Day 1: Dreams
My dreams are incredibly important to me, and when I say, ‘dreams,’ I truly mean the stories that entertain me when I sleep. Wait, it’s not that dreams and goals of my future aren’t important to me or anything. I just wanted to clarify that my first post for 31 Days of Journaling Prompts is about the dreams that the sandman directs.
I have always been fascinated with dreams, especially the meaning behind why my subconscious might be telling me a story. I know there’s all sorts of research and opinions about why we dream what we dream, and they’re probably all right in some way or another. For me, I feel that different dreams are in my subconscious for different reasons. Keep in mind, my list is my opinion and nothing else. You know opinions? Everyone has them.
- I firmly believe that when I dream of someone specific that it means that I need to check on that person to make sure that he or she is okay. Weird, I know. I don’t think I am psychic, have premonitions or anything like that. I don’t believe that my dream is some forecast of that person’s future. It’s simple. I feel like that the person popped into my dreams because it’s someone I might not have connected directly with recently, and my brain is saying that I need to do that. Only a few times have I contacted the person and specifically told the person that I had a dream about him or her. I mean, I don’t want to look like a freak! Thankfully with social media, I can now discreetly check up on that person through Facebook, perhaps send them a message or comment on something that he or she has said recently.And just so we’re clear, I only do this with people I know personally. I don’t track down the President or some big celebrity and contact them directly. I’m not THAT weird!
- I believe that dreams can also be a way for our minds to deal with problems that we might be experiencing when we’re awake. I hadn’t really thought about this one much until I spoke with a psychologist about the meaning of dreams last year. It really makes sense to me. Our entire days are stored in our brains, and often times we have conflicts or tasks that don’t come to completion or ever experience closure. I believe our minds can only store so much incompleteness that it begins to work those things out on it’s own. Hey, I consider this one a blessing! Dealing with my problems in my sleep is like multitasking!
- Finally, I believe that some dreams have no real meaning at all. Maybe they’re just there for entertainment or for the mind to take a mini vacation. These are usually those dreams that don’t make much sense when we’re awake and make us stop to say, “What the heck was that?”
I love it when I can remember dreams and feel like I “got something” out of the experience. When I was growing up, my mom told us not to tell our dreams before breakfast unless we wanted them to come true. My husband had never heard that, so he thinks it’s silly. I know it’s a superstition, but still to this day I keep my dreams to myself until after breakfast unless I want it to come true. Of course, I’ve usually forgotten about it by the time I’ve had breakfast, so maybe that’s the point. If it was a bad dream, and you tell someone then you’re more likely to remember, but if you wait then you’ll probably forget about it.
“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” – Sigmund Freud
What are your thoughts on dreams? Can you usually remember what you dreamt the night before?
Read more about the 31 Days of Journaling Prompts
Today’s recommended 31 Day Blogger: 31 Random Acts of Kindness @ Life Faith and God
Frogdiva Dot Com 
Cool post- I thought it was going to be about aspirations, but I find this topic more fascinating 🙂 . I myself am an avid dreamer and have recently bought a dream journal. I am sure some people may think my dream experiences are odd, so I keep most of them to myself, but I am like you in as much as I sometimes will write or call someone if I dreamt about them. I didn’t start thinking my dreams had any meaning until my 20’s and beyond. I have had some experieces where God used my dreams to show me stuff in a really cool way and on a couple of occasions have actually dreamt something that happened the next day. How weird is that? I think a lot of dreams are silly, but I do believe that sometimes we can have helpful visions or maybe even a message from God once in awhile. There are instances of this is the bible, so I guess it is not that weird. I do usually remember my dreams, but that could be because I am a light sleeper. I could say a lot more, because the topic fascinates me , but I will stop here.
Great topic of writing for discussion!
You know what’s funny? When I first wrote ‘dreams’ on my list, I knew right away that it was about my dreams at night and not about my aspirations. However, when I started the blog entry it occurred to me that most people probably would think that the topic was more about aspirations. Dreams was the first topic that I wrote on my list, not one that I later decided to make first.
I’ve never had a dream journal, but I’ve thought about having one. I guess I never started one because if I were to wake up in the middle of the night and decide to write down a dream I had, I would never get back to sleep. And since I am a hit-the-ground-running late sleeper, I would never have time to write them in the mornings after getting up. It just stressed me out to think about trying to write them down. I look forward to hearing about how writing yours down helps you understand them…or even life better.
I used to think it was silly to think that the dreams that I had actually had meaning to my conscious life, but like you mention, there are instances in the Bible where dreams had meanings and were prophetic, so now I don’t think it’s all that weird.
Thanks for commenting, Rebekah! I know I still need to email you back about our sharing plans. I’ve been on the go everyday since Saturday and just now getting a chance to sit down and catch up on a few things. I’m glad I wrote out a few days of blog entries in advance so that I didn’t get behind, but those are quickly catching up to me 🙂
I just now saw that you had replied. I guess I need to check the box to notify me of follow up comments so I am not so delayed next time 🙂 I would be happy to discuss dreams via email any time 🙂 No worries on the delay in emailing back..it’s quite the project to write every day the whole month! Just connect with me whenever you have down time. The stuff I am doing for the cats is for Oct. 15-16 , so there is still time. Take care!
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I like the idea of having one word prompts! Great 31 topic.
Hi Sonya! I’m so glad that you commented! I found your blog while looking through all of the other 31 Day Bloggers and have already planned to link to your blog on the 29th when my journaling prompt is about Inspiration. I guess even among 1200 people participating in this challenge, it’s still a small world after all 🙂
You always said when you were a little girl “if you don’t have dreams you dont’ have anything”…I use that saying even to this day and so does Cathy..I guess you were just wise way before you time …<3