Most people mistake dreams for nonsensical images that make up the canvas of our imagination.
Surely, that dream you had about fighting a duck for a piece of celery stalk didn’t mean anything?
Well, dreams may actually have much more value than we give them credit for.
Even psychologists like Sigmund Freud were fascinated by the secret meanings of dreams – I mean, he wrote a whole damn book about it.
So, how can you tell someone dreams about you a lot?
Let’s find out.
1) They suddenly act weird around you
When you dream about someone from time to time, you probably don’t think much of it.
Blaming it on the randomness of your brain, you move on and soon forget the dream ever even happened.
If they begin to pop up in your dreams on a regular basis, though…
That’s where things get a bit weird, right?
Naturally, this kind of thing is going to affect how you act.
Multiple questions might keep you awake at night, from “What’s wrong with me?” to “Is this a sign I should talk to them?”
As for the first question, worry not.
According to Psychology Today, “Many people are occasionally alarmed by the content of their dreams.
But it may give them comfort to know that the vast majority of people have had unpleasant or embarrassing dreams and that such dreams do not indicate any abnormality.”
What’s more, it’s perfectly normal for our dreams to indicate “stress or preoccupation with a particular person or event.”
As for the second question, this is actually at the root of why people may suddenly act weird around you.
Since they dream about you a lot, they’re plagued by doubts and questions with no answers, and as a result, their emotional energy shifts and their behavior adjusts to reflect the new circumstances.
Of course, there could be a myriad of reasons why someone suddenly acts a bit strange in your presence.
But dreaming about you is definitely one of them.
2) They stare at you when they think you’re not looking
If someone dreams about you a lot, they’re probably going to feel confused.
This means they might try very hard to figure out why it is that you pop up in their subconscious mind so frequently and what they should do about it.
As a result, they may stare at you pretty intensely when they think you’re not looking.
Deep in their thoughts, they might not even realize they’re doing it.
Again, people who stare at you could do so for multiple reasons. They might be in love.
They might be bored. You might have spinach stuck between your teeth.
This is why it’s important to look at all the signs in this article as one whole picture composed of many different brush strokes.
Individually, they mean nothing much.
Put together, the picture becomes much clearer.
3) They message you out of nowhere
“Hey, how have you been? Something reminded me of you recently, and I thought I’d reach out.”
Yep, that “something” may very well have been a dream.
Seeing as dreams serve to consolidate our memories and save them in our long-term memory stores, it is completely normal for us to dream about people from our past – even if it makes very little sense.
While the first two signs apply to situations where the person who dreams about you is still a regular part of your life, this one is about friends or acquaintances whose paths in life have long diverged from yours.
If someone suddenly starts to dream about you – even though you haven’t seen each other in ages – they’re very likely to reach out and talk to you in the hopes that your conversation will solve the puzzle.
And who knows?
It very well might.
4) You hiccup a lot
Okay, this one’s more of a joke than a scientific finding or a fact rooted in common sense, but it still bears mentioning, if only to make things a bit more intriguing.
Every time I hiccupped as a child, my mum and aunties would tell me, “Someone’s thinking about you right now. Who might that be?”
Obviously, I always hoped it would be some crush of mine.
Yay, this uncomfortable fit of hiccupping meant I was on their mind! So we *were* meant to live happily ever after after all!
As it turns out, this isn’t just something my relatives used to say.
Scientific American explains, “Folklore tells us that getting the hiccups means someone is talking about you or missing you. If you go through a list of your friends in your head, your hiccups will stop when you get to the memory of the friend who is the culprit.”
The same kind of reasoning can be applied to dreaming, especially if you hiccup in the morning.
Perhaps someone dreamed about you – again – and is now racking their brains trying to figure out why they’re so obsessed with you.
*Shrugs.* Everything’s possible.
5) You keep accidentally bumping into each other
Everyone’s heard of dejà vu, but have you ever heard of dejà rêvé?
Sarah Regan explains: “Often, dreams seem to get buried deep within one’s memory, only to be recalled when something in real life triggers that memory. This leads to the feeling that you’ve already had that particular experience before.”
If you keep accidentally bumping into a certain person – while you’re at the supermarket, at the library, or at various parties you didn’t agree to attend together – there’s a chance they may have already dreamed up the encounter.
Meeting you in real life is just confirmation that their subconscious mind knew something they didn’t.
6) You dream about them, too
Dreaming about someone doesn’t necessarily mean they dream about you as well.
After all, a dream is wholly related to the self, and unless you’re venturing into the spiritual realm (for example, astral planes or lucid dreaming), it’s primarily your brain processing external and internal input.
Never say never, though.
If you’ve ticked off most of the signs above *and* often dream about the person in question to top it all off, it might seal the deal: there’s a chance they dream about you, too.
Or at least think about you a lot.
What you choose to do with that information…
Well, that is up to you.
