Dreams and Their Interpretation Essay

When looking into the meanings of dreams, a variation of things can be found. Most people believe that dreams are a reflection of people’s inner thoughts and feelings. Most of these feelings are too private to be expressed in the real world and that is why they are expressed in a fantasy type way through dreams.

1. Your body goes through 4 stages of sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) is the 4th stage and when you do most of your dreaming. “While you are dreaming, your body undergoes noticeable changes.  Your adrenaline rises, your blood pressure increases, and you heart beats faster. Given this hyperactivity, it should be no surprise how someone with a weak heart can die in their sleep (dreammoods.com).” It usually takes 30-90 minutes to reach REM, a person goes in and out of REM 4-7 times a night. During REM your eyes rapidly move back and forth under the eyelids. Our bodies are completely immobile and muscles are relaxed. You may shift around in your sleep but when in REM you are completely still.

My dream began in a huge mansion late one night. I began to walk down the long, narrow hall. Bright flashes of lightning lit up the hallway for seconds at a time and bangs of thunder shook the whole house. Candles were lined up along my path to light my way slightly. As I walked further and further, I approached the end of the hall where a full sized statue stood. It was standing in shadows and so I had to get close to see it well. All of a sudden, the statue lifted up his solid steel foot with the worn sole of his shabby shoe facing me. It was trying to show me something on the bottom but it was too dark for me to see. I was frightened and began to run in the opposite direction down the hall. Then I woke up. What could this dream mean for my life and me? I wanted to find out.

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.

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people do not think much about the dreams that they have, unless they are recurring. Dreaming is “a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during REM sleep.” Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank god that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we may think. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to

Both Freud and Jung provided important and interesting theories on dreams; encompassing their functions, their roots, and their meanings. Freud looked at dreams as a result of repressed memories, particularly repressed sexual memories from our childhood. Jung however, believed that dreams delved beyond sexual repression during younger years, to other problems, be it trauma, anxiety etc. Jung also believed dreams changed predominately through middle adult years, while Freud believed the opposite. There is little empirical evidence to reinforce either Freud or Jung’s theories, however, their contributions to the study of dreams in psychology cannot be lessened or denied.

What Dreams May Come is a movie about life, loss, death, afterlife and rebirth. The film explores the emotions evoked by a variety of characters when they are faced with coping with tragedy and death. It also delves into the manifestations of heaven and the variety of forms heaven takes in the minds of different people.

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

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people don’t think much about the dreams they have, unless they are recurring. Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank heaven that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we think.

The mystery of dreams have fascinated people for years. Do they have significant meaning? Do they predict the future? Is our subconscious mind trying to warn us about our waking state of mental health and awareness? There are an abundance of websites and books that help interpret significant bits and pieces of dreams that we remember. Using a few of these websites I’ll interpret a few of my own dreams and what significance they may have had at the time that they occurred and how each one can be used as a coach for future challenges.

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.

Dreams have been a mystery of the human mind since the beginning of time. Their purpose and importance to our lives varies depending on where you go for information, but it is clear that dreams are something that come along with being human. According to the theory of Sigmund Freud, dreams are a way for our mind to process the things we are feeling in the form of symbolism (Freud 350). While many brush off their dreams as simply a way for their brain to relieve stress and process the previous day, there is a large percentage of people who believe that their dreams are a message, or a warning, from the beyond.

At some point, someone has said that high school will be the best four years of their lives and college gets even better. So with that idea in people’s heads, they come up with their ideal image of the college. They start planning the perfect scenario of what college they will go to and what their roommate will be like. They often try to compare an unrealistic image and turn it into a realistic image, but they are unlike in many ways. Once students step onto the college campus, they will soon face what it is actually like to be in college.When people understand that college is not the perfect movie scene, then they will take advantage of expanding and furthering their education seriously. Going to college is a whole different experience and there is a lot more to it such as the rigorous classes and overwhelming school work, being more independent, and forming new bonds with others.

I jolted awake in fear. I had a dream. A weird dream. A vivid dream. It was full of people shouting and bright flashes of light. It was confusing yet clear, like some part of me understood it. I didn’t know it would be important then but now I know. How? Well, it happened like this…