Water in Dreams

Water is a common dream symbol that can take on many meanings and hold psychological weight for the dreamer. Learning how to interpret the water in your dream can offer insight into your unconscious thoughts and emotions.

Common Dream Themes and Meanings

• Surface of Water: Dreams featuring a surface of water, such as a lake, ocean, or river, often represent feelings of emotional stability, serenity, and spiritual balance. If the water appears calm, that suggests a tranquil spirit. If the water appears turbulent, it often represents turbulent emotions.
• In the Water: Dreams of being in the water can often signal feelings of being overwhelmed, out of control, or powerless to the forces in your life. That could signal insecurity, fear, and intense emotions.
• Underwater: Dreams of being under the water can signal fear of the unknown, a reminder to explore your inner depths, or a sense of being overwhelmed by your circumstance. Unexpressed emotions can make their way into your dreams in this way, if you are having difficulty surfacing difficult feelings.
• Rain: A stormy rain in a dream can represent sadness, crying, and the frustration of not being able to do something about a situation. If the rain is calming or refreshing, that represents hope, renewal, and calming of the emotions.
• Flood: Dreams of being in a flood can represent feeling out of control, particularly when it comes to emotions. It could represent being overwhelmed with emotions, feeling hopeless, and out of control of the events unfolding in your life.

Interpretation

To truly learn what the water in your dream means, it is best to consider the tone and feeling of your dream. If the water is overwhelming and fear-inducing, what about your life is feeling overwhelming? On the other hand, if the water is calm and serene, what areas of your life are bringing you peace and balance? Your dream narrative is personal, so take the time to reflect upon the dream image and how it reflects your waking life. A dream is often a reflection of the dreamer and the water imagery can often symbolize the emotional depths of the dreamer.

Water symbolizes various meanings in humans’ dreams due to its versatility. For most, it can represent emotional or spiritual moments. It is often seen as a sign of transformation to something new or different.

Dreams of drinking water may indicate dehydration in the person’s real life, or their inner-self needing peace and stability. It can mean that the dreamer is seeking something tangible, concrete and real. Emotions could be at the surface, and this action could symbolize the need for emotional fulfilment.

Dreams of wading in water may represent life changes in the dreamer, which could bring on a feeling of loss or being overwhelmed. They may connect with being accepted, letting go of old obligations or seeking a sense of control beyond their control. This could allude to emotions being repressed or denied.

Dreams involving floods could allude to the dreamer’s feeling of being overwhelmed or under much pressure. The dream could signify a lack of control, fear, or a sense of drowning out of one’s emotions. It could be a sign of a need to take control and take ownership of one’s emotions before they become unmanageable.

Dreams of being on a boat could denote a feeling of being in control and peacefully floating on a journey. It could be symbolic of traveling toward a new life, or a journey toward self-discovery.

No matter the dream symbol, all dreams carry important messages, and the dreamer should attempt to interpret them. Dream analysis is an exciting practice to explore, and can enhance the dreamer’s understanding of themselves. Water is a powerful symbol, often representing the person’s emotional or spiritual state of being. Exploring what the water means in each individual’s dream is an important tool for gaining deeper insight into our true selves.