by Lucas Regal
What is a dream? What do dreams mean? Do the movies that play in our minds have any purpose?
I myself have asked these questions many times. Almost nightly, I have crazy dreams that involve me fighting to the death with a friend, or flying around like a superhero, or falling off a cliff. We start dreaming when we’re in the REM cycle, one of many stages of sleep. According to Nectarsleep.com, “dreams are the way your brain communicates with yourself when you are sleeping.” Sigmund Freud’s theory is that dreams represent our desires, thoughts, wishes, and motivations. That can be confusing when you have a dream that seems so random and so chaotic that it couldn’t be related to real life, but often it is.
Almost everyone has had the dream when they’re falling, and then they wake up and sit up with their heart racing. This type of dream is often connected to high stress, or a lack of security in life. A person who has this dream may feel a lack of stability in their job or status.
On a more uplifting note, a dream about flying can be about feeling independence and hope in life. This can mean that you have strong willpower and are going through the obstacles in life very well.
Sometimes it’s not so clear what a dream means. Dreams about water can either mean enormous success, or a disturbed emotional mental state. Oftentimes dreams involve multiple of these topics, so it is difficult to decipher what is really going on during the REM cycle. When you have an intense dream, take a moment to reflect on what’s going on in your life, and try to figure out what your brain is telling you. You’re unconscious self could be trying to send you a helpful message.
