Dreams that present you with undisguised imagery—the roof falling in on you, or your car stalling on a motorway—may be warning signals to pay greater attention to the care and maintenance of yourself and the things around you. Other common images in nightmares and bad dreams include: menacing strangers, clifftops, dark woods, alleys, forests, heights and depths, land or sea storms, earthquakes, tidal waves, terrorist attacks, outbreaks of disease, friends or family who suddenly become cruel, dangerous, old or ugly, guns, knives and other weapons threatening you, car or plane crashes and being lost. All these scary images leave you with a sense that your place in the world is uncertain or shifting. You are out of control in a big way and your sense of self is eroding. Dreams in which your whole world is rocked or changed are clear symbols of fear, anxiety and a crisis in confidence. Dreams in which you sink slowly but inevitably into quicksand or are swallowed by an angry lion usually represent feelings of being overwhelmed in waking life. Dreams in which you are drowning have a similar interpretation.
See also: STAGES OF LIFE. [1]