Dreams about houses are among the most common.  Dreams, both of familiar and unfamiliar houses, are great fun to interpret, and they can even reveal clues into the personality of the dreamer.  Clues like whether the house is familiar or strange, comforting or scary, in good repair or falling down, provide interesting insights into the dreamer's conscious mind.

In addition, each room of the house is a specific symbolic element all its own.  Dreaming of one room over another provides clues into your state of mind, your fears, and your anxieties. Let's start our room by room examination of your “dream house”.

The Attic
The attic is thought to symbolize your higher self, or your spiritual development.  Dreams involving an attic, or climbing into an attic, often represent the search for spiritual enlightenment or a higher purpose.

The Bathroom
Dreaming of a bathroom can mean that something is not quite right in your life, and that a cleansing or purging is needed.  It can also mean that something in your life is not working, and that you need to move on.

The Kitchen
The kitchen can symbolize the need for nourishment, either in the form of food, or nourishment of the soul through spiritual pursuits.  What is in your dream kitchen can be revealing as well.  If the kitchen contains all that is needed for a gourmet meal, it can mean that you have all you need in life.  If, on the other hand the cupboard is bare of the kitchen is empty, it could mean you need to seek nourishment for your body and your soul.

The Dining Room
Dreaming of the dining room is similar to dreaming of the kitchen, but the dining room tends to symbolize a more immediate need for physical or spiritual nourishment.

The Living Room
The living room is a symbol of your normal daily interactions with the other people in your life.  Dreams often include meetings with many other people in the main room or living room of the house.

The Bedroom
Dreams of the bedroom can take several turns.  They can be concerned with issues of rest, or with issues of repressed sexuality.

The Upstairs
The upstairs of your “dream house” is often a symbol of your spiritual awakening or your higher self.  Dreaming of going upstairs can symbolize a desire for more spirituality or religious fulfillment.

The Downstairs
The downstairs, or basement of the house often symbolizes your subconscious minds and hidden desires.  Dreaming of the basement, especially if the dreams are disturbing, is often an attempt to deal with negative aspects of your life or your personality.

The Ground Floor
The ground floor is often seen as a symbol of the current events and daily agenda of your life, or the mundane, everyday aspects of your existence.

Old, Familiar Houses
Revisiting an old, familiar house, or a childhood home, often represents a longing to return to a simpler time.  Dreams of childhood homes can also occur when old issues from childhood are resurfacing in your life.  Events such as school reunions, or unexpectedly meeting someone from your childhood, can trigger dreams of childhood and childhood houses.

The Hallway
A hallway in a dream can often symbolize the need for a journey to an unfamiliar place in your life, or the need to explore unexplored issues.

The Porch
The porch is often seen as a symbol of being undecided about something in your life.  The porch can also be seen as a symbol of being withdrawn, uncommitted and unable to make a decision.

Dreams about cheating, either being cheated on or cheating yourself, are some of the most commonly reported, and most troubling, dreams there are.  Many people take these dreams as prophecies, and accuse their spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend of cheating in real life.  While these kinds of dreams are sometimes valid, most times they are not.

When a dream of a cheating spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend turns out to be accurate, it does not necessarily mean you are psychic.  Rather, it probably means that your unconscious mind picked up on some subtle signals that your conscious mind either overlooked or blocked out.  For instance, things like a sudden change in wardrobe, new cologne or sudden interest in fitness can often signal a cheating spouse.   It is possible that your unconcious took note of all these signals during the day, and then used your dream state to send a message.

In most cases, however, a dream about a cheating boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse is not about the spouse at all.  Rather, the dream is most likely caused by insecurity, anxiety or guilt on the part of the dreamer.  For instance, dreaming about catching your boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse with another partner probably indicates a deep seated anxiety on your part, either worry about your appearance, doubts about your attractiveness, or just generalized anxiety about the future.

Likewise, dreaming that you are cheating on your spouse or significant other can result from guilt you feel about other issues.  In some cases these feelings of guilt are not even related to your relationship.  Rather, the guilt could be the result of anything from cutting corners at work to cheating on a test to being less than honest with family members.  Thus the cheating is only a symbol of guilt you already feel, not a prediction that you will be stepping out on your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend.

Dreams about a boyfriend or girlfriend cheating on you tend to be fear based dreams.  These dreams do not necessarily represent fear of being cheated on, although those fears can come out in dreams.  Instead, the fear could be anything, from fear of failure on a project at work to fear of failing a test at school.

The fear expressed through a boyfriend/girlfriend cheating dream could also be the manifestation of a deep seated childhood fear of abandonment.  Children of divorced parents, or children whose parent or parents have died, often express their fear of abandonment through bad dreams, and these dreams can morph into dreams where they are abandoned by a partner or a spouse.

Even though the issues expressed through dreams of cheating and being cheated on are not rooted in the relationship, it is always a good idea to work through the issues that caused the dreams.  That is because the issues associated with these kinds of dreams, issues like trust and fear, are important things to work through.  Issues with trust, and fear of abandonment can be very damaging to even the strongest relationship.

So whether you are the cheater or the cheatee in your dream, it is important to examine the situations you encounter in your dreams.  The situations, places and people encountered while in a dream state often represent real people, places and objects, and learning the connections can allow you to correct the situations that are leading to such feelings of insecurity and anxiety.
 

Dreams in which the dreamer fails a test or an exam, or where he or she is confronted by an exam suddenly, are some of the most common of all dreams.  These dreams can represent a variety of fears, insecurities and anxieties.

Dreams in which the dreamer is taking or failing a test are one of those unique areas of dream interpretation where a symbolic answer is not always needed.  It is obvious why students would dream about failing tests.  The failed tests in their dreams are literal interpretations of past, present and future tests in their waking lives.  For instance, the failed test can represent regret at failing a past test, or anxiety about a recently taken test or fears of failing future tests.

Good students often actually dream more about failing tests, since they tend to hold themselves to higher academic standards than poorer students.  Even a student who has never failed a test in real life may constantly dream about failing test after test.


Of course students are not the only ones who dream about failing tests, and for non students, symbolic interpretations of such dreams are often needed.  Failing a test in a dream can be a nighttime manifestation of a number of fears, such as fears of doing badly at work, fears of failing to live up to the expectations of family members, or fears of falling behind in life.  Dreams of failing a fest can also represent general feelings of inadequacy, low self esteem or a lack of confidence.

The situations encountered in dreams of failing an exam can range from the very realistic, in which the dreamer can literally feel the hardness of the desk and chair and feel the pencil in his or her hand, to the very unrealistic.  In such unrealistic dreams, the exam may take place in a strange place, such as an open field or even an airplane hangar.  In some dream scenarios, the test questions appear to be written in an unfamiliar language.  This can mean that the dreamer feels unprepared for the exam, or that he or she does not feel a mastery of the subject begin studied.

Other exam dream scenarios include not being allowed enough time for the test, or the pencil continually breaking.  These scenarios can also indicate an uneasiness about being unprepared for the test, or in the case of a non student, being unprepared for work or for life in general.

Sometimes dreams about taking and failing exams are so real that the dreamer actually remembers some of the questions on the exams, but these types of dreams are relatively rare.  In most cases, dreams about taking and failing exams are manifestations of anxieties, fears and issues with confidence and self esteem.  They can either represent concrete fears of actual failure on an exam, or more symbolic fears of failure in other aspects of life.

Dreams of taking and failing exams and tests sometimes also indicate that the dreamer feels he or she is being judged.  These dreams can be a signal for the dreamer to examine his or her life, especially areas that have been neglected, and pay closer attention to them.  In many cases, it will be obvious which parts of the dreamer's life need attention.  In other cases, it will require some closer examination.  Such dreams often stem from a fear of letting other people down, and not from any actual inadequacy.  

People who constantly dream about taking and failing test are often high achievers who set very high, sometimes impossible to reach, goals.  It may be necessary for such people to reexamine their lives and their goals and set more appropriate and more reachable measures of success.

The world of dreams and dreaming is a fascinating one, and it continues to be a fertile ground for debate and interpretation even today.  Dreams are fascinating, confusing and amazing all at once, and figuring out what the objects in our dreams really stand for can be a fascinating hobby as well as a way to gain insight into our deeper lives.

Listed below are some of the most commonly seen dream symbols and their most commonly assigned meanings.  Of course, every dream is unique to the individual who dreamed it, and when it comes to dreams there are no hard and fast rules, only general guidelines.

Abandonment
The abandonment theme is a common one for dreams, and it often reflects real world fears of being abandoned or left behind.

Birth
A dream of giving birth can signal anxiety about giving birth, or of getting pregnant.  Birth can also be a symbol of renewal.

Church
Dreams of being in a church can indicate a spiritual longing, or a need for religious guidance.

Devil
In dreams, the devil can obviously represent evil, but in some cases he can stand for slyness or cunning as well.

Failure
Dreams of failure are usually indications of anxiety or worry.  The failure in the dream can take many forms, such as failing a test, failing in a task at work, or attempting to do something and failing in your dream.

Fight
Dreaming you are a in a fight can mean you are struggling issues in your life, or fighting against part of your nature.

Garbage
Garbage in a dream often symbolizes unwanted items.  This can be a suggestion to discard old habits or characteristics.

Hammer
Dreaming of using a hammer can indicate building and creativity.

Island
Dreaming about being stranded on an island can be a manifestation of feelings of being stuck, or of not knowing what to do.

Key
Dreaming about a key may mean that the dreamer has a secret that he is afraid to reveal.

Landing
Dreaming of landing in an airplane can symbolize that the end of a long journey (either a literal or a spiritual journey) is at hand.

Marriage
Getting married in a dream can symbolize commitment, to either a partner or a new lifestyle.

Night
Dreaming about night can mean that the dreamer is unsure about some things in his or her life.  Everything is in darkness and unclear.

Poison
Dreaming about poison can symbolize something the dreamer is trying to get rid of.  It can also be a symbol for pain in the waking world.

Quicksand
Dreaming about quicksand can mean that the dreamer feels trapped by his or her current circumstances.

Running
Running in a dream can symbolize a desire to escape from something in the waking world.

Snake
In the dream world, a snake can be a symbol of evil, or a harbinger of bad things to come.

Thunder
Hearing thunder in a dream can be a symbol of inspiration or insight.  Thunder can also be seen as a warning.

Window
Peering through a window in a dream can symbolize the dreamer's outlook.  The outlook depends on what is seen through the window, and what feelings are generated by the view.