I have some really weird dreams. Some feel like sources of insight and inspiration. Others just seem wild and whacky. Some I remember for days afterwards, the drama and the mood staying with me, whereas others vaporise like mist on waking. What are your dreams like? Where do they come from? What do they mean?
Psychoanalysts over the years have posited all kinds of theories, mostly that the images in dreams represent repressed aspects of ourselves. It’s as if our suppressed thoughts, feelings and desires surface in our dreams in symbolic form. The challenge lies in how to interpret the symbols to discover the meaning behind them. Some explain the often bizarre imagery in dreams using the analogy of the brain as a computer, closing down or de-fragmenting. It’s sorting out, filing away, all sorts of diverse and dispersed bits of information in order to clear the desk ready for the next day. The dream is the subconscious mind somehow experiencing this process. In the Bible, some dreams are represented as visions or revelations from God. Why would God choose to speak through dreams? I don’t know. Perhaps because they are unfiltered by the conscious mind and capable of conveying vivid imagery and drama that feel more impacting, more compelling than when we are awake. Could be. More recently, a human givens counsellor explained that in his view, dreams represent a surfacing of feeling, an important feeling that may be suppressed or simply lay outside of awareness when we are awake. The images, the storyline is fairly random. What really matters if the emotional content. What did I feel in the dream? I find aspects of all these perspectives compelling. So, a checklist for next time I have a vivid or impacting dream. Does it raise into awareness something I’ve been ignoring or avoiding, in order to deal with it? Does is leave me with a feeling that I need to surface and work through? Could it be a spiritual revelation from God?
43 Comments
Ferro Fabri
19/6/2012 08:42:57 pm
i think dreams are just dreams.
Reply
Nick Wright
19/6/2012 08:46:37 pm
Hi Ferro and thanks for the note. Are you saying you believe there is no special significance or potential value in paying attention to dreams? I guess, for me, it's a question of what the brain (or, perhaps, the mind) is doing when it keeps working during sleep. With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Ferro Fabri
21/6/2012 04:27:05 am
for me a dream is a dream - end. Not to be stupid about it but to me it would be the same as attaching significance to which direction a bird flies or if I see an eagle.
Kuldeep Kumar
19/6/2012 08:47:50 pm
Dreams are state of our mind.
Reply
Nick Wright
19/6/2012 08:49:26 pm
Hi Kuldeep and thanks for the note. I would agree with you. I guess the question that intrigues me is whether there is any potential signficance and therapeutic/coaching value in exploring what the mind could be revealing through dreams. With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Liza Booth
20/6/2012 12:16:35 pm
I can relate to this. My dream from last night is still playing in my head. I know there are some messages in it.
Reply
Nick Wright
20/6/2012 07:11:11 pm
Hi Liza and thanks for the note. According to human givens therapy, it can be worth paying attention to the overriding feeling that you find yourself carrying on waking too. Hope the messages become clear! Would be interested to hear more. With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Felicity O'Hanlon
20/6/2012 07:13:49 pm
Hi Nick, yes the content and the origin of dreaming is a fascinating topic. As with so many areas of cognitive psychology and anything to do with the brain while there is lots of research on different aspects of its function, not least to do with sleep and dreaming, the results and theories are frustratingly inconclusive. Or at least students often find them so. I personally have found it to be rather reassuring. If we can explain ourselves and everything else away we dispense with the need to acknowledge a creator.
Reply
Nick Wright
20/6/2012 07:29:34 pm
Hi Felicity and thanks for such a thoughtful response. I find the cognitive aspects fascinating too, although you may well agree that a rational-scientific explanation for how dreams happen isn't the same thing as explaining their origin. That's the aspect for me that leaves room for a potential supernatural dimension.
Reply
Felicity O'Hanlon
22/6/2012 08:53:43 am
Hi Nick, yes the 'rational-scientific explanation' for dreams as you put it is not the same thing as explaining their origin nor the personal significance and meaning to the dreamer. This is the very interesting thing about cognitive psychology, the brain is the hardware but how do you locate and measure or explain what it produces i.e. consciousness, awareness, perception, thought, attitudes, dreams, etc. The only medium we have to broadcast this content is language which is both subjective and ambiguous. Or functions of our brain such as thoughts are stored as memory if not communicated straight away and research shows how some memory is prone to reconstruction, decay and inaccuracies.
Ashton Fourie
20/6/2012 07:30:58 pm
I am reminded of a man named Joseph ...
Reply
Nick Wright
20/6/2012 07:31:38 pm
Thanks Ashton. Me too. :) With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Linda Germishuizen
20/6/2012 07:32:57 pm
I often don't recall my dreams but dreamt a few days ago of a male lion and leopard - this got me searching through my esoteric books about the meaning of these animals - the descriptions are very apt for where I find myself currently.
Reply
Nick Wright
20/6/2012 07:35:46 pm
Hi Linda and thanks for sharing such a fascinating dream example. Are you saying the dream enabled you to recall the symbolic meaning of animals you had encountered previously in books? Intriguing how they resonate with where you find yourself now. With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Linda Germishuizen
21/6/2012 04:30:28 am
Hi Nick being very much a left brain person I have the past decade or so explored more of the esoteric, symbolic, right brain methods. So I have range of books and esoteric card sets that I draw on for messages at times. Ted Andrews has a wonderful book Animal Speak that I refer to often and then I have a set of African inspirational cards by one of our South African inspirational teachers. I also find in my mentoring of groups that people find the messages from the cards quite uncanny. Yesterday had a group where there was dead silence for a while after they read their cards and then comments about how accurate and uplifting the messages are!
aru
20/6/2012 10:52:09 pm
for me the dreams are a way of for my desires and deep seated fears. like during my engineering studies, whenever our semester results were due.......... i would repeated dream of sitting for the examination and going blank while all others used to be writing furiously....... it was a deep rooted fear for failure in exams.
Reply
Nick Wright
21/6/2012 04:41:41 am
Hi Aru and thanks for the note. I could certainly identify with your dream experience. For many years, I had a recurring dream about returning to theological college, sitting in the classroom and feeling completely unprepared. The dream tended to occur when I was facing situations in the present that felt daunting or confusing and I had an underlying fear of failure. It's similar to notions of transference in psychodynamics or pattern matching in human givens: a current experience resonating with a past experience. Interestingly, I wasn't often aware of that feeling at the time until the dream raised it into awareness. It was as if the dream enabled subconscious emotional expression (e.g. desire or anxiety) to rise into conscious awareness, albeit in symbolic form. With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Shekainah Shamma Santiago
21/6/2012 04:28:58 am
The one who knows the exact interpretation of every single one of your dreams is God. Ask him! Believe me, he wants you to know and understand. Pray before you go to bed that God will speak to you in the nighttime and when you awake that you will understand how he did.God bless you abundantly sir!
Reply
Nick Wright
21/6/2012 04:31:38 am
Thank you for the blessing, Shekainah. May God bless you too. :) Nick
Reply
Dave
21/6/2012 06:08:48 pm
What is human givens therapy Nick?
Reply
Nick Wright
22/6/2012 01:39:44 am
Lol Dave. :) ...and thanks for the note. Human Givens is a fairly recent field of thinking and practice based on research in biological and psychological arenas. See for instance, 'Human Givens' (an overview) by Griffin & Tyrrell (2003) or 'How to Master Anxiety' (a practical application) by the same authors (2006).
Reply
Amanda Dudman
22/6/2012 02:44:38 am
If I dream I don't know it. I don't remember having any. I go to sleep. I sleep very soundly and rarely wake unexpectedly. I accept I must have dreams. I just could not ever say if I have had any. Not bothered by it. After all who wouldn't want great sleep?
Reply
Nick Wright
22/6/2012 03:06:26 am
Hi Amanda and thanks for the note. Yes, it's curious how some people seem to remember lots of dreams and others don't seem to remember any. From what I understand from dream researchers, we are more likely to remember dreams if we wake during the REM phase. Perhaps a person who sleeps soundly is less likely to wake during the REM phases of the sleep cycle? With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Liza Booth
22/6/2012 08:45:53 am
I'm not sure if you are lucky or not Amanda. I sometimes crave a good nights sleep but these only come once in a blue moon! I actually enjoy dreaming, I think it is my active brain rebooting.
Reply
Nick Wright
22/6/2012 08:48:31 am
Hi Liza. I sometimes enjoy dreams, sometimes not, depending on the content! ;) Nick
Reply
Leah Kininmonth
23/6/2012 01:13:16 am
Hi Nick and Felicity: A friend posted this documentary on dreaming on Facebook last night. Thought you might be interested. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nmVzXxdUeU
Reply
Nick Wright
23/6/2012 01:00:00 pm
Hi Leah and thanks for posting the link to such a fascinating Horizon documentary. I found it very interesting to see dreams explored from so many different perspectives. I was disappointed by McNamara's rash dismissal of potential spiritual and psychodynamic origins and interpretations and horrified by the unethical experiments on animals. Apart from that, I found the research in the programme stimulating and intriguing. I'd love to have a go at lucid dreaming - sounds fun! With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Felicity O'Hanlon
27/6/2012 03:06:35 am
Hi Leah, thanks belatedly for that link to the Horizons documentary. Finally watched it and was interested to see that despite a variety of research into dreams from sleep labs to content analysis there is still no clear explanation of why we dream. However also interesting that there is ongoing information about the role parts of the brain play in the process (the Pons disinhibiting muscle movement during dreaming) through studying people who have brain damage through stroke or aging. So in contrast for the native American community for whom interpreting the meaning of dreams seems to be central to their culture. Very informative and thank you. Felicity
Reply
Bridget
23/6/2012 04:16:58 pm
Hi Nick
Reply
Bridget
23/6/2012 04:19:22 pm
The second one was that I could "swim" through the air. I would have dreams of "swimming" round the village, through the air. I once mentioned this to a boy that I travelled on the school bus with and he said that he had the same dream! Spooky!
Reply
Nick Wright
23/6/2012 09:58:07 pm
Hi Bridget and thanks for sharing your dreams. :) I've had very similar recurring dreams to those that you describe, particularly the swimming/flying through the air one. I'm not sure there are fixed and universal meanings to the imagery we experience in dreams, although it's interesting that so many people appear to experience very similar imagery and scenarios.
Reply
Tamara Duchard
27/6/2012 03:07:45 am
I have been reading A Dream Come True by James Ryle. A wonderful insight on dreams and it has helped confirmed what I have always believed about dreams. If you are interested take a look at it and I pray that it bless you as much as it has blessed me!
Reply
Nick Wright
27/6/2012 03:08:39 am
Thanks Tamara. Sounds interesting. What have you always believed about dreams? With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Tamara Duchard
28/6/2012 02:39:24 am
I'm not an expert on dreams. I like to pay attention to my dreams, esp when I am seeking God's help and/or direction. What I share here is just my opinion and experience---I always believed that dreams were much more than just "brain dumping" or "dreams are nothing more than just images", in my experiences and those around me it has been a way for God to speak to us or to warn us, to answer questions, or to reveal himself, etc. All dreams are not from God and all are not a message or warning but like Shekainah mentioned The one who knows is God! Also He uses those with the gift of interpretation to reveal meaning of dreams. But seek Him first! Make it a point of paying more attention to your dreams you will start to notice patterns and will be able to discern whether the dream is worth your attention or not. With blessings to you too!
Aretoula Fullam PhD
27/6/2012 03:10:40 am
There are many and different kinds of dreams, including prophetic dreams! In my workshops I first teach people to remember their dreams and then to use them as a fabric for intuitive problem solving which is creative and not censored right hemisphere problem solving as it is free from all sorts of limitations and limiting beliefs, and left brain intellectual limitations. Tapping into the creative dimension, getting information and using it in real life situations.
Reply
Nick Wright
27/6/2012 03:15:07 am
Hi Aretoula and thanks for the note. I'm interested in how you use dreams for intuitive problem solving and I can understand what you mean by uncensored. Could you give any examples of how you have done this in practice, perhaps with an example of a dream and how it led to solving a problem? With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Aretoula Fullam PhD
28/6/2012 02:41:12 am
Hi Nick, Solving problems using dreams is based on intuition and creativity that is fully alive at the alpha level of consciousness. Research has shown that we dream at alpha and it is called REM stage. So, I show people how to enter that level with awareness and ask for a solution to a problem they face, any problem, personal, relationships, financial, career, business, interview, health, even once I found the problem with my car and the mechanic was astonished how I knew, etc. Since I mentioned interview, I remember now one instance when I used it in an interview as an undergraduate student, when I realized how much I wanted a job in an office environment instead of a Diner. Well, I asked for a dream that would give me the correct answers to the questions that the interviewer would ask me the next day. I had a dream that guided me through what was coming the next day. When I met the person the next day he asked me "Have we met before?" Of course I never met the interviewer before, but the energy and the vibration made some connection at the inner level. And of course I got the job that lasted for a long time because I gave him the answers he was looking for. There are so many success stories that I will be filling a book here. I explain it in full detail, step-by-step in my live workshops. My clients relay to me their success stories but obviously I cannot speak for them here!
Linda Germishuizen
28/6/2012 02:42:55 am
What Aretoula says is so true -it is all about "bypassing" the left side of the brain and allowing a space for the right brain to come to the fore. Some highly successful clients also talk of allowing a situation to unfold - they don't try to think it through. One exec spoke about how he went into nature and spent 3 weeks just being there and through this "incubation" period he found the answer to an important issue.Our right brain is superb at finding answers that our left brain is unable to find at a logical/rational level.Tthanks for the lovely response Aretoula!
Reply
Aretoula Fullam PhD
30/6/2012 01:28:14 am
Does anybody remember the wisdom of the saying "I'll sleep on it?" When the creative and intuitive part of the two sided brain is allowed to be expressed, the solution is coming through. When it is censored by the intellectualizing part that only uses info from the 5 physical senses and their limitations, the conclusions are 80% if the time false because it is like shouting in a chaos and not be heard. But one needs to learn how to go to that level without falling asleep while maintaining their awareness during the day, and program the dream during the night. It is very simple and powerful tool. I have trained scientists, MDs, psychologists, CEOs, etc., and never anybody had any failure in using it or not getting the right answer for the situation they needed the information, including investments, buying estate, and best offer for the buy.
Reply
Nick Wright
30/6/2012 01:33:33 am
Hi Aretoula. I do like your reminder of the expression, 'I'll sleep on it'. It's as if we sometimes need to step back from the immediate situation and our attempts to analyse it, to think it through, in order to allow a more creative or intuitive solution to emerge.
Reply
Kavita Sekhar
11/7/2012 04:56:50 am
Hi Nick, I once read a quote- What happens inside, happens outside! All great achievements have started with a dream of how things could be. According to me- A dream is just a dream until you put it into action. I have read a lot of dream analysis by psychologists. I feel that on one hand Dreams can mean the nightly phenomenona that we all create and can also be our greatest life ambitions.They are fundamentally connected by a deeper level of self-awareness. By exploring your dreams and becoming more aware of what they mean, you naturally connect with practical ways to consistently fulfil your deepest aspirations. Recently I read a blog that said - Dreams don’t just happen to you, you actually happen to your dreams. You create everything in your dreams, every atom and photon of your dream experience. Every person you encounter, every place you go, every event you experience is generated by your unconscious self.
Reply
Nick Wright
11/7/2012 05:03:11 am
Hi Kavita and thanks for sharing such an interesting perspective on dreams. I like the way you connect dreams and vision/aspiration. It reminded me of the expression that some people use in coaching, 'what are your dreams for the future?' It's as if exploring our dreams could reveal deeply subconscious or repressed desires and aspirations. I also like the way you connect dreams in this sense with putting ideas into action...although that would, of course, depend on the content of the dream! With best wishes. Nick
Reply
Nick Wright
11/7/2012 08:43:56 am
Quick update: just watched this fascinating 2 mins video on recording dream images: http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/movie-of-our-dreams/ptxqxbi?q=Science&rel=msn&from=en-us_msnhp&form=msnrll. Nick
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Nick WrightI'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? Get in touch! Like what you read? Simply enter your email address below to receive regular blog updates!
|