What does it mean to dream about flying?
Flying dreams are most often about freedom and joy, or about seeing your life from higher up. They can also reflect confidence, a wish to get away from it all, or wanting to stand out. If the flight was a struggle, the dream may be about something holding you back.
Updated
Flying dreams are often among the best dreams people remember, but not always. How high you went, how easily you flew, and how it felt all shape what the dream may be about. A joyful flight and a struggle to stay up tell different stories.
What dreaming about flying may mean
AFreedom and joy
At its simplest, a flying dream may be about the feeling itself: freedom, lightness and joy.
You felt very happy, even delighted
BSeeing things from higher up
Looking down on familiar places from above may be about gaining a wider view of your life, and being free of limits you used to live within.
You fly high and look down on places you know
CConfidence, or overreaching
Flying can be a picture of confidence. It also has a shadow side: feeling above the rules, or reaching further than you can hold.
DGetting away from it all
When waking life feels heavy, a flying dream may be about escape: a longing to be free of what's pressing on you.
Life lately has felt frustrating, stifling or anxious
ERising above other people
Flying alone may be about wanting to stand out: to be first or best. It can also point to loneliness, or to a healthy independence from other people's expectations.
You fly alone
FFear of success, or of a new challenge
Being afraid of going too high may be about a fear of what success would ask of you, or of a challenge you're facing.
You're scared of going too high
GSomething holding you back
A flight that won't go well may be about growth that's being held back, by a burden, an obstacle or a relationship that confines you, or about not knowing where you're headed.
You're frustrated that you can't get any higher · You fly clumsily or without direction
HFree, but staying close to the ground
Skimming just above the ground may mean you're not quite ready to let go. Or it may show a good balance: free, while keeping your feet within reach of the earth.
You skim just above the ground
IFreedom and responsibility
Being pulled back down may be about wanting more freedom and less responsibility, or about resisting a responsibility that's yours to take on.
Someone or something calls or pulls you back down · You've grown your own wings and don't want to come down
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
- Q1How did it feel to fly?Joy, fear and frustration each point to a different reading.
- Q2Where were you before you took off?What you're flying away from can matter as much as the flight.
- Q3How did you get up there?Taking off on your own and being carried up are different stories.
Read your own dream about flying
- Reading your dream
- Picking out the images and feelings
- Looking up what the images can mean
- Working out how the pieces fit together
- Writing your reading
- Opening checkout