Hunting for a misplaced item is frustrating. However, discovery can be a pleasant reward. In dreams about searching, whether the dream ends with or without finding the object is important to its meaning.
If the dream resolves itself, it is important to note what or who you were looking for, and how those things were found. Think about the relationship that exists between the object and who (if anyone) helped you find it. Many times, the thing that is lost in the dream reflects an area of life where we are feeling incomplete or ineffective. Finding it in partnership with others may be a cue to seek outside wisdom in the resolution of the circumstances.
A 48-year-old man reports dreaming: I am looking for my car keys. They are nowhere to be found. I am turning the house upside down, yelling at my wife, and generally coming unglued. My daughter is out, and I begin to blame her. A friend of hers comes in and says I should look in the front door. I do. My keys are there.
This searching dream is interesting because the man reported throughout counseling how anxious he was concerning his daughter's driving. The loss of control he was feeling in his daughter's life consumed much of his emotional energy. After this dream, he realized that much of the home conflict he was experiencing came from his own anxiety more than actual defiance on the part of his daughter. The insight produced from the dream resulted in a much more peaceable home life for everyone involved.
In an unresolved dream of searching, the dream often illustrates the need to find resolution of an emotional trauma. The unresolved search can be for an object or a person.
Some common versions of the person dream include the crying baby that cannot be found, chasing a runaway whom you cannot locate, or receiving a message that cannot be returned. These dreams may occur in periods of extended grieving, such as the death of a loved one.
Another unresolved search scenario is the unfound place or item. For example, you may have a map in a dream that leads to no where. Or perhaps you simply lose an object by setting it on the table. Dreams of this nature can give tremendous insight into the goals of your life and how effectively you are actualizing them. If you are having a lot of these types of dreams, it may be that you need to examine whether your goals and your behavior are consistent or mutually exclusive.
