What Do Dreams Mean?

I enjoy dreaming, even during day time! I love what my mind spins in dreams. The story lines range from hilarious, absurd to outright terrifying. Dreams have been interpreted as mind's escapism, messages from the sub-conscious and even random brain noise! Every day as we wake up, we remember bits and pieces of our dreams before we snap back in to full reality. Unless we jot them down and tell somebody about it immediately, they slip out of memory. Sometimes, they are so vivid and nightmarish, that we do remember them. At such times, we often wonder what dreams mean. This article explores the mystery of dreams.

What Do Dreams Really Mean?

Dreams are a succession of images, sounds, thoughts and emotions that are vividly imagined and experienced by the mind in sleep. They are responses generated by the brain without any kind of external stimuli. They are wholly created by the brain from the accumulated pattern of memories and emotions. Let us explore what dreams mean and do they really give any indications that should be taken seriously.

Research has shown that dreams happen in short burst of 15-20 minutes during what is known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, when the brain is more active. We spend about two hours dreaming on an average. If you calculate, over a year, we spend about 30 days of our time in dreaming. The brain shuts down the neurotransmitters which can cause body movement during sleep. This dream safety precaution prevents physical damage, that may occur from dream activated body movements.

What dreams mean in actuality is a question whose answer is relative to the person. There are many theories about interpretation of dreams. I will discuss my own idea about this whole thing based on my own dream experiences. I think dreams are created out of three important sources: repressed desires, fears and plain old nonsense arising out of garbled information in the brain! It is simply the mind projecting information garnered from your experiences, on to the mind's eye. Sometimes, the story lines created may be plain old rubbish, but sometimes your brain is actually trying to drive you towards a solution. This has happened to me in the past. Sometimes, you just see what you want to see. The things that you should be dealing with but are afraid of doing anything about or avoiding, usually crop up in dreams. Some fears that are buried deep down find an outlet in dreams. I do not believe in identifying a list of dream images and their meanings, as it cannot be an absolute thing. People make a business out of dream interpretation. I don't believe in identifying specific kind of dream imagery with a specific message, for everybody. Different images will mean different things to people, as every person's experiences, fears and desires are different. Let me try to answer some common questions about dreams.

Interpreting Recurring Dreams

What does a recurring dream tell you? What it means can only be understood by going in to the specifics of it. Usually, at least in my case, the recurring dreams that occur are related to some deep rooted problems, that keep gnawing my mind in sleep. They are certain unfinished desires and fears manifesting themselves in the form of a dream. Usually, one understands why one gets specific recurring dreams if one goes deeper into what the specific imageries of the dream mean. What dreams mean when they keep on recurring is, that you need to do something about an emotional issue that you have been ignoring!

Nightmares

Nightmares crop out of certain insecurities and fears that a person might have. A nightmare is generally an embodiment of your deepest fears. The fears that you have acquired throughout your life. They may be prompted by some scary incident that you have gone through, which still troubles you. The only way to get over it is to face your fears and make peace with that past incident. Unresolved issues crop up in dreams and unless they are resolved, you cannot be free from nightmares.

Some people ask me what do death dreams mean? Well, that too again depends on the person. It may be that it signifies that you haven't yet gotten over the death of a loved one or death is looming on your mind currently. It may also mean nothing really. It all depends on how deeply you look into it and what are the specific things you see. Do not take death dreams as indicators of future. Future is in your control and you can change it. Personally, I do not believe in premonition and would advise you not to believe in death dreams as premonition or anything like that. It is just fear taking form in your thoughts.

Dreams About Snakes

Well, when you see snakes in your dreams, it either means that you are very afraid of them or they symbolize fear in your mind. I do not believe in making a connection between snakes and sexual desires. There even might be a connection, but it won't be the same for every person. As everyone has different experiences and set of symbolic interrelationships in their minds.

What dreams mean in actuality can only be understood by you the dreamer, as the things you see in there are created from your own mind. It is a subjective experience. Keep a dream diary and write your dream in as much detail, as you can, just after waking up. As you Dig deeper inside yourself and you will understand why you get a particular dream!