What do you think dreams really are?

Question

Do they mean something specific where you can read in a book the exact meaning, are they problems we can't resolve in a daily life (and nightmares the mind wanting us to confront our worst fears), predictions of the future, things that happened in the past, your imagination running wild or just silly thoughts in your head?
I have heard all these explanations.
What do you think about dreams?
Share your thoughts and dreams :)

Answer 1

Dreams as in hopes make us believe in ourselves and become something amazing.

Dreams while we sleep can be something that is related to the end,or when we die.

Answer 2

Ah, good question. We can only conjecture about it. My guess is that our dreams are a sort of playback on ...not our minds but our subconscious minds. Since our subconscious is 90 percent of our mind, and most of us suppress this or don't know about it, we think that our dreams are something else, some other entity when it's our own "hidden selves," those ideas we come across during the day that make an impact but that our conscious minds don't notice or don't feel is significant. Our subconscious only knows what we tell it and can't differentiate and hence is fed our fears, phobias, fantasies...and during the night, our subconscious takes over when our conscious mind is ...well unconscious...and it plays back what the conscious mind has fed it including nightmares. Careful what you think, you might just dream it.

Answer 3

I think they can be any of those things, except the first. We all have difference reference points for everything. We use different symbolism, so any sort of dream analysis that doesn't take this into account is sure to miss the mark.



I once told my therapist about a dream I had. I dreamed I was a prostitute, and my father was the pimp. I was making loads of money, which seemed like a good thing, but I was very unhappy. My therapist suggested that my father represented a different authority figure, in this case my boss. I was working a lot more hours than I wanted to, hence the prostitution. And I was making a lot of money with all that overtime, but I was tired and miserable. Once she said it, it was obvious, but I completely missed the meaning until she pointed it out. The next day I told my boss that I would no longer be available for overtime. He didn't like it, but he accepted it (I gave him no other option). I was much happier, and I finally had time to spend all that overtime pay I'd accumulated.

Answer 4

Dreams come from daily activities, media, actual events, material stuff like movie can also contribute to dreams.



However, most of the time it reveal personalities rather than from past life.



I have answered lots of dream questions. And I am shocked that I got so many accurate answers. I am no pyschological professional, but I just like this kind of things. I can't help calling myself dreamdoc. Anyway, I think dreams are dreams they do have hidden meanings, mostly about the dreamers!

Answer 5

I don't necesarily think your dreams are a vision of your future, or anything like that. But I don't think we should write off dreams so quickly.



Instead of viewing dreams as a prediction, we should use our dreams to benefit our waking selves. When we face our unconcious mind, we see the things we are really afraid of, and what's holding us back. We can interpret what we feel; you don't need books and websites to tell you what your dream "means"- you're the dreamer! Whatever you think it means, it means!



There are many recordings in history and scientific research today being done on Lucid Dreaming:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming



It is possible that when we face a problem knowingly in our dream state, we are more likely and confident to face it in our real life.

We should stop thinking of dreams as just omens and signs, and take a more active role in our psycology!

Answer 6

I actually think they are all those things. Except maybe the read the meaning in a book. Some dreams are your subconscience telling you something, you hate your job, you love your wife, you worry about your kids. Maybe even in a past life you experienced the things you dream of. I don't think anyone can explain dreams except the person dreaming it. It is their brain telling them something how can someone else know what it is saying????

Answer 7

I don't think there is a specific interpretation for all people who have the same dreams, but it seems to relate to the emotions, the people in them, the symbols and the environment ... are you stable, are you confused, are you afraid ... these things mean more than anything in a book. Keeping a dream journal might help and after awhile, you will start to know what your dreams mean.

Answer 8

I hope not because I have some CRAZY dreams!! There is rarely a morning that I can wake up and not say "you would not believe the dream I had last night"! They don't really have anything to do with people I know or light/dark fire/water stuff. They are just BIZARRE!! I am living proof that science doesn't know everything though. I can feel, taste, and see color in my dreams.

Answer 9

Dreams are just an amalgamation of previous life events strung together in non-sequential form. People have suggested that by studying your dreams you can learn more about yourself. There are books on dream analysis but again are just someone elses ideas on what they mean. The individual doing the dreaming is better off to analyze and place meaning or significance on it that anyone else might be.

Answer 10

I believe that dreams are your subconscious communicating with your conscious mind; relaying things that you registered during the day but for some reason or another couldn't quite process. The subconscious then tries to send messages through imagery. Imagine if you will two people who speak different languages trying to communicate through gestures while standing on stilts with big foam number 1 fingers on each hand. (Just one of my stranger dreams)



That's just one man's opinion, hope it helped you out.

Answer 11

I truly do believe dreams are our sub-conscious speaking to us. I find that my truest emotions or desires are played out in my dreams. I like my dreams because it helps me discover new things about myself. Your brain still remains active going over what has happened throughout the day. They say some of the best ideas have come to people as they sleep because they have had time to make connections they might have overlooked before.

Answer 12

I think that dreams are a release of emotions related to our subconscious fears and desires. There is the manifest content and the latent content within our dreams (according to psychologists - Carl Jung/Freud). Popular psychology talks now about Lucid dreams in which you are able to control your dreaming.

Answer 13

It probably depends on how much weight you put on them. There are cycles to your sleeping pattern. I am not sure what they are called, but closer to waking is the dream stage. I think that depending on what you have in your subconscious is what affects your dreams. Whether you are worried, or in a silly mood....etc. I base no meaning on my dreams, and I think that is why I rarely even remember that I did dream (unless they are interupted.)

Answer 14

It may sound wierd but I have practiced things I am learning while I sleep! When I was in high school and taking typing....oh lordy I typed and typed and typed.....in my sleep....in the end I ended up typing over 85 wpm. Same with learning 10 key, a new language, anything different and new. I dream about it and it strengthens itself in my mind. Wierd huh?

Answer 15

Dreams are often the mind thinking in ways that we are unable to awake, or they can tell us something about our lives. Sometimes they are even prophetic, but those who have not had the prophetic dreams have trouble believing in them. Anyway they are a lot of things, but one thing they are not is something to be taken lightly. I forgot to mention that they can also show us our desires.

Answer 16

I think alot of dreams are the minds way of finding closure. Like I got to hug my dead father and my husband to tell him goodbye when he ran off with my friend. I never got to say goodbye and it bothered me for years until I had dreams revealing things that I didn't understand. Maybe it is God. One dream I got to hold him and kiss him again and it felt so real and tell him goodbye. I found closure in this.

Maybe some dreams are warnings. Maybe your mind plays out options and solves in this way.

Answer 17

I believe that dreams are the unconcious mind's interpretation of what the concious mind is thinking about.



Some of my dreams include things that I was thinking about before I fell asleep, but everything's twisted in a weird way.

Answer 18

dream are just givinyu satisfation when yu can not get from really life---dream experss yu conflit and frustration. dream are some time due to our physiogical problem-------bit dream doesnt give any cle fr prdicion what is going to happen next montj---there are some thing going to be -we are thinking all the about --and the nifght yu seea dream about it---and what happen next day that is just right as yu seen in dream--this not prdidion--but al ready it is likely to happen in such way---fr example yu want that yur child get addmision in public school --yu see a dream that he got admiision--the next day u go to school and yur child is admitted--this doesnot prove yur dream prediction--but it was in yu mind about child problem--that beame a dream --and by chance it come tru

Answer 19

Just synopses of electrical impulses in your brain while you sleep. I know most times, my dreams consist of things I've discussed with someone during the day, so that's just memory consistency or something.



I don't think there's a bigger meaning to dreams.

Answer 20

Dreams are the rehashing of our conscious lives. It is said that dreams that we remember are generally harmless, event the nightmares. But the ones that we don't remember are dreams associated with conscious experiences that are too frightening for us to remember, so our minds supress them.

Answer 21

This is my dream theory.. and you're gonna think I'm crazy... We think there are Ghosts.. and that Ghosts are the spirits of dead people who haven't found their way to the place they are supposto go.. I think that Ghosts are really people dreaming. I think that when I go to sleep and have a dream.. the people that I am dreaming about are seeing me as a Ghost.. like I would see one.

Answer 22

Dreams are like a pilot light for the brain. It keeps the brain active at all times so it doesn't atrophy.

Answer 23

dreams are all the things you mentioned. i had a dream 2 nights ago that i was in a nuclear explosion and could see all the destruction but was completely unharmed by it. have no clue what that would be about.

Answer 24

I think dreams are you thinking too hard about something the night before even if you dont realize you're thinking about it.

Answer 25

Don't know,some dreams I never want to have again,some I'd stay in!!!

Answer 26

a culmination of thoughts and actions typically repressed during waking hours

Answer 27

A clue about how you perceive the things in your life, and how you THINK things are going.

Answer 28

dreams don't mean a thing

Answer 29

I really don't know but what is weird is that sometimes they answer deep questions I have

Answer 30

No, they mean too much LSD 30 years ago.

Answer 31

DREAMS...I HARDLY DREAM...



DREAM IS YOUR BRAIN'S ACTIVE IMAGINATION!! YOUR BRAIN HAS NO LEGS SO IT CAN ONLY DREAM!

Answer 32

i think they are visions that you want or need to happen

Answer 33

they are your subconscious needs