Definition
The dictionary says that dreams are “thoughts, images, and sensations’ that occur within the mind of a sleeping man’s mind. Dreams, themselves, are mysterious things. It is said that everyone dreams at least once throughout the night, which is puzzling because most people do not remember a single thing about their dreams. There are people who remember everything about their dreams, and more so, some people can even control their dreams. Dreams leave us with interesting questions, but the most discussed are: do dreams have a deeper meaning? Can they predict the future? Or are they just our memories played in little segments?
Personal Experience
My mom would always tell me about this dream that she had been having ever since she could remember. The dream started with her waiting at a bus stop early in the
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The top five are daydreams, lucid dreams, nightmares, recurring dreams, prophetic dreams. Daydreams are the fantasies that occur between consciousness and sleep state. The person is usually awake when daydreaming, but their minds wander off into the dreaming state. Although daydreaming can be entertaining, it leads the daydreamer to get distracted from their main train of thought.
Often, the Lucid dreams are dreams in which the dreamer can wake up and the “sudden sense of knowing you are dreaming allows you to do fantastic things like fly over the houses you see” (Turner). They are the dreams in which there is the knowledge that the dreamer is dreaming and can control their dream. People can teach themselves how to lucid dream, there are steps that can be followed to become an expert lucid dreamer. An article on Psychology Today states that “to facilitate the process you can form the habit of examining the environment or your state of awareness during the day” (Brogaard). There are many types of different types of lucid dreams, they can vary from superhero dreams to
The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund Freud holds a ton of information, mostly about what our dreams mean and how they can influence our daily lives. He expresses on page 310, that dreams can be wishes, fears,
Although scientists still argue about why are we dreaming and what are dreams made of, modern science found out that dreams are endless, random stories. In the early century, where the History of dreaming starts, dreams were seen as a message from the gods. The brain plays and replays experiences during the night. Studies found out that there is also a gender difference in dreaming. Dreaming occurs during REM sleep when the brain defragments memories and daily life experiences and turns them into random neverending stories.
Dreams are states of consciousness, known as the stories and mental images our brains create during certain stages of sleep. Even though these are a common feature of humankind, they continue to remain a mystery. For many years, psychologists have come up with different theories as an attempt to explain why this phenomenon, we have not been able to understand, takes place. While some researchers believe dreams have no purpose nor greater meaning, others believe dreams are imperative for mental and emotional health. Nonetheless, although there are numerous theories, these are all primarily based on speculations rather than actual research, which gives anyone the opportunity to form a theory as to why dreams occur. Consequently, since dreams are open to wide arrays of interpretations, individuals can create their own dream theory to understand more about who they are. For me, dreams are reflections of inner problems and fears in our lives, as well as demonstrations of the events that take place in a day and those that are to come.
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.
Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during a slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, dream is defined by a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring involuntarily in a person’s mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams have fascinated humans since the beginning of time. The recorded history of dream interpretation dates back to 3000-4000 B.C. with the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. They documented their dreams on clay tablets. People back then saw the dream world as an extension of reality, but that it was a more powerful realm. Furthermore, they believed that when they dream, their souls would leave their body during sleep and travel to the dream world.
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?
I also watch A LOT of true crime series and I have since I was around the age of 7. Also my favorite television series is “Dexter” and in the series Dexter has a sister named Deb who is a detective and before the dream I was watching “Dexter”. Another latent part of the dream was the involvement of a young child. I desire to be an elementary school teacher after I graduate so I think that is how that aspect worked it’s way into the dream. Another piece of latent content in my dream was how it took place during the “back to school” season. That makes since because I had this dream during the month of September which is when everyone usually goes back to school especially the younger kids. The City in my dream symbolizes where I live today so that is how it worked it’s way into my dream. Lastly, my biggest fear is of being shot. So, the part where I got shot symbolized my worst fear. That part of the dream also caused me to wake up
Some desire, while others remember. History, sleep cycle, and nightmares all come together to make the mystical vision called dreams. Did you ever wonder why we dream? Why do we always have that one same dream? A lot of people questioned how dreams relate to their conscious life. Dream interpretation dates back to over one hundred years ago. Some try to remember their dreams, while others may experience de ja vu. A few reasons why people do not recall their dreams, is due to lack of sleep or not getting enough nutrients. In order to get to that point, one must become acquainted with the 4 stages of sleep cycle ending with the REM cycle, which is when you undergo the actual dream process. Dreams can be quite scary at times, leaving you in a panic, shock, and refusing to go back to sleep. Dreams are important to Psychology because it identify psychological functions. Although everyone has dreams,
Despite the large amount of time we spend asleep, surprisingly little is actually known about sleeping and dreaming. Much has been imagined, however. Over history, sleep has been conceived as the space of the soul, as a state of absence akin to death, as a virtual or alternate reality, and more recently, as a form of (sub)consciousness in which memories are built and erased. The significance attributed to dreams has varied widely as well. The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits.
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 has always been more of a controlled thing. In a way, dreams can determine what he want to eat, what they want to wear, or even who he may be marrying one day. An Australian doctor has found that dreams are not messages from the spirits but dreams are messages from ourselves (Andre-Clark). In most cases dreams do reflect reality, because dreams are communications from yourself rather trying to contact a person through their dreams, and tell them something that may happen in the future. Dreams may or can reflect things that have happened to anyone. Dreams do not say anything about the future nor predict anything. Dreams may comfort someone or help them understand something that has happened to them in the past.
All of us dream, several times at night. It is believed by some that we sleep in order that we may dream. Dreams can come true if somebody makes them true, as the saying goes, “A dream is just a dream, unless you make it come true”. Dreams provide us the actual picture of our thoughts. Dreams may tell us about any physical event which took place with us or which is going to happen with us. The dream is trying to inform the dreamer about his condition in any walk of life. Basically, we can dream about anything logical or illogical, fictious or non-fictious and reasonable or unreasonable.
...to pinpoint the causing factor to my ex-boyfriend having sat in the same seat on the bus as I had the afternoon before I had the dream. Due to this cause, I began to look at how my daily life was affected during the next few days after the dream. By looking back, I was able to see that the effects ranged from guilt to confusion to relief. My daily life turned into a constant battle of reality versus imagination as I tried to hide the emotions I was feeling from those around me and deny any importance to the message the dream sent.