I’ve been having this same dream for several years, at least once a week. In the dream, I panic all of a sudden when I realize that it’s the end of a semester, and I’ve missed all but one of the classes in an important math course. It’s always math, which was my worst subject. Don’t get me wrong -- I’ve always passed math classes with varying degrees of difficulty. It’s just that I’ve never found it easy to concentrate on numbers. One odd thing about the dream is that the class I’m missing takes place in a mall. I hate the mall. The dream itself is always the same. I go nuts trying to think of a way to pass the class, and I wake up feeling anxious and upset.

Some background info: I’m 26, female, happily married, graduated from college, no kids. Thanks!

--Dana, Age 26, Metuchen, N.J., USA

Hi Dana -

It’s a common dream which concerns our ability to perform significant tasks. People also have variations on this theme. They dream they sleep through the exam, they sleep through their alarm, they arrive as everyone is leaving, they are naked in the exam room, etc. Sound familiar??

Usually when we have these dreams we are nervous about completing some task in our present lives. The reason why these dreams locate us back in time - to our high school or college math class, for example - is because emotionally we have the same feelings as we did back then, when we were nervous before a big test. The feelings we are experiencing in the present remind us of the feelings we used to have in the past.

When you have a dream like this, try to locate what it is in your current life that has you running nervous - and wondering if you are going to be able to “pass the test.” With practice, you soon will be able to locate the cause of these dreams. You may be worried about getting a work project completed on time, or perhaps you simply are concerned about completing all your errands tomorrow. Your dreams reflect some momentary self-doubts, but actually can serve as timely reminders to identify the next challenge, and to begin making preparations now - which will put your nerves to rest at the same time!