We all dream every night we sleep – usually several times – but we rarely remember any of our dreams.
Some dreams are vivid (often nightmares fall into that category) and it’s as though we’re physically part of the dream, much like some of the dream sequences in films.
Other dreams are just part of what we do at night and we pay them near enough no attention.
But sometimes certain things keep cropping up in our dreams and we begin to have vague memories about those dreams when we’re awake.
Squids are one of the creatures that crop up with surprising regularity. And not just because you’ve recently eaten calamari at a Greek meal.
Like all dream meanings, seeing squids in your dreams has significance. The reason for this is that dreams are one of the ways that our mind processes the things that are happening to us in our regular life.
So what does dreaming about squids mean?
As I said earlier, it’s not likely that it’s your foodie side coming out to play at night,
There are several reasons for dreaming squids:
You could be longing for more control in your life
You could be wanting to shun some control that you’ve had thrust on you
You may not be seeing things as clearly as you’d like
You might be experiencing overwhelm
The squids tentacles could represent trying to resolve a complicated, intertwined, matter
You might be worrying about how others see you
So – as so often happens with dreams – it’s open to interpretation.
Depending on how much you remember about the dream sequence, you may be able to find a few more clues but it’s often as simple as asking yourself which of those options fit you best at this moment in time.
Let’s take a closer look at those different squid options…
Getting more control in your life
There are times when we all feel a bit out of control.
That’s OK – lots of things in modern life conspire to make us feel as though we’re lacking control.
But when you turn from being occasionally worried about not being in control (none of us are, sorry to break that news to you) and turn into a control freak then it’s time to sort that out.
Control freaks manifest in different ways – they can give orders to people all the time (usually with the rebellion of the people you’re trying to control) or they can just dive in and take over, even if it’s a trivial task that’s being done OK even if not perfectly.
Sometimes control freaks border on having OCD in the way they want to take charge of the situation.
But if everything in your life is seemingly beyond your grasp then it’s perfectly OK to want some more control and that could be what those squids are really trying to tell you.
If that’s the case with you, start with the simple things first. The items in your life that currently are out of control but only in a small way. Tackle the smallest first – it doesn’t matter that it seems trivial (it probably is) – it matters that you can take control of it fast, A quick win. Because then your mind will realise that you’re starting to win back control of things.
Tackle another small item next and win control of that.
Over the coming days and weeks, you should notice a change for the better. All from acknowledging what those squids you’re dreaming about could mean.
Letting go of control in your life
Too much control can be just as bad as too little.
Sometimes we have control imposed on us – maybe a promotion at work, maybe an unexpected situation at home or maybe some other (seemingly random) reason.
Letting go of that control can be essential to regaining control of the rest of your life. Delegating can work – always assuming there’s someone or something more than Alexa to delegate to, Or it could be something like downsizing actually gives you more control. The squids are just there, waving their tentacles, saying “do something!”
Much like gaining more control. letting go of control is easiest to do when you let one or two small, insignificant, things slide.
It’s a lot less of a shock to your conscious mind and it will think “oh, that doesn’t really matter” rather than freak out and stubbornly try to hold onto whatever it is you’re trying to loosen your grip on.
So if you’ve got too much control taking hold of your life, let a few small pieces go and then gradually work up to the bigger ones.
Not seeing things clearly
This can mean several different things (those squids don’t make our lives too easy) – it could be a lack of focus or it could just be that you really haven’t got a clue about one or more of the important things in your life that are currently wandering around like a ship lost in fog.
In fact, mind fog happens all too often due to lots of factors – trying to concentrate on too many things at once (watching your phone whilst watching the computer whilst watching Netflix?) can be one of those things. Or just the overwhelm that seems part and parcel of our current state of progress. Learning to focus on the important stuff can help – sometimes that can be as easy as the quadrant that’s often taught in productivity classes: divide a sheet of paper up into 4 quarters and place your tasks in the relevant quarter: important/not important/urgent/not urgent. Then procrastinate on the tasks in the not important, not urgent quarter and prioritise the others.
Taking time out for yourself is more and more important. Too often, we come right down the bottom of our own priority list. And, yes, I know that you haven’t got time today to chill out and treat yourself (otherwise you’d be doing it) but if you can spare just 12 minutes a day, you can work wonders.
As our lives get busier and more cluttered, overwhelm takes over. There’s simply too many things to focus on and our minds give up.
Life was so much simpler when all we had to worry about was catching our next meal and avoiding those nearby sabre tooth tigers in the process.
But modern society means that – unless you become a hermit – you’re likely to face overwhelm.
Some of this goes back to taking time out for yourself. If your life is full-on from the moment you wake up to the moment your head finally lets you sleep, there’s an excellent chance you’ll face overwhelm most days.
Seeing those squids in your dreams can be a pointer that this is happening and it’s best that you address the problem sooner rather than later before it manifests as something rather more powerful than overwhelm.
Short term, count slowly to 10, taking some nice, long, deep breaths while you do so, It’s not a magic cure but it works surprisingly often.
Longer term, take some steps to help deal with overwhelm more productively.
Chillax!
Resolving complicated matters
By definition, complicated matters aren’t the easiest things to solve.
Break them down into small chunks – if anyone had tried building the Hoover Dam in one session, they’d have found it too complicated. So it was broken down into smaller, more manageable, parts.
Do the same with the complicated matters that are holding you back.
Don’t try to reduce them to bite size chunks in one go, otherwise that overwhelm feeling will take over.
Start by splitting the complicated thing into two or three parts. Then do the same with each of those parts and the same again. Turn it into a thousand piece jigsaw in your mind if that helps. Just chunk it down until you wonder why you ever thought it was complicated in the first place.
Worrying how others see you
Sure, we all do this. Whether it’s worrying about your bad hair day which no-one else has noticed or anything else that causes your mental worry beads to take centre stage.
Do your best to put these thoughts where they belong – somewhere else in your mind.
If the worry takes the form of nagging voices in your head, move the location and volume. You’re the only one who can hear those voices so play around with them – change their pitch, their volume, even their location. If you’re feeling naughty, pop them in a catapult or rocket and fire them off into space, grinning like a Cheshire cat while you do that. Then do the same when they try to creep back in and take over your thoughts.
Enlist outside help for your dreams
Seth in Designated Survivor admitted to at least having a dream catcher. They’re based on the idea that the web and feathers act as a filter for your dreams and only let the good ones through. OK, so that probably only happens in movies but often our minds are open to the idea of weird and wonderful things happening and you could direct your dreams to filter through a dream catcher – a kind of dream withink a dream.
If you’re a logical sort of person, getting hold of a detailed description of dream meanings could be for you. You can set your conscious mind on working on those dreams that happen overnight – whether they’re dreams of squids or anything else. Much cheaper than a shrink and more controllable. Just a thought.
Squids are one of the creatures that crop up with surprising regularity. And not just because you’ve recently eaten calamari at a Greek meal.
If that’s the case with you, start with the simple things first. The items in your life that currently are out of control but only in a small way. Tackle the smallest first – it doesn’t matter that it seems trivial (it probably is) – it matters that you can take control of it fast, A quick win. Because then your mind will realise that you’re starting to win back control of things.
But modern society means that – unless you become a hermit – you’re likely to face overwhelm.
Seth in Designated Survivor admitted to at least having a dream catcher. They’re based on the idea that the web and feathers act as a filter for your dreams and only let the good ones through. OK, so that probably only happens in movies but often our minds are open to the idea of weird and wonderful things happening and you could direct your dreams to filter through a dream catcher – a kind of dream withink a dream.
