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Lucid dreaming advice essay paper
Lucid dreaming advice essay paper
Lucid dream essay
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Are Lucid Dreams Existent It is said that a lucid dream is a dream that can be induced or controlled and is characterized by the dreamer being aware that he or she is dreaming ( Lucid ). When lucidity occurs, the dreamer “wakes up” inside the dream during fixed states of cognizance. Dreams are caused by things “…our mind knows, however which we cannot handle, is disturbing or something that we keep reiterating to ourselves” ( Ganguly ). This is why distinguishing significant dream symbols from ambient symbols is important for attempting this state. Many people propose dream interpretation to help better understand the conscious state, but some are said to lucid dream to not only control the dream, but to elate themselves while asleep. …show more content…
“Fortunately, we do have the ability to study our dreams and interpret the common dream symbols they contain” ( Turner ). Recognizing the reasoning behind a dream can oust inessential worry, provide greater ease with making decisions, cause deepened insight in people, or even increase self-awareness. Think of dreams that undoubtedly stand out. Perhaps the dream was regularly reoccurring, alarming, or of something that compelled great emotion. To uncover what the subconscious is trying to say, recognize what is …show more content…
Specific medications for failing diseases can trigger lucid dreams, intellectual ability and age irrelevant. Everyone has the capacity to lucid dream. “Research shows that everyone will have at least one lucid dream in their lives, just by accident” ( Turner ). To do so on demand, you must habitually identify the dream state. Some ways to achieve your goals are through: “meditation-to focus your mind on demand, visualization-to enter the lucid dream state from waking, reality checks-to produce spontaneous self-awareness in dreams, dream herbs-to intensify and prolong your dreams, dream journaling-to cement dream memories in the waking world, mnemonic techniques-to produce spontaneous lucidity in dreams” ( Turner
Have you ever wondered why you dream and how you can sometimes direct it? Maybe you have wondered if your dream has any true meaning to it. You are not the only person who has these questions. These questions come up a lot when psychologists discuss the topic of dreaming. The topic of dreams and lucid dreaming has been around for hundreds of years. There have been many books and journals solely devoted to dreams and how they affect people today. The goal for this paper is to answer and explain the questions (Why do you dream? Can you direct your dreams? And do dreams have meanings?) using journals, books, and other resources written by widely known psychologists such as Sigmund Freud.
The dictionary definition of dreams is, as stated before, “A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep”. Dreams are something that have people have been fascinated with forever and countless artworks and text revolve around them. One of the first people to scientifically explore dreams was the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud. Freud is widely considered the father of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is the name for a set of psychological theories and therapies, which were developed, with the aim of treating mental illnesses. Freud’s work in the field of psychoanalysis has provided us with possible explanations for complex human behaviours. One of the most interesting and well-known theories of his is that of the “Unconscious
In Stephen King’s article,“The Symbolic Language of Dream,” he states, “ I think that dreams are a way that people's minds illustrate the nature of their problems. Or even illustrate the answers to their problems in symbolic dreams”(38). Dreams shows the individual unconscious and being to glimpse one's deepest desires and problems that are happening in their life. There are certain symbols that have meaning to them. In Carl Jung “The Importance of Dreams” every object and sign in the dreams represent a deeper meaning than what it actually is. How every individual person has a separate meaning to that object. While dreams can show a person's deepest fantasy and wishes there is also a dark sides to the dream. In the unconscious mind a person's
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.
Along with tradition, there are also many theories about dreams. Sigmund Freud, the first psychologist to study dreams in-depth, hypothesized that dreams were just subconscious thoughts. He believed that dreams show wants and thoughts in symbolic form that aren’t acceptable on a conscious level. He used the term manifest content to describe the contents of dreams, and the term latent content as the concealed meanings behind symbolic dreams.
What is a dream? Why do we have dreams? Do dreams have deeper meaning in our lives? The answers to these questions have eluded and intrigued many psychologists throughout history and have sparked my interest as well. As an avid and vivid dreamer I have often found myself wondering what the true meanings to my dreams were. So what are dreams? “Strictly speaking, dreams are images and imagery, thoughts, sounds and voices, and subjective sensations experienced when we sleep.”1 Even after thousands of years of research, psychologists have still not come to an agreed answer on why we dream. There are as many opinions out there as there are individual dreams. Some psychologists believe dreaming is simply the minds way of distracting itself from outside information during sleep to allow people to get deep rest. Others such as Dr. Eric Hartman suggest dreams serve almost as a psychotherapy in which the brain can make connections between different emotions and thoughts in a safe protected environment. Do dreams have any direct correlation to everyday events and experiences? Are they meant to aid individuals in understanding and interpreting their world around them?
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
There are many perceptions of what a dream actually is. Some view dreams as the subconscious trying to speak to people, and others see it as religious visions of the future. Over the years, physicians and psychologists have collected countless amounts of research and evidence to support their viewpoints on dreams. I have always believed that dreaming is a time when the brain develops and analyzes important information (Bernstein 149). Dreams do not mean anything specific, and everyone has their own cultural perspectives of dreams. In reality, no one has the power to analyze and tell people the meanings of their dreams. According to Bernstein’s psychology book, dreaming is a time when the brain experiences story-like perceptions and sensations.
First, let examined the definition of dream according to Sigmund Freud “dream is the disguised fulfilment of a repressed wish. Dreams are constructed like a neurotic symptom: they are compromises between the demands of a repressed impulse and the resistance of a censoring force in the ego” (Freud, 28). This simple means that all dreams represent the fulfilment of a wish by the dreamer. Dreams are the mind way of keeping an individual asleep and to digest and work out all that we have going on inside our brains, the negative, positive, fear and unclear thoughts and actions. This set the framework for dream work. Freud also stresses that even anxiety dreams and nightmares are expressions of unconscious desire. Freud further went on to say that, “the general function of dreaming is to fending off, by a kind of soothing action, external or internal stimuli which would tend to arose the sleeper, and thus of securing sleep against interpretation” (Freud, 28). With this, it shows that a dreamer can take apart his dream and analysis it, if he or she remembers, once conscious.
In dream analysis, therapists aim to reveal the latent content of dreams. They seek to explore the hidden symbolic meaning by taking the manifest contest or parts of the dream that are remembered and convert it into symbolic meaning. This was based on the idea that people feel unconsciously and dreams and one of the ways to express the forbidden thoughts and desires. The manifest content that may appear can be in a form of dream symbols that may have a meaning. For instance, a person who is running towards the sun in the dream may mean that that person is moving towards a brighter future.
Lucid dreaming is the ability of an individual to consciously direct and control one’s dreams. It transforms an individual’s inner dream world into an alternative reality – where everything the dreamer sees, hears, feels, tastes and even smells is as authentic as real life. Lucidity transpires during altered states of consciousness. According to Snyder & Gackenbach, as cited by LaBerge, lucid dreaming is normally a rare experience and only about a percentage of 20% of the world’s population reports to having lucid dreams once a month or more (LaBerge, 1990) which probably does not justify the existence of lucid dreaming. In addition, people have argued that lucid dreaming is just another theory and it is seems critical for one to be aware in an experience such as this.
We spend one third of our lives sleeping and 15-20% of that time is spent dreaming. (1) Dreams are a sequence of images that appear involuntary to the mind of somebody who is sleeping, often a mixture of real and imaginary characters, places, and events, according to the Encarta dictionary. There are many types of dreams. Lucid dreams can be the most fascinating if one can master them. In lucid dreams you realize that you are dreaming and instead of automatically waking up you stay asleep and control every aspect of your dream. Your thoughts can effortlessly paint any dreamscape and you have full mental faculties as you would if you were awake.(4) Your imagination is the limit! Another more mysterious type of dream is precognitive dreams. This is where time and space no longer seem to fit any rational logical meaning. Precognition is an ability to know and experience a future event before it ever occurs (4) Many experience this type of dream and slowly forget it over time, until it happens in real life. When it occurs in real life you automatically feel a sense of déjà vu and you notice something familiar about the s...
Dreaming is very different than everyday life, yet somehow still relates to it in some way. In everyday life we have stress and happiness along with many other emotions. Yet in someway when we drift off into a deep sleep this emotions come right back. Dalai Lama once said that “sleep is the best meditation.” Sleep may be the one thing that people turn to, a place where your mind is totally set free to do what it wants and think what it wants. An idea or vision that is created in your imagination that when suddenly when you awake, feels so real.Dream reflect reality because most peoples dreams are in fact related to past, and recent experiences, or events that have happened in a person’s life. Dreams are more than just a method of entertainment, They should be taken more seriously because of the fact that with dreams imitating own reality, you can then learn more about yourself.
Although an individual believes a dream has no importance, statistics have proven that dreams can be sent as warning messages or messages of reassurance. The aftereffects of the dream can leave feelings ranging from foreboding to understanding to complete confusion. The only part left to figure out is how the dream applies to daily life.