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Do dreams have a meaning?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Closet88, Nov 21, 2012.

  1. Closet88

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    I wrote a thread in the coming out section last week about my close relationship with my nanna who died 3 years ago and how I visited her grave a few weeks ago and "came out" to her. For more info check it out!

    Anyway, last night I had a dream where I was walking by my nanna's house and saw her with a guy much younger than her and they were walking my nanna's dog. So she saw me and asked if I was coming in for a drink. So I went in my nanna's house and she gave me a beer. We sat there and chatted and the mystery guy just stared at me and smiled, without saying a word. My nanna told me how proud she is of me and soon said it was time for me to go. I told her I didn't want to go, I wanted to stay with her. She said we can't always have what we want and that she loves me. Then I woke up.

    This dream has totally freaked me out. For starters, I don't usually remember any dreams I have. Secondly, this dream was so vivid. I remember everything. And then there's the mystery guy. He looked like my uncle but I know it wasn't him. My grandad died over 40 years ago and I have never seen any pictures of him. I am convinced this was him in the dream! I woke up and cried like a baby. The only time I remember crying since I was a child is when my nanna was dying. This is a very strange feeling for me. I can't believe I'm actually sharing it on here!

    So does anyone know much about dreams? Do they mean anything? Or is it just wishful thinking? Everything seemed so real.
     
  2. CamaroBlack

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    I don't really think there is a reason to freak out I think the dream was just a way for your nana to tell you shes ok with you being gay and that she loves you since you went to her grave to tell her as for the mystery man I don't know he may have been your grandpa or someone else dreams are really weird they can be based on memories the person has, feelings ,people they've met, or just random things that don't make any absolute sense what so ever so try to not worry too much over it I'm sure she just wanted to tell you that she was proud of you and she used your dreams to do it that's all.
     
  3. Closet88

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    See I don't really believe in any afterlife or anything like that, I'm quite pessimistic like that. I think that's why it freaked me out so much. It all seemed so real and I really didn't wanna wake up, I just wanted to stay there. I'm regretting not asking the guy if he was my grandad too! I guess I'll never get a chance to go back there now.
     
  4. Monmon

    Monmon Guest

    So true, I don't believe in the afterlife either. It was not you nana telling you, you just had a dream about her because you had strong connection when she was still alive. I also had dreams of my ex whom I connected every so often, but he's not dead.
     
  5. Metleon

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    All dreams have meaning, because dreams come about as a result of your brain processing information about the day. In this dream's case it was either:
    - Your nana coming to you and telling you she's alright with you being gay.
    - You being alright with you being gay and your brain put your nana in the dream because you were thinking about her at some point during the day.
     
  6. Skyline

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    I like to see dreams as the sub-conscious's turn for thinking. As posted above, it is just your brain's way of processing information during sleep. You can analyze and pull a meaning from dreams when you wake up, but that is a subjective process. For example, I've had a few dreams in which I was female. The experience was very nice, and it was one of the clues that brought me to the level of awareness I have on myself right now.
     
  7. Closet88

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    Thanks for your comments, I guess we will never truly understand what dreams are all about. All I know is that all this talk about dreams is making me want to watch Inception!
     
  8. Hexagon

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    IMO, dreams mean something. They mean you're dreaming.
     
  9. Odahingum

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    A dream never tells you anything that you don't know already. Perhaps your brain was trying to face you with something you can't bring yourself to admitting, or it was engaging in a test-pilot mode for some scenario you fear, or it was gratifying you with a scene you wanted to enact. In any case, a dream is not a statement about the people you see in it, but a statement about the dreamer. It is literally all in your head, and the symbols it uses only make sense to you. Only you can decipher fully what meanings you are subconsciously struggling with.
     
  10. rday13

    rday13 Guest

    Lots of good stuff about dreams has always been mentioned here.
    Dreams can be understood as a manifestation of your deepest desires, anxieties, fears, and hopes among other things. Essentially your unconscious mind expresses itself in dreams.
    The most influential authority in modern times on dreams might be Sigmund Freud, who devised a series of guidelines to interpret dreams...one of the few things he did that has withstood scientific scrutiny.

    It might help to recall as much as you can of your dream, write it out and then analyze it. There are some helpful links online to doing so :slight_smile:
     
  11. Chip

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    Carl Jung did a lot with dream interpretation as well, and his understanding of dreams puts them in a bigger context than Freud's dream analysis.

    But to me, I think dreams can be simply a manifestation of thoughts in the unconscious, as Jung speaks of, but also ways for those who are no longer incarnate to communicate to us. There are lots of pretty well documented cases of very specific information being presented by a recently-deceased relative in a dream that they would not otherwise had any way of knowing.

    It can be very disturbing to one's schema of how the world works to consider something like this, and I'm not presenting it as fact, because I think it's up to each person to intrepret and come to their own conclusions.

    But from the experiences I've had in working with a number of people, I'd be pretty inclined to believe that the experience you had was probably literal... your grandmother genuinely coming to you to express her acceptance of who you are.

    I just read a really fascinating book, "Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander, MD. He is a neurosurgeon who, prior to his own experience, was a total skeptic to the idea that consciousness is separate from physical life and brain function. But he came to believe otherwise, and is very matter-of-fact and looks at every current explanation for near-death experiences... and makes a strong case that there's more out there than we realize. :slight_smile:
     
  12. Linthras

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    Exactly dreams are a result of your subconcious.
    Meaning your emotions, real life experiences and fantasy.
    There's no outside force, like an afterlife, involved.

    @Chip, I'd like to see some of his strong arguments, because I wasn't able to find any.
    It's seems to be mainly pressupostionalism, leaps of faith and gap arguments.