Wondering what your dream about your late mother could possibly mean? Dream experts at Oprah Daily explain the meaning behind this common reoccurring dream.
By Samantha Vincenty
Dear Dream Catcher,
I have a recurring dream in which I’m graduating from a private school that I’ve never actually attended, and I need to figure out where I’m headed once I leave. Sometimes this school is in Germany. Other times, it’s in Korea, where I’ve been stationed in the military previously in real life. Lately, though, the school is in my hometown of Denver, Colorado.
No matter where it’s located, my goal is always to see my mother, who died 14 years ago. To provide a little background, my mother was an honest, intelligent, assertive woman who never had the ability to pursue her dream of traveling. This fall I’m going to Paris to study for 2 years, and I want more than anything for her to know that she inspired me. —The Graduate
Dear Graduate,
Your dream is about change. In the dream, you’re graduating and need to move out of your room, but this change causes anxiety because you don’t know what the future will bring. As you say,you need to figure out where you’re going to go when you leave. In this case, because you’re graduating from a school where you never attended classes, I wonder whether you feel like you don’t deserve praise for this successful “graduation” into a new life phase?
In dreams, you may find yourself in your hometown because it’s the best way to return to the place where your beliefs about what you deserve originated. To explore the deeper meaning behind the feelings you’re experiencing, you might ask yourself questions like: “Do I have a notion that I don’t deserve, or don’t feel capable to manage, what’s coming?” “Where did this notion originate?” Perhaps even, “Did I somehow conjure this idea because I lost my mother at a time in my life when most of my friends still had theirs?”
