What Do You Think That Dreams Really Are?

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   Ruthe_iixoniasposted 14 years ago

   We all have heard cliche' phrases about dreams. "Dreams are the illustrations of the book your soul is writing about you" "Dreams are your subconscious mind trying to break through to the concious barrier" "Dreams are random". But what do you really think dreams are?
   
   I have hubs based on the interpretation of my dreams everyday since January 1, 2010. It's been a long and sleep- filled journey, and I'm learning so much about myself. But even without my personal and conclusive research, I always believed that dreams were something more. Since I've been doing my Interpretation of Dreams Series, I must say, my opinion is biased.I believe many things about dreams now that I have only recently formulated since the new year.
   
   Dreams have taken over my waking life in a sense, and I'm constantly thinking, putting things together, learning about myself. Thus, I can not answer this question without the articles that have become my children influencing me.
   
   So,once again, I ask you, from another (unbiased) person's viewpoint, what are the meaning of dreams to you?

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      wordelangeloposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Obviously dreams are different things to everyone. My wife used to tell me her dreams when we first met; I used to blow them off; now that I'm more into studying human behavior and writing, I give them more merit. I'm dissatisfied with the fact that now, my dreams don't grab me unless I've had hard alcohol, as I do in the winter. I rarely drink any other time of year. When I haven't consumed hard alcohol, as compelling as my dream may feel, I don't remember them an hour after I've awakened. I've kept a dream journal since 2005. My dreams have evolved from "That was weird," to times when I have "out of body" experiences. I think dreams are part of the totality of our existence--useful to us if we are purely conscious of them (maybe not under the influence of stimulants). We should totally aware and awake to gain real insight. No irony intended.

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         wordelangeloposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Correction, "We should (be) totally aware and awake to gain real insight."

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         ceciliabeltranposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         there are many stages of sleep, maybe you are not reaching REM sleep which is the point when your brain is processing information in the lower brain, the part of fears.
         
         when you drink alcohol you may feel more relaxed than usual, so you sleep longer and deeper.
         
         Try yoga.
         
         Or it could be that you complete your sleep more and totally forget what you dreamed about.
         
         Are you a bit an insomniac?

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         Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         After keeping a dream diary for a long while, I started first to have dreams called false awakenings. This is when you dream that you awoke from a dream, but find you only dreamed you awoke.
         Then I started having Lucid dreams. This is when you, while dreaming realize you are dreaming. I was, even later, able to control the events in my dreams.
         When I stopped keeping the dream diary, I lost the ability. It is something that can be reawakened.
         There are many types of dreams.
         1. Just the mind storing away the events of the day
         2. Dreams influenced by your surroundings..i.e. you fall asleep while watching TV and it gets into your dreams. This has happened to me many times.
         3. Archetypal dreams. These are dreams when your mind is trying to show you, your joy or fears.
         4. Dreams that predict the future or reveal events from your past or present. You would know these if you have dreamed of events and watched them occur, or learned something about an event from the past or present. It is the subconscious mind which is connected to the collective mind. A study of Carl Jung's work will tell you a lot about this. Freud started the work and Jung took it many steps further.
         Carl Jung saw future events in his dreams.

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      nikki1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Good question

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   logic,commonsenseposted 14 years ago

   Dreams are a combination of what has happened and what we think might happen.  At least mine have been.

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      Ruthe_iixoniasposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Have you ever had a dream that foretold the future? Or one that foreshadows future events? If so, where do you think those come from?

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         Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Many times. Dreams are usually the first means of receiving psychic messages. Many people in scripture received them this way.
         When a person does not recognize, does not believe, or is too busy to listen, messages will come through their dreams..
         
         Dreams can come from the Higher Self, Angels, Deceased loved ones and even from God.

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            Rod Marsdenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            This is the sort of thing my eldest sister believes. Not sure about it myself but I have had some experiences that might validate such a view point.

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               Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               I am going by personal experience. Many of my dreams have come true.
               
               At times I dreamed the exact event..other times mostly like the event.

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         CaribeMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         "Have you ever had a dream that foretold the future?"
         
         So far I have only had two. One was about and old lady that I knew... I had a dream in which I received the notice that she have died. The same evening, I went to a meeting and it was announced that the lady have died about the time that I was dreaming about her. I got very emotional about that since I didn't had that experience before. BTW, I was not thinking about that lady on those days, nether her life was in danger those days, but surely I had a lot of respect for her.
         
         The second experience, was even more surprising for me... I dreamt that one of the space shuttles blew up while it was returning to Earth. In my dream I saw many pieces of the ship falling all over the Hawai'ian archipelago and the Pacific. It was a disturbing and an awkward dream to have...I woke up. I told some friends about it, because that was a very weird dream to have and it was so vivid. A week after the dream, the space shuttle Columbia shattered on re-entry. It pieces didn't fell on the Paciffic but, my GOD what an awful experience...
         
         Recently I had another disturbing dream about a human catastrophe... I just hope it is just a dream.
         
         Well, after this long story, I would say that some people might be able to have dreams that relate specifically with some future events, but mostly we dream about our experiences or about our perceptions and emotions about the people that we know, sometimes we would even dream about people that we don't know. In my case, my brain just rambles a lot while dreaming mostly about people or places that I miss, and many times I don't even remember them.
         
         Interesting thread!

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   SunSevenposted 14 years ago

   Nothing. Dreams are just that! )

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   habeeposted 14 years ago

   I dunno, but I wish I could film some of mine!

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      Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I've often wished we could do this.
      Hook up the wires before going to bed and watch my dreams the next day. This way we could even see the dreams we don't remember.

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   marinealways24posted 14 years ago

   How important can dreams be when I don't remember mine for most of my life?

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   Disturbiaposted 14 years ago

   I don't know what dreams are, but my dreams just seem to be a bunch of random nonsense. For years I kept a dream diary and would write them down as soon as I woke up so I wouldn't forget them. But I haven't done that in a long time.
   
   I also have nightmares which are always about torture and lots and lots of blood. I wake up frozen in terror and afraid to move. They leave me feeling really sick and always ruin my day because I can't shake them off or get the ugly pictures out of my head, and I think about them all day long.
   
   Every once in a while I'll have a dream about my mother. She comes to me and tells me things in that very straight forward way she always had about herself. You never have to guess what she means. She makes herself perfectly clear and understood.

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      Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      When we sleep our mind files all the day's events away into different parts of the brain which can cause dreams that don't make sense. A dream diary is great to get to know our own psyche.
      
      Nightmares are usually Archetypal dreams. This is another good reason to keep a dream diary. Once you know what your mind is trying to tell you, the nightmares go away.
      
      My loved ones come to me also. Not as much as they used to and not as often as I want.

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   Rod Marsdenposted 14 years ago

   Jong would have it that dreams are the dusting of the filing cabinets of our mind. In order to process events and to put them into some category we need to dream. Are dreams that clear cut? No. I believe that in the process of dusting bits and pieces from one file drift into either other files or open drawers. Its all sorted out of course but during the dusting all sorts of weird and wonderful connections are made and even though the files and bits of files are put back where they belong these connections can stick with us for ages.
   
   I have a dream from my youth that still haunts me. I had it when I was around ten years of age. I have figured out the message because some of these more vivid dreams do seem to have messages but it still hasn't faded from memory and probably never will. Its okay because it isn't a nightmare but more like an adventure story dream.
   
   I have also woken up with the thought in my head that I was talking either to my eldest sister or to my mother and in waking I woke in mid conversation.
   
   There was one occasion many years ago when I and my siblings shared the same room but separate beds in a holiday cottage. We were very young at the time. Apparently that night I and my eldest sister got into this fantastic conversation the other two couldn't understand. The next day they asked us what we were saying to each other and neither of us could recall any conversation at all. We were both fast asleep. We had been talking to each other and apparently being sincere and rather animated but on some subconscious level. Rather spooky but true.

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      Deborah Sextonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      __________________________________________________________
      
      Carl Jung taught us about the Archetypal dream meanings.
      
      Your dream you will never forget had a deep meaning.
      
      I have two female cousins who are twins. When they were young they would sometimes talk to each other in their sleep.
      
      There have been a couple of occasions when they had dreams on the same night that were very much alike.

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         ceciliabeltranposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         TECHNICALLY,
         
         Dreams are your way of recording the emotions and information you learned that day. It is connecting new data with old data. But the language is not logical because it is only interested in storing emotion through the symbols that we associate with them.
         
         There was a special in PBS that showed this concretely. A man who agreed to be the subject of experiment was asked to play a video game. When he was sleeping they woke him up and asked him what he dreamed about. He was dreaming of stepping on snow. Then he slept again. When he woke up he was better at the video game. His mind instructed him how to move as if he was in real snow.
         
         We have limbic knowledge of things like earthquakes. But because our conscious mind is focused on something else we ignore them. When we sleep, what we sensed but ignored will come back to us a psychic experience. But really we see so much more than we notice. We feel so much more than we allow ourselves to feel. It is important for us to be able to process things. SO we discard the insignificant in our dreams and pick out those that are and return it to consciousness.
         
         There is nothing mystical about it, yet at the same time the fact that body can do this is a mystical experience in itself.

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         Rod Marsdenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Deborah Sexton you are right I meant Jung.
         
         Yes the dream I had did have a deep meaning and even though I understand it I feel that it is still unraveling so that may be the reason it hasn't left me.
         
         My eldest sister and I aren't twins. We are separated by about two years but she may have psychic abilities strange as that may sound. I think they have faded over the years but they were I believe strong when she was young.

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   Originposted 14 years ago

   I think dreams are the television of the subconscious. If your afraid of something in reality, such as losing your job, getting divorced, and so forth you may dream about being chased. If you feel like your getting nowhere in life, you'll dream about being tied down or caged. If you dream about that special crush in your life, well, your dreams may have plenty of [insert explicit material].
   
   I've always thought that dreams are a distorted perception of reality, but on a subconscious level. Sometimes there may be 'random' elements from memory and experiences that intertwine, which may create the illusion that the entire dream is completely random.
   
   I've always liked remembering my dreams, it's like a fantastic voyage.

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   akirchnerposted 14 years ago

   I think dreams are an expression of all we feel and somehow they take us to places that we need to go.  I often dream about people in my life who did really bad things and even though maybe the dreams have 'not happy endings' they are still an ending which I think is my mind's way of closure.  I also think we dream randomly about people we think of or events we want to remember and even if they are not 'real' they are in our minds just for that instant.  I am a rabid dreamer for some reason and instead of it making me more tired, it always makes me actually feel better.  I visit/revisit places I've been with people and relationships or even places/times.  If I'm having a particularly bad dream and I don't like the way it is ending, I sometimes can even tell myself in my dream that it isn't real and wake up.  I think dreaming can be a very useful tool to help us work through things that are bothering us if we just open ourselves to them as much as we can - and then move on when we wake up.  It was after all, just a dream.

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    nikki1posted 14 years ago

    Your thoughts,..

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    MikeNVposted 14 years ago

    They can be a wonderful release from Reality and a chance for our minds to refocus on healing while our bodies rest.

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    luvpassionposted 14 years ago

    Research have showed that people who are deprived from entering the dream phase of sleep or the REM stage, exhibit symptoms of irritability and anxiety. In one dream study, volunteers are woken up right before they enter into the dream  state. Then they are allowed to fall back to sleep Again, right before they enter REM sleep, they are awaken. 
    
    This continues on through the night. The volunteers sleep the same amount of time as they normally do.
    
    The next day, these volunteers go about their day and observed to be disoriented, depressed, crabby, and quick tempered. There is a general impairment in their daily functioning.  Some eat more than usual. 
    
    As this study continues on through several nights, subjects become more and more agitated.  It is found that deprivation of REM sleep causes over-sensitivity, lack of concentration and memory loss.
    
    This study shows the importance of dreaming and its role in your well-being and health.
    
    Some researchers believe that dreams help you to tackle stress. Dreaming is a necessity and helps to recharge the mind and revitalize the body.

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    ralwusposted 14 years ago

    dreams are but sausages too spicy, green peppers and coffee black, too many beers and legs straight up and the cookie monster. Elves under the bed and conscious, the pollen up my nose and smelly feet. How the hell would I know?

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    Goodpalposted 14 years ago

    Dreams are just reflections of our subconscious mind, which is the store-house of past experiences. Rather than looking at the dream figures or situations literally, they should be seen as pointing to unresolved emotional issues. They are giving you an opportunity for self growth. And the key to doing it is through a change of perspective - a new emotional response.
    
    For instance, an attitude of exploration or confrontation in place of the habitual response of being fearful or victimized can bring about significant changes both in dream and waking life. If you resolve an issue in the dream, you resolve some emotional entanglement of your life.
    
    Being lucid is the only way to re-script dreams. It will reflect in the changes in the waking life too.

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    Goodpalposted 14 years ago

    Dreams are both a barometer of your emotional health and a safety valve of the unconscious mind. If you block them or just want to wish them away, you are missing some vital information they are trying to tell you about yourself.
    
    The best way to use your dreams for self-growth is to get lucid and then work on your dreams while dreaming. This provides you a way to get rid of emotional block and other limiting boundaries.
    
    You can try meditation, hypnosis or even brainwave entrainment music to learn the art of lucidity. I think you have discovered a very useful tool (dreams) to evolve yourself.

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