Recurring dream about sharks

[mmmerediith]

Hello, for the past couple of years I've had a recurring dream about being nearly swallowed by a shark. It usually starts with me in a pool or the ocean, and I'll go underwater or look down and there's a huge beast of a shark (and on 2 or 3 occasions an Orca) opening it's jaws and coming towards me. I try to punch it's snout and I can temporarily swim away but it keeps chasing me sometimes ripping off a limb painlessly, but I always wake up before it kills me.

Any thoughts on symbolism or meaning would be appreciated. Could it be me remembering something from a past life? I'm just not sure why I keep having it, I'm not even afraid of sharks in my waking life.

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

you always wake up before being killed, so these dreams aren't about death or dying.
here's what i'm thinking: there's something big under the surface in your emotional field.
it's something that could "consume" you if given the chance, but it's not necessarily a
bad thing (depending on your perspective of it). a consuming passion can be a
driving force for a person, and if you're lacking in inspiration accessing that energy,
rather than suppressing it, could be a benefit for you.
i don't think the dreams are about past-lives, but knowledge of those could be
informative to your situation (maybe you've suppressed your self expression
in some other lifetime?).
it's an important feature to note that encountering that energy is "painless" for you.

[mmmerediith]

That's an interesting perspective I hadn't considered, I've always assumed it was something bad. Even though the attacks are painless it's still scary as hell to see them lurking below the surface.

[IgaWis]

if you feel scared in the dream, it means that there is a deep rooted fear in your mind. supposedly, you are really scared of scarks when you were a kid. you may also be scared of facing a person who hurt you in the past. there are many individual variations of problems we can address here.

[mmmerediith]

I wasn't scared of sharks as a kid though, I've never really had a crazy fear of them at any point in my waking life. However I was scared of drowning for a long time, I wouldn't go underwater until I was about 13. Also I haven't had to interact with anyone destructive in my past recently but I'll think on it, there is one person in my recent history who I think it could very likely represent.

[Really!]

Are you competing for something or someone?
In the job market? Maintain good a job? Competing for someone's affections? Trying to main a certain lifestyle?
Just some thoughts to ask yourself?

[Awoken1ne]

I had something very similar in my dreams. Except it was with scream. (From the movies)

I recall having the same dream several times.

It would always start the same & end the same. With Scream chasing me down & finally putting a knife in my back.

After about the 4th time having this dream over a span of a year, I realized that it was only a dream. It's this very thing that turned me on to lucid dreaming actually.

Either way, It turned out to be emotional conflict. I was going through a tough time with my parents at that point in time.

Do you keep a dream journal?

[mmmerediith]

Originally Posted by Awoken1ne

I had something very similar in my dreams. Except it was with scream. (From the movies)

I recall having the same dream several times.

It would always start the same & end the same. With Scream chasing me down & finally putting a knife in my back.

After about the 4th time having this dream over a span of a year, I realized that it was only a dream. It's this very thing that turned me on to lucid dreaming actually.

Either way, It turned out to be emotional conflict. I was going through a tough time with my parents at that point in time.

Do you keep a dream journal?

Funny, I actually had a vivid nightmare as a kid that I still remember the first time I saw that movie.
I lucid dream sporadically, there was a time period when I did keep a dream journal and actively tried to but I started having really terrifying sleep paralysis and decided to stop.
Like I said it still happens, maybe once or twice a month I'll realize I'm dreaming and I instantly try to fly ☺
For the past year I've been stuggling with depression and just started seeking help, maybe that could be causing my shark.

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

imagine that in some past-life you were driven by a "consuming passion".
for this incarnation, you've decided to break free from that energy
(since it dominated your decision making, and hampered your free-will).
to achieve freedom from that shark, you'd decided to turn down your
emotional receptors... which resulted in your feeling numbness. the numbing
is what makes your shark encounters painless, but it also serves to cause
'depression', since you're cut off from emotional upliftment as well.

the thing to do is realize that those past experiences do not determine who
you are presently. who you are can use that information to serve your
purposes now -- the past doesn't create the present; all creation is done
here and now (including the past, and any "meanings" it may hold).
whatever waves of energy seem to envelop you are not determinant for
your state of being... you can decide how to use (or not use) those energies.
you are empowered with choice(s).