Popular Dreaming Myths
@allyoftherain (7208)
United States
June 13, 2012 12:55pm CST
I've been interested in dreams pretty much my entire life. I used to share my dreams with my sister while we were brushing our hair in the bathroom before we caught the bus to elementary school. I've read a number of non-fiction books about dreaming and the science behind it, and I've been keeping a dream-journal since I was 12.
And it never fails to surprise me how many myths and just plain wacko ideas there are about dreaming out there. Of course, I guess it's to be expected... because as I like to say, for such a widely experienced phenomenon, not much is really known for certain about dreams. Even the "experts" can only supply working theories.
Examples of strange dreaming "facts" that I've heard:
The majority of people dream in black and white.
I don't know how this myth started, but take a survey of any random group of people and you'll find just the opposite to be true.
You can't feel pain in dreams.
Oh yes you can! You can feel practically ANYTHING in a dream if the dream is vivid enough. It's likely to wake you up, but it does happen.
If you die in a dream, you'll die for real.
Lots of people die in their dreams and live to tell about it.
You can't have a dream that you're not in.
Sure you can. It's like watching a movie with 360 vision and total sensory detail. You can see events unfold and take utterly no part in them. Alternatively, you can have a dream where you are simply not yourself. Your dream creates an entirely new persona for you. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen.
The dreams you have in the early morning will come true.
Really? Oh no! Everyone go into lockdown, and stock up on holy water! This morning I dreamed a gigantic interstellar demon ruled the earth and devoured everyone he could! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! While you're doing that, I'm going to go to a pretty beach where I'll find a mermaid who needs me to get an ancient treasure for her. I dreamed that this morning too.
I've never had a "dream come true" personally, early morning or otherwise. In many ways that is both a good thing and a sad thing, see examples cited above!
What strange things have you heard about dreaming, and what do you believe about dreaming? Anyone convinced of any of the things I listed above?
3 responses
@garavegeta (963)
• Kochi, India
22 Jun 12
Hi, Early morning dreams that may come true, may not really be a myth.The thing is that,we dream almost all the time during our sleep,but we only remember the dreams which wake us up.
Once, I dreamed about a helicopter accident,It had crashed into a swamp. I told my mom,about my dream.
Our Lok Sabha speaker did die,in a helicrash,that day.It was really shocking for me.
This was not the only time my dreams had came true.Usually, i only realize that i had dreamed,about an incident only after it happens.This has happened to me countless times.
Like i said at the beginning, we only remember dreams which wakes us up,so who knows, we might be dreaming about future things all the time,but only remembers it,if its very very relevant to us.May be dreams are clues about future things which don't make any sense unless we interpret it correctly.
1 person likes this
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
22 Jun 12
The thing is that,we dream almost all the time during our sleep,but we only remember the dreams which wake us up. That doesn't sound accurate either, though I can only speak from personal experience when I question it. Except for the part about dreaming all the time while we sleep, we don't. We dream in bursts during the night, usually during REM sleep which is only one cycle out of four, and we don't just go through the cycle once during the night and then wake up. We slip through cycles, and then back into REM sleep, and then up to stage N3 sleep, and then perhaps back into REM sleep again.
As for only remembering the dreams which wake us up, it may be typical of the average adult to remember only the dream they had right before they awoke, but I know personally I've been able to recall a series of dreams over long periods of time. From the moment I fell asleep to the moment I woke up the next morning it seems.
Like i said at the beginning, we only remember dreams which wakes us up,so who knows, we might be dreaming about future things all the time,but only remembers it,if its very very relevant to us.May be dreams are clues about future things which don't make any sense unless we interpret it correctly.
I largely speak from personal experience when I say I don't believe in dreams being prophetic or being symbolic of anything. I don't believe in dream interpretation. I'm not boasting, but I have pretty exceptional dream recall. 
My dreams have never seemed to come true in reality or predict the future. Is my own future forecast system simply broken? 
I tried dream interpretation for a time, but after awhile I realized that dream symbols largely rely on generalization and universal association, like horoscopes. I didn't see any patterns or consistency in my own dreams, and every attempt to interpret merely added up to finding visions in tea leaves. There's nothing there, it's only the imagination trying to make pictures out of the clouds that convinces us that there is.
My dreams have never seemed to come true in reality or predict the future. Is my own future forecast system simply broken?
I tried dream interpretation for a time, but after awhile I realized that dream symbols largely rely on generalization and universal association, like horoscopes. I didn't see any patterns or consistency in my own dreams, and every attempt to interpret merely added up to finding visions in tea leaves. There's nothing there, it's only the imagination trying to make pictures out of the clouds that convinces us that there is.@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
23 Jun 12
Yes. lol I've been reading up about dreams forever. And I'm pretty sure dream typically happen in real time. Really the only time you hear about people slowing down time in their dreams is when they're lucid dreamers. Or if you watch Inception. 
@garavegeta (963)
• Kochi, India
22 Jun 12
ok,don't throw all those sci-fi words at me,I surrender!!..Are you doing some research on this?
Do you know?...dreams don't happen in real time,the whole thing which takes hours to unfold in our dreams happens in a second or two.
1 person likes this
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
16 Jun 12
I've also been told that. If they've been blind since birth or deaf since birth and have never experienced their missing sense, then they'll never have dreams that include them. But if they did experience that sense at some point during their lives then it's more likely they'll have vision or hearing in their dreams.
Though I have heard a few miraculous stories of people who have been blind their entire lives suddenly seeing things in a dream. Haven't heard any in the deaf community.
1 person likes this
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
15 Jun 12
lol, I've told someone before that I expect we usually dream the way we see (or don't see) the world.
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@Lorden (348)
• South Africa
13 Jun 12
I think you covered just about everything in that list of yours. Those are some very inaccurate myths, as far as my personal experience stretches.
I've heard that dreaming about a snake means a change is occuring or is going to occur in your life.
But that's so basic and even if it wasn't true, if you dream about a snake you can think of some change in your life you can hang on that one.
Personally I think dreaming is the same as thinking, except since you're not consciously conscious you are more absorbed in your thoughts so at that moment, that is your reality.
1 person likes this
@jorshelle (71)
• Philippines
14 Jun 12
My mother used to told me things about dreams, and she mentioned that dreams are the outcome of your daily life. And the result of the movies you've watched. She just mentioned that dreaming of snakes will result to illness in reality. But I have not yet proven those mythical premonitions. I have nightmares I always does dream our old house, It seems to be a haunted house. Im very scared of the scenario in my dreams. I used to fly in my dreams trying to get away from souls and witches that are trying to run after me. When I woke up I feel so horrible and still fresh on my mind. Everytime I dream about nightmares I used to tell anybody in order not to come true other would say.
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@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
14 Jun 12
Sounds like a pretty nasty nightmare! Is it a reoccurring dream? Those are downright puzzling to me.
I don't believe in dream symbols predicting anything. I've heard so many things about what seeing a snake in your dreams is supposed to mean, and they're all in conflict.
