How Can Dreams be Real if our Eyes Aren’t Real

Do you remember the dream you had last night? If you don’t: good. Scientists have concluded that most people who tend to remember their dreams tend to wake up from external stimuli, like an alarm clock or someone pouring water on their face. But let’s say you remember many of your dreams and have a dream journal, or even if you could care less about your dreams: we can all agree that it’s really f*cking weird. Somewhere up in our brains, something has decided to make us start thinking about sword fighting our 3^rd grade English teacher in a squirrel costume.

The human brain is one of the most complex things known to man, so let’s stay away from explaining why it happens. The fun part is trying to explain what our dreams mean. Many famous psychologists and neurologists like Sigmund Freud have tried to interpret what our dreams mean and how dreaming can benefit us. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, explained that dreams were the road to the unconscious mind and that they could help us explain what our values and desires were.  

So let’s look at some common interpretations of weird stuff that shows up in our dreams:

• ·      A cake usually indicates a happy time in your life and is associated with confidence and good luck.
• ·      A dream where you’re falling typically means that you’re having a bad time in your life or something is bothering you and you want to escape from it.
• ·      Dreams about taking hard tests in a classroom usually indicate that there is an upcoming “test” in our life that we need to overcome using past mistakes and experience.
• ·      Dreaming about Darth Vader typically signifies that you’re currently facing a dilemma in life that involves picking between good and evil.
• ·      If you see a baby your dream, it usually signifies something new or something positive that you have started for the first time in your life.
• ·      If you dream about a badminton game, it could mean that you have to make a quick decision about something crucial in your life.
• ·      If there is a bagel in your dream, it usually points to a sexual desire.
• ·      Seeing a hammer could signify that you’re looking to or were recently “hammered”; as in being intoxicated.
• ·      Water is one of the most complex symbols, which tends to represent your unconscious mind. If you see calm water, then your life is relaxed and peaceful. If you’re walking on water, it means that you have total control over your emotions. If you dream about black or muddy water, then it points to an undesirable point in your life.
• ·      If you see lasagna in your dream, it usually resembles warmth and comfort.

These interpretations can help us, as information processors, cope with life's obstacles and give us meaning to do something. Despite these explanations, there are hundreds of other interpretations for common dreams (even though the ones above may not be very common). So next time you’re dreaming about a lawn mower, don’t run outside in your pajamas during the middle of the night to check if your front lawn grass is too long.