There are many interpretations of what our dreams actually represent, the symbolism, the messages, and the meaning of them. What I am sharing with you is simply my theory on dreams based from different teachings along my journey, both spiritual and psychological in nature, and mostly from my own experiences. I offer a different perspective, no more or less than any other and if I may suggest anything….QUESTION EVERYTHING…even what I am sharing with you, and follow what feels like truth for you.
Psychology mostly tells us that dreams are a representation of our conscious and subconscious minds where often it is our subconscious mind that gets activated to express suppressed desires, thoughts, feelings. According to Freud, sources of dreams include stimuli from the external world, subjective experiences, organic stimuli within the body, and mental activities during sleep. Which means that dream content can contain important information about the dreamer, such as their mental, emotional, and physical state. Freud also suggests the connection within the materials of a dream are not random but rather constrained by one’s unconscious desires, such that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” and also the presence of less desirable dreams, therefore disguising the true purpose of the dream. Some may argue that these dream experiences are connected to childhood traumas or possibly other suppressed memories. Of course there are many theories related to dreams based on psychology that may in fact hold a lot of truth for many of us to consider.
Spirituality shares yet another perspective told from different cultures from around the world. Have you ever woken up from a dream and immediately reached for your phone to google the spiritual meaning of dreaming of a shark (or anything for that matter)? Yes, I have done this more than I can recall in search of breadcrumbs to find meaning from my dreams. And as you know, google can send you down the rabbit hole with a lot to question. There are theories of connecting with your astral body, where the soul of the physical body temporarily leaves during sleep time and travels the astral plane into other dimensions, realities, galaxies, etc where you can connect with other beings or extraterrestrials. Some share that the symbolism of dreams are your spiritual guides trying to communicate with you to deliver a message.
There are dreams of flying, falling, fighting, sexual, realistic and others that stretch the distance of our imagination. Dreams with different animals, people, our fears, desires, fantasies. Visits from loved ones who have crossed over. There is a phenomenon called “sleep paralysis”, which basically is the place inbetween being awake and asleep where you are conscious of your surroundings but feel completely paralyzed in your body and you cannot move or speak (however some times you can but comes out in a whisper). You feel a strong presence with you that at first this experience can be highly frightening and some say it is related to psychological issues and some say it is a demonic force trying to take over your body aka “old hag” in folklore. And again others believe this is the state we enter just prior to entering the astral body if we can get past the initial fear and ease into the experience. This has also been related to some alien abduction stories. None of this is to scare you in any way, but rather offer different conclusions where we can each do our own exploration if we choose. I have an intimate connection with sleep paralysis and have found myself relating to all of these ideas at different times in my life and made different meanings for different expressions of this phenomenon.
There is lucid dreaming when a person becomes aware they are dreaming while they are dreaming. Some may even control the outcomes of their dreams while still feeling the events are really happening. Another version of this is being aware of a dream within a dream, within a dream, so being aware of multiple versions of a dream all happening simultaneously…similar concept to the movie, “Inception” with Leonardo DiCaprio, but maybe with less Hollywood flare and more individual based.
AND……
What if all versions, concepts, theories of dreams are true? Or at a minimum there is a level of truth in all stories.
What if we have some dreams that represent our subconscious fears, desires, and are connected to our traumas, and what if some dreams are in fact messages from the other side helping us along the way, and what if an aspect of us is astral travelling experiencing parallel realities, universes, or experiencing past lives from different incarnations on this planet (and others)? Could all be possible? My theory or belief is YES. For as long as I can remember I have dreamed, I dream almost every single night and remember most or parts of dreams and I have experienced many versions of all of these ideas in some way and have formed my own conclusions from both a logical, science based background, AND, the mystical or spiritual connection. All have held a place in my understanding, and like many of you I am assuming, constantly try to find the meaning of everything only to realize that there are infinite possibilities the more we discover.
Humans have long since had a fascination with dreaming that stems from ancient times and is still very much present today. Whether you identify as being a “dream traveller” or anything else is not important. But what is important, is what do our dreams mean to us, what is the message we are receiving? Because even with all the information out there, each connection or version of a dream will be unique to each individual and although there are experts out there to help with dream interpretations (I am not one of those people), it is up to the person having the dream to connect the dots of their life story and we get to decide for ourselves what is possible beyond any explanation.
“You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one.” ~ John Lennon
“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?” ~ John Lennon
Because who doesn’t love The Beatles!
Thank you for tuning in, I hope this read was met with joy and curiosity. In addition, I would love to hear from all of you and what your beliefs and experiences are in dreamland.
With much love and blessings,
Vicki xo.