Imagine walking toward the window of your best friend’s house, peering through, and seeing her mother scoop and eat ketchup packets with a gigantic wooden spoon (with the wrapping on). You can also imagine running for your life from Billie Eillish who has laser eyes and stabbed you in the thigh with a pocket knife. Then imagine waking up on your bed in utter confusion. As someone who has very vivid and bewildering dreams, I have always pondered on what they mean or if they mean virtually anything. Is it a warning, a prediction of the future, or a compilation of everything we have experienced throughout the day. I have definitely watched an episode or two of Survivor, and then dreamed about living in the jungle with Jeff Probst. Whether you choose to believe either, it is always fun to try and interpret what the most memorable parts mean. So are dreams subconscious or precautious?
Dreams in simplest form
Dreams are defined by Medical News Today as “a universal human experience that can be described as a state of consciousness characterized by sensory, cognitive and emotional occurrences during sleep”. There are different types of dreaming as well, Lucid and Nightmares. Nightmares are triggered by stress, fear, and anxiety. While you can’t control nightmares, lucid dreaming is a state where the person sleep can control what is happening. I remember a lucid dream where I thought to myself, I wanna go to a Harry Styles concert, and then I did. This made me conscious that I was in a dream. There is not much information on exactly what dreams are because they are hard to fully study.
deciphering Dreams
Even though we don’t exactly understand dreams, we can interpret their elements. The characters in our dreams are a compilation of different people we have come across in our daily lives, people we are closely connected with, or just a stranger on the street. The content could also be different important memories we have. I have had multiple dreams where I am back at highschool or on a vacation that I loved. It could also be a memory of something you have seen, like a show or movie or Youtube video of Rhett and Link tasting different milks.
One of the more interesting ways to decipher dreams is looking at the unexplainable. I have had multiple dreams in a row where my teeth have fallen out. Dream interpreters say that this is a sign of feeling powerless or unable to communicate. This was during the time where I was bottling my emotions up and felt very isolated. Other interpretations include: Pregnancy means a possible new beginning, dreams about death mean the fear of change, dreams about water will likely manifest something good coming your way, and dreams about being naked can mean you are worried about your appearance.
“He Ruined my dream journal”: jot down your Dreams
I have always found dreams extremely interesting. Personally, I always remember my dreams in long detail, while my friends wake up and don’t seem to remember anything. Because there is limited information on the dreamscape, I have been keeping a dream journal. When I wake up from an insane dream I will quickly write it down in my notes app or in a physical journal. This is a great way to look back on your dreams and try to interpret them. However, my warning would be to not harp on the context behind every dream. Don’t get caught up in deciphering every little detail and every little movement in a dream. Maybe they mean something, but sometimes dreams are just you flying on Voledormorts back through Washington D.C.