What Are Our Dreams Trying to Tell Us?

I have always had very strange dreams, and dreams really fascinate me. Problems is, like most people, when I awake from a dream many times I remember only bits and pieces of it, or sometimes nothing at all. And if I go back to sleep and wake up in the morning, chances are I will not remember any of the dream. Lately though, I have had some really bizarre dreams, so due to this I have decided to keep a pen and paper on my bedside table.

While I have always been extremely interested in dream interpretations, my life is at a point right now that I feel I must try to analyze my dreams and try to figure out what these dreams are trying to tell me, regardless if it is good or bad. There is always room for improvement in our lives, and maybe our dreams are somehow teaching us how to improve our lives. Our dreams could be stepping stones in many ways in our daily lives and future growth.

When I was a child I had a lot of nightmares that scared me to death and I was afraid to go to sleep at night. My older sister told me that if I concentrate while in dreams that I could wake myself up if I felt that I could not face the outcome of the dream. She told me to squeeze my eyes real tight, tighten my body and force myself to wake up. This actually works the majority of the time, still to this day. If I have a problem waking up from a bad dream, it is usually because I am sick and have a fever, and often dream things in slow motion which is quite scary, especially if being chased.

I have a lot of recurring dreams, and have figured out how to stop recurring nightmares. I will touch more on this later. The other recurring dreams I have, such as dreams about a certain house, being on a train, flying or family dreams do not really bother me that much and I always let them continue as they are really interesting. When I was young, my brother told me that he flew in a dream. It sounded wonderful the way he described it. So when I went to bed that night, I concentrated on a story of me flying and seeing beautiful things below and feeling free, and by the time I finally went to sleep, I dreamed about my own story. Therefore it is my conclusion that we do have some kind of control over our dreams.

When researching dream interpretations, I found an absolute wonderful website and spent hours there, and plan on spending many more hours there. Dream moods, an online guide to dreams, and is so well put together, informative and very user friendly when it comes to navigation. If you are interested in your dreams, what dreams mean and with help in interpreting them, then you will love this site. They have a large and excellent dream dictionary data base of what things might mean in our dreams, as well as dream information, dream forums, dream faqs and common dreams. The most common dreams are Naked Dreams, Chase Dreams, Teeth Dreams, Flying Dreams, Falling Dreams and Test Dreams. I was somewhat surprised that Water Dreams did not fall into common dreams. My most common dreams are all of the above except Test Dreams, and I dream a great deal where water is involved. Dream Moods in their dream dictionary states "To see water in your dream, symbolizes your unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment.". I agree with this statement, and it brings back memories of when my mother and I would discuss dreams about water and what it represented.

Quoted also from Dream Moods faqs, and they do give their permission to do so, follows below.

What is the average amount of dreams a person usually has in one night?

The average person has about 3 to 5 dreams per night, but some may have up to 7 dreams in one night. The dreams tend to last longer as the night progresses. During a full 8-hour night sleep, two hours of it is spent dreaming.

Everybody dreams! This is a scientifically proven fact. Research has shown that all human beings in a study showed brain activity during their sleep.

Why do you think that we have dreams?

This is still an unresolved topic amongst researchers as to the reason we have dreams. One theory suggests that dreams serve as a means for cleansing and release. During the day, we may hold back our feelings and repress our anger. Thus dreams serve as a safe outlet for us to release our negative emotions. Another theory says that dreams is a biologically necessary aspect of sleep. Research has shown that people who were prevented from entering the dream state and woken up before they can dream were more easily irritated, jittery, and performed far below average. I believe these are two theories summarize why we dream.

What causes or why do some dreams keep repeating themselves?

Dreams that recur (or repeat themselves) is a clear indication that some issue is not being confronted or that it has not yet been resolved.

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Concerning the above statement of dreams repeating themselves bring me back to a memory I had of a disturbing recurring dream that I had for years as an adult. The dream was always the same where I was coming down a big hill and at the bottom of the hill the roads meet in five points and there were no stop signs or warnings to stop and it was evident that it was a very dangerous place. Coming down the hill I could see dead bodies and blood everywhere and people and children were screaming in agony and pain. It was a horrible site and I did not want to get to the bottom of the hill, as I knew certain death was probably there. So, I always woke myself up before I got to the bottom of the hill. Again my older sister came to my rescue when I told her about this continuing horrible dream. She convinced me not to wake myself up and to try and get to the bottom of the hill, even though it was frightening to do so. So, the next time I had that dream I did not wake myself up (but I did think hard about that), and when I got to the bottom of the hill, the car turned right and the next thing I knew I was on a peaceful road and all the horrible things were in the background and I was safe. I have never had that dream again, and this has taught me to face the majority of my nightmares by continuing my dreams. I think even though we all hate nightmares, they have something valuable to teach us about ourselves.

According to Webster's Dictionary, dreams are defined as a "sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc., passing through a sleeping person's mind" .

Study of dreams date all the way back to 4000 B.C and pretty much dreams are a part of our human nature and existence going all the way back to the first civilization. Numerous authors, poets, musicians, screenwriters, and other famous people have used their vision and ideas of the dreams they have had as an inspiration to explore and incorporate them into their daily lives and their works. An example of this can be found at

TWELVE FAMOUS DREAMS~Creativity and Famous Discoveries From Dreams. Another excellent example and entertaining read can be found at Stephen King An exerpt from Writers Dreaming by Naomi Epel where Stephen King discusses how his dreams inspired him and how he incorporated his dreams into his stories and novels.

I have always been fascinated with Sigmund Freud and his analysis of dreams (not to mention other works by Freud, which by the way I am also working on another blog to post in the future concerning Freud) which is why I want to share this site of Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams (1900).

Bookmark it if you do not have time to read it right now, as it is extremely fascinating read. Well, at least it was to me. Dream Moods also has a very informative write concerning dreams and Sigmund Freud.

I am a firm believer that dreams while in our unconscious state are trying to tell us something important about ourselves and our lives, regardless if they are good dreams or nightmares. And I for one will be investigating my dreams as I want to learn more about myself and why I dream the way I do and what can my dreams teach me. It should be an interesting journey, or at least I hope so!