Dream is hidden in the mind. Is dream an illusion? People have been wondering where dreams come from during all ages and virtually all cultures. Sigmund Freud’s book ‘the Interpretation of Dreams’ suggests we all have primitive, infantile wishes we can no longer fulfil in our adult waking lives where we must ‘repress’ such wishes. We can only live them out in our dreams. Modern day stress can lead to sleep-wake cycle disturbances. Anxiety and chronic stress can drastically impact sleeping patterns. Regular sleeping patterns when disturbed can lead to chronic health and mental health issues. Dream therapy how real it works.
From the time humans developed a written language, they recorded their dreams and ways to interpret dreams. MacKenzie (1965) cited evidence found in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a series of picture symbols from these hieroglyphs were drawings of pictures which were believed to be of the dreams experienced by these people. These dreams were recorded and interpreted in great detail and over 4,000 years ago, the Egyptians incorporated their dreams into. their daily lives. The Greeks believed that dreams came from many of their other gods.
Usually, the dreams appeared from their messengers, but occasionally, the god actually appeared in the dreams. The. Greeks distinguished between true and false dreams, but like the Egyptians, the Greeks also faced the problem of how to tell one from the other.
During the late 19th·century, the traditional view of dream theory was changing from a view of supernatural or divine cause (those sources external to man himself) to man himself as the cause of dreams. There were arguments that dreams were solely physiological in cause, dismissing the idea that dreams might offer significant clues to the dreamer’s personality or to the problems that confronted him in waking life. Scientists recognized that the dreamer made his own dream (MacKenzie, 1965, 87-8) With scientific advancement, men tried to delve deeper into the process of sleep. Dreams are often considered routes into our unconscious mind, holding thoughts and feelings that may not be obvious to us.
Freud described dreams as the royal road to the unconscious, and they do indeed give us a gateway into the workings of our deepest selves, a bridge between our conscious and unconscious worlds. The imaginary realm holds endless possibilities, for the whirlwind of events and imagery in dreams contains the psyche’s riches.
Time heals wounds, and also, time spent in dream sleep is what heals faster. REM- sleep [Rapid Eye Movement] dreaming appears to take the painful sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional episodes experienced during the day, offering emotional resolution when you awake the next morning. From many centuries, therapists are using dreams as a way of healing.
How to connect with your dreams
There are so many ways to reconnect with your dreams that you are sure to find one that resonates with you. Taking a few moments to reconnect with ourselves before falling into sleep is beneficial too. In the lead up to sleep, try to avoid having unnecessary mental stimulation. When you’re in bed and settling down for the night if you find yourself still looking at your phone it’s creating a distraction from the opportunity of reconnecting to yourself before you sleep. We often try to unwind with phones, but so often it has the opposite of the desired effect, instead flooding our already overstimulated minds. Stress at bed time can lead to sleep deprivation and disturbances.
By bringing the day to a close in a relaxed way using techniques such as body mapping, meditation and even simply getting lost in an enjoyable novel is preferable to running through a mental to-do list. Body mapping brings your focus back to your physical self and away from your busy mind. Playing soft soothing music before bedtime helps to relax mind. Our dream landscape often holds answers if we can listen out for them. Working as a link between the conscious mind and the unconscious world within us, the imagery realm called dream with its endless possibilities is valuable exploration indeed. Set the internal clock right with regular sleeping patterns. Sleep and dream may be connected and mental health is dependent on this relationship.
Sleep well! Dream Big!
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