What It Really Means When You Dream About A Tsunami

Interpreting the symbols and stories in our dreams has long been a way to gain a deeper understanding and insight into what's going on in our waking lives. The images of our dreams are rarely literal and often reveal more about our subconscious minds and inner emotional landscape than they predict future events. Still, unraveling dreams can offer comfort and clarity to those who are at a crossroads. It can also simply be a fun pastime.

According to Alan Eiser, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, dreams have the potential to hold a lot of meaning since they "deal with the sort of personal conflicts and emotional struggles that people are experiencing in their daily lives," per The Washington Post.

Flying, falling, failing a test — some dreams are universally common and frequent (via Verywell Mind). We've likely all had the disconcerting dream of losing our teeth, but what about one in which a massive body of water sweeps through your town or city? If you've had the unsettling dream of facing a tsunami, this is what it could mean.

Water tends to represent our emotional world in dreams. Tsunamis are larger than life, and if you see yourself standing small before a massive tidal wave, your dream could be offering you a warning about things that appear to be spiraling out of control in your life (via Dream Dictionary). It could be finances, an illness, your marriage, career, or any other aspect of your life that's unstable at the moment. The dream could be urging you to protect yourself or take action against possible devastation. If you're running from the tsunami and filled with anxiety, you may be neglecting a problem in your daily life that needs your attention. Rather than escape, you should take your fate into your own hands.

It's common for other components of a tsunami dream to hint at the bigger picture. Are your friends and family in danger of the tsunami? Are you drowning in the water? Are you safe in a boat? There's a lot to decode in this deeply emotional and likely wearisome dream. Luckily, as we've established, dreams are rarely literal, and just because a tsunami dream may make you feel as though everything is going wrong, that likely isn't true (via WellBeing).

A tsunami dream offers you a unique opportunity: to face your fears. If the dream is recurring, you may find yourself with the ability to become lucid. Lucid dreaming is when you're actually aware you are dreaming and able to influence the narrative of your dream (via Medical News Today). If you're able to conquer the tsunami wave in your dream, maybe by catching a boat or riding a surfboard, you may experience a feeling of victory or relief, which could be quite healing.

If your dream of a tsunami, whether you're lucid or not, involves you simply observing the tsunami from a far-off point, it could mean that you are a role model and have a large responsibility. Others might look up to you from the chaos, and you must make sure to give a positive example of how to be in the face of stress (via Spirit Animal Dreams). If your tsunami dream takes place at night or in darkness, this could indicate that you need to talk through your problems with a trusted friend. Regardless, dreams about major natural disasters aren't here to scare us, but to hold a light up against what needs examining and healing.