Dreams and their Meanings

DREAMS. They are the series of imagery and sensations you see or experience while having a nap. We all hate our real life and absolutely love to dive into the endless imagination While we were young we sure were fascinated towards the mechanism behind them slipping into your peacefully resting brain. Some dreams are self-wooed, some pleasing while some are horrendous.
We will, as for now skip the whereabouts of their source. Many scientists around the world are already skipping their meals researching on it, so let's move on to getting ourselves acquainted with the meanings of some of the popular dreams you see.

1)Animals

Animals in your dreams are more likely to be representations of yourself. Yes, they symbolize your own deeds. So, If you see any animal doing something in your dream, it just can be yourself your unconscious brain see you as (ahem ahem).

Of course, there are special cases, here you go,

i) Ants-  Seeing ants in your dream suggest you are rather dissatisfied or not contended. Some or the other thing is bugging in your brain.You are feeling neglected in your life.  If you see ants crawling over your body that means you ought to do some pending unfinished business. So, the next time you see ants crawling on your belly, its time to finish all the due work you were supposed to and thus alleviate all your worries!

ii) Bears- Bears, in general are very calm yet powerful.  If a bear is chasing you, this means you are avoiding a big issue in your life, and it is time to deal with it. If the bear is standing up, this is a sign you need to defend your beliefs.

iii) Elephants- Elephants in your dream suggests that you are soon going to be blessed by Lord Ganesha and it is time that you should rush to a nearby temple and give him some fresh laddoos! Lol, just kidding. Elephants symbolizes ultimate strength and stability. If you see elephants, it can suggest that you will be able to face any big difficulty with calmness in your life. Also, the introverted personality of an elephant can be a reflection of your own attitude.

iv) Frog- While staying outside of your brain they indicate you of a nearby rain, in your dreams frogs represent love, blessings and prosperity. Alternatively, it can suggest that you have a tendency to jump from one thing to other. Or, on a positive note, they can indicate some unexpected change in upcoming life.

v) Snakes- To see a snake or be bitten by one in your dream signifies hidden fears and worries that are threatening you. Your dream may be alerting you to something in your waking life that you are not aware of or that has not yet surfaced. If your dream show a snake tangled in itself, your brain might be warning you of some hidden danger so be cautious!

Serpents in dreams can have many meanings. Some resources say, it also indicates acute sexual desire. It can also represent your protection against illness.

2)Falling Dream

To dream that you are falling is one of the most common dreams ever. Almost everyone of us have had at least one time experienced to fall in sleep. There is a small explanation to why . According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine whenever a sleeping person have had anxiety, caffeine, stress and strenuous activities in the evening, he/she is likely to have this dream. However, most of the time, it occur randomly in healthy people. That sudden jerk often causing you to wake up with a heavy breath amidst sweat is called "hypnic jerk" or "hypnotic jerk". 

Okay, that's science but what does falling in your dream mean? Falling in your virtual world indicates insecurity, anxiety. You might have things out of your control in your waking world. When you fall, you don't have control over yourself, right?( Before any of the professional divers shrugs their shoulder and tch from their lips tilting their eyebrows at 180 degrees after reading this,  by control I don't mean twisting around your body in air.) Of course, you can be agile in your own ways. Hence, it shows there is something your brain don't want to accept you not having control over it. If you regularly see this dream or the "jerk", its time to check into your life and deal issues confidently, unless of course, if you love to experience jerks because it helps you to wake up in mid-night if you have exams tomorrow with lot of portion remaining! Hahaha procrastinators!

P.S. Try to recall the location, the dress you were wearing or any other similar characteristics which can help you to decipher the exact meaning of it.

3)Death-

Death directly means to cease to exist. It can particularly mean or correlate to any of your habits, behavior,activities or relationships. Do not be alarmed, as many of the times death have a rather positive meaning. Although, I don't deny the existence of precognitive dreams but such dreams can  have a different meanings. Death is followed by a new start. In your life, you face many endings and with those endings comes new beginnings. Death symbolizes transformation, so you literally don't have to actually worry too much! Below are the generally accepted interpretations of some of the common types of such dreams-

  (i) Losing balance-  You lack stability in your waking life.

  (ii) Lost grip or slipping off-  Dreaming to fall after you lose a grip on something is really a horrible experience.You might be having trouble in your relationships or you are not confident enough to face difficult situations.

   (iii) Nightmares- They aren't meaningless and should be carefully examined,too, as the non-nightmare dreams. If you dream a monster killing you, it is advised not to panic. Remember the physique of the monster and you should ask questions to it, for example.. "Who are you?", "Why are you here?"and "What do you want from me?". The whole logic behind is to confront that monster and not to run away from it. The monster can symbolize a huge problem going on in your life, if you can gather enough courage to confront that monster without wetting your pants, you can also confront that problem with full confidence in your real life! So, don't run. Turn behind!

  (iv)You got stabbed in stomach- It is generally believed that dreaming about you being stabbed in stomach indicates that you are going to die soon. Whoo.. Although, it has been generally observed that you cannot practically dream your death and wake up before doing. On the extreme contrary, seeing yourself die can also indicate you can typically hear of a new birth(That ending-beginning logic, remember?)

 (v) Death of Loved ones/Stranger- Dreaming the death of loved ones can make you feel you are having a premonition. But no, you are probably not. There are several reasons for seeing someone you know die in your own dream. You may be anxious about his/her well being. The dream may be more symbolic than that as you struggle with the reality of your love about that person as weighed against repressed anger towards them.

Some more dream symbols you would like to know-

• Batman

To see Batman in your dream suggests that you need to utilize your wits and resources in order to help yourself or others. Perhaps your are not maximizing your full potential. You need to unleash the power from within. Stop looking for shortcuts to get you where you want. Alternatively, the dream implies that there is some wrongdoing that you need to rectify.

• Abacus

To see abacus in your dream means that your view is outdated. On certain issues, you have a pretty outdated views. You need to reform your "expired" way of thinking to grow up in a meaningful way. 

• Being chased

              

It is one of the common dreams. The one who's chasing you can be symbolic, as in literally. Merely, identifying who is chasing you and the reason will get you half done with you interpreting the dream. Psychologists suggest that we experience "chase" dreams occur when we are unable to cope up with our fear and we relentlessly disagree to face the reality. Btw, If you watched a horror movie just before you went to bed its very possible that you would have a dream of being chased. If this happens disregard it just as a normal dream.

• Baseball/Cricket/Basketball

   Watching a baseball match in your dream suggests contentment and peace of mind. Not watching but playing? You have set your goals and have headed to achieve it.  A baseball bat represents driving or motivating forces behind you helping to achieve that goal. Cricket field suggests you are making progress in leaps, not continuous. Basketball suggests team work and cooperation.

• Radios/TVs

        They are the most common communication channels. Dreaming about them(either in working condition or not) can suggest the communication channel between your conscious and subconscious brain. If you are having a lucid dream(i.e. a dream where you KNOW you are dreaming), ask them a question or carefully observe or listen what they want to communicate to you. It can really be some sort of a message. 

There are tons of various types of dreams and its not possible for me to list down each an every symbol and their meanings. Dreams are a message to you by the subconscious you and its important for us to understand the meaning of it.Acquiring the ability to interpret your dreams is a powerful tool. In analyzing your dreams, you can learn about your deep secrets and hidden feelings. Remember that no one is a better expert at interpreting your dreams than yourself. 

Ways to remember your dreams

• Most important step is when you wake up in the morning, don't move from the position you woke up in. That's the position you were dreaming in. You will disconnect your memory from the dream.
• Don't think about what you have to do today. Quiet your mind, and let the dream come back to you. You have 90 seconds before that dream fades away.
• Whatever you remember, even if all you remember is a tiny piece, write it down. Dreaming happens in the same part of our brain where short-term memory is stored and if you don't write it down it will be gone after breakfast.

3 easy steps to figuring out what your dreams mean 

 It's important to figure out what your dreams are telling you. They are intuition — the part of ourselves that knows what's best, they warn us, they inspire us, they let us know when we are going off track. So never dismiss them by saying “it's only a dream.” They have the answers you need right now for your life.

• Sum it up into a movie title to give you that ah-ha moment.
• Figure out the main conflict of the dream. How would you describe the main conflict of the dream? Are you trying to get away from something? Are you trying to find something? Are you fighting something?
• Compare that conflict in the dream to your real-life day before the dream. That could give you clues. If you dreamt of running from a monster Tuesday day night, what happened Tuesday?

Dreams are an insight to you and can suggest important things and sometimes even predict. So, we now know the importance of dreams and meanings of some common symbols. So, the next time you see a dream, make sure to be able to recall it, analyze and understand it. It can show you some unanswered question about your life.     

Human works on Dreams and their interpretation

    Books-

• Andwadter, Rosa (2004). El Poder Magico de Los Suenos (The Magical Power of Dreams). RIL Editores.
• Aizenstat, Stephen and Bosnak, Robert (eds) (2009).Imagination and Medicine: The Future of Healing in an Age of Neuroscience. Spring Journal Books.
• Bair, Dierdre. (2003). Jung: A biography. Little Brown.
• Burch, Wanda Easter (2003). She who dreams: A journey into healing through dreamwork. New World Library.

Dalfen, Layne (2002). Dreams do come true: Decoding your dreams to discover your full potential. Adams Media Corporation.

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And obviously,

      

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