What Does It Mean to Dream of Floating?

Dreams are not limited to the constraints of physical reality, so you might find yourself doing something unusual like floating in a dream. While it can sometimes be easier to figure out the symbolism of dream images that are more tethered to your everyday activities, a floating dream can show you where you are untethered in your life.

Floating Dream Symbolism

Freedom

A dream of floating, like a dream of flying, could symbolize freedom, as you are not tethered to the usual constraints of physical reality. This positive interpretation of a floating dream would be more likely if the emotional atmosphere of the dream felt good.

Perspective

Floating in a dream could show that you are looking for a new vantage point on a problem that is troubling you. Getting outside the practical details for a moment may help you see a clear solution.

Relaxation

Floating can be a relaxing experience. You have to relax to do it, and then doing it relaxes you even further. A floating dream that emphasizes this part of floating could symbolize that you might need to just let go of some situation that is stressing you out.

Impracticality

Dreaming of floating could symbolize that something you are trying to do is not really based in reality. A floating dream may dramatically show that you don’t have your feet on the ground.

Lack of Progress

While floating may be fun, it’s not necessarily like flying where you can move with purpose from one location to another. Instead, you tend to hover aimlessly around the same spot. The emotional atmosphere of your floating dream could show whether you are content to be where you are or frustrated that you don’t seem to be making progress.

Common Floating Dreams

Dream of floating in the air

A dream of floating in the air could be similar to a flying dream, symbolizing freedom. However, a flying dream is more likely to do something specific with that freedom, as you usually fly from one destination to another.

Floating is not as goal-oriented as flying, so a dream of floating in the air could symbolize that you are relaxed and not attached to any particular outcome at the moment. However, a more frustrating dream of floating in the air might symbolize that you are too ungrounded to accomplish your goals.

Dream of floating in water

A dream of floating in water may share some symbolism with a dream of swimming, like engaging with the emotional realm and being cleansed. However, floating is easier than swimming. While a dream of working hard to swim might show that you are having to expend a lot of effort to deal with an emotional situation, a dream of floating could show that you are aware of your emotions but not overwhelmed by them.

The other side of the difference between floating in water and swimming is that swimming is more likely to get you to a specific destination. In this context, a dream of floating could refer to something like a situation where you have been seeing the same counselor for a long time to talk about your emotional issues, but you don’t feel like you are really making any progress.

Dream of floating in space

Dreaming of floating in space could symbolize that you are not too closely connected to your life on Earth. This detachment might be good if it gives you the ability to view things objectively.

Your floating in space dream could give you something similar to the Overview Effect. As A Beautiful World reports, this is the name given to an experience many astronauts have when they first see Earth from space – they realize that the unity of the planet transcends national and cultural divisions.

However, your dream of floating in space could also show that you feel lonely. You may lack any commitments that tie you down. Instead of feeling freed by this, you might feel like you don’t know how to start moving forward.

Dream of uncontrollable floating

Dreaming of floating uncontrollably, like floating when you don’t want to be floating, could symbolize that you have some internal conflict, most likely around the issue of commitment.

You might have convinced yourself that you want to put down roots in some situation, like a relationship or residence. However, if there is another part of you that is not in favor of this commitment, you may tend to sabotage your own efforts. It could be important for you to acknowledge the full complexity of your feelings about this situation.

If you are trying to control where you are floating in your dream, and you are not succeeding, this could symbolize that you feel frustrated by your circumstances in life. Your plans may always seem to be foiled by the chaos of someone else you are involved with.

Conclusion

While floating in air or space may be experiences that most people don’t have, the imagery of a floating dream could be vivid enough for you to figure out what is going on: you have both the benefits and the disadvantages of not being stuck on the ground. While it is probably necessary to come down to Earth eventually if you want to get anything done, a floating dream can give you the vision you need to see what needs to be done.