The Meaning Behind Dreams

What did you dream about last night? Were you naked in public, making love to a famous actor, or forgetting your lines in a play?

Or does the fantastic adventure you were just living vaporize like morning mist when you open your eyes?

The Talmud says, "A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read."

Whether you remember them or not, research shows everyone dreams about five times each night. Learning the meaning behind dreams gives an entertaining glimpse into your psyche.

Scientists wondering about the meaning behind dreams led to brain scans taken of dreaming subjects.

They showed dreams are formed from emotional memories. Dreams early in sleep tend to be about the present, while morning dreams may recall early childhood.

Regardless what causes dreams, we dream roughly two to three hours a night, as much as 1/3 of the time we're asleep.

While dreaming, our eyes follow dream sequences like a movie playing on a screen, known as rapid eye movements (REM), and our voluntary muscles remain paralyzed for the duration.

Being deprived of REM sleep not only increases the stresses of daily life, it leaves you feeling anxious and disoriented, and in chronic situations can lead to illness.

What causes dreams

Some researchers studying what causes dreams feel learning can occur during dream states. They site the examples of Einstein and Robert Lewis Stevenson, who's dreams lead to significant breakthroughs in science and literature.

Sigmund Freud believed dreams are created by unconscious desires such as sexual urges. He developed the free association method of dream analysis.

Carl Jung was more concerned with the meaning behind dreams than their cause. He felt they tap into the collective unconscious.

The belief that dreams can promote healing can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, who erected a temple to Imhotep, the god of healing.

Ancient societies throughout the world believed that dreams could foretell the future and give guidance as well as healing.

The ancients felt dreams depicted actual soul travel, and that the waking and dreaming world were really two versions of the same reality.

Dreams should be interpreted literally first, then symbolically.

Dream dictionaries simplify this process, and have been used to determine the meanings of dreams since the Beatty Papyrus was written in 1350 BC.

However, if a particular definition doesn't ring true for you, simply discard it and delve deeper to discover what does.

Have fun exploring your inner world, and sweet dreams!

I hope you found this Meaning Behind Dreams page helpful!For more about dreams, please visit Why do people Dream

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