Hunting for a misplaced item is frustrating. However, discovery can be a pleasant reward. The key to analysing dreams about searching is to focus on whether the dream ends with the object or person being found or not.

If the dream resolves itself, it is important to note what or who you were looking for, and how those things were found. Think about the relationship that exists between the object and who (if anyone) helped you find it. Commonly, the thing that is lost in the dream reflects an area of life where we are feeling incomplete or ineffective. Finding it in partnership with others may be a cue to seek outside wisdom in the resolution of the circumstances.

A 48-year-old man reports dreaming: I am looking for my car keys. They are nowhere to be found. I am turning the house upside down, shouting at my wife, and generally coming unglued. My daughter is out, and I begin to blame her. A friend of hers comes in and says I should look in the front door. I do. My keys are there.

This searching dream is interesting because the man reported throughout counselling how anxious he was concerning his daughter's driving. The loss of control he was feeling in his daughter's life consumed much of his emotional energy. After this dream, he realized that much of the home conflict he was experiencing came from his own anxiety more than actual defiance on the part of his daughter. The insight produced from the dream resulted in a much more peaceable home life for everyone involved.

In an unresolved dream of searching, the dream often illustrates the need to find resolution of an emotional trauma. The unresolved search can be for an object or a person.

Some common versions of the person dream include the crying baby that cannot be found, chasing a runaway whom you cannot locate, or receiving a message that cannot be returned. These dreams may occur in periods of extended grieving.

Another unresolved search scenario is the unfound place or item. For example, you may have a map in a dream that leads nowhere. Or perhaps you simply lose an object by setting it on the table. Dreams of this nature can give tremendous insight into the goals of your life and how effectively you are realising them.