梦的不幸之处在于，我们做的大多数梦——或者至少那些我们记得的——通常都是噩梦。

凯利·巴克利是一位梦境研究员，也是《梦境心理学入门》（An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming）一书的作者。他认为，目前的证据表明我们做的大多数梦具有负面情绪。比如你梦到掉下悬崖，梦到被大老板追赶，梦到上飞机之前发现把钥匙弄丢了。

巴克利告诫人们不要不在意或者试图忘掉自己做过的梦。“有些梦让我们不愉快，但研究它们是有价值而且重要的，因为压力之梦往往反射出我们在日间的担忧——甚至是我们不愿意直面的担忧，”他说。

为了了解我们那些不愉快的梦境到底透露了什么信息，“商业内幕”栏目（Business Insider）邀请到巴克利和迈克尔·勒诺克斯——后者是一位梦境解析专家和心理学家，也是《勒维林关于梦的小书》的作者，来帮助我们破译一些最常见的梦境。跟随下文来发现那些不断重复的噩梦意味着什么吧。

梦到试图逃跑却被抓住

勒诺克斯把这类梦称作“压力之梦基本款”。他说这种梦“表达了常见的恐惧和焦虑”，而每个人所恐惧的对象各不相同。

“做这类梦的人很可能在生活中有着泛泛而言的恐惧感，而并不意味着有什么疾病，”勒诺克斯补充说。

巴克利则说，他会问做这种梦的人，生活中是否有让他们觉得无处可逃的事情。也许做梦者在某个冲突中觉得处于弱势地位或者受到了伤害。梦境通常以“戏剧化的比喻”来体现难以言说的情感，他说。

梦到自己赤身裸体

勒诺克斯说，梦到自己赤身裸体“完美地象征性表达了”类似于工作失误的感受（也被称为不称职综合征）。

很多人私下曾经害怕其他人发现自己并不精通工作。勒诺克斯说，在工作时赤裸身体也许意味着，“我会被别人看出来自己到底有几斤几两，这很可怕。”

梦到考试却没做好准备

人们常常梦到回到高中或大学参加考试，却没做好准备——尽管他们早已毕业。勒诺克斯说这通常是由于工作中的焦虑所致。

高中和大学是“我们最初懂得责任的地方。”当我们在生活中感受到类似的压力时，这种梦可能会反复出现。

梦到无法顺利从大学毕业

梦到无法顺利从大学毕业，意味着害怕停滞不前，特别是在工作中没有进步。

勒诺克斯说，“这种梦反映的潜意识是，别人已经准备好了，而我们自己还没准备就绪，我们会被别人超过。”

梦到自己的牙齿掉了

“掉牙反映出一种不安全的潜意识，” 勒诺克斯说。

牙齿有好几种功能——当我们吃饭、笑或者对别人咆哮时需要用到牙齿。掉牙“意味着害怕可能无法进食或者照顾好自己，无法感到被爱、被保护，”勒诺克斯说。

还有别的意思吗？由于牙齿长在嘴里，勒诺克斯说可能在“真实，发声，自我表达”得不到满足时会出现这样的梦。

梦到摔落

在充满巨大不确定性时，当你“觉得好像没有足够的支持”时，这种梦常常出现，也许生活中有些事或有些人曾经是你的巨大支撑，而现在不那么给力了，巴克利说。

就工作焦虑来说，勒诺克斯表示梦到摔落也许体现的是工作中缺少权威。

“如果你梦到摔落，想想你的工作环境，很可能你在试图施加一些控制力却遇到困难。”

梦到爱的人去世

“死亡是代表改变的一个重要符号”，勒诺克斯说。

如果梦到有人在你怀里死去，可能意味着你和那个人的关系正在改变或者往前发展。这种变化不一定是坏的，但是重复出现关于死亡的梦境可能说明这种改变可能不太妙。

梦到忘了带什么东西

勒诺克斯说，这种梦本质上体现的是没准备就绪的潜意识。“当我们没准备好时，就不能适当地处理压力。”

这种梦也可能代表生活中有些东西不在我们控制之内。

有趣的是，勒诺克斯说梦境通常比现实中发生的事更加夸大。比方说，梦到在商务会议上突然发现自己忘了带笔记本电脑，这比你在现实中被日常工作压得喘不过气更糟糕。

梦到误了飞机

当你在梦中误了飞机，可能是因为在现实中害怕错过了截止日期。

“在工作情境下，截止日期常常是一个重要的压力来源，”勒诺克斯说。

勒诺克斯表示，梦里的每件事都是一个危机。晚了一个小时交付项目报告，相比晚了一个小时而错过国际航班，两者的严重程度并不相同。

梦到忘记照顾婴儿或者宠物

梦中出现的婴儿代表着新的机遇，勒诺克斯说。如果你梦到忘了照顾婴儿，可能实际上是担心你想写的博客文章或者想开始培养的某种兴趣爱好还没有启动。本质上来说，你忽视了生活中需要引起注意的某件事情。

宠物代表欢乐和爱。勒诺克斯说梦到遗弃宠物可能是因为“为了做一些开心或者有趣的事而压力太大，”而且可能是“我错过了生活中那些真正值得花精力去做的事情。”

梦到开车

巴克利说梦里出现汽车和开车是有很多含义的，但通常意味着我们与其他人的关系。

如果你梦到超速驾驶，可能是感到对某种关系无法掌控。而如果你梦到交通堵塞，你可能是感到某种关系或者生活中的某件事悬而未决。(财富中文网）

本文最初发表于BusinessInsider.com.

译者：珠珠

The unfortunate thing about dreams is that most of them — or at least the ones we remember — are bad.

According to Kelly Bulkeley, a dream researcher and the author of “An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming,” current evidence suggests the majority of our dreams are characterized by negative emotions — not positive ones. You fall off a cliff; you’re being chased by your boss; you lose your keys before a plane flight.

But Bulkeley urges people not to dismiss their dreams or try to forget them. “Even though they might be unpleasant,” he said, “they can be valuable and important.” That’s because stressful dreams often provide insight into the concerns we have in our waking life — concerns we might not want or be able to acknowledge.

To learn more about what our unpleasant dreams might be telling us, Business Insider asked Bulkeley and Michael Lennox, a psychologist, an expert in dream interpretation, and the author of “Llewellyn’s Little Book of Dreams,” to help decipher some of the most common themes. Read on to find out what your recurring stress dreams really mean.

Trying and failing to run away

Lennox calls this scenario “stress dream 101.” He said this dream is an “expression of generalized fear and anxiety” — though the specific object of fear will vary from person to person.

“I would say that the person who’s having the dream probably has a greater generalized fear response to life than someone who doesn’t have that dream,” Lennox added. “Although it doesn’t make the person pathologically challenged.”

Bulkeley said he would ask the dreamer in this situation if anything in their life feels inescapable. Maybe the person is feeling weak or vulnerable in a conflict. Dreams often use “dramatic metaphors” for emotions that are hard to verbalize, he said.

Being naked

Lennox said dreaming about being naked is a “perfect symbolic expression” of feeling like a fraud at work (also known as impostor syndrome).

Many people privately experience the fear that other people will find out that they don’t really know what they’re doing. Being naked at work could mean, Lennox says, that “I will be seen for who I really am. And that will be terrifying.”

Being unprepared for an exam

People commonly dream of being unprepared for a test in high school or college – even if they graduated years ago. And Lennox said it’s often triggered by performance anxiety at work.

High school and college “are the first places where we learn about responsibility and accountability. [The dream] will often recur when we’re faced with the same sense of pressure in our current waking life.”

Being unable to graduate college

Dreams about being unable to graduate translate to fears about not being ready to advance, particularly at work.

Lennox said, “The dream would be processing fears that someone else is ready and we’re not, that we’re going to be somehow passed over.”

Watching your teeth fall out

“Losing teeth is akin to insecurity,” Lennox said.

Teeth have a few functions — they allow us to eat, but they also let us smile or snarl at other people. To lose your teeth “would be to not be able to feed and take care of yourself, feel loved, and be protected,” Lennox said.

Another potential meaning? Because teeth are in the mouth, Lennox said this dream might come up when “being authentic, speaking up, or having a voice” feel challenging.

Falling

This dream often occurs, Bulkeley said, around times of great uncertainty, when you “feel like you don’t have adequate support or backing.” Maybe something or someone in your life that was once your rock is now less stable.

In terms of work anxieties, Lennox said a dream of falling could reflect a lack of authority in the workplace.

“If you’re dreaming of falling, look to the places in your work life where you feel like you’re trying to exert some control that’s unattainable.”

Seeing your loved ones die

“Death is a great symbol of change,” Lennox said.

When someone dies in your dream, it might indicate that something about your relationship with that person is changing or growing. That change isn’t necessarily negative, but a recurring dream about death might suggest that something about the transformation is scary.

Forgetting to pack something

Lennox said this dream is fundamentally about feeling unprepared. “When we’re unprepared, then we can’t navigate a stressful situation effectively.”

The dream might also represent a feeling of being out of control.

Interestingly, Lennox said dream scenarios are typically much higher-stakes than anything that happens in real life. For example, showing up to a business meeting and realizing you forgot to pack your laptop is arguably worse than feeling generally overwhelmed by the day-to-day demands in your life.

Missing a plane flight

When you miss a flight in your dream, you’re probably playing out a fear of missing a deadline in real life.

“In the world of working, there’s nothing like a deadline as a supreme stressor,” Lennox said.

Again, Lennox said everything is a crisis in dream world. Turning in a project report an hour late probably doesn’t have the same consequences as missing an international flight by an hour.

Forgetting to take care of a baby or a pet

Babies in a dream are symbolic of new possibilities, Lennox said. If you dream about neglecting a baby, you might really be worried about that blog post you’ve been meaning to write or that hobby you’ve been hoping to start. Essentially, you’re neglecting something in your life that needs your attention.

Pets, on the other hand, reflect joy and love. Lennox said someone who dreams about abandoning a pet might be “too stressed to do fun and lovely things for themselves” and might be feeling like “I’m missing out on cultivating and nurturing something that life has to offer.”

Driving

Bulkeley said cars and driving in dreams can have many meanings, but they often reflect our connections to other people.

If you’re dreaming of speeding, for example, you might feel out of control in a personal relationship. On the other hand, if you’re dreaming of being stuck in traffic, you might be feeling “adrift” in relationships, or life in general.

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com