Insects and other pests: Lukeman describes a dream in which a woman saw cockroaches coming through heating vents in the floor, spiders swarming from behind the refrigerator and rats crawling from under the stove. She , killing as many of the pests as she could. Lukeman explains that, as the kitchen is a place of sustenance, the woman was feeling unnurtured, unnourished and attacked from all sides in a place where she should feel comforted.

The death of a loved one: These dreams can reflect the fear of loss but, says Lukeman, there is also a larger meaning to look for. He recounts a dream of a mother who leaves her daughter with a neighbour. She begins to look for her when she gets back, laughing and joking with a friend. Then she finds her daughter, dead, in a swimming pool, but forces herself to wake up before her daughter's death is confirmed. Lukeman says that by forcing herself to wake up, the dreamer shows she is not ready to understand the symbolism of her dream. The child is drowning in the pool of her thoughts, desires, emotions and fears. Laughing and joking while her daughter drowns signals something inappropriate in her waking lifel.

Running for your life: Lukeman describes a dream in which a woman was being chased by a group of people, and jumping from roof to roof like Wonder Woman. The dreamer was a single mother of two in her early 30s; she was being chased by her way of doing things, and would continue to feel fear, stress and insecurity until she changed the way she lived.

Blood: Lots of blood signals serious dreams. They tell us something is very much amiss with our emotional well-being. Lukeman adds that wounds mean different things according to where they are on the body. Wounds to the feet are linked to our inability to move forward; those to the knees or legs are about lack of support or feeling stuck in life; wounds to the pelvis and groin are about sexual or creative issues; and wounds to the throat are about our inability to communicate.