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Dream meanings/Fear and danger/Being chased

What does it mean to dream you're being chased?

Being chased in a dream is usually about something you're avoiding, and the pursuer is often closer to home than it looks: a side of yourself you keep at a distance, a guilty conscience, or something that happened recently. If the pursuer turns gentle when you look back, the dream may be about wanting to be accepted.

Updated

Being chased is one of the most common nightmares. The key is usually the pursuer: what it was, how it looked when you turned around, and how you felt. The thing chasing you is often closer to home than it seems.

What dreaming about being chased may mean

  1. AA side of yourself you don't acknowledge

    What chases you may be part of you: an aggressive, clinging or untamed side you keep at a distance. This reading is more likely if you see yourself as calm and reasonable and rarely let anger show.

    The pursuer is half human, half animal, or wearing a mask · The pursuer is a wild animal, a villain, an enemy or a robber · You're usually rational, principled and slow to anger

  2. BA guilty conscience

    Sometimes the pursuer is your own sense of right and wrong. The dream may be about something you feel guilty about, and a feeling that you can't get away from it.

    A dog or the police are chasing you · The pursuer is huge and impossible to shake off · You feel guilty about something

  3. CRunning from a part of yourself you dislike

    The dream may be about insecurity: a side of yourself you fear or dislike, and want to get rid of.

  1. DWanting to be accepted

    Dreams can say things the other way round. If the pursuer turns gentle when you look back, the dream may be about wanting to be liked and accepted by that person, rather than escaping them.

    When you look back, the pursuer turns cute or gentle

  2. ESomething that happened recently

    A pursuer that is very specific, a particular kind of creature or a recognizable figure, may stand in for something that happened to you recently.

    You could clearly say what was chasing you

  3. FOld fears of being left or hurt

    Chase dreams that go back to childhood may be about two fears that run through life: being abandoned, and being hurt.

    You've had chase dreams since you were a child

These are possibilities, not verdicts. The reading that fits is the one that matches the details and the feeling of your dream, and what's going on in your life.

Questions that tell the readings apart

  1. Q1Who or what was chasing you?A wild animal, a stranger in a mask and a police officer point to different readings.
  2. Q2Did you look back at it? What did it look like?A pursuer that changes when you face it changes the meaning too.
  3. Q3What in your life right now feels like it's coming after you?The dream often borrows its pursuer from something happening now.

Read your own dream about being chased

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