Dreaming of Islands

[SaMaster14]

As the title says, some of my most vivid dreams always include islands. It is definitely a recurring metaphor/location in my dream world. Usually I associate the islands as being Hawaii, even though I've been to many of the Hawaiian islands and the islands in my dream look nothing like any real place I have ever been. Last night, I dreamed that the island was part of Italy (I have never been to Italy, but I highly doubt the place I dreamed of is a real place in Italy, the geography and architecture just wouldn't match up). The dreams are always in different contexts, although I'm usually with friends, or alone with strangers around. But they are always different in terms of what is happening in the dream, what I am doing, with whom I am with, etc etc... but I'm always either on land with an island, or group of islands within swimming distance (and I usually swim out to them, or take pictures, or just become amazed by the natural beauty) or on an island surrounded by other islands, again, always very close to each other. I'm a swimmer in real life, and there is almost never any fear in the dreams; plus if I do go into the water, I always make it to the island I was swimming to, no fear of water. Last night was my most recent, and the one that is most vivid in my memory. I was in 'Italy' with a couple of friends, and we checked into a hotel, got situated, and our view was of a canal, or 'ocean' but with a group of long, large islands across from where we were, again very close. In this dream, I merely took pictures of the sun setting behind them and marveled in the vividness. I hope I'm not rambling; I'm just not sure exactly what to make of all of these islands in my dreams! Definitely not something that happens every night (and I remember my dreams almost every day), but I would say I have a dream like this every couple of weeks or so. Any interpretations/thoughts are welcome!

[JoannaB]

A few connotations to the meaning of island: insulated, isolated, secluded, alone. An island could be thought as a safe haven, a place disconnected from some of the mainland troubles. A place surrounded by water, and water is fluid often in flux and deep, but the island sticks out of that. Expressions containing island: "No man is an island.", treasure island, island vacation, desert island, island nation

[SaMaster14]

A few connotations to the meaning of island: insulated, isolated, secluded, alone. An island could be thought as a safe haven, a place disconnected from some of the mainland troubles. A place surrounded by water, and water is fluid often in flux and deep, but the island sticks out of that. Expressions containing island: "No man is an island.", treasure island, island vacation, desert island, island nation Thanks for the reply. Idk, it's just weird, I don't think any of those connotations match my life... but who knows? Plus, I'm always happy, nostalgic, or in the moment in the dreams, not separated from anything... Maybe because I can see the channel islands across the ocean from my dad's office and some friends' houses every once in a while, or that I go to Maui twice a year? I'm always by the water, I've been a swimmer (pool and ocean) my whole life and my vacations are almost always on a coast (or island....)

[JoannaB]

I would say that what you wrote makes a lot of sense: you have experience of islands in waking life, and this you dream of islands, and there may not be a metaphorical meaning in that for you. As a young teen I used to dream of skiing a lot, and I bet the fact that we would go skiing two or sometimes even three weeks every year probably was the cause of that. Of course, in my case my dreams were scary out of control nightmares about skiing, but I think that had less to do with skiing being scary and more with the fact that my mind needed to show me dreams of fear of out of control, and skiing was a familiar concept that it used to showe that. Perhaps your mind feels the need of showing you calm and happy dreams, and the islands are there because it knows you know and like islands?