Do you believe in dreams? Not goals or personal promises of the future but the ones that happen when you manage to get some sleep between toilet runs feed runs and partners snores. This week I had the most disturbing dream of a baby drowning. In my dream I managed to bring her back to consciousness but when I woke I was confused and saddened. Saddened because I couldn’t work out if she was in my care or not. I knew she wasn’t mine, and the mother was close by, but I couldn’t work out if I were meant to be watching out for her. I still can’t work out who was in charge of her care, but regardless I had checked on her found her and brought her back to life.
I wasn’t surprised that I had that dream because I had a weird day at work. I’m a bigger believer in dreams having a meaning science wise they are still undecided, but they have concluded that dreams are somehow linked to your emotional state. My middle boy dreams a lot and I use them to interpret what he can’t tell me. He dreams of water a lot when he is anxious and this week someone was drowning him.
Many experts, including William Dement, MD, Ph.D., a Stanford professor known as the “father of sleep medicine,” believe that dreams contain personal messages — and are linked to our emotions and mood. Others believe that dreams are simply random byproducts of the brain’s chemical changes.
There hasn’t always been rampant disagreement about dreams. For decades, scientists followed the theories of Sigmund Freud, who wrote in 1900 that dreams provide a harmless way to act out our unconscious fears or taboo thoughts.
If people weren’t able to dream, Freud said, they would become psychotic.
A 1998 study published in Science was the first to show that the portion of the brain that controls emotions, senses and long-term memory is active during dream states.
Experts say the study showed that dreaming is linked to emotion and not just a series of random events. Even skeptics have conceded that there must be some sort of relationship between dreams and emotions.
So while I don’t dream a lot but when I do there are the same ‘themed’ dreams I do have. Flying I often dream that I’m running and start to lift off. Then there is water be it drowning or swimming there is water, being lost or having lost someone, old boyfriends -it’s not sexual I just know that I’m with them, and my son dreams of being drowned.
Water. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment. Water and its states represent different things. To see muddy or dirty water in your dream indicates that you are wallowing in your negative emotions. To hear running water in your dream denotes meditation and reflection.
Flying.To dream that you are flying signifies a sense of freedom where you had initially felt restricted and limited.
Old boyfriends. To see an old ex-boyfriend from childhood in your dream refers to a freer, less encumbered relationship. The dream serves to bring you back to a time where the responsibilities of adulthood (or marriage) did not interfere with the spontaneity of romance. You need to recapture the excitement, freedom, and vitality of youth that is lacking in your present relationship.
Being lost. To dream that you’re lost suggests that you have lost your direction in life or that you have lost sight of your goals. You may be feeling worried and insecure about the path you are taking in life.
Drowning. To dream that you are drowning indicates that you are feeling overwhelmed by emotions. Repressed issues may be coming back to haunt you
Funnily enough, when I checked on the meaning of bringing the baby back a baby to life after drowning it meant this: Thus dreaming of rescuing a drowning baby means that you are allowing yourself to be vulnerable and accepting help from others, and you know what I have just that.
Do you believe in dreams being able to tell stories?
