Dreams....some interesting facts
Dream interpretations dates back to 3000-4000 B.C. were they were documented in clay tablets.
It is said that people in primal societies were unable to distinguish between the dream world and reality.
They not only saw the dream world as an extension of reality, but the dream realm was a more powerful world.
Back in the Greek and Roman era, dream interpreters accompanied military leaders into battle. Dreams were extremely significant and often seen as messages from the gods. They were seen in a religious context and in Egypt, priests also acted as dream interpreters.
The Egyptians recorded their dreams in hieroglyphics. People with particular vivid and significant dreams were believed to be blessed and were considered special.
People who had the power to interpret dreams were looked up to and seen as divinely gifted. In the bible, there are over seven hundred mentions of dreams. Tracing back to these ancient cultures, people had always had an inclination to interpret dreams. Dreams were also seen as prophetic. People often looked to their dreams for signs of warning and advice.
It was an oracle or omen from outside spirits, whether it was a message from a deity, from the dead or even the works of a demon. Dreams often dictated the actions of political and military leaders and aided in diagnosis for the medicine men.
Dreams was a vital clue for healers in what was wrong with the dreamer and used them to make a diagnosis. People in ancient Greece and ancient China looked to their dreams for their next course of action. Dreaming can be seen as an actual place that your spirit and soul leaves every night to go and visit. The Chinese believed that the soul leaves the body to go into this world. However, if they should be suddenly awakened, their soul may fail to return to the body. For this reason, some Chinese today, are wary of alarm clocks. Some Native American tribes and Mexican civilizations share this same notion of a distinct dream dimension. They believed that their ancestors lived in their dreams and take on non-human forms like plants. They see that dreams as a way of visiting and having contact with their ancestors.
Dreams also helped to point their mission or role in life. In the early 19th century, dreams were dismissed as stemming from anxiety, a household noise or even indigestion. Hence there was really no meaning to it. Later on in the 19th century, Sigmund Freud revived the importance of dreams and its significance and need for interpretation. He revolutionized the study of dreams.
Daydream
Studies show that we all have the tendency to daydream an average of 70-120 minutes a day. Day dreaming is classified as a level of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness. It occurs during our waking hours when we let our imagination carry us away. As our minds begin to wander and our level of awareness decreases, we lose ourselves in our imagined scenario and fantasy. Click here for a more in depth look at daydreams.
Lucid Dream
Lucid dreams occurs when you realize you are dreaming in the middle of your dream. "Wait a second. This is only a dream!" Most dreamers wake themselves up once they realize that they are only dreaming. Other dreamers have cultivated the skill to remain in the lucid state of dreaming. They become an active participant in their dream, make decisions in their dreams and influence the dream's outcome without awakening.
Nightmare
A nightmare is a disturbing dream that causes the dreamer to wake up feeling anxious and frightened. Nightmares may be a response to real life trauma and situations. These type of nightmares fall under a special category called Post-traumatic stress nightmare (PSN). Nightmares may also occur because we have ignored or refused to accept a particular life situation. Research shows that most people who have regular nightmares have had a family history of psychiatric problems, bad drug experiences, people who have contemplated suicide, and/or rocky relationships. Nightmares are an indication of a fear that needs to be acknowledged and confronted. It is a way for our subconscious to make up take notice. "Pay attention!"
Recurring Dreams
Recurring dreams repeat themselves with little variation in story or theme. These dreams may be positive, but most often they are nightmares. Dreams may recur because a conflict depicted in the dream remains unresolved and ignored. Once you have found a resolution to the problem, your recurring dreams may cease.
Healing Dreams
Healing dreams serve as messages for the dreamer in regards to their health. Dreams of this nature may be telling the dreamer that he/she needs to go to the dentist or doctor.
Prophetic Dreams
Prophetic dreams, also referred to as precognitive dreams, are dreams that seemingly foretells the future. One rational theory to explain this phenomenon is that our dreaming mind is able to piece together bits of information and observation that we normally overlook or that we do not seriously consider. In other words, our unconscious mind knows what is coming before we consciously piece together the same information.
Epic Dreams
Epic dreams are so huge, so compelling, and so vivid that you cannot ignore them. The details of such dreams remain with you for years, as if your dreamt it last night. These dreams possess much beauty and contain many archetypal symbology.
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1. One third of our lives is spent sleeping.
2. In your lifetime, you would've spent about 6 years of it dreaming. That is more than 2,100 days spent in a different world.
3. Dreams have been here as long as mankind. Back in the Roman Era, striking and significant dreams were submitted to the Senate for analysis and interpretation.
4. Everybody dreams. EVERYBODY! Simply because you do not remember your dream does not mean that you did not dream.
5. Dreams are indispensable. A lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality
disorder.
6. We dream on average of one or two hours every night. And we often even have 4-7 dreams in one night.
7. Blind people do dream. Whether visual images will appear in their dream depends on whether they where blind at birth or became blind later in life. But vision is not the only sense that constitutes a dream. Sounds, tactility, and smell become hypersensitive for the blind and their dreams are based on these senses.
8. Five minutes after the end of the dream, half the content is forgotten. After ten minutes, 90% is lost.
9. The word dream stems from the Middle English word, dreme which means "joy" and "music".
10. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.
11. Studies have shown that our brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
12. Dreamers who are awakened right after REM sleep, are able to recall their dreams more vividly than those who slept through the night until morning.
13. People who are giving up smoking have longer and more intense dreams.
14. Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.
15. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
16. Nightmares are common in children, typically beginning at around age 3 and occurring up to age 7-8.
