teeth are symbols of power and confidence. The Dream: It's like a scene out of a cheesy horror film-your teeth dangle, crumble, shatter, and leave you freaking the hell out. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play By examining the issues you can't seem to shake-and are probably running from in the real world-you can address them head-on and eventually move past them. What You Should Do: What are you avoiding? According to Schredl, this dream is often a representation of avoidance behavior, which is linked to psychological problems including anxiety and depression, according to a 2003 study published in Addictive Behaviors. It could be a relationship squabble, a business opportunity, or just a nasty nagging feeling, according to Wallace. What It Means: Just like you can't seem to lose the bad guy behind you, chances are you're having trouble getting past some issues in your waking life. You still won't get away from whatever's on your tail, even if you don't have a clue what it is. It's about to get straight-up Inception in here. Then compare notes with this list of 10 common dreams, what they mean, and what to do about them. If you want to make sense of your own dreams, first put paper and pencil on your nightstand, and write down what you dreamed about when you first wake up, Schredl advises. "In dreams, new information is combined with old information of the person's life in a creative way so that new solutions might emerge," says researcher Michael Schredl, PhD, from the Central Institute of Mental Health sleep laboratory in Germany. But it's not just for our own entertainment. In other words, we're the director, star, and producer of all the movies that play inside our heads after we fall asleep (in fact, we create about five 15- to 40-minute dreams per night). "Dreams don't happen to us, we happen to them," says Edinburgh-based dream psychologist Ian Wallace, author of The Top 100 Dreams.
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