Symbols

Dreaming about drawer

Drawers are searched, and the search does not end. What makes them distinct from the bag reports is that a drawer produces contents rather than hiding them: dreamers report finding more each time they look.

Also searched as: a drawer, opening a drawer, a drawer full of things, a drawer that will not close

The unresolving search is the characteristic report and it is identical in structure to the bag material.

What is different is generation. Dreamers describe a drawer producing things that were not there, more than it could hold, or contents that change between openings.

A drawer that will not close is a second and quite frustrating version, usually because of what is in it.

Somebody else's drawer, opened by the dreamer, produces a specific guilt disproportionate to anything happening.

Common associations

  • A search with no end.
  • Contents generated on opening, rather than stored.
  • Impossible capacity.
  • Intrusion, in the somebody-else's reports.

Positive readings

Finding something unexpectedly good is reported and dreamers describe genuine delight, in the same way the bag entry notes.

The impossible capacity is a workable dream sign.

Difficult readings

The endless search is frustrating and dreamers often report knowing they will not find the thing.

The guilt at opening somebody else's is mild and unearned.

Psychological perspectives

The container principle is the useful finding here, and the egg and bag entries describe it too: contents are generated at the moment of looking rather than existing beforehand.

That is why a drawer can hold more than it could, why the contents change, and why the dreamer does not object. There was nothing in it until it was opened.

The unresolving search is the general obstacle machinery.

Cultural and historical

No tradition of note, which is worth stating. Furniture is not a subject the interpretive traditions covered.

The idiom about putting something in a drawer and forgetting it is available and thin.

What the sleep science says

Reasonably supported: dream container contents are generated on inspection rather than predetermined.

Reasonably supported: the prominence of unresolving searches.

Not established: any meaning for a drawer.

Your own context

  • What were you looking for?
  • Did the contents make sense?
  • Was it yours?
  • Did you find it?

If this recurs

Log with the searching and bag reports. It is the same dream with different furniture.

Emotions often reported

  • frustration
  • curiosity
  • guilt
  • confusion
  • urgency
  • surprise

Questions for reflection

These are for your journal, not for us. Nothing you write is shared.

  • What was I after?
  • Did the contents make any sense?
  • Whose drawer was it?

Dream interpretation is subjective. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prediction, or medical advice.

Sources and reviewed references

No sources are attached to this page yet. It has not been through editorial review. How we review material

Related records

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