Every night, whether we like it or not we take our fears and worries with us to bed. Even when we close our eyes and go to sleep, somehow our mind captures our anxieties and translates them into dream imagery. Many of our fears are shared by others so the theme of our dreams may have universal symbols and elements common to most people.

It is my belief that the exploration of our dreams can help us to cope with the fears of our waking life. When we remember a dream and we expose it to the light, so to speak, we are able to be cognizant of which life issues are most troubling to us. Our conscious mind strives to protect us from seeing all our fears at once. But in the unconscious realm, fears and anxieties are fluid and flowing without any boundaries to contain them. Within the dreamscape the truth of what we most fear comes to life in haunting images and dream metaphors.

We are going to take a look at some of the more common fears as represented by dreams and some of the meanings ascribed to such dream themes. The one thing to keep in mind is that there is no one interpretation for your dreams. Dreams are literally what you make of them. Only you have the understanding of what certain objects, people, and events represented in your dreams mean to you.

One way to begin examining your dreams is to write down what you remember of the dream upon awakening. What was the mood of the dream? What images do you remember seeing? Were there any patterns or repetition of themes in your dream? Without any second guessing, what does your gut say your dream meant to you? Follow your train of thought and see where it goes. Have you learned anything about yourself? If so then you have achieved the goal of dream exploration.

Here are five common dream themes followed by a possible interpretation of what these fears in dreams can mean:

1. Dreaming of losing your teeth: This is an extremely common type of dream. I have had this dream many times. My dream usually begins with feeling that one of my teeth is loose and then much to my alarm it falls out. Other teeth then rapidly begin loosening and falling out as I try to save them or even put them back in my mouth. My thoughts during this anxiety provoking dream are: When is this going to stop?

What this dream can mean: It bears repeating that although most people have had this type of dream; it may mean different things to each individual. The key is to figure out what the symbols mean to you. Deanna Joseph of BellaOnline interprets the losing teeth dream to indicate that you have literally “bitten off more than you can chew” and that perhaps you are having problems making a decision. The anxiety over losing your teeth in the dream can pertain to your real life fears of making a wrong decision. Another interpretation I have seen is that the teeth falling out in a dream is a metaphor for your real life worry of “losing face.” You may be facing some real life situation where you are worried about looking bad in front of others.