Free Essays on Dreams

We dream many dreams every night, but why do we dream; and what do they mean? â€Å"Dreams are a communication of body, mind and spirit in a symbolic communicative environment† (www.sleeps.com). To make that statement easier to understand, www.sleeps.com goes on to explain how dreams are a review influenced by factors in your life and spirit. Our brains are constantly active. Our minds are always in different states like sleeping, awake, drowsy, alert, excited, bored, concentrating, or daydreaming. Sigmund Freud believed â€Å"Dreams are keys to the most secret parts of the mind.† (Coren 24). Dreams always occur while we are in a type of sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement). All the things you dream about are a reflection of your life; they reflect your feelings, thoughts, desires, and your fears. Man’s interest in dreams can be traced to the time of the ancient Greeks. â€Å"The people of the ancient world tended to believe that some dreams were sent by the gods to convey information to mortals† (Holroyd 44). They discovered â€Å"that a dream is not nonsense but information in disguise† (Holroyd 46). The Epic of Gilgamesh, written four thousand years ago, was one of the first known writings of dreams. It tells the tale of the experiences Gilgamesh has with his dreams. For example, Gilgamesh dreams that he is pinned to the ground by the weight of a god who has fallen on him. At another point in the story, he and his companion Enkinu climb to the top of a mountain that immediately collapses. These same kinds of images and situations are dreamt about by people of today’s time. The ancient Greeks even thought certain things in your dreams had certain symbolism. They thought that snakes showed a sign of sickness or the presence of an enemy, and if it was a powerful snake it meant a bad illness was coming (Holroyd 56). Dreaming of birds was also a sign from the gods. Birds symbolize different types of people. Birds also had an impor... Free Essays on Dreams Free Essays on Dreams Dreams A dream is a story that people take part in or view in their sleep. Dreams are a work of a person’s imagination. They are fictional events that have relation to a person’s life. A person experiencing a dream is convinced however that what they are experiencing is really occurring. Dreams can play on every emotion a person experiences in real life. They can be amusing, pleasant, annoying, and even terrifying. Everyone experiences dreams, but they may not however ever recall having any. Dreams are seldom remembered, and if they are most times people remember bits and pieces of what happened and may or may not be able to understand the sequence of events. Dreams unfold much unlike a story in most cases. The â€Å"dreamer† may or may not be a part of the story, they may possibly just watch things unfold like watching a movie. The person dreaming most likely cannot dictate what happens in the dream. There are sometimes that a person will come to the understanding that they are dreaming. In these situations the dreamer may alter the events in the dream to their liking.... Free Essays on Dreams Dreams Dreams! What are dreams? Why do we dream? Are dreams subconscious thoughts and desires influenced by the events of our day? Might we dream of someone new, a person we’ve never met before, and perhaps that day you make a new friend? Dreams are very interesting. What stages do we go through? What is our brain doing? What does science say? Many experiments have been conducted about why we dream, dreams are a response to our thoughts, actions and recent events in our days. There was one study done to see what everyday life would be like without dreaming they gave the subjects a drug to eliminate the REM (rapid eye movement) which is the time in which we dream. The studies proved that without dreaming they changed they become more anxious and abrasive and it also altered their personalities. Dreaming is something every one does and although some people don’t remember their dreams or maybe only just a couple everyone has that night time journey we call dreams. Which apparently is a very necessary part of our being. From the time you go to sleep at night until the time you wake up in the morning you go through many stages of sleep. Stage 1 of sleeping is very quick if the person is not disturbed they within a few minutes slip into stage 2 of sleep. Dreams start to brew in stage 2 you are in a much deeper sleep then stage 1 vague thoughts and ideas start to go through the sleepers mind. Then you slowly drift into stage 3 now the sleepers’ muscles are relaxed and your heart rate begins to slow down as dose your blood pressure. Now the sleeper is in a very deep sleep, and difficult to wake. With steady breathing and feeling very relaxed you journey into the last stage. Stage 4 is now the deepest sleep of all. This is where your dreams occur. Now the sleepers’ heart rate and blood pressure fluctuate and your brain heats up. Then comes REM, the first period will last only about 10 minutes then the sleeper goes through st... Free Essays on Dreams We dream many dreams every night, but why do we dream; and what do they mean? â€Å"Dreams are a communication of body, mind and spirit in a symbolic communicative environment† (www.sleeps.com). To make that statement easier to understand, www.sleeps.com goes on to explain how dreams are a review influenced by factors in your life and spirit. Our brains are constantly active. Our minds are always in different states like sleeping, awake, drowsy, alert, excited, bored, concentrating, or daydreaming. Sigmund Freud believed â€Å"Dreams are keys to the most secret parts of the mind.† (Coren 24). Dreams always occur while we are in a type of sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement). All the things you dream about are a reflection of your life; they reflect your feelings, thoughts, desires, and your fears. Man’s interest in dreams can be traced to the time of the ancient Greeks. â€Å"The people of the ancient world tended to believe that some dreams were sent by the gods to convey information to mortals† (Holroyd 44). They discovered â€Å"that a dream is not nonsense but information in disguise† (Holroyd 46). The Epic of Gilgamesh, written four thousand years ago, was one of the first known writings of dreams. It tells the tale of the experiences Gilgamesh has with his dreams. For example, Gilgamesh dreams that he is pinned to the ground by the weight of a god who has fallen on him. At another point in the story, he and his companion Enkinu climb to the top of a mountain that immediately collapses. These same kinds of images and situations are dreamt about by people of today’s time. The ancient Greeks even thought certain things in your dreams had certain symbolism. They thought that snakes showed a sign of sickness or the presence of an enemy, and if it was a powerful snake it meant a bad illness was coming (Holroyd 56). Dreaming of birds was also a sign from the gods. Birds symbolize different types of people. Birds also had an impor... Free Essays on Dreams I sit here and think of all my desires, I think of all the things that have burned in fires as the smoke rises I see my past every thing I see never seems to last its painful to see what I’ve lost and in the end his life is what it cost my friend he said he was he said he would be there he said he cared but all he left me was his teddy bear I repeated those words back as I watched him die, and every memory make me cry Zeteo alethes: those memories are like the tears that roll down my cheek never ending for him I seek Bizkitwolf1: the last memory I have of my friend Dave, is when he was lowered into his grave Zeteo alethes: deeper and deeper I watched him fall farther and farther I seemed from it all Bizkitwolf1: and before the coffin was covered by all the brown dirt, with him was buried a picture of him and I on my favorite t-shirt Zeteo alethes: that t-shirt I wore all through out school I treated like a jewel and when it went into the ground my life felt like it had been bound Bizkitwolf1: that night as I lay down to sleep, I held his teddy bear close and remembered all the good times we had, riding around in his jeep Zeteo alethes: there were days that we would drive so far but first we always stopped at the local bar our responsibilities we through out the window never looking back never to slow Bizkitwolf1: then one day after the bar, we took off in the jeep, this time we had gone too far Zeteo alethes: our friends and families we had left behind kind was not on our mind Bizkitwolf1: with no concern for safety, we forgot to buckle, I never thought that it would be the last time I would see him chuckle Zeteo alethes: he had laughed at this joke I knew wasn’t funny and as he chuckled he saw this bunny Bizkitwolf1: we swerved out of the way, and as I looked at Dave I had nothing to say, until I saw the truck, I knew that was the end of our luck Zeteo alethes: flashes of my life passed before my eyes as we hit the truck I tho... Free Essays on Dreams Dreams are what we like to call the mysterious thoughts that wander listlessly throughout the mind. The majority of dreams that populates people’s minds can usually be placed under the category of what someone would like their life to be like in addition to their preexisting life. These thoughts can include all types of wishes that have specific appeal to a person. However, some unfortunate cases may arise where people constantly dream about how they would like their lives not to be. In Timothy’s case, he could not wait for his present life to take on a new course of action. Unfortunately, much heartbreak and anguish would follow his footsteps for years to come. The only companion Timothy would have along the journey of his life is the comfort of his dreams. Timothy’s childhood was an extremely difficult one to bear. He had lost his mother at an early age of six and his father became an unbearable drunk after his wife’s death and the loss of his job. Sadly, Timothy had to bear the excruciating pain of his father’s drunken beatings. His father would remove his belt from his waist and persistently wail upon Timothy’s soft and tender back until it resembled the brightest red of a newly polished fire truck. Timothy fell asleep every night fearing that he was going to become the victim of another drunken outburst by his father. When Timothy eventually would fall asleep, he would dream of his mother. He would always remember the times of how she softly read him stories and gently tucked him into bed every night. Timothy’s dreams were exceptionally vivid and alive. His mother’s sensitive kisses goodnight felt like the careful gliding of a pussy willow across his smooth cheek. As the years passed by, Timothy’s love to dream never subsided. He loved to imagine a new life for himself every time his father shouted for him to go to bed. Sometimes he would become a prominent business man who directed a large c... Free Essays on Dreams Since the dawn of mankind, man has been searching for the answer to just one question: Why do we dream? I believe strongly that the reason is not clear-cut and as easy to answer as it might seem. I think that dreams range in meaning and importance. When someone has a dream, there are many possible types of dreams they could have. First of these possibilities is for a dream that involves absolutely no meaning whatsoever. The dream is meaningless and involves a chain or series of events that are unrelated to one another and may be of people or places familiar or not. These dreams are most likely created because of the flash and mixture of chemicals that occurs during sleep. Many times these dreams are actually so bazaar that they have no meaning even to the dreamer. So these dreams are mostly just passed over and ignored. The second type of dream is one in which the dreamer can comprehend everything that is going on but things seem to have no meaning as before. But in some of these dreams, there are symbols that come into play. When you look at these dreams sometimes they can represent real life events. Often these are predictions about what could happen in the future or are an interpretation of things that have passed. These, like almost all other dreams have significance as a result of bodily rejuvenation processes. This type of dream has a significance I believe in helping the person have the feeling of a good sleep, where things have, if not in some bazaar way, been resolved. The third type of dream is one which makes great and perfect sense to the dreamer but doesn't have any real meaning. An example of this is dreaming that you are flying. Although you know what you are doing, and are comprehending this, it really doesn't have meaning in your life. Dreams like this can be quite mentally satisfying to the dreamer. Many times a dream like this can be almost a form of entertainment... Free Essays on Dreams Dreams Dreams are the result of subconscious thoughts and desires. The other theory to dreams are noises in the neurons of the brain (Ferguson 3). Dreams are the mental activity that takes place during REM sleep. REM stand for Rapid Eye Movement, the sleep phase that starts every 90 minutes or so (Ferguson 1). Normally everyone dreams several times a night (Kramer 69). Not being able to recall dreams is not strange. Dreams are communication of the body, mind, and spirit symbolically (Edelson 82). The human brain is always doing activity even when sleeping (Science News 1). Different states of conciseness cause different brain activity. The brain usually has ordinary sequences of imagination (Ferguson 2) For thousands of years dreams were thought of as â€Å"visions† or â€Å"prophesies† or even "hallucinations"(Kramer 72). Dreams seem to be a way for the subconscious mind to sort out and process all the thoughts that happen while people are awake (Fishkoff 2). Dreams can also improve your emotional well being, reduce stress, improve creativity, and provide a â€Å"playground" for your mind, while your body recovers and repairs itself (Ferguson 4). Contrary to the view that dreams serve no function one scientist says that, â€Å"Dreams are the brains way of ‘unlearning’ or removing certain or unneeded memories† (Fishkoff 2). Dreams are a form of mental "housecleaning". This mental "housecleaning" might be necessary because it is not good to remember every single detail of your life (Ferguson 2). There are two functions of dreams: to live conscious wishes, and to guard sleep (Ferguson 2). A more active type of sleep is "Rapid Eye Movement" also called REM sleep. â€Å"As you begin to fall asleep your body temperature declines, your pulse rate drops, and your breathing begins to slow and even, this is called stage one sleep.† (Edelson 71). A more active type of sleep is "Rapid Eye Movement" also called REM sleep( F... Free Essays on Dreams Abstract For many centuries dreams have been interpreted. They believed dreams were as real as reality. The most important thing to keep in mind is that your dreams reflect their own underlying thoughts and feelings, and that the people, actions, setting and emotions in your dreams are personal to you. By thinking about what each dream element means to you or reminds you of, by looking for parallels between these associations and what is happening in your waking life, and by being patient and persistent you can learn to understand your dreams. Introduction One of the brain's most astonishing capacities is its ability to create its own images. Dreams without any visual input from the outside world. Whether you’re sleeping or awake, your brain is constantly at work, communicating messages to you in the form of dreams. Dreams are a communication of body, mind and spirit in a symbolic communicative environmental state of being (Central 103). We dream in order to sort out memories, either adding them to the memory store or throwing away-unwanted information. It has also been suggested that dreams are an attempt by the brain to make sense of stray thoughts. Essentially, dreams are our method of relaxing and letting our minds drift away into a different world. Your brain, mind, and spirit: while at rest "review" and analysis in its own way long term, short term and spirit memory. It kicks around emotions, thoughts, ideas, actions and interactions of the short-term memory. One study of dreaming strongly suggests that it is a primary me ans by which we form and evaluate our survival strategies. Other sleep studies have shown that dreams and dreaming are essential to our mental health (Howell 105). Together these studies emphasize the psychological importance of dreams and dreaming. They show how our consciousness maintains its delicate balance. Ken Howell suggests why consciousness is like a scale balancing one side against another and...