Dreaming Lens: What type of time piece were you dreaming of? Was it working? Was the time accurate and, if not, was it fast or slow? If it was a clock, how public was it? What were your feelings around what the time was? What were your feelings around the accuracy or inaccuracy of the time?
Personal Focus: Time is a creation of the human mind as a way to systematically measure the passing of moments. Its primary purpose connects to the ability to create agreement in a diverse society. Early humans relied on the repetitive cycles of the Sun, Moon, and seasons to invent the agrarian societies that led to the birth of civilization. As civilization expanded, it became necessary to expand this concept in order to accommodate the complexity required for larger communities to function effectively.
From sundials to watches and clocks, timepieces are the tools by which the measurement of moments becomes accessible to all. They are symbolic of the effectiveness with which someone monitors the pace of their movement through their day-to-day lives. Additionally, timepieces are the screens onto which people project their emotional relationship to time, whether that is anxiety connected to feeling it is moving too fast or depression stimulated by a sense that it is moving too slowly.
Your personal relationship to time must be factored into your interpretation. Consider whether you are operating on one of the extremes: always late, always early, or compulsively prompt. Another important factor is the feelings that come up for you around time, from complacency to anxiety. The more prominent issues of time integrity factor into your waking life, the more rigorous you should be when creating your interpretation.
The type of timepiece will offer different shades of perspective in the meaning and correlates with size and proximity. A watch connects to the very personal and is reflective of you, the dreamer. A house clock expands this view to a more complex sense of self that reflects your role within the dynamic of your family and/or your most intimate associates. An institutional clock would point you toward considering time issues that relate to the specific location: A school clock connects to feelings around knowledge and learning. A workplace clock could be expressing issues about productivity, effectiveness, or remuneration. A public clock in a town or city expands this view to a more collective and social level.
A timepiece that has stopped may be expressing a wish for more available time to relieve pressures around productivity. Inaccuracy in a timepiece, fast or slow, may be pointing to a lack of awareness of time and its impact on your life. The more ominous the feelings around the timepiece in your dream, the more likely your unconscious is expressing that something is out of balance in your relationship to time, its passing, and all that comes with it. [1]