What Do Dreams Mean?
One of the first mysteries to haunt the human mind was, "What do dreams mean?". The simple but unsatisfying answer is that we don't know what dreams mean or if they mean anything at all. Most experts today feel that dreaming is the method that the brain uses to organize the thoughts of the day and to decide on the importance of each of those thoughts. Should the brain make the woman's face that you passed on the street today a priority memory or should the assignment you got from your boss be more important? This, theoretically, allows the brain to deal with a far smaller number of details and keeps us from going crazy. The dreams that we remember are random memories that combine to create a story during the process.
Most leading psychiatrists and dream researchers, however, also feel that our emotions have a great effect on how those random memories combine to form a dream. If you miss your maternal grandmother, for example, who passed away last year, that woman on the street that was mentioned earlier might look a lot like your grandmother or someone else in your dream reminds you of her for some reason.
There does seem to be reason therefore, to believe that we might be able to gain some insight into our subconscious mental state by analyzing our dreams. Here are a few of the most common dreams and an explanation of what they might mean:
Dreams Where You Find Yourself Nude in Public:
1. You have something that you're trying to hide and fear that you will be exposed.
2. You are shirking some duty like getting a report done for work and you fear the embarrassment if everyone sees you without your report. Or maybe you haven't studied for the math test tomorrow and everyone will see how stupid you are.
3. If you find yourself naked in public and you're not bothered by it, that could mean that you are very confident about yourself.
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Dreams Where You Are Flying:
Flying dreams are almost always pleasant! They usually mean that you are currently feeling "above" all of the day-to-day troubles of life and you're probably feeling confident about the future. There are exceptions, however. If you are having flying dreams where you have difficulties controlling your flying, it could mean that you are concerned about your ability to achieve something in your life that will make you happy. If you fly too high and become afraid of the height, your dream could mean that you are afraid that in your quest for happiness, you've bitten off more than you can chew.
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Dreams in Which You Are Falling:
There is something going on in your life that is worrying you and you feel totally unable to do anything about it. You may in addition feel that there are going to be horrible consequences if you can't find some solution to your dilemma. It may be that your boss recently voiced their displeasure over your performance at work and you're afraid of being fired but you don't think that you are able to give them what they want. Or maybe your spouse isn't happy with their social life but you don't feel you can afford more entertainment.
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Dreams That Involve You Being Chased:
Chase dreams often mean that we are being threatened by something or someone that we don't feel we are capable of dealing with in our real life. In the dream we often run as fast as we can in an attempt to escape the problem but we can't manage to escape. Whatever or whoever is chasing us is usually right behind us throughout the dream. Often, if the dreamer faces the real life challenge and defeats the problem, this will result in their turning and confronting the chaser in their dream and most likely defeating the attacker in the dream too!
In cases where the dreamer feels really overwhelmed by the problem, they may not get anywhere no matter how hard they run. This indicates that you believe that no matter how hard you try, there is no solution to your dilemma.
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Dreams Where You Are Not Prepared to Take An Exam:
If you find yourself in a dream where you know you have to take a test but you can't find the testing room, or you forgot your number 2 pencil, or you just don't feel that you know the subject well enough to do well, you may be feeling that someone in your real life is testing you in some way and that you are not up to the challenge. Another possibility is that you yourself have put yourself into a situation you might not be prepared for or, in other words, you're testing yourself. Often, the dreamer is blowing the problem out of proportion. You simply need to identify what the test is that you're anxious about and either end the test or prepare yourself to pass the test.
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In conclusion, you probably shouldn't take what happens in your dreams too seriously because those dreams are composed of a combination of random events of the day. If your sibling, for example, tries to kill you in a dream it may just mean that you are upset with them about something and you also heard a news report of a man who killed his own brother. That certainly doesn't mean that you really want to kill your brother. Those kinds of dreams might mean that you have unresolved issues with your brother that are troubling you. Perhaps troubling you more than you are consciously aware of and, therefore, need action to be taken for the sake of your mental health.
Thank you for visiting our "What Do Dreams Mean?" page!
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