Sweet dreams are made of...what?

29/10/2011

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.
to give them any meaning other than acknowledge that the brain keeps working at night, i think, might not be such a good idea.

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

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.

I try to see things as they are, not as I might like them to be...and at times it's not easy to do that.

Kuldeep Kumar

19/6/2012 08:47:50 pm

Dreams are state of our mind.

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

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.

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

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.
The only research I have encountered on dreaming is from sleep analysis and sleep deprivation experiments. Most of these are 'artificial' and done in a lab but although they reveal a significant link of dreaming to REM sleep, I do not know of any research based theory which explains the origin or purpose of dreams apart from the speculative psychoanalytic interpretations.
However experiments show that animals deprived of REM sleep die and when humans are deprived of sleep, the type of sleep they make up the most is REM or dreaming sleep, so it must serve an important function.
On a personal note I find REM sleep the most refreshing and I notice how much more alert my brain is. This is the kind of sleep we get more of when we lie in. It is also when we dream the most. Then there is that period when we are aware we are not dreaming and have surfaced but are not wide awake. Often I have my clearest thoughts at this time or resolve puzzles or realise the solution to something that has been bothering me.
Dreams on the other hand can seem completely unconnected to reality. Freud called them wish fulfillment/resolution. Maybe along the lines of his ego defence mechanisms dreams are a safe time to explore/process/face things that in a conscious mode might be too overwhelming.
I have always loved the book of Daniel and personally love to be inspired. Dreams can be inspiring but also frightening or disturbing and the reason or meaning behind them is not always clear. I think being inspired is a bit like dreaming while being awake, we feel lifted up and transported to another place and a vision of possibility opens up. I like the proverb 'without a vision the people perish'.
I think having a vision is essential to life, or rather the difference between surviving and living. Even from a non spiritual perspective, companies often define a vision, mission statement, goal. I have come full circle and been no less inconclusive myself about this topic!
best regards, Felicity

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.

The psychoanalytic tradition of dream interpretation is an interesting one. More recently, I've been impressed by Griffin & Tyrrell's work in this area (see, for example, Dreaming Reality, 2006) as part of their human givens therapeutic approach. It provides an interesting alternative method of interpretation and meaning-making.

I find the possibility of dreams as a place where subconscious thoughts and feelings may be played out, unfiltered by the conscious rational mind, quite compelling.

Your comments about 'unconnected to reality' and 'dreaming while awake' reminded me of another blog I once wrote, having watched the film Inception: http://www.nick-wright.com/1/post/2011/04/exploring-the-imagination.html. Would be interested to hear what you think.

I too love the book of Daniel. There's something about its urgency, inspiration, disturbance, mystery etc. that I find really evocative. The book of Revelation is written in quite dreamlike language and imagery too. Perhaps that type of apocalyptic literature is intended to bypass the mind and reach the soul.

With best wishes. Nick

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.

On the other hand, psychoanalytic interpretations are just that, interpretations, also prone to subjective bias and inaccuracies with the added danger of planting false memories as some case studies have shown. But I do agree that metaphor and symbols can enhance the communication and understanding of dream content. A metaphysical approach to say illnesses or health challenges can be more illuminating sometimes than a purely allopathic approach. I will definitely have a look at Griffin & Tyrrell's work as you suggest.

Dreams I think are very important even if we can't explain their origin or purpose, as long as we can get some insight into what they mean for us. So it would seem from their prominence in the scriptures. Dreams seem to remind us that their is a dimension other than this physical one in which we temporarily live. Our souls/spirits perhaps come from this other dimension. Biblical dreams often foretold the dreamer of things to come not only on earth but of this spiritual dimension. I believe the book of Revelation was written by John to a young Christian church who would face tremendous persecution and needed to be inspired and reminded of their ultimate destination no matter what they had to face.

I read your article on exploring the imagination with interest. It seems you attempt valiantly and quite successfully to address a range of issues at one time i.e. perception, subjective experience, awareness to pick out a few and the useful psychodynamic distinction between the conscious and subconcious mind.

If I understand you correctly, what you write about as 'awareness' I understand as perception, awake being a physical state of conscious alertness opposed to being asleep. And 'imagination' as you write being what I understand to be the subjective and personal meaning or interpretation we bring to things. I think it is a deep and reflective piece containing many threads and difficult to respond to and do justice to in one brief reply.

I haven't seen Inception yet but I did see Altered States with William Hurt many years ago and remember thinking about some of these things then.

Perception again, like dreaming is a slippery concept to tie down in empirical terms. However I like these conundrums because I think they reveal that the philosophical debates at the foundation of psychology can never really be resolved either way, rather than being either nature versus nurture or free will versus determinism etc., these things are so intertwined and connected in such a way that they cannot easily be seperated or quantified. Again some of these issues tie in with your piece on 'Who are we'.

To further confound 'scientific' attempts to reduce and explain, there is always the 'individual differences' approach to consider, which flies in the face of any 'one size fits all' theories. Again instead of being frustrating I find this reassuring as it confirms my personal beliefs and a spiritual understanding that despite broad similarities to do with group we might partly fit into according to age, gender, culture, etc., we are all uniquely individual creations.

As a parting comment though I must say I have a healthy respect for scientific endeavour and professional practice and part of this is a pursuit of objectivity, reliability and validity and would uphold nothing less. These are good and necessary as goals and tools but for me only as a means to an end not as an end in themselves, the real end being a constant growing in understanding and acquiring of knowledge which transforms into bettering people's lives.

And on that lofty note, I should bow out and let someone else have a say!
with best wishes, Felicity

Ashton Fourie

20/6/2012 07:30:58 pm

I am reminded of a man named Joseph ...

20/6/2012 07:31:38 pm

Thanks Ashton. Me too. :) With best wishes. Nick

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.
Thanks for this fun and light prompter Nick!

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

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!
Take care
Linda

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.
similarly if there is something i strongly want to possess, then it will certainly be a part of my dream in one way or the other.

so i guess, dreams are actually our deep hidden thoughts, desires, fears etc. to the fore front

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

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!

21/6/2012 04:31:38 am

Thank you for the blessing, Shekainah. May God bless you too. :) Nick

Dave

21/6/2012 06:08:48 pm

What is human givens therapy Nick?

Interesting topic, btw. It reminds me of an old joke...

A woman woke up one day after a particularly vivid dream about diamonds. She went on an on about it, and kept mentioning it to her boyfriend. This was usually accompanied by much speculation as to the meaning of the dream..

Being the champion that he was, he went out to do something about it. He rang her and said he had the answer to her dream... Of course she was super excited and couldn't wait to meet up again.

So they met, and the boyfriend handed over a wrapped present. Excitedly she tore off the wrapping to find...

a book titled "How to interpret your dreams"

Boom tish... :-)

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).

Human Givens theory proposes that dreams are the brain's way of processing unexpressed or unresolved emotional experiences of the previous awake state which thereby enables the mind to function well in the next awake state. The symbolism is dreams allows complex material to be processed simultaneously.

If interested, you can find out more via the Human Givens Institute: http://www.hgi.org.uk. With best wishes. Nick

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?

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

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.

22/6/2012 08:48:31 am

Hi Liza. I sometimes enjoy dreams, sometimes not, depending on the content! ;) Nick

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

All the best, Leah

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

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

Bridget

23/6/2012 04:16:58 pm

Hi Nick

Fascinating blog and stream of comments. Whilst I was at secondary school, I had two recurring dreams.

The first one was always the scenario where I was due to sit an exam that day, the school bus was fast approaching and I was trying to put my school uniform on but kept putting the wrong clothes on and had to keep taking them off and trying to find the right clothes and the bus is getting closer and closer.... stress city

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!

Make sense of that if you can!

Bridget

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.

The question I ask myself now is, 'what was the overriding feeling I had in the dream and how does it resonate with what I'm feeling at the moment, perhaps an unacknowledged feeling?'

In my flying dreams, I always feel free, liberated, deeply happy, peaceful yet exhilirated, able to do something others can't. It feels like a yearning too, something I want to do and don't want to stop.
It could represent how I'm feeling at that time, or how I would love to be feeling. In other words, 'this is how I'm feeling' or 'this is what I yearn to be feeling' in my current or future life situations.

I once tried paragliding to experience the feeling by quite literally flying. I felt incredibly drawn to it because it resonated with the dream feeling. It was harder than I expected! More recently, I've tried replicating the feeling in a swimming pool by mimicking the movements I do in the dream, yet in the water. It feels surprisingly similar, gently gliding along and looking down, relaxed.

There's been something for me about trying the dream movement physically in real life to see what emerges into awareness when I do it. In that sense, it's a bit like conducting a Gestalt experiment. Clearly, it would be impossible, unwise or unethical to act out everything we dream in this way but it has been an interesting journey, connecting some dream experiences with waking reality.

A final comments, or questions, occur for me. Firstly, as you vividy imagine yourself back into how you felt at secondary school, can you feel any resonance with how you felt in the dreams? Secondly, do you still have those same dream themes now, or have they stopped? I haven't had my favourite swim/fly dream for a while now and am wondering what that could mean! With best wishes. Nick

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!

27/6/2012 03:08:39 am

Thanks Tamara. Sounds interesting. What have you always believed about dreams? With best wishes. Nick

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

It's interesting to consider the role that sleep itself plays in the process, as distinct from other methods and benefits of 'stepping back', e.g. physical exercise, a holiday, a change or scenery or a retreat. With best wishes. Nick

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.

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

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