18th september 2011 the reason we have recurring dreams is because there is an important issue to be resolved they recur to prompt us to pay attention to them and make necessary changes to find the solution example... a person dreams of being in an ocean or in or by a water environment on a regular basis on one occasion the surface of the water is smooth the smooth surface of the water is a reflection of the dreamers emotional state which in this example denotes the dreamer is calm in another dream, some days later, the water will be choppy or turbulent this denotes a change of or in the dreamers feelings of the subject matter that caused the dream in the first place the recurring theme of the dream will be because of circumstances which could be work related or money related or because of a relationship or because of a moral or philosophical dilemma or one of a thousand other possible set of circumstances it is for the dreamer to identify what is causing the undesirable feelings in the dream and resolve it by adopting a different attitude and then acting it out in real life until the water in the dream is consistently calm turbulent waters and the attending feel-bad emotions brought on by an incident or experience not of the dreamers making, i.e. a physical attack or experiencing violent attitude or an upsetting news report in the media or... the list goes on, should be easy to identify how to resolve circumstances forced on us is a social/political problem in the first instance living within ethical parameters is the solution see also  dreams and dream theory entry by lola noble and the writer