How Dreams Help Us Grow And Prepare For Life

Dreams have puzzled philosophers for thousands of years and only recently dreams have been subjected to empirical research and scientific study. So what are dreams? Dreams are any thoughts, images, or emotions that are expressed during certain stages of sleep, mostly during stage five, known as REM, where the brain increases in activity. Dreams can range from being extremely vivid to very vague, filled with varying types of emotions such as joy, sadness, or fright, and can also be completely clear and understandable or totally unclear and confusing.

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.

The god of sleep, Hypnos, also resided in the underworld, in Cimmerians in a cave on the island of Lemnos. Hypnos was the son of Nyx and the brother of Thanatos. His sons were the conductors of dreams. The mightiest among them, Morpheus, from whom we get the name for modern day morphine, brought dreams of men, Icelus, animals, and Phantasus, inanimate things.

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.

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.

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.

Dreams have many meanings some come in various different forms. Some dreams have very deep meanings while others are just simply a product of your imagination. For example some people experience Deja Vu. Deja Vu is when you have a dream of something and then it comes to life. People who have had Deja Vu have been very surprised. A dream is a product of your imagination some are just entertaining while others might be viewed as life lessons. Some dreams have deeper meanings into them, you just have to look for them. For example some people have been having dreams of going to a certain place then the next morning they end up in the same exact place. When you arrive at the place you will have a certain feeling like you have been here before then you will remember that your dreamed about it. Dreams have so much to to do with your imagination but some are no product of your imagination but a product of reality. Dreams have many meanings they might be good, bad, and scary ,whatever they are they are still a product of you. Likewise In Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s dreams, thoughts, and actions help identify who he is and what he is meant to be . There are several examples of Antonio finding

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

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.

Kendra Cherry, a psychology expert, draws her knowledge from the famous works of Sigmund Freud. Cherry elaborates on the interpretations of the nine most common dreams. The interpretations for each of the nine examples are very clear, and easy to remember. These dreams include falling from great heights, being naked in public, being chased, loosing teeth, dying, taking a test, infidelity, flying, and pregnancy. This is an excellent source. Cherry’s article is the most useful source because it contains brief, but effective advice. Her advice will help me shine light upon the fact that dreams can be a very important indicator of the imbalance between one’s mental, emotional, and social well-being. Cherry aims to help readers use their dreams as a mirror of their life in order to fix private issues. In the past, I

Greeks and Romans claimed that dreams were signs from their gods and had prophetic magic

Growing up everyone has experienced dreams, but in this exploratory essay I am going to break down dreams on many different levels to form a better understanding of why it is we have them. Throughout my years of dreaming I have always wondered why do I have dreams, why do I dream about certain people, and why do I have dreams some nights while other nights I don’t have any along with many other questions. How is it that our brains can make these very realistic depictions of our real life, and transfer them into a memory as we wake up? Another very peculiar aspect of dreaming is seeing people or places that do not look familiar to us at all. Throughout my research I have discovered the answers to these questions, and many other aspects of dreams. While I was searching for answers to my questions I found that there is a lot more to learn than I originally thought. I developed even more questions to feed my research along the way.

A dream, by definition, is a sequence of emotions, ideas, images, and sensations that involuntarily occur in the mind at various times; typically during the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). Throughout history, dreams have been the cause of much speculation; holding both philosophical and religious interests (Hobson, 2009). Before the days of scientific research, opinions varied regarding dreams, and their usefulness in psychotherapy. Dreams were often viewed as either being divinely inspired or having derived from a dark, evil source. Even in today’s scientifically advanced society; dreams are still not totally understood.

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.

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