Definition Essay: Do Dreams Have Meaning?

Dreams, one of the many dimensions in our mind, gives a lot of different information then we are use to having in the day. The subconscious mind that takes control when we sleep, takes care of our passive memories and holds the key to our lives. Dreams are what lead us to this key which unlocks the door to another type of wisdom. The farther we get

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 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. In today’s society, the concept

“Dreams are a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.” This is the true definition of what dreams are according to Free Dictionary.com. Although many people are unaware of how dreams actually work there are two psychologists that have been able to pinpoint the true meaning of dreams. These two men are Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. There are many different perceptions on how people dream, what dreams mean, and why people dream.

A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntary in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams can mean anything. They can mean something for anybody, someone else, or just imagination. What a person dreams in life is usually different than sleeping dreams. Shakespeare’s play, “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is represented of dreams in historical and modern theories.

Dreaming is yet another state of consciousness. A dream is simply an unfolding episode of mental images that involve characters and events. Dreams usually tend to occur during REM sleep but can occur during NREM sleep as well. We dream on a variety of topics, subjects, and individuals. No dream can be exactly interpreted or defined, therefore people have always been fascinated with what, why, and how we dream. An unpleasant and almost terrifying type of dream is a nightmare. This is a very vivid, almost real

Dreams are very unique and many people have theorized about what a dream 's meaning or purpose is, and what affects them. In most present day studies, more vivid dreams have been linked to the stage of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM dreams are emotional, bizarre, and sometimes so vivid we may confuse them with reality. Most commonly, a dream’s story line incorporates traces of previous day’s experiences and preoccupations. Unless a person is awakened during REM stage of sleep or the dream is exceedingly vivid or intense, most people don’t remember anything about their dreams during REM sleep. This is likely due to the fact that during REM sleep, our brain essentially turns off the ability to encode,or create, new memories.

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

The best part of a long, hard-working day is when you finally get to lay in your bed, close your eyes and let your imagination run free. As you sleep your mind takes you to another place far away from the real world. You begin to dream. Over the night, you may have several dreams. In the morning, you may wake up and wonder what your dreams were suppose to mean for you and your life. By analyzing your dream, it "gives a true picture of the 'subjective state'-how we really feel about ourselves-which the conscious mind cannot or will not give" (Wietz 289). In order to find the meaning of a dream, you have to pick out the most important symbols and define them. But you may be wondering what exactly is a symbol?

Dreams have been around as long as the first civilization came to be and have been a normal part of human existence. One third of your life is spent sleeping, and of that third, on average you will have spent a total of about six years of it dreaming. Most people dream on average two hours every night, but you can have anywhere from four to seven dreams in one night. According to research, the most common setting for a dream is in your own house. In our dreams we can do anything we want and be whoever we want to be. Our dreams are an escape from reality. While we dream we are unable to control our actions and choose our surroundings. We let our minds take over. Sometimes dreams can be understood in the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave in a manner that we do not allow ourselves to in our everyday life. Visions and ides can come from your dreams. Often, authors, screenwriters, and even poets turn to their dreams for inspiration. The think quest oracle library goes on to tell about the most well-known of the modern dream

However, the true exact meaning of dreaming hasn 't been proven, there has been new ideas, different methods to advances to both a psychological, science understanding of when it began and how it functions. What some of the studies have concluded is that dreams are a certain phase of the brain 's activities, that the mind experiences while you are sleep; sounds, pictures, ideas, and feelings. Both psychologists and scientist have theorized that dreaming is made up of the person’s mind, that ranges from being rare, normal, scary, and ordinary.

Thesis Statement: Dreams are successions of images, emotions, and sensations that occur subconsciously during sleep.

A dream, what is a dream exactly? Scientifically, it’s thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in one’s mind as they are in their deepest slumber. More specifically, images or thoughts that have no connection with one another. It’s just a randomized scenery that only last for a small ounce of time until you awaken. But, I don’t think that’s all to a dream. No, I feel that a dream has more worth than people think. Indeed, they are collages of what we have seen or thought about throughout our lives. Maybe they could be messages or riddles trying to grasps your consciousness’ attention. Although, if dreams do have meaning behind them, well for me to grasps the concept of mine is unreachable.

By researching, and observing dreams, I can conclude that each dreams have different behaviors. Dreams occur at different emotional states in your life. Times that you are feeling down, feeling on top of things, or even when you are feeling amazing. These dreams occur for these reasons because your brain is trying to help fix your emotional problems.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Dreams are really weird, but unique things that every human being does. Some dreams are taken literally, while others don’t have any meaning at all. Multiple people say that they don’t dream, which isn’t exactly true. They could just not remember them, which is normal because within ten minutes of waking up, 90% of your dream is forgotten. In our lifetime, we will spend about four years in a dreamlike state. Frequent questions people have over dreams are: Why do we dream? What do dreams mean? Why do some dreams feel real?

Dreams are “hallucinations of the sleeping mind” (Loftus & Ketcham). Dreams can be very vivid, loud, and even emotional. This is why it is easy to confuse them with reality. Dreams are kind of like taking all of a person’s wishes and emotions and putting them all in a little “shadow world” (Bynum) when they go to sleep at night. “What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely satisfy wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are simply and undisguisedly realizations of wishes.” (Freud). A person may be experiencing an emotion or wishing for something without even realizing it at all. Dreams can sometimes show a person how they are truly feeling without even their own awareness of these feelings or wishes. A lot of a person’s reality and emotions are used in their dreams, however, this is not always the case. Dreams can also be extremely bizarre, confusing, and even repetitive. This is where the interpretation of dreams comes into action. Many people find it hard to believe that when they have a dream over and over again that it does not mean anything. These types of dreams are called recurring dreams. Recurring dreams happen