Is a Dream Really Just a Dream?

Sleep is an essential part of our lives. After a long day of zoom lectures, work, extracurriculars, being a busybody, rest is important to recuperate and mentally, emotionally, and physically reset for a new day. When we close our eyes and sink into the comforting, dark stillness of sleep our minds go into dream mode or as the movie Inside Out depicts it, your brain’s internal movie time starring some familiar people, things, and places. You’re the director, the audience, and an actor all at once. Sometimes the storyline makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something, or maybe your day filtered into the plot. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream (Sharkboy’s lullaby anybody?). It’s a fascinating mystery –what goes on inside our minds?! In this article I’ll be sharing with you some common dream interpretations along with some of my weird dreams and personal interpretations.

A dream is a whish your heart makes

Are dreams a safe internal manifestation of our hidden subconscious desires? Is our body trying to tell us something? Often, on the morning of a particularly interesting, intense, or memorable dream, we awake immediately consulting google for answers. What does it mean if your first love appears in your dreams? What does it mean if they said ____? 

Sometimes dreams are a way of healing, to resolve unfinished feelings and emotions or complete an alternative story ending one may subconsciously be yearning for. Forgiveness, being able to say what you couldn’t say back then, or allowing yourself to confront a part of your past — dreams can be a powerful tool in letting negativities go and pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Google searching is a rabbit hole; the answers may lie within ourselves and in our need for self-reflection more than the interpretations the world has to offer. 

You’re late, the exam is due, you forgot something

If you ever have those dreams where you find yourself late for an exam, taking an exam you never studied for, or forgetting something important, your dream may be telling you you’re pretty stressed and anxious. Maybe something big in your life is either coming up or has passed but you can’t shake that feeling of being unprepared, nervous, and worried. It’s hard to tell your brain to chill out when it feels like the stakes are high but I’d recommend doing whatever it is you like to do for self care to calm your nerves and remind yourself you’re a capable, badass human being.  

Who and where are you in your dream?

You are the main character in your life, you’re confident in who you are and see the world in your first person perspective. Dreams can twist this reality. Have you ever had a dream where you view the events unfold from a distant, third person perspective or where your scope of the world around you is limited? I remember distinctly having one dream from the perspective of looking down the bridge of my nose the whole entire time. As someone who dreams both in first and third person, it was definitely an odd experience to see so much black space in my vision. I can recall an even weirder experience, waking up in the morning confused as to why the me in my dream had manifested as a person I most definitely was not. Do you ever have a dream where you’re not actually you, but a whole different person? My interpretation for this is maybe the person you are in your dreams may be the ideal you wish to be or someone with similar qualities to someone in your life you look up to and admire. If the latter is true, take some time to think about what’s stopping you from being your best you and living your best life. 

Dreams with symbolic meanings

There are many beliefs surrounding dreams and the meaning of specific events such as your teeth falling out, being naked in public, being chased, falling, flying, etc. Similar to a dream about taking exams, these dreams may point to some physical, emotional,  and/or psychological need that is not being met in your real life. You may even discover a pattern in these dreams if you take time to keep a dream journal for a more holistic analysis. A common motif in my dreams is finding myself behind the wheel but the pedals are beyond my reach. The car begins rolling down the driveway and I find myself barely looking over the dashboard as I stretch my leg to push the pedals. It’s a disaster with a lot of swerving, late braking, and an overall feeling of no control. Though this is one example of a symbolic dream, our ability to interpret the lessons our own dreams have to offer allow us to name what it is we may need. Though there may be negative and positive connotations surrounding some common motifs (such as one’s teeth falling out suggesting a dramatic loss or change in one’s life), at the end of the day, as my dad likes to say, sometimes a dream is just a dog dream, trivial and nothing to worry about.

Lights, camera, action – the Hollywood dream

I’d like to leave you with one final dream interpretation and food for thought. The media we consume on our phones, the internet, movies, tv shows, magazines, and other sources of entertainment play a large role in how we interpret and perceive the world around us. We watch and learn through the experiences of others, both in reality and fabricated situations. One super interesting thing I’ve noticed in my dreams is how the mind creates a very realistic dream of a situation one may not have personally lived through. Using one’s past experiences and media consumption, something like a sudden act of physical harm in a nightmarish dream where you’re being chased by a clown, may manifest as pain in the area of the wound and the presence of blood just like how horror movies may portray a graphic scene. How does your mind trick you into feeling pain and emotion? It’s truly a fascinating food for thought, especially when your dreams don’t feel like dreams and the line between what’s real and isn’t real becomes blurred. As Morpheus once said, “What is real?”