Dreaming about dying can also motivate you to make a change that you’ve been putting off. For example, maybe you’ve been thinking about going back to school or repairing a broken relationship.
For example, you might dream that your sister dies in your dream. This might be triggered by real-life relationship problems between the two of you. If you dream that you’re the one who dies in the dream, it might be because you’re afraid of losing some part of your identity.
For instance, maybe you’ve been so preoccupied with making other people happy, that you haven’t prioritized your own happiness. Give yourself permission to spend time on yourself.
For instance, you might dream about a childhood friend dying, but it means that you’re both growing up and going your separate ways.
Researchers found that people who had a mixture of intensely positive and negative emotions were still in the earliest stages of grief.
In these dreams, you might see your deceased loved one, but they’re healthy or young again. If you dream about a loved one who’s died, you might dream that they support you in some way—they cook you a meal, give you a hug, or offer you advice.
For instance, if you weren’t able to make it to a grandparent’s bedside before they died, you may dream that you’re visiting with them and you give them a big goodbye hug. This can help you feel at peace with their death.
If you’re a caregiver struggling with poor sleep, it can help to unwind and do something relaxing before you go to bed. If it’s hard for you to stop thinking about the death of a loved one, set aside time specifically to think about that. Then, shift your mental energy to something completely different.
Death dreams might alert you that you need to nurture some new part of yourself. For example, if you’re a new non-smoker, allow yourself to feel proud of your hard work or reward yourself in some way.
The study went on to say that thinking about and discussing death can relieve these kinds of existential struggles.
You may be trying to figure out what a death dream means, but psychologists don’t look for a single answer. Instead, they work with patients who are looking for their own interpretations of what the dream means to them. [12] X Research source
