Ian Wallace Interpretation:
If you dream of uninvited guests intruding into one of your personal spaces, this reflects a waking-life situation in which you feel that you are being distracted from pursuing a personal ambition. It may seem as if you are unable to prevent these unwelcome distractions, but you are actually reminding yourself that you can maintain your focus by establishing personal boundaries. Have the grace and courage to say ‘no’ as a way of establishing your own limits and boundaries. It may seem easier and more friendly to simply say ‘yes’ to every request for your help in your day-to-day life, but saying ‘yes’ all the time to other people means that you are habitually saying ‘no’ to your own needs. Review your scheduled commitments and consider how you might claim more time for yourself, your individual priorities and desires -rather than always feeling distracted by what other people need from you. This can be a challenge, but it will also open up new possibilities. Sometimes you may need to release yourself from obligations that you agreed to in different circumstances. While those commitments may have made sense at the time you made them, you now feel that you can no longer honour them.
Opportunity to openly welcome emerging possibilities so I can confidently begin to entertain my wider potential
Dream: You are alone at home, relaxing and having a nice quiet time. Suddenly you begin to realize that you aren’t on your own any more. You may hear voices or the sound of domestic activity as people come into the house and one or two people might pop their heads around the door of the room that you are relaxing in. When you go to investigate the noise you find your house is full of strangers and they seem to ignore you, just brushing past you. Although some of the people may be familiar, most of them seem to be total strangers.
Meaning: Dreaming of uninvited guests often indicates that you are becoming aware of a number of opportunities for growth and development in your waking life. Relaxing in your house suggests that you are feeling comfortable and at home with yourself, and are trying to enjoy some quiet time. No matter how much you try and consciously relax, however, these opportunities keep trying to attract your attention. The people entering your house symbolize these possibilities and, although you may try and ignore them, they will continue to make themselves known until you start to pay heed to them. At first, there may only seem to be one or two opportunities popping up but when you investigate these, you might start to feel overwhelmed by all the other possibilities. The people who appear in your dreams are often reflections of various aspects of your character. Friends and family tend to symbolize those characteristics you are familiar with, whereas strangers usually represent areas of your character that you would like to explore and develop further. The strangers who seem to ignore you are reflecting the fact that you are ignoring a great deal of your potential and you need to share your abilities with a much wider audience. The more you retreat into your individual space and private world, the more difficult it is for your talents to be stimulated. Although it seems an intrusion into your privacy, you are actually reminding yourself of your untapped potential.
Action: This dream is drawing your attention to unexplored parts of your character that could potentially be very useful to you. It can be easy to retreat into a relaxed and comfortable routine but this can often prevent you from participating in more fulfilling opportunities. The more you try to resist individual opportunities, the more restless your relaxation time will become. Although it is valuable to claim time for yourself, where you can relax and reflect, it is good to balance this with stepping out of your comfort zone and experiencing what else might be out there.
Background: Although we are social animals, we all need our private space. The anthropologist Edward T Hall introduced the idea of Proxemics, which describes how we all try to claim and maintain our personal space, even in crowded situations. Our comfort zones, the areas in which we feel no anxiety or are able to cope with feelings of anxiety, often echo our personal space. The most successful people tend to be those who are consistently able to go beyond their comfort zone and although it may seem safer to stay where we feel comfortable, it can also create a false sense of security.