Dream To See Yourself - Meaning

It can be a disturbing dream: to be both spectator and protagonist of a dream. You perceive what's happening, but you're not experiencing it in the first person, but as a third person watching a movie.

When you dream about yourself, it indicates a personal part that needs to come out. It's a form of expression used by dreams to show the part of you that wants to get out.

In many dreams in which you see yourself, the performance of your other self is very different from the usual behavior you maintain; this is a very clear sign of a personality, or a side of you that needs to be explored and is seeking its own space in your daily life.

To dream of seeing oneself - Meaning

Dreaming about yourself is undoubtedly a very special experience; it really is one of the most curious and bizarre things that can happen in dreams.

Seeing another you in front of you, your clone or doppelganger, makes you feel strange and disoriented.

The astonishment felt is so great that, in most cases, you'll wake up suddenly because of the feeling of alienation such a vision provokes.

Seeing oneself in a dream can occur in many different ways, from the most "ordinary" (for example, seeing oneself in a mirror) to the most "extraordinary" and unusual (seeing oneself from an external point of view, from above during a dream). sleepAt a certain point in the dream, we encounter another self, a double equal and identical to ourselves.)

In any case, a dream in which one has the opportunity to observe oneself is certainly worthy of interest, if not very important; it concerns one's relationship with one's self, one's identity, one's consciousness.

Leaving aside for the moment dreams in which we look into a mirror, I want to consider here precisely those dreams that are the most unusual and upsetting, those in which we come face to face with another self.

To dream of meeting one's double, another self, means that at some point in the dream, one unexpectedly finds oneself face to face with another person equal and identical to oneself, as if it were a clone, a double or a "twin" who in reality does not exist.

This "double" has a real, concrete appearance, and moves independently of you; it has its own will and freedom of thought and action.

Probably, at first, his silhouette appears to you in the shadows, hidden, from behind, or at any rate indefinite; he seems familiar, but you don't pay much attention to him; slowly, however, as you observe him more closely, you realize that this person is really you!

You look around in disbelief, scrutinizing every detail, because it seems impossible; but you have to face the facts: this person is exactly like you. It's usually a great surprise, even a shock.

Sometimes your double acts as if he hasn't seen you, other times he looks at you without moving, but he can also talk to you and interact with you.

According to popular tradition, dreaming about oneself is a bad omen, heralding misfortune and death.

It's also said of those who see their double in real life, so not in a dream, but in the waking state; it's like having a vision, an apparition of a ghost or spirit that seems identical to oneself.

He may appear next to you, at your side; or he may manifest himself in a place far from you: some people will claim to have seen you in one place at a time when you were elsewhere (bilocation).

In German, this particular apparition is called "Doppelgänger" (or "the double who walks side by side"), a word that is now used specifically to designate the ghostly double of oneself.

Folklore and literature have handed down many stories and legends according to which the Doppelgänger appears to people to announce imminent death, or at least a great danger that concerns them personally.

Alternatively, the deceased's Doppelgänger could have been seen attending the funeral, carrying the coffin, dining with the guests, and so on.

Many famous people had a vision of their Doppelgänger before they died: among them the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who once saw it near him on the beach: he pointed his finger at the waves of the sea without saying anything; in this sea, Shelley drowned about a month later.

The "double" can also appear to members of a person's family on the occasion of their death or a misfortune that hits them hard; for example, the poet John Donne saw his wife's Doppelgänger when she had an abortion; he, who was in Paris at the time, saw his wife (or rather his "double") cross the room with a dead baby in her arms.

The theme of the double, from Romanticism to the present day, has been developed repeatedly; the double is often an antagonist, an impostor, the embodiment of the protagonist's conscience, something that haunts him and which, in the end, may lead him to madness and death ("William Wilson", "The Imposter", "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Cache", "The Late Mattie Pascal", etc.).

Cinema and comics have also revived the doppelganger theme, with ordinary people transforming into superheroes (Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc.).

The theme of the double is much explored, as it reflects the psychological condition of modern man, often in identity crisis, torn by opposing tendencies, divided between being and appearing.

For example, "disquiet" (Heimlich), the feeling of restlessness and unease that arises when we observe something that seems both foreign and familiar. The disquieting is that which "was previously hidden and now appears in broad daylight"; it's the complex we've outgrown but which returns, and that's why it disturbs, disgusts and annoys us. It's the unconscious or, in Jungian terms, the Shadow that manifests itself.

The "double walking side by side" is linked to the concept of the Shadow, the evil twins, the antagonist, but also to the Soul and the Guardian Angel.

Sometimes, the Doppelgänger can present itself as a comforting, reassuring figure, but more often than not it's perceived as "bad"; for while on the one hand the idea of having a "double" who outlives us can be reassuring, on the other it reminds us that we're destined to die, and this disturbs us.

Narcissism is also linked to the theme of the double: excessive and exclusive self-love is possible because the defects and negative sides of the personality are rejected onto the "evil double", which remains relegated to the unconscious; Narcissus therefore sees only the beautiful image of himself, the one he loves blindly.

I really like the theme of the double, and I could say a lot more, but the post would get too long, so I'll stop here.

However, if you go back to your dream, you'll see that all this information can help you better understand its meaning.

Dreaming of seeing oneself - Symbolic

In a dream, I saw myself. As myself. At least insofar as I could recognize myself in my appearance and behavior. It's not that common to come face to face with oneself. As psychologists, we often gradually push our patients to put themselves in the other person's shoes.

This is an important mental operation. It's a process of metacognition to observe oneself from the outside and try to understand the other's point of view.

But meeting yourself is something different, because you discover, for example, the effect you produce in those first few seconds, which a great deal of research indicates is essential, even definitive, on the judgment you make of a new person when you first meet them.

Inside the dream, "you" number 2 or number 1 (who knows?) doesn't stimulate me to think, to explain.

All the trivial hypotheses - a double, a clone, a neurological illusion - that we can make from the outside, i.e. when we're awake, don't come to mind.

The whole impression is vivid and altered, as can be a dream, where you experience emotions you've never known and will probably never feel again.

So I think it's a difficult exercise to do while awake. In fact, I'd advise you not to try. It's hard enough trying to put yourself in another person's shoes, let alone inventing a double of yourself.

Perhaps you'd guess that you're an affable or unbearable person, after having grasped that feeling that those who meet you (for the first time or for a long time no matter) inexorably experience. It would be a shock. Your mind is designed to handle other minds, not itself. At most, when it turns its attention to itself, it dissociates.

And it's also true that the sense of self-possession, of ownership of oneself and one's dreams, are psychological processes too powerful to allow dreams. The dream I had often ends with a feeling of control. You can't meet each other.

You can't know yourself. Socrates' famous phrase "know thyself" wasn't very good for mankind; it even had the effect of a Western nightmare. It's quite complicated to stay in reality - which you've borrowed from your consciousness and memory - rather than in someone else's bad dream.

Not always, if you've dreamt of dying, the meaning coincides with a fall into "deep" nothingness. This dream, in fact, can be associated with the conclusion of one phase of life and the beginning of a new one, thus becoming a metaphor for change.

Therefore, its meaning could indicate a distortion of your normalcy. It could be a new job, a happy family event or many other possibilities.

Warning: it's true that death isn't always a bad omen, but dreaming of dying can become a warning. Think about how you've lived your life recently, whether you're engaging in risky behaviors or behaviors that may compromise your health. Your dream could represent a warning from your unconscious.

Fear of dying: For most people, their greatest fear is dying. This fear is perfectly normal, but it can be conditioned to the point where you wrongly predict your death in your sleep.

Overwhelming situation: in certain contexts, dreaming of dying becomes a metaphor for what you experience when you're awake, or an extreme state of anxiety and stress, in which you feel oppressed and as if you're not breathing.

Being submerged by a wave or having water in your throat is a dream that can only provoke anxiety in those who experience it.

Those who have dreamt of drowning are probably going through a particularly difficult period in their lives.

The dreamer feels oppressed by an unmanageable situation that takes his breath away.

In the world of dreams, fire is the symbol of the most ardent passions and feelings, such as passionate love or anger.

However, if you dream of burning to death, the meaning of death must be taken into account in order to give a correct interpretation of the dream.

It represents a condition that occurred in the last period, such as, for example, a quarrel or heated discussion, which literally made your blood boil.

Dreaming of seeing yourself in a mirror

An interesting feature of this type of dream is that you understand that you're not in a real situation and will look for ways to wake up from the dream fantasy.

For both men and women, seeing themselves in dreams denotes a desire to achieve something that completes them, that leads them to success and happiness, i.e. part of these dreams stem from unconscious frustration.

However, there is a variable in dreaming with oneself, which consists of seeing oneself reflected in a mirror.

When it's the vision you have of yourself in a dream, it means that you see yourself idealized, in the best of future scenarios, with an image and an integral being coupled with what you want your life to be.

If the image you see in the mirror is one of illness or aging, it means you fear for your physical integrity or health; it would be worth clarifying your doubts about this with a doctor, as it's a warning sign from your unconscious against the strength of your body.