What is a Dream?

What is a dream? What is in a dream? Where do dreams come from? Does everyone dream? Do dreams show us what is to come in the future? Do dreams show us the past? Are dreams merely a way to escape from everyday, normal life? Are all dreams the same?

Whenever I ask someone, "What did you dream last night?" many of them tell me that they did not dream. I always respond with, "Yes you did. You just probably forgot what it was about. Everyone dreams." Usually we end up getting into a heated discussion about whether or not I'm right. When that happens, I tend to simply change the subject in order to avoid any further conflict. However, deep inside, I know that I'm right.

Everybody does in fact, dream. I, unlike many of the people that I know, remember practically all of my dreams, in full detail. When asked about my dreams, I can typically think about it for a few seconds and then describe every tiny detail, as though it were actually a real event. For instance, here is an example of a dream that I had in the past:

I was standing in front of my bathroom, arguing with an ex-boyfriend of mine over him going to a strip club. Then all of a sudden we were outside arguing, and I told him, "You know what? I don't want to ever see you again!" Then I jumped off of some ledge and fell on top of a car, cracking my skull. I could actually feel the agonizing pain and feel blood trickling down the side of my face. I kept trying to utter the words, "Help me...Take me to the hospital..." As I said the words, my voice got lower and lower. He just stood there in shock, barely able to hear me. Finally, he put me in his car and drove me to the hospital. The next thing I knew was that I was in the hospital, on a bed, and there were doctors all around me. I was seeing everything through my own eyes, as though it were really happening. I kept hearing the doctors saying that I was going to need a blood transfusion. They asked my ex if he would be able to donate his blood, but he told them no. He just stood there watching me as I lay dying. I could actually feel myself slipping away, as I was dying. I was screaming out, "Someone help me...give me a transfusion and I'll be fine...please...", but no one could hear me. The doctors kept shouting at people to find a donor, and my ex began to cry, knowing that I was going to die. Then it happened- the pain in my head got really intense and then I died...

This dream was really scary to me. It was extremely lucid, which is why it felt so real. I have heard stories that state that if you die in your sleep, then you die in real life. Well, I am living proof that such a rumor is false. I'm still very much alive, was a little shook up, but my heart's still beating. Obviously, people are not at all in agreement as to what dreams really are.

We see a very large variety of things and people every single day. However, we only remember a small chunk of what we see. We usually only remember the most important things that occur. I have read that dreams incorporate several of the things that you may remember from your day, as well as things that you may not remember so well or at all. This would explain why you may see people in your dreams that you don't remember ever meeting. Using the theory on things that occur during our day, to try and analyze parts of my dream, would be like this: I accidentally broke a picture frame earlier during the day, which is probably why I accidentally broke my ex's glasses. The part about the blood transfusion might have been caused by a scene that I viewed in a show earlier that day, in which the characters were at a blood bank.

Another thing that I have heard is that your dreams can be affected by what you consume before you go to sleep. I am almost always hungry, so I have eaten many different foods before retiring to bed. I've noticed that most times when I have eaten really heavy, greasy, or exotic foods right before going to bed, I have ended up having a nightmare. However, not all of my nightmares have occurred after such an incident.

Speaking of nightmares, I have had several recurring ones. They have always been very vivid to me. They have quite often seemed so realistic that I've actually woken up crying or in fear that something bad was going to happen to me. I once woke up after having a nightmare and felt as though there were several being surrounding me and pacing before my bed. It frightened me because they didn't seem to be human. I didn't want to open my eyes, in fear of what I would see. I even thought I could hear their footsteps as they continued to pace. I finally did open my eyes, and of course, I saw nothing, but the atmosphere in the room felt very peculiar. I truly panicked and it became very hard for me to breathe. I ended up forcing myself to get out of bed, turned on the light and walked around until I could calm down. (To this day, I still do not understand what it all really meant).

I try and record every dream that I have, into a dream journal. The best time to do it is right when I wake up, because it is when I can recall the most details. I pick out the symbols in my dream that stood out the most, and I try to analyze them detail by detail. What makes it difficult to analyze my dream in that manner, is putting everything all together. I think it is a lot less challenging by gathering at least a week's amount of dreams and try to see which symbols were most significant or reappeared in more than one. I only try to analyze that major symbols, rather than spending hours trying to figure out the more miniscule ones from every dream.

I have never had two dreams that are precisely alike. I have had dreams with similar themes and I have had dreams that were very similar, except the endings were different. I have even continued one dream from one night to another. I know that many people may have dreams that also seem like another person's dreams, but they are still very different in some way. No two people think alike, therefore how can two people dream entirely alike? I believe that it is impossible to dream the exact same thing as another person, even if both have lived together, in the same environment. Each person would perceive their surrounding in a unique way and each person would experience things uniquely. To further elaborate on this theory, I will refer to the famous saying, "A rose is a rose is a rose", but when you place two roses together, they will always have a difference, no matter how tiny the detail.

In summation, although I have been speaking about a few of my dreams and my feelings towards them, I still have not actually explained what a dream is. There are so many various interpretations and theories about dreams that I am aware of, so it is very hard for me to say. I really believe that a dream can be a variety of things. I think that yes, it can incorporate a lot of the everyday things we see and experience, and yes, it can be because of what we eat, but I also think that a dream can symbolize many things that our consciousness is trying to tell us that we need to pay attention to. I think dreams can help to teach us what we should be doing in life, what we actually are doing in life, and I also think dreams can help us to experience things that we desire to do in life. Perhaps they are things in which we are scared to do, or unable to do. I do know one thing that is for certain: dreams NEVER lie. They may not be very easy for us to comprehend and decipher, but they always tell it like it is. Besides, how could they possibly lie? Dreams are a part of us. They are seen through our mind's eye while we are resting. We have always had dreams, and we will continue to dream until the day we die. Dreams can be seen as a second and somewhat secret life. The only person who can really experience their dream is the dreamer. We should cherish our dreams, for they are one thing that no one can ever take away from us, no matter how hard they try.