Some people think they don't dream. While we may not dream every night, it's very possible that we do in fact have a dream, we just don't remember it. Dreaming occurs during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) point in our sleep patterns, which usually lasts approximately 90 minutes. Depending on certain beliefs or cultures, dreaming can be due to repressed thoughts or emotions or a mere result of images or events that have occurred in the day.
So what kinds of dreams are there?
Nightmares - We've all had nightmares at one time in our lives. More often than not we had nightmares as children, but they can also occur in adulthood. In fact, about 8% of the adult population still have nightmares on a regular basis. Nightmares are dreams that frighten us or play upon our fears. Some nightmares are so vivid they wake us up from a deep sleep and are often accompanied by heavy breathing or sweating. Some of the most common nightmares may include death, vehicle accidents, losing a loved one, being chased, or even our most basic fears.
Recurring - Recurring dreams are the dreams that you have had more than once. When this happens, you often wake up and think to yourself, "I know I've had that dream before." So what causes this? It is said that recurring dreams are trying to tell you something. This could be due to repressed emotions, anxiety, fears, or even anger. This is your subconscious trying to tell you that something in your life or in a particular situation needs attention. Recurring dreams may represent a certain situation or ongoing event in your life.
Precognitive - Precognitive dreams are dreams that some people have that predict future events. These types of dreams are probably among the most difficult to interpret or explain. Some believe these occur due to signs our body hint to us, such as a pregnancy or illness, or that a loved one that has passed is communicating with us, or other messages that a greater power may be instilling in our minds. Some also believe this is where the deja vu experience comes from.
Lucid - Lucid dreams are the types of dreams where in the middle of the dream you realize that you are dreaming. We've all had those dreams where we are in the middle of a situation or an event that is playing out and suddenly we literally think to ourselves "wait...this is a dream". Often times we are able to control the outcome of the dream with this realization.
While dreams may seem to occur totally at random, there may be reasons why. Some reasons can include the intensity level in which you are sleeping, stress or tension, or even something as trivial as what you ate before you went to bed. I knew someone who would have the craziest dreams if he ate Pepperidge Farm goldfish before going to bed. But if you are having dreams over and over that really stick with you or even bother you on a physical or emotional level, it may be time to look at your life and really focus on that particular area. This could be stress related to a job, a difficult family situation, a traumatic event, a relationship, or guilt in some cases. Any situation or thoughts that you may be repressing for one reason or another are surely to come out in your dreams.
Dreams have always been an area of interest to me. When people tell me weird dreams they've had, one of the things I do is go grab my dream book and figure out what the symbols in the dream mean. I actually sat with someone recently and that person started telling me all about his dreams. It started with, "Julie, I have to tell you about this weird dream I had the other night..." so after we looked up some of the symbols that occurred in his dream, we began to explore some of the other odd or scary dreams he's had in the last year. We came to the conclusion that this person was experiencing some real emotional turmoil where he felt like he wasn't reaching his full potential and felt like his aspirations were out of reach due to present obstacles.
For the last year or two I personally have been experiencing nightmares. I would have at least one nightmare per week. I started to think something was wrong with me. I would have awful nightmares...nightmares that were often violent or life-changing. Some of the nightmares I had involved death, being trapped in burning buildings, trapped in tornadoes, involved in train crashes, and even drowning. They were terrible. After doing some of my own research, I realized that the dreams I had were connected to feelings of being "out of control" and "trapped". After making some long overdue changes in my life, I no longer feel this way...and the nightmares have stopped.
Have you ever attempted to interpret one of your dreams? Sometimes we wake up in the morning and we think of the dream we had the night before and think "wow...that was weird!" The thing is, sometimes those "weird" elements may actually be symbols that are represented by repressed emotions or significant elements in our lives, whether positive or negative. Sometimes these elements can be hidden in odd images or events such as talking animals, creatures, or even the odd location of events, objects, or symbols. Meaning can be found in almost every instance.
One of the things you can do on your own is keep a journal and record all the vivid dreams or nightmares you have had recently or in a certain time period. You can purchase a dream book or you can refer to any online dream dictionary to interpret the symbols or situations in your dream. You will almost instantly recognize a pattern to them, which you should be able to attribute to your life in one form or another. Sweet dreams!
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