Why do we dream? What exactly are dreams? How do we interpret symbols of dreams? Your dreams have they hidden some deeper meaning? Everybody dreams, but most of us are still unclear about exactly what our dreams might symbolize.
In a recent survey conducted by Newsweek over 40% of Americans thought that their dreams symbolize unconscious wishes and desires. To derive meanings from our dreams, we need to be humbled to understand the different symbols of dreams.
This guide is for anyone who has ever woken up in a cold sweat having had a dream had gone to work or school with no pants. We hope it will help people who are constantly dreaming about trying to escape from something or someone, but finding your feet won't move. Whether your dreams are scary, stressful or happy from dreams about climbing, flying and falling, whatever your dreams may be that happen every night. Scientists believe that at least 2 hours of our sleep on average is been spent dreaming, although when we wake up we rarely remember them.
1. What exactly are dreams?
According to Alan Curris of the WestMed Medical group, our dreams are sounds, sensations, images, and thoughts that can occur while we sleep. Experts believe that dreams represent a series of symbols, places, people's, events, emotions, struggles and thoughts that bear some relevance to the life of the dreamer in some fashion.
During our REM sleep cycle is when we experience the most vivid dreams, but dreams can occur at any stage of sleep. Further studies have shown that dreaming is the consequence of a highly emotional state. Using neuroimaging, studies have shown that the amygdala becomes extremely active during dreams, and this is the part of your brain that controls emotions.
2. How do dreams happen?
Another study revealed that the vast majority of people will enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep on average after 90 minutes while their sleep cycle. This is the deepest part of the sleep cycle and the time when we dream more regularly. When in REM sleep, your brain nearly as engaged as when awake. Despite your body being in a temporary paralysis and your eyes remaining closed, they're still extremely responsive.
Researchers believe that the cerebral cortex controls our dreams and this is the part of your brain where thoughts, consciousness, awareness and memory are centered. While asleep your brain is trying to assemble the original pieces of your thoughts and memories to create an understanding of your experiences and these manifest as dreams.
3. What do dreams mean?
Psychologists believe that the symbols of dreams have a much more profound meaning. in this article we will analyze some of the most common symbols of dreams and what they may show for you. We're not pretending to be dream experts or psychologists, but we have decades of experience studying these phenomena. You're welcome to take any concerns or questions about the symbols of dreams to a professional for interpretation.
3.1 Common Dream Symbol Meanings
When looking at symbols of dreams, it is a common practice to look at how these elements combine in order to get a deeper understanding of how an individual thinks and how their mind operates. This will help interpret the meaning of their dreams. Here are some of the most common symbols of dreams and what each might mean.
1.Dreams About Falling
Falling is by far one of the most common symbols of dreams kind of talk to relate to losing control letting go are success leading to a failure. Experts suggest that you should consider your choices and maybe take a new direction in certain areas of your life.
2. Dreams About Being Chased
Another common symbol is being chased, something that people regularly report as experiencing in their dreams. Well, it doesn't always show you are being chased, and it's not really about who is chasing you it's more a message that some important aspect of your life is about to change.
3. Dreams About Flying
Flying in your dreams is it direct message about confidence. It may show that you're very close or a celebrating accomplishing a specific goal in your life.
4. Dreams About Being Naked in Public
Nobody enjoys being embarrassed, especially in public. So dreams about being caught naked in a public place show you being worried about how people think about you. I'm a very young age we've always been told to never expose ourselves to other people. As a result, many people grow up with issues surrounding their appearance, especially around partners, friends or other people in society. This dream is important and considers how often it happens and works on your anxiety surrounding embarrassment.
5. Dreams About Dying
Dreams that involve death may appear on the surface to be scary or depressing, but interpreting them will reveal something different. If you dream about death, this would usually show it's time for a change or a new beginning.
6. Dreams About Taking a Test
These types of dreams would show that you're going to a testing period in life maybe you are being judged by others. But this isn't always a bad thing, for example, if people at work are noticing you and could show a promotion is in your future. Obviously exams are large parts of my young people's lives, so dreaming about them just means that you have some anxiety which is perfectly natural. But as you grow older, dreams about tests could show some anxiety surrounding a large and important upcoming event.
7. Dreams About Pregnancy
Don't freak out but this dream could show your pregnant. But more often than not it's a figurative interpretation meaning that something new is about to start. I can also show your vulnerability and a lack of love in your life.
8. Dreams About Food
There's a direct link between knowledge and food as it's important for nourishing both your brain and body. Dreams about food usually show a thirst for additional information, or they could be that you're hungry.
9. Dreams About Sex
Sex, love and food are the cornerstones of arm our bodies and minds work. So it should be perfectly natural for us to dream about them. I'm bringing the already hard-wired to follow our bodies' needs for sex. When you meet an attractive person, they're instantly triggered by memories of pleasure and sex. So dreaming about it just means that you're healthy and your body and brain is continuing to function as normal. It's common to take thoughts that occur naturally before sleep and manifest them in your dreams, so if you're thinking about food or sex before you go to bed subconsciously, you're going to dream about it.
10. Dreams About Being Lost
Dreams surrounding being lost will usually show you're scared about something. You can also mean that your life is lacking direction you're feeling lost on your path to reach certain achievements or goals. Take this dream as a reminder you are ambitious and being so is not something to be afraid of.
11. Dreams About Being Late
Another thing that people try to avoid is being late. If you're dreaming about us it's an indication that you're a little embarrassed about your ability to arrive on time. They just indicates an underlying fear, it's also very common for these dreams to occur the night before an important event or meeting this just a timely reminder from your brain that it knows your completely it just can't afford to be this time. It probably indicates that you had a level of anxiety about being late before you went to sleep to avoid this dream in the future try to focus on some positive thoughts.
12. Dreams About Losing Teeth
Teeth are another commonly occurring symbol of dreams they could indicate that you've got some fear anxiety surrounding your getting a little older and maybe less attractive to significant others in your life.
13. Dreams About Marriage
Dreams about marriage I usually literal meaning you have a desire to merge the parts of your psyche both masculine and feminine.
14. Dreams About Water
If you're going trip period of your life where you feel unsupported and overwhelmed, this can manifest in dreams about water. They will usually show one of two things: either breaking free or being trapped. Life is infinitely linked to water, and it's a consequence dreaming about it will show some strong emotional event in your life.
15. Dreams About Being Trapped
Typically, when you dream about being trapped, this is a nightmare showing you're struggling to make the right decision or choice and it's a consequence cannot escape an event. it will usually correlate to a specific situation in your life. Showing the city, country relationship are career you're in. Your brain is trying to send you a subtle message, it's telling you follow your desires take this opportunity to travel and it'll provide the perfect opportunity to break free of the career that's holding you back. If you dream of being trapped involves being caught in a small space, it's showing you you need to change your current situation. In most cases, dreams about being trapped while having to potential to cause anxiety aren't always necessarily a bad thing.
16. Dreams About Vehicles
Dreaming about traveling around in sometime type of vehicle when usually show anxiety surrounding the direction your life is going.
17. Dreams About Money
As many of us directly correlate our financial well-being to our self-worth if you dream about money then this could show some significant changes about to occur in your life which could negative or positive. It could also tell you that there's more to life than money, despite most of us attaching ability to have fun to our wallets. You can also tell you you need to do something extra to make yourself feel better, which could involve spending some money such as buying a new house or a new car or even taking that holiday you always planned..
18. Dreams About Snakes
To interpret dreams about snakes the color of the snake is always significant and because of this you may need to do some deeper research different colors with show a good or bad sign.
19. Dreams About Dogs
Whether you're a dog lover with show if this dream about dogs is a positive or negative one. If you've had a previous traumatic event in your life with a dog, a good manifest, they could easily chase or bite it again. On the other hand if you're a dog lover and you dream about puppies and could be in your pregnant. Dreams about being chased recovered earlier so being chased by a dog could mean the same thing. I couldn't mean that you're not ready for commitment as taking care of a dog is a tremendous step. Could show that you're looking to get out of an unhappy relationship.
20. Dreams About Monsters or Demon
If you dream about monsters or demons, it might be down to the fact that you shouldn't have watched that horror movie before you went to bed. It's perfectly natural for them to manifest in your dreams later on. I can also mean you need to consider some Life changes as your battling inner demons something that's causing negativity and anxiety in your life that you need to break away from.
3.2 Why are some dreams common?
If you've ever jerked awake during a dream where you were falling. Anytime you discussed this with someone else, it's quite common that they will have had this dream too. Dreams surrounding falling situations are extremely common; they're sometimes described as an archetype and are a very common example of a certain thing in our person. So describing a falling dreams as archetypal dreams could reveal a pattern in your psyche. But it will be common to consider other themes you commonly have or archetypal. This analysis will depend on what is occurring in your life or even in the dream. Experts believe that some of the most common dreams are directly related to specific fears, false actions and very common behaviors.
To give the example of being consistently late, especially if it involves missing a flight or being embarrassed in an important work situation. It's also common for people to dream about infidelity their partners having affairs can regularly manifest in dreams. Other dreams about being embarrassed in public suddenly appearing naked in front of others are another archetypal dream. Experts believe that this is just a common part of the whole dream cycle and nothing to be particularly worried about.
3.3 How to interpret your dreams?
How often a dream occurs is not anywhere near as important as how you interpret it and what you choose to do about it. Do you think that the interpretations of the symbolism detailed above are accurate? If not, don't worry, dreaming is a highly personal activity and some people's dreams are unique. This article is a general guide, and you would probably need a much more in-depth analysis of your dreams to fully interpret them. If you are really interested, you could purchase a dream dictionary or any other book that helps interpret dreams.
The best approach is to consider your dream to reflect your life. They're simply a mirror of common aspirations, hopes, desires, anxieties and fears. It's probably advisable to take a dream as being personal to your current situation. They may provide valuable insight into thoughts and feelings that you're not capable of experiencing in your waking Life. Your subconscious is trying to unlock these mysteries for you.
The next step you need to take if you really want to interpret your dreams is to keep an account of the most common symbols of dreams that occur, and this will help you gain some insight into what your subconscious is trying to tell you.
A simple method to help interpret your dreams
The first thing I need to point out is that there is no hard and fast way to analyze dreams. This is one of the biggest myths you'll hear: there are no prescriptions, formulas, or unique approach that will work for everyone.
We can only interpret the symbols of dreams in a wider context, considering how your life is unfolding and define that you're on a constant journey of self-discovery. Having said that by following a series of steps listed below, you will start the dig deeper and gain a more thoughtful insight into the symbols of your dreams.
#1 Start keeping a record
The first step in analyzing your dreams is to record them. Even if it's only writing if you sentence that briefly describes the dream as soon as you wake up, this will give you a more concrete sign of what your subconscious is trying to tell you.
#2 Stop thinking you can’t recall your dreams
Many people go through life believing that they cannot recall their dreams. This is simply not true, experts show that you're suppressing them. Keeping notes will such as no dream of record will help you negotiate the process and within two to three weeks research shows you'll actually start recalling your dreams.
#3 Note how you feel
How your team makes you feel is vital to interpreting them. Do you feel better or worse tomorrow afternoon? How your dream made you feel remorseful, angry , scared or happy. Did the feelings you had during your dream continue the next day?
#4 Look for a pattern
The next step in the process is to identify specific patterns in your daily life that are triggering certain symbols or dreams. For example, if you're dreaming about death or something that you don't understand, how is this affected by your thoughts or actions. Are you having recurring dreams at least trying to tell you that in some situation your life needs to change.
#5 All elements are important
As we mentioned previously, there is no straightforward way to interpret dreams. It's important to look at every aspect of the dream. What manifests as a symbol in your dream could be a unique reflection of your specific personality. Noting every element of your dream, you could be able to clearly differentiate between your part and individual messages.
#6 Trust your subconscious
While there are universal meanings to some symbols of dreams, the most vital step needed to figure out what your dreams mean to you is how you act on these symbols. Dreams are effectively an internal analysis of your life, messages from your subconscious. Experts are far more interested in what dreamers do because of their dreams. Of course there are universal symbols and elements, but these can have very different meanings depending on the person or situation. Thinking that specific smells, tastes, objects and symbols will be identical regardless of the personal histories of the dreamer is far too simple.
To correctly understand the symbolism of your dream, you need to take control of the situation. You are the expert and you need to trust what your mind is telling you. You can visit all the therapists in the world and they will have different tools to help you understand the universal dream symbols and their associations with different situations.
What they will tell you is that even the most mundane dream can have a deep symbolic meaning. The more time and effort you put into analyzing your dreams, the more profound your journey of discovery will be. Even analyzing dreams about eating lucky charms for breakfast has revealed some amazing insights for different people.
The best advice we can give you is to never ignore a dream, but to relax and enjoy the journey of analysis. One thing we do know, the greater understanding you have of your dreams, the more your life will have meaning and the better your ability you will have to work through your real-life problems and sleep better.
