Dreaming about anticipation
The feeling of something about to happen, sustained indefinitely and never resolved. It is the emotional signature of a large share of dreams and it is produced by a structural feature rather than by anything in the dream.
Also searched as: waiting for something, expecting something to happen, dread of what is coming, suspense
The characteristic report is a certainty that something is coming, with no information about what, and no arrival.
Dreamers describe it as the atmosphere of the dream rather than as an event, and frequently cannot say what was expected.
It is present in the being-watched reports, the storm reports, the waiting-room reports and much of the Bestiary, which is a wide enough spread to suggest a common source.
Where something does arrive, dreamers often report the dream ending at that moment, which is worth noting: the anticipation and the waking are frequently the same event.
Common associations
- Certainty without content, the recurring pattern across this file.
- No arrival, which is nearly universal.
- Atmosphere rather than event.
- Waking at the moment of arrival, where anything does arrive.
Positive readings
A pleasant version exists and is under-reported: the sense of something good coming, which dreamers describe alongside the flying and reunion material.
It is worth logging for the same reason joy is.
Difficult readings
Sustained dread with nothing to attach it to is genuinely wearing, and it is the dominant feeling in a large share of unpleasant dreams that contain no actual threat.
That is worth knowing: a dream can be unpleasant with nothing in it.
Psychological perspectives
Threat detection running without resolution is the best available account. A system that has registered something and cannot locate or dismiss it will keep signalling, and that signal is experienced as anticipation.
That explains the spread. The mask, the lizard, the darkness, the watcher and the empty house all produce it, and what they share is exactly the absence of anything to resolve.
It also explains why dreams so rarely deliver the thing: there was never a thing, only the signal.
Cultural and historical
Omens and portents are structured around anticipation and are formalised in a number of traditions, some of which treat a dream of this kind as a warning to be acted on.
The database records those as beliefs held and states plainly that no predictive content has been demonstrated.
What the sleep science says
Reasonably supported: unresolvable threat cues sustain arousal and vigilance rather than resolving.
Reasonably supported: dreams generate feelings of certainty independently of content.
Not established: any predictive content.
Your own context
- Could you say what was coming?
- Did it ever arrive?
- Did you wake at that moment?
- Was there anything actually there?
If this recurs
Log whether anything ever arrives. Across a month most dreamers find it does not, and that pattern is more informative than any single dream.
Emotions often reported
- dread
- unease
- urgency
- excitement
- alarm
Specific anticipation dreams
Each of these is written separately, not generated from this page.
What state it was in
Questions for reflection
These are for your journal, not for us. Nothing you write is shared.
- What was I expecting?
- Did it ever come?
- Was anything actually there?
Dream interpretation is subjective. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prediction, or medical advice.
Sources and reviewed references
4 references. What these labels mean
- 1.The Reinterpretation of Dreams: An Evolutionary Hypothesis of the Function of DreamingPeer-reviewed research
Antti Revonsuo (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Cited for: The threat-simulation hypothesis. That the over-representation of threatening content in dreams may be functional rather than incidental.
- 2.Sleep Paralysis and the Structure of Waking-Nightmare HallucinationsPeer-reviewed research
J. Allan Cheyne (2003) · Dreaming
Cited for: The three-factor structure of sleep-paralysis hallucinations (intruder, incubus and vestibular-motor experiences) which accounts for the recurring "presence in the room" and "pressure on the chest" reports.
- 3.Nightmares: A New Neurocognitive ModelPeer-reviewed research
Tore Nielsen and Ross Levin (2007) · Sleep Medicine Reviews
Cited for: A model of nightmare production combining affect load and affect distress, and the distinction between bad dreams and nightmares proper.
- 4.The Scientific Study of Dreams: Neural Networks, Cognitive Development and Content AnalysisAcademic book
G. William Domhoff (2003) · American Psychological Association
Cited for: The continuity hypothesis (that dream content largely reflects waking concerns) and a sustained critique of symbolic dream interpretation as an evidential method.
Dreamers’ accounts
How dreams of anticipation have gone for other people, in their own words. Nothing here is an interpretation of anyone else's dream. It is a record of what happened and what it was like.
Nothing here yet. Be the first to say how this has gone for you.
Related records
- SymbolStormStorms are among the more emotionally intense weather reports and behave in dreams the way threats behave: the dreamer is looking for shelter, watching it approach, or already inside it. The approach is reported more often than the impact.
- SymbolDarknessDarkness in dreams is not the absence of an image. Dreamers describe an active inability to see, frequently with light sources that do not work, and that failure is one of the most reliable features of dream perception.
- ActionBeing watchedThe sense of being watched is one of the most consistently reported dream experiences and one of the hardest to describe, because the watcher is usually never seen. In sleep paralysis it has a specific, well-documented physiological basis.
- EmotionFearFear is the most commonly reported dream emotion in most content analyses. A frightening dream is not unusual and is not by itself a sign of anything wrong.
- EmotionAngerAnger is common in dreams and frequently directed at people the dreamer is not consciously angry with. It is not a verdict on the relationship and not something to act on.
- EmotionConfusionConfusion in dreams is usually not content. It is the texture of dreaming itself. Dreams suspend critical judgement, and noticing that they do not make sense is the doorway to lucidity.
Records that mention anticipation
These pages link to anticipation, either as something reported in the same dream or as a related subject. This page does not point back at all of them, so the list is assembled rather than chosen.