Did you ever wonder where dreams come from? Did you ever wonder why dreams occur at all? Are dreams a doorway to other dimensions, a taste of the afterlife, or could dreams simply be the “residue of the day?” (Demhoff, 2001,2003) a bi-product of the active mind from making decisions and being awake all day?
I like to think that dreams are more than just a by-product. Not all dreams are alike, some have the feeling of fantasy and others feel more like reality. I feel that dreams are not only reflections of our inner consciousness but places that we can visit and interact with while in our waking consciousness.
The characters in our dreams are more likely to be friends and acquaintances rather than thieves and scary monsters. Dreams often have a unique set of rules which apply only to that particular dream. The rules in dreamland are governed by the fears and limitations of the dreamer. Did you ever have a dream that should be a nightmare but your mind is treating it like a game or TV program? Something that should be very scary seems perfectly normal for some reason. Then you’ll have a simple dream about the most trivial little thing and it will feel like a horrible nightmare! I guess any rules that exist in dreamland are loosely written.
Many people believe that we act out forbidden fantasies in our dreams, but there isn’t actually any evidence to back that up. Sigmund Freud theorized that dreams express unconscious wishes and urges, impulses that we “sensor” during waking life. This isn’t always the case but I'm sure it's accurate for some people. The more control you have of your dream world, the more you will be able to control their content and indulge in hidden desires. Personally, If I wake up inside a dream I tend to stay within the current dream scenario instead of instantly changing my surroundings. If I start changing things too fast or thinking too much I may instantaneously wake up in bed. One time I found myself driving in a dream and I started realizing that I didn’t have to drive, I knew that I was in a dream and I could just think myself to wherever I was going. I know that I instantly arrived at my destination but I don’t remember anything more. Sometimes that type of experience will initiate a lucid dream and other times I’ll just have that one moment of clarity and then get pulled back into a standard dream. Just as it’s easy to wake up while attempting to gain consciousness in a dream, it is just as easy to get pulled back into deeper sleep. Achieving lucidity really requires a fine balance. Once you identify where your personal line is, it eventually becomes easier to reach your goal.
When trying to interpret a dream it’s best to do it yourself. With a little practice you can learn to interpret pretty well. Only the dreamer knows what certain objects and places within their dream world might signify. An outsider can only tell you what certain images symbolize. Maybe you dream about water frequently because you were an Arctic fisherman in your past life or maybe it's simply because you have a weak bladder! A common mistake when trying to interpret your dreams is to look too deep for hidden meaning, you can usually find your answer right on the surface. If you are looking forward to a tropic vacation in the near future, you may start dreaming about the beach but it’s more common to dream about places after you’ve been there and the event has already happened.
I believe people can dream of places and events that haven’t happened yet but it’s not commonplace. Our minds simply aren’t accustomed to delving into future matters. A person who has an open mind about time and what “time” is, might experience dreams and premonitions of future events more often. A few years ago I had a lucid dream that left me with a weird feeling. As with most lucid dreams, when I woke up I remembered everything very clearly. There were many strange people in this dream, I knew that I never met any of these people but also knew somehow that they were my friends. I noticed how everything felt far removed from present day life but everything felt right. I was working at a job that I never actually had and when I woke up I wondered why I was dreaming about working in a weird office and doing a different job? I wasn’t sure exactly what my position was but I remembered thinking that it was a job that I wouldn’t typically apply for. About seven years later, while I was working for Waldner’s Business Environments as the Service Dispatcher, I was suddenly hit with an intense Déjà-vu sensation. I immediately knew what my mind was flashing back to that weird dream from long ago about that strange job. The people who were standing around me in the dream were the same people who I now worked with at the office. While I was working at that job I never thought back to that dream or connected the two experiences. It wasn’t until I felt the intense Déjà-vu feeling that day that my mind connected the two events.
What many people don’t realize is that everyone dreams differently. Some people experience lucid dreams much more frequently than others. For these people the dream world is more like an amusement park than a movie. They are typically unaware of their gift because from their perspective everyone can control their own dreams. They don’t realize that others, like myself, have to work much harder to achieve a lucid dream. Everyone has the ability to achieve lucid dreaming. It starts by making a conscious effort to remember your dreams. Writing them down is essential and it’s also a good idea to include brief comments about the dreams. You would be surprised how much those little comments help when you go back to read that dream years later. Some people also like to draw images from their dreams. Drawing images helps the dreamer to recall more details about a dream.
The next step is to try manipulating your dreams. This can be done with music, television or even just by repeating an idea in your head as you fall asleep. Once you figure out how to manipulate your dream you can try to use that manipulation as a cue to wake up inside your dream. I will get into some techniques and exercises in future posts, but the most important thing is to have patience, don’t be discouraged if you don’t remember anything for a month, or even longer. Lucid dreams may not happen often but when they do they usually leave the dreamer with an exhilarating, refreshing feeling that might even last all day.
Thanks for reading…
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