All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream – Edgar Allen Poe
While Edgar Allen Poe and Howard Phillips Lovecraft thought that life was but a dream within a dream, writer and musician Dan O’Mahony was far less eloquent when discussing the difference between the waking and sleeping worlds, and simply said “We dream or we die”.
But what does it mean if we die in our dreams? What significance do our dreams of death have? How does dying in our dreams affect our lives in the waking world and what kind of impact can those dreams have on our physical and mental well-being?
It’s a question that has plagued psychologists, psychiatrists, and oneirocritics for hundreds of years, and their general consensus regarding the subject is more than a little surprising.
The actual act of dying in your dreams isn’t as important as how and why you die in them. And of the thousands of different ways in which the Grim Reaper can arrive to greet us and accompany us to wherever we go next, one of the most surprisingly common is being killed by a tsunami.
This is why we’ve decided to take a closer look at, and try to help you understand what it means if you dream about seeing, or being subsumed by a tsunami.
What Is A Tsunami?
You’ve probably heard the term on the news, seen footage of one on the internet, and almost certainly remember the devastation that tsunamis caused in Japan in March 2011 and in Indonesia in 2004.
A tsunami is, in simple terms, a tidal wave that has usually been created by a seismic or geological event. They are, quite frankly, terrifying and the manifestation of them in our dreams is usually a cause for some concern.
I Dreamt Of Seeing Waves As High As The Sky
Tsunamis are the perfect expression of the unpredictable power of nature that can appear without warning and leave a trail of devastation and destruction in their wake.
Chaotic, disruptive, and cataclysmic, their appearance in the dream world represents emotional turmoil and struggle, and witnessing a tsunami and seeing the ruin it leaves, signifies that you are facing, and dealing with an emotional struggle that is wreaking havoc on your subconscious.
This dream is usually a warning that you need to resolve the emotional upheaval that is controlling your life before it causes further problems for you and your nearest and dearest.
Submerged In Tidal Waters
If you fell victim to the tsunami that you dreamt about, it usually means that you feel as though your life is spiraling out of control and that you feel as though you lack the ability or power to take control of your destiny.
Being struck by a tsunami can also be reflective of turbulent events that you have been, or are still, caught in and feel trapped by.
The root cause is almost always the same though, a feeling of being unable to control your own life and the circumstances that you consider yourself to be trapped by and unable to escape from.
It’s incredibly important to deal with the issues that have led to your subconscious creating this scenario in your dreams, as a failure to do so can lead to the dream repeating itself and wreaking havoc on the quality of your sleep.
This can, in turn, lead to all sorts of additional personal and professional problems.
I Saw The Waves Take My Loved Ones
Seeing someone you care about being struck by a tsunami usually means that you fear that the person in question is about to experience a tragedy, or has recently experienced a major upheaval in their life which is continuing to cause problems for them and those closest to them.
If they haven’t been troubled by fate or circumstance, then seeing them taken by the wave is your subconscious way of warning you that, on some intrinsic level you believe that something is about to happen to them.
Again, it’s important to discuss the events that have either already occurred or that your psyche believes are about to occur with the person in question, to both alleviate any distress they may be suffering or to warn them about any hardship they may be about to endure.
And Then The Waves Took My Home
Witnessing, in your dreams, a tsunami destroying your home or the town or city that you live in is a representation of the negativity that you feel toward your present circumstances.
It’s your subconscious way of combating these negative feelings and the effect that the stress they’ve ultimately caused and the impact that it is having on your mental wellbeing.
By removing what, internally, you view as being the origin of the negativity with an incredibly destructive and cataclysmic force like a tsunami, your subconscious is trying to wipe your mental slate clean and warn you about the harmful effect that stress is having on your health.
It’s your brain’s early warning system kicking in and asking for help. And you need to listen to what your mind is trying to tell you.
Escaping The Waves
It isn’t all bad news though, as there is a tsunami dream scenario that actually signifies that good things are about to happen.
If you manage to escape from the carnage and annihilation of the tsunami, it’s your mind’s way of telling you that there is a way to combat and conquer whatever misfortunes or problems are plaguing you and that you can, and will, overcome them.
Managing to successfully flee from a tsunami in your dreams is almost always an indicator that good things are about to happen to you and that brighter days are waiting just over the horizon.
If you do escape, make sure that you use every moment you can in the waking world to push your personal projects forward and try to envision all of the things that you dream about becoming a reality while trying to find a way to make them happen.
It’s the best time to do it, as escaping from certain death in your dreams means that it’s time for good things to start happening to, and for, you.
You just have to be ready for them.