Why do we have certain dreams?
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
United States
June 7, 2009 10:29pm CST
Hey everyone, I've always had this question in my head and I've wanted to have a discussion about it.
Why do we have certain dreams?
I've gathered some of my own resources regarding the question but it really hasn't satisfied my thirst yet. I'd really like to know more about the reasons as to why we have some of our dreams.
For example, I've had countless dreams about people I'd never actually converse with in real life. I've had naughty dreams with people I've hated for quite some time. It's like, everything that happens in my dreams are the complete opposite of what I would do in reality.
So my other questions for discussion would have to be:
+ Have you ever had dreams that helped you?
+ Have you ever had dreams that would never reflect your realistic life?
Feel free to add more content as you see fit, I'd really like to learn more about this as we discuss the mind boggling world of dreams.
2 people like this
13 responses
@nzalheart (2338)
• India
8 Jun 09
Hello xXSil2ntAng3lXx!!! oh! quite difficult username. I wonder how do you remember it...Welcome to mylot...
Dream in my opinion
The cause of dream is our mind. Our mind is always thinking something, consciously or subconsciously. There is no difference to our mind, whether our body is here. If you are thinking of your past, then your mind is there, not in your body. And similarly, in the case of dreams. You are actually thinking something. But the question why do we be able to feel the reality, touch things with feelings etc? Our mind is the source of everything. Even some scientists have started to say that this world we are living is the imagination. So, in dreams, when you are asleep, I think our imagination is so deep sometimes, that we feel that we are in reality. Take the example of dreaming in the day time, sitting in the class. We may never know, when we started to go to the past and lost. But while sleeping, there is no one to disturb you what you thinking. And so in dream, your subconscious mind becomes more active than the conscious mind and so at that moment, the subconsciousness becomes the reality for now. For, the moment we are wake our consciousness is the reality for us.
The person you see in your dreams are storing in your subconscious memory. And that's why you see such things in your dream. In Buddhism, it is said that everything of the past life is stored somewhere in our subconscious mind. Don't mingle the term mind here. Mind I mean is not the brain, it is empty, doesn't have any form, but can reflect objects that we see. And so, you can even see with the eyes closed with this mind. So, I mean our dream may also be related to our past life.
Well this is my opinion. Whatever I wrote here is the mix of various experiences and the analyzed them by myself. I have mixed some of the realities, and also added my opinion. This answer I know is not perfect, but seems to be some sort of reality. How do you feel about this? And what is your opinion on dreams, you didn't wrote about your understanding...
You seem to be new here, but still started a nice discussion. Keep it up...Thanks for posting such a nice discussion....
happy mylotting...
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Hey nzalheart! My username is basically Silent Angel surrounded with two X's on each side and the E's are replaced with 3's. So it really isn't all that difficult to memorize.
I concur with your first paragraph. The part of our brain that handles logic and thought is generally at rest when we're sleeping so you're right, the subconcious mind is our reality because it is used as a substitute for our logic and thought.
I like how you used Buddhism as an example to better clarify your thoughts. I would have to agree with that, but not whole-heartedly. There's a hint of doubt in there somewhere. I'm all for believing that we all have past-lives and such but there's still evidence that needs to back that theory up, I'm still open-minded so I won't push that thought away that much.
Thank you for adding in your thoughts and giving examples from your life! I now see that I did actually neglect to add in my own thoughts so here goes:
+ Have I ever had dreams that helped me?
- To some extent. Some of my dreams have taught me things to avoid in the future and some of my dreams helped me with things like remembering small things such as peoples' birthdays and special holidays.
+ Have I ever had dreams that would never reflect my realistic life?
- Without a doubt! Things like making love to a teacher and doing other things I would never do in my life have all gone through my dream factory.
Anything else I've wanted to post have been posted in other comments and such so you're more than free to read them to see what my thoughts are on this whole topic.
Thanks again for your thoughts and comments!
@nzalheart (2338)
• India
9 Jun 09
Well I don't know how dreams shows up the future signs but this I am definite that it comes up due to past events stored in the subconscious memory.
I will give you an example of my own. I was just exiting a room and I saw a jet plane in the television. But I didn't think of anything, the moment just got stored in my subconscious mind. In fact each and every moment we live is stored in our subconscious mind, the difference is that we can't remember them when we want. At night I dreamed that I was in the Terrace and there were lot of jet planes in the sky like the war was going on. And I was also blowing some of the jets hehe...
So, why did I see that dream. Isn't that dream because of that scene. I remembered this dream and then only I remembered that I had seen a jet place scene in the TV the day before.
And so, that was the small example. The subconscious mind cannot just contain the figures of recent memories, it contains the whole of moments we have lived in life. And these things always try to come up to our conscious mind, but are not able to all the time. So, when at dream, this subconscious mind is very much active and comes up one by one, relating the dream to it. Don't mind, about the dream that doesn't reflect the reality, for your mind, this physical present and the imagination you make is same, i.e both of them are real for your mind. About making love to the teacher and other sort of things you mentioned are also same. don't mind, but its natural to all.
Sigmuend Fraud had also told the same thing that the things in our subconscious mind always tries to come up to our conscious mind dominated by our consciousness by our conscious mind.
And about remember you friends birthday, well I think its just like remembering an old telephone immediately sometimes. Sometimes, you cannot remember the same phone number. Because nothing in our mind is actually lost. It is there in the subconsciousness memory. The difference is that we have to learn to fetch the informations out of it...
Happy mylotting...SilentAngel...Cheers
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
9 Jun 09
Thanks again for sharing your input! I find your thoughts to be rather stimulating and I look forward to seeing them in my discussions! Thank you for reassuring me of certain things and even backing your statements yet again with examples from your life!
I've found your presence in my discussion to be an honor so I thank you once more!
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
8 Jun 09
Dreams, they are associated with your subconscious.
When you sleep, the mind should be sleeping too. But
when you dream that means it is active. It's working on
it's own with out your permission by giving you dreams,
sometimes bad dreams and sometimes good dreams.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Is there a reason why it would work on its own? Are there certain factors that would balance the good and bad dreams? Or is it completely random?
Interesting reply you've written, however, I'd like to hear more from you regarding the subconscious and in addition, I'd like to hear your responses to my questions.
Thanks!
@nzalheart (2338)
• India
8 Jun 09
About the random dreams. My answer is that, it is just as random as we are thinking or imagining. We don't know at what moment, we imagine what and we don't even realize we are imagining. Take, the dream as the imagination that your subconsciousness mind is doing, then you seem to understand more about the dreams.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
That sort of clarifies things but at the same time confuses me on some part, however, I'll look into it.
Nevertheless, you are correct! What I was told was that when you're sleeping, you're brain is still working, however, it is also repairing itself from certain things that has happened throughout the day so that you are refreshed the next day. Note that when you're dreaming, the part of your brain that handles thought and logic is almost off which is probably why our dreams seems so realistic when people fly and such.
Thanks again for your thoughts :)
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
8 Jun 09
To answer your questions first:
Have you ever had dreams that helped you?
Yes I have, they have been answers to questions I have.
Have you ever had dreams that would never reflect your realistic life?
Many times to count.
Why do we have certain dreams?
I think this is a question for all ages, and it is something that scientists have tried to answer, so far there is a machine that measures your dreams waves, and there dream dictionaries out there.
I feel the answer lies within us, and how we related to the world and how we feel about things that makes our dreams the way they are.
(Just think of scary movies and how as a kid without fail you probably had a nightmare, it is the last thing you saw if it was before bedtime, the more impressive and it just stayed there, so it just pop in your dream).
I hope that helps a little.
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
9 Jun 09
I believe the machine measures brain activity during sleep, and that they might ask the person what kind of dream they were having.
I really do not remember everything about it now.
And I believe strong emotions affect us more than nice ones. That's why we might end up with a nightmare sooner than later.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Why is it that when we watch scary movies, we'll immediately have nightmares but sometimes if it's something like a sweet moment you've had that day, you don't tend to dream about it until after some time or maybe even the next day. It's as if the brain wants to interpret the horrifying dreams first to tell you something before going to the more sweeter thoughts and experiences you've had.
As to that machine, what does it do? I understand it measures your dream waves, but what does that mean? What do dream waves represent?
I know about those dream dictionaries too, but I tend to give them a second thought before actually believing them. I mean, are the definitions written in those said dictionaries as real as the definitions in a standard Dictionary?
@cainam (493)
• Philippines
9 Jun 09
i remember during childhood i always have this same dream which causes me to cry everytime i wake up. dreams which doesn't have any story or characters in it at al. it's just like bubbles popping up. it's connfusing but i can still remember.. maybe it's just because i'm emotionally disturb since eversince. i always want to do things but i can't. i want to go to places but it's not possible. i'm still like that till now but my dreams now are more terrifying. snakes and other unknown creatures. dreams are the outlet of my subconscious or secret emotions. they are like proofs of my missery.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
9 Jun 09
That's horrible. I don't mean to offend you in any way, but that's really not cool! I couldn't be able to just sit here and watch someone life through life with misery and such.
Your situation is quite baffling to me, it's really not possible to always have such negative dreams.
@pansy45 (153)
• Indonesia
9 Jun 09
i have ever dreaming something that inever realize in reality world,dream is something that full of mystery that we can not explain,is it reflex abut something that we hope,or maybe it is sign for something that will be happen n the future,i ever dreaming about some girl that i never met her,i just see her in a picture but i do not why can dreaming about her,in the past when i am still with my first girlfriend before i get closer to her i dreaming i meet her and she say that she wanna go with me,i don't know what it is mean,but after hat i realize that is a sign,i ever cry too when i was wake from my dreaming,cause that dream is too wonderfull but not realistic to be.i dream about my girl that i realy love but i can't stick with her.i ever too dreaming about i can get my favotite stuff,and afew day later i get the stuff.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
9 Jun 09
You're very much right, dreams aren't always sweet as people have discovered through their lives. For example, we have scary dreams also known as nightmares. Sometimes our dreams can bring back memories that stimulate the senses with excitement, sorrow, sadness, etc...
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
9 Jun 09
So our dreams are indefinitely there to either help us remember things or foreshadows things?
@angelface23 (2494)
• United States
8 Jun 09
I always have this dream about my ex. The setting is always different but the plot is always the same. We want to be together but we know we can't be and there is a lot of pain and it always leaves me really sad.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Some say that our dreams are a reflection of what we want, so this is probably why you're having those dreams. I hope the best for you and that you'll have much sweeter dreams.
@tonyllenium (6252)
• Italy
9 Jun 09
Yes it happened to me have some dreams where they did not reflect my realistic life or about some people in the past that it is much time i did not meet in the present life!!
So i think they are just origined from some remember or images you have in your brain and so they can compose when you are sleeping for some eason that i could not answer or understand deeply now as you guessed...probably it depends which kind of images or things you are thinking before sleeping or something related to the strange remember and something like that!!
@doggyhouz (548)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Sometimes I feel a dream is like a glimpse of some parallel life.
I've heard if you slept on your back as well the dreams are more vivid than if you were to sleep on your side.
Sometimes my dreams also come true and I feel deja vu. But if you have the same dream every day it is sometimes a sign that you truly are striving towards it. And achieving it, is just steps away.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
I've had some dreams come true and some dreams where things were going to happen right as soon as I wake up. I've always slept on my side or simply not on my back, it just doesn't feel comfortable for me to sleep on my back, but I'll see if it does make a difference.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments, I especially love the couple of last sentences you pieced into your reponse.
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Aren't they? It's like having produced your own movies but only at your expense to watch. It's something to entertain you with :)
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
Isn't that amazing how some of our dreams could help us with small things like writing the proper answers to test questions?
@xXSil3ntAng3lXx (23)
• United States
8 Jun 09
I would have to disagree. But then again, you may be actually right! Our dreams don't always have to be something we fear or envy, sometimes they can help us with things we practice everyday like playing soccer or getting better at certain skills in other sports.
@smeelokilo (1)
• United States
14 Jul 09
Hello, I'm also confused about dreams and why you have them.
Please email me your response at smeelokilo@gmail.com
Ive recently had a friend who moved to Dallas, Texas and I'm REALLY pissed at her dad and sad she is gone. I had a thing for her through all of sixth grade and we got along great, never argued and went to the mall a few times together, but she didn't really have a thing for me back. I'm only 12 so I don't really know how to word that stuff. After thinking about that I had a dream that night that was very odd and left me heart-broken. Well, here is how it went...
I was in some gift shop in Dallas, Texas and I don't know why, I was just there.
A girl comes into the gift-shop wearing some ski mask thing over her face, I didn't take much notice to her. Then she started talking to the store clerk. Her voice was very familiar so I walked kinda by her and studied her figure. I realized it was my friend who moved to Dallas. I immediately gave her a HUGE hug and I was so happy I got to see her. But then she looked scared and just went hey, this is surprising I didn't expect to see you. All of a sudden a guy comes and starts beating the crap out of me and he looked my age just a heck of a-lot bigger. I have never seen him before and he didn't look familiar. Then he walked off with my friend who moved and they were holding hands. I decided to follow them. I some-how ended up in like a skating rink with mattresses in the middle with people sitting on them. Here comes my friend who moved and the guy who beat the crap out of me holding hands skating, they zoom past me and my friend who moves goes move it stupid dork! Then they go and lie down on the mattresses and start making out. In the dream I fainted then I woke up. That was the end of the dream.
I just REALLY want to know why I had that.
I'm a boy about to go into the seventh grade and my friend who moved is also about to. I didn't use names or anything cause with my luck my friend who moved would look at this website. Well please talk to me back. Email me at smeelokilo@gmail.com because I will never find this site again. Thanks!!
