“Generally, water will reflect your emotional state, because like water, emotions are very fluid,” she explains, adding that the state of the water, how you’re feeling in/about the water, and what the water itself is doing are all important factors to pay attention to. Water dreams can also represent the creative or spiritual side of yourself, Loewenberg notes. “Creativity, like water, is fluid,” she adds. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of water dreams, depending on what kind of water or scenario you’re specifically dealing with. As Loewenberg explains, tidal waves threaten disaster and pull things out to sea in their wake. “So it could be some very emotionally overwhelming situation that’s pulling you, threatening to pull you away from your normal peace of mind or even your normal routine,” she notes. Loewenberg adds we often use phrases like, “I’m drowning in work,” or “I’m in over my head,” and so this dream is like your subconscious playing out this feeling of being “in too deep,” as it were. As opposed to a vast, open ocean, dreaming of something like an aquarium or fish bowl can mean you’re keeping your emotions in check but can also symbolize keeping your emotions “bottled up,” or even repressed. This is especially true if the fish bowl looks unkempt or stagnant, which Loewenberg says means you haven’t been tending to your emotional well-being. The opposite is also true, though, and a clear and clean fish bowl would mean you have a good handle on your emotions. Fertility can also relate to creative fertility, she notes, with the fish in this case representing something you’re creating from your emotional landscape (which is represented by the water in the dream). “Your dreams will show you—in a brutally honest fashion—how you’re dealing with, reacting to, and managing your emotional state,” Loewenberg says. And as therapist and dream expert Leslie Ellis, Ph.D., previously told mindbodygreen, one of the best ways to ensure those emotions bleed into your dreams is by setting aside time to work through your emotions before you go to bed, especially if your dreams have been stressful in nature. “Do make time to constructively deal with the sources of your stress,” she says, adding, “If there is a difficult conversation you need to have with a friend or family member, don’t put it off. If you are feeling unprepared for something, put in the time.” Both Ellis and Loewenberg also recommend dream journaling, which is a great way to get a written record of your dreams down so you can remember them better, start noticing patterns, and make subsequent adjustments in your life to deal with what’s coming up in your dreams.
