What It Really Means When You Dream About A Missing Limb

In various places of the world and across different cultures, humans seem bound by a shared experience of dreams and the significance we attach to them in our waking lives. From New York to Alaska and all across the globe, the things people see while asleep tend to weigh greatly on the things they do in their conscious state, per University of Missouri-Kansas City.

For example, a study conducted by Carey Morewedge, a former assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, revealed that air travelers were likely to be more scared if they dreamed of being in a plane crash than they would be if the government had actually warned of a highly-probable terrorist attack on that same plane, per Live Science. That is, people admitted that they would consider it less risky to board the plane if there was only a threat of terrorists than if they had slept and had a plane crash nightmare. "Our research shows that people believe their dreams provide meaningful insight into themselves and their world," Morewedge wrote in the February 2009 edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, posted by the American Psychological Association.

Having a dream in which you lost a limb may sound similar to dreaming about losing your voice, but both dreams stand for different things.

Whereas losing your voice in a dream could mean that a long-forgotten ex would try to get back together with you, losing a limb points to the possibility that someone may be getting ready to cut you off, or that you may be about to lose something you would rather hold on to, per Aunty Flo.

Another interpretation of losing a limb in a dream could be that you are letting go of something that no longer serves its purpose. Perhaps its something that used to be an indispensable part of you, but you no longer have a need for it and it is time to give it up, regardless of how difficult that may be, per Dreaming Life. Perhaps it relates to quitting a job or switching careers. A further interpretation of lost limbs in a dream could be that the universe is letting you know that your life lacks stability in one way or another; that single thing may be all you need to feel complete, according to Check My Dream. Other times, this dream could just mean that you are in very short supply of the confidence required to navigate life successfully.

When you dream about a missing limb, it could also be that you've lost a talent you once had, or an ability that used to set you apart from others in every group you belonged to, per Dream Meaning.