What Do Dreams Mean?

Dream Meanings: Girl Before Sunrise

In-depth scientific research and studies have indicated and substantiated that every single person does dream at least one or two hours every single night during the alpha level sleep period. Alpha level, also referred to as light sleep is the first sleep period when someone actually starts drifting off once in bed. Everyone undergoes a 90-minute sleep cycle that commences with alpha, then into a deeper siesta called theta, and then they finally go into the deepest sleep referred to as delta. This cycle goes on and on over the duration of their sleep.

As the first 90-minute cycle comes to an end, this person gets back to the alpha level sleep where they tend to have a relatively short, around 5-minute dream before cycling up to the next sleep level. Now, you need to understand that the next time this folk cycle back to the alpha state, the dreaming period goes up to 10 minutes, then 15, 20 and so on and so forth. This means that when one sleeps for an approximate duration of 8 hours, the last one hour or so is spent in alpha sleep most probably dreaming. It also proves that the average individual who sleeps for about 8 hours spend an hour or two actually dreaming.

Introduction to Dreams

Sleep laboratories have proven that sleeping individuals tend to experience Rapid Eye Movement (REM) when in alpha level sleep. REM, as implied by the name is a scenario in which the eyes of the folk dreaming starts moving about rapidly. In such a case, you have to understand that the individual is actually witnessing, or rather watching scenes in his/her dream and hence their eyes keep moving back and forth rapidly as they observe the action.

Understand that if a sleeping individual is woken up each night as REM begins, they begin to show some signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown. This proof clearly indicates that dreams play a very vital role in one’s life by providing a very delicate emotional balance maintaining their sanity. Dreams can be therefore considered champion to one’s well-being and emotional state.

How exactly do dreams come about and what do they signify?

First things first; you have to note that each and every individual is responsible for their dreams. You create your own dreams. At times, your dreams may be filled with random scenes that actually make no sense at all. However, you need to understand that it is you who is expressing himself or herself in a far much creative or unique manner. When coming up with your dreams, you are not only combining images to come up with explanatory stories, but you are also channeling and establishing a very potent flow of emotions. In order to try and understand a particular dream, all you need to do is try and dig deep into the emotions and imagery experienced in that dream.

Keep in mind that the imagery experienced in your dreams are simply your natural technique of connecting events in your inner imagination world to the real world. These connections are referred to as dream symbols. Comprehending this should help you define and identify which segments of your waking life require meaningful action.

What do dreams my mean?

As much as unending theories seeking to explain the reasons why we dream exist, no one has claimed yet to fully understand the sole purpose of dreaming and its interpretation. Of course, dreams tend to be mysterious most if not all the time. However, understanding, or rather fully comprehending the meanings of these dreams could prove downright baffling. The imagery of most dreams could be terrifying or even shift suddenly and full of bizarre episodes that tend to frighten us. The mere fact that dreams can be quite compelling or so rich is what drives people to believe that there must be a logical explanation behind our dreams.

There are a number of prominent scientists and researchers including G. William Domhoff who argue that dreams actually don’t serve any purpose. Even so, interpretation of dreams is becoming more and more popular every other day and while research has not clearly defined and established the sole purpose of dreaming, most experts on the same do believe that every single dream does actually have meaning. The only thing subject to debate is the dream’s explicit interpretation.

Common Dream Meanings

Dreams manifest and turn out differently for each person. However, there are some common similarities between most dreams that could range from simply the dream location to even the whole scenario. Below are the three most common dreams and their simple interpretation;

Sex Dreams

One of the most common dreams shared by people from all aspects and geographical locations of the world are sex dreams. Interpretation of sex dreams varies widely depending on a number of factors including who you are having sex within the dream and how it happens. Symbol-wise, sex dreams don’t necessarily represent sex per se. Sex dreams can mean a number of things especially when complex feelings including guilt, commitment, enjoyment, freedom, power, love, and responsibility are taken into account. For a deeper analysis of sex dreams, click here.

Snakes

Being bitten by a snake or simply seeing one in a dream implies that you have hidden worries and fears that are actually threatening you. This dream may actually be alerting you of something you haven’t noticed in your real world or even ones that are yet to surface.

snake in dream

Alternatively, other folks believe that a snake in your dream may really be phallic thus symbolizing temptation, dangerous or even forbidden sexuality. Other communities also believe that snakes are actually positive symbols signifying knowledge, healing, and wisdom.

Flying

Flying dreams can be really liberating and exciting. At times though, these dreams also tend to be frightening. Dream Dictionary’s author, Tony Crisp explains that flying dreams often symbolize two very different realities. On one hand, a flying dream could signify independence and freedom. On the other hand, this flying dream could surface the desire to escape or flee the actual realities of life.
Other common dreams include death, weddings, falling pregnancies, driving an out-of-control automobile, taking an exam, meeting a celebrity, etc.

Symbolism in Dreams

As stated above, the simplest, yet most powerful technique of understanding dreams is simply working with the imagery and symbolic language created by your consciousness every other night. Symbols are often dismissed as virtual representations of something else. However, symbols are so much more than that. As a matter of fact, a symbol is a very important connection that should help you explain and make sense of your reality. To understand your dreams perfectly, you have to clearly get what symbols are and how they are perceived in dreams.

Now, when it comes to matters pertaining to symbolism in dreams, understand that the symbols and imagery we create convey us way beyond our own selves. They also serve a very important role in helping us put across, or rather convey our dreams while expressing them to other individuals. Symbols can be compared to metaphors which convey quality from a very specific thing to another.

Also, note that the idiomatic imagery often used in our dreams aren’t random at all but hold particular metaphorical dreamscapes. Land solidity is used to represent realities and practicalities whereas the sky symbolizes ideas and thoughts. Similarly, water represents emotions while light and fire symbolize passion and creativity. The explicit meaning of a symbol is subject to one’s individual assessment and understanding but nonetheless, there are quite a number of symbols that are shared widely and actually do represent a similar thing.

Summary

In summary, you need to understand that we don’t all interpret our dreams in the same way. Also, as much as this is true, you need to note that we share various symbols which could easily have similar meanings. The bottom line is that dreams are very important and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Interpretation of these dreams, on the other hand, is subject to various factors including background, religion, and culture.

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