Have you ever had a wild dream that you couldn’t get your mind off of? Sometimes you just have to wonder how in the world your brain came up with such odd stories. There has to be an answer to what your dreams really mean.
Dreams can be complicated, simple, or just plain weird. It can be hard to believe that your dreams mean something deeper when they’re filled with such strange scenarios.
Despite all of that, dreams often do have a deeper meaning. Just because you don’t know how to interpret them doesn’t mean that your dreams lack meaning!
There are a few ways to become an amateur dream interpreter without years of studying the human brain. With a little bit of insight into your subconscious, you can figure out what your dreams really mean.
What’s the point of dreaming?
Scientific evidence shows that dreams have much deeper meanings than you would think. Psychologists claimed dreaming is your brain’s way of putting subconscious thoughts and feelings into a narrative for your logical brain.
Dream interpretation was studied for over a century before MRI and PET scan technology showed the importance of dreaming. Scientists now see that dreaming is your brain’s way of filtering through data and preparing for danger.
Not only that, but dreams are also vital in healing trauma. Rapid eye movement, or REM, is the stage in your sleep cycle where you dream.
This is a form of bilateral stimulation that ultimately helps to connect both hemispheres of your brain. This means that when you dream, your brain is balancing the events from your day between emotion and logic. This is how your brain processes small and large traumas every single day.
What do your dreams mean?
Because dreams are your brain’s way of processing, they often point to things that are bothering you. Understanding what your brain is processing in your dream is your best shot at learning what your dreams really mean. To start, try to pay attention to the people, places, and familiar objects in your dream.
Reliving situations in your dreams
Many dreams are recounting the little things that happened throughout your day. If there’s something that happened differently than what actually happened in your day, consider what those differences mean to you. This could allude to certain regrets, disappointments, or triggers that you have.
The same goes for when you dream about something that happened a long time ago. If you’re dreaming about your past, chances are there are still things you need to process in your past.
Recurring dreams
Having recurring dreams is a big indication that your brain is stuck on something. Whether it’s trauma or something your heart is longing for, your brain is trying to get you to address it.
No dreams
Not dreaming can indicate stuck trauma. This means that there is something that your brain doesn’t know how to process.
This is different than dreaming and simply forgetting about it. Forgetting your dreams is extremely common, so it can be hard to tell the difference.
If you don’t dream and you have signs of trauma, try talking to a therapist about it. Your brain may need some help processing certain things. Then it can go back to processing the little things day to day rather than spending its energy on one trauma.
Nightmares
Nightmares can allude to a similar idea. Your brain is recalling and working through something that scared you. It’s documenting what happened so that it can spot it in the future and avoid it.
If your brain becomes traumatized by something that scared it, you may have recurring nightmares. This means that your brain and body don’t know how to process that trauma on their own. In this case, your subconscious brain needs help from your conscious brain to soothe and process that traumatic event.
On the other hand, you could have just watched a scary movie. Either way, your brain is trying to do its job to process something that clearly spooked you.
Your dreams teach you more about yourself!
Although dreams can be quite strange, they can give you a peak into your subconscious needs, desires, and unaddressed hurts. You never know what insight you could gain, whether for your health or just for fun!
