Do your recurring dreams have any significance or are they just random REM nonsense?
What do dreams really mean?
I keep having this weird, recurring dream. In it, I haven't graduated from high school, but I deeply want to be out of school. The dream details change but the basic foundation remains in tact.
In my most recent dream I was in a class and the teacher was Alex Lifeson from the band Rush. He was lecturing about the technical orgins for his solo for the song Limelight. He even played an early sound clip but it was only a half dozen notes or so played repeatedly. As he was handing out a paper for the class to grade his teaching "performance", I woke up.
My normal routine would be to shuffle around in bed and then fall back to sleep and forget most the details of the dream, but this morning I decided to do something different. I got up and intended to track down what this dream might signify and perhaps what the dream analysts felt my subconscious was trying to tell me.
"Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious." - Sigmund Freud
Probably the most famous to analyze dreams through history has been Sigmund Freud: One of Freud's more important discoveries is that emotions buried in the unconscious surface in disguised form during dreaming, and that the remembered fragments of dreams can help uncover the buried feelings. Whether the mechanism is exactly as Freud describes it, many people have derived insights into themselves from studying their dreams, and most modern people consider dreams emotionally significant, unlike our ancestors who often saw them either as divine portents or as the bizarre side-effects of indigestion.
Indigestion? Yesterday, I wasn't feeling the best, so maybe there was a physiological reason for this weird dream.
Florence Cardinal wrote an article for Suite101 analyzing Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams breaking down Freud's four key dreamwork processes: displacement, condensation, symbolization and projection. Also, the secondary process known as secondary revision:Displacement: This is where the dreamer represses an urge, and then redirects that urge to another person or object.So what the hell was Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, of recent notariety for a drunken incident, teaching a class about the origins of his Limelight guitar solo with me as one of his students?Condensation: This is the process whereby the dreamer disguises a particular urge, emotion or thought by condensing, or contracting, it into a brief dream imageI was in a garage band in the 80's and at one time I did want to be a rock and roll guitarist (my "urge"?), but I learned that the process of finding bandmates that cared about music more than getting high was a challenge. Also, I just didn't have enough time to practice while working two jobs. Being a good guitarist requires lots of practice and I just couldn't do it on a few hours sleep.Symbolization: This is where the repressed urge is played out in a symbolic act.I haven't had many music-oriented dreams, so I'm reaching on this one. Although, I do know that I do have some childhood regrets about leaving home at 15 to live on my own. What I don't understand is why I keep dreaming about an incident that did happen (graduation).Projection: This is the projection of the dreamer's repressed desire onto other people, but should not be confused with displacement as it does not involve objects.No objects per se in this dream, save for a chalkboard and desks to offer the surroundings of a classroom, but the inclusion of Alex Lifeson is a new one, because I don't recall ever dreaming about him before.Secondary revision: After the individual undergoes one or more of the other four dreamwork processes, they then undergo the secondary processes of the ego in which the more bizarre components of the dream are reorganized so the dream has a comprehensible surface meaning.I guess that is what I'm trying to do here and now, but I'm not having much luck, hence the reason I am sharing this here. Perhaps you, gentle readers and budding psychoanalysts, will be able to break this one down. Suite101 has a whole list of dream-related articles that might be of interest to learning the hidden meaning to your dreams.
I still don't have any idea what this recurring dream really means since I, in fact, graduated from high school in 1987, but I am fascinated by dreams and do wonder about what they are trying to say, if anything, about the past, present or future.
Are you fascinated by your dreams? Can you find any special meaning that makes sense? Or do you think dreams are just random REM nonsense composed of past experiences?…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - TDavid
Why not raise the dead? Jerry probably could play for the Lakers or the Yankees. Both teams seem to pull off miracle deals all the time.
27 - chea
hi my name is chea i had a dream this afternoon. i haven't been to the ob dr. for about 3.5 yrs. i had a dream that i went to the dr's and they told me i have crevical cancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!it felt so real.
can you explain this to me??????????
thanks chea
28 - Romina
i keep on having a dream about this guy;i was getting married and it was all dark i couldn't see anyone's face but the guy i was marrying but i don't like this guy in that way.
I really need help
29 - sheri
Ahh! One of me favorite subjects.
I'm finding myself thinking about a Stephen King short story called You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band. (I believe that is the title, I could be wrong)
It's a weird and haunting story of a couple who get lost on backroads, and end up in a strange little town called Rock-n-Roll Heaven. They start to realize that the town is populated with dead rock stars. Unable to leave the town, they are forever doomed to listen to rock concerts by dead performers that go on and on and on and on...
30 - TDavid
King has always been able to come up with killer, pardon the pun, ideas.
31 - sheri
TD, he really does, and underneath all the pulp horror he writes, is a brilliant storyteller.
BTW...Nightmares and Dreamscapes is the name of the short story collection that the Rock-n-Roll Heaven story comes from.
32 - sheri
The thing is...I was having strange town dreams before I read King's story.Different details, but the elements were there. Notably, the feeling of familiarity with the people, only I have yet to identify anyone in my dream towns. Coincidence? Collective Consciousness? Certifably Insane? I would really like to know if anyone else has dreams like this.
33 - james
I had this dream that i was in history
class im 14 and this girl kissed me. I also saw her in my dream the night after that and i cannot figure out who she was but i think about it all the time. Please Tell me what this dream means.
34 - Samantha
alrite-the other night i had a dream where my best guy friend(who in reality i have a crush on) is dying or dies- in reality he grauated high school this past year-we still see eachother and talk-well in my dream i remember that he came to visit my high school and the choir class that im in-i remember also that he was on drugs and then he was either dying or died-i started crying like crazy-it felt so real-i was so upset-and then i woke up and realized it was a dream-this isn't the first dream ive had in which he's dying or sick-the last dream i had he had cancer or some kind of sickness (we were in choir too in that dream) i talked to him and he said that this dream means somehting and maybe it means thaat im worried about him-it's kinda freaking me out though-i don't like having these dreams-what do these dreams mean???? please let me now as soon as you can thanks~Samanth~
35 - James Reed
Well I had an interesting dream recently that you will find most interesting. I am a songwriter and have been for years, I am always looking for the secret to what I think is a great tune. Someone came to me and explained it and I said "Oh my God, I never noticed that before. It was soooooo obvious". Then I woke up and everything they told me in the drea, was rubbish!!! Oh!!!
36 - stephanie
I keep on dreaming about my ex boyfriend, i dream about him everynight. please tell me what's going on
37 - Bob A. Booey
Stephanie: he dumped you is what's going on.
Francesca: your boyfriend doesn't trust you and he's insecure.
TDavid: frustrating high school dreams are pretty common. I stopped having them only a couple years ago and I'm almost a decade out of high school. I too had the dream where I worried about taking summer school to graduate and where I overslept and missed a final in high school, even though that was nothing like my real high school experience. Do you have other anxiety about school, work or career currently?
Anyone who dreams about musicians (ahem, Olsen and TDavid) is the epitome of the music geek.
I now find I sometimes dream of phone calls, which is really odd. Anyone else have that?
That is all.
38 - reanne
i think that you should have a website, for free, that gives people that want to checkout your book a glimpse of what you have...some of us need to know what some signs mean. I keep on having dreams that one of my dead relatives comes to my house and tells me that my mom is going to die and she should start getting plans ready for me and my sister and brother....i want to know what this means but no other website can tell me this...i think that you would make buisness then.. sincerely reanne
39 - foreverneveragain
alright, I keep having this dream where I'm atthis sedding but it set in like the 1400's. I'm one of the last ones to leave and I always get a drink at the bar before I go. I leave and end up at some mideval festival but its like s school too, and the teachers are really strict. I don't go to the school, but this chick's showing me around and the teachers think I'm a student and I end up having to live there. the ending's always different though. This time it ended in the 21st century and I was packing for a vacation. My mom was yelling cuz I had been using the washer all day and she needed it. So what's that all about????
40 - Samantha Holloway
Well, my dream has being going on for years. You see I have been trying to have a baby for 10 years. I keep having this dream of me being pregnant. The dream is so vivid. The problem is that not only my self have had the dreams. My dad dreamt that I had a beautiful little girl & we called her Sarah. He said what I am dreaming Sam can't have kids. Two of my co-workers have had the same dream. Once I get over the fact that I will not be a mommie. Then here goes the dream again. I just saw the doctor & she said I am a prime candidate for IVF. So, in the next few months I will be having that done. I am going on Lupron injections to stop my monthly female time for 6 months. I have Endometriosis. Then after I finish that for 6 months. My husband & I will try IVF. I have always felt that it would happen on it's own.
41 - Allison
My friend is always having dreams about one of her friends killing her and it is always in a dark street or alley with one bright light.
42 - Ber
Hi my friend keeps having this nightmare that there are mice rats and snakes all over the room. It keeps waking him up at night and now it is starting to worry him during the day. What could this mean
43 - katie
your all really lucky coz i never have dreams. i feel so left out when all my friends talk about having dreams
44 - KATHY L C
HI, MY DREAM IS KIND OF DISCUSTING AND JUST HAD IT LAST NIGHT. I HAVE A FAIRLY THICK STRING IN MY THOAT THAT I AM TRYING TO PULL OUT... IT KEEPS COMING AND COMING AND THEN WHEN IT CAME TO IN END IT WAS TIDED OFF ON THE THING THAT HANGS DOWN IN OUR THOATS... CAN'T THINK OF THE NAME AT THIS TIME. I AM AT THE DOCTORS AND HE IS TRYING TO CUT IT OFF BUT CAN'T. COURSE I AM GAGGING. THEN I HAVE ANOTHER SAME TYPE STRING THAT I AM TRYING TO PULL OUT OF MY BUTT BUT IT TOO SEEMS TO HAVE NO END AND I WAS TO AFRAID TO KEEP PULLING IT OUT TO THE END CAUSE I WAS AFRAID IT WOULD BE TIDED OFF OF SOMETHING INSIDE OF ME THERE AS WELL, LIKE MY THOAT. THEN I WOKE UP! THINKING PLEASE GOD DON'T LET ME REALLY HAVE A STRING TIDED IN MY THOAT AND COMING OUT MY BUTT!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LOL
WELL THERE IT IS. ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. I HAVE NONE MYSELF.
THANK YOU,
KATHY
45 - laura
i keep having these dreams were people who i love like my famliy and friends die like the other night i dreamt that my dad died and when i woke up i had being crying for real! but no one in my family has died so i have dont know why i keep dreaming these dreams? can someone help me?
46 - MARTHA
I HAD THIS FRIEND WHO I WAS REALLY CLOSE TO...AND I STARTED DREAMING THAT HE CAME TO MY HOUSE GRAB MY HAND AND TOLD ME TO WALK TOWARDS HIM.....NOT KNOWING WHAT HE WAS DOING I JUST FOLLOWED...THEN HE KISSED ME ..IT FELT SOOO REAL...SO THE NEXT DAY WHEN I SAW HIM...I FELT WEIRD....I HAD THIS DREAM ATLEAST 3 MORE TIMES, THEN HE DIES...3 DAYS AFTER HE DIED I HAD THIS DREAM AGAIN...AND THEN 3 OR 4 MORE TIMES....THEN LIKE 2 WEEKS AGO I DREAMED ABOUT ANOTHER CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE WHO KISSED ME UNEXPECTEDLY....NOW IM KINDA WORRIED BECAUSE LAST TIME I DREMPT BOUT SOMTHING LIKE THAT MY FRIEND DIED...WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?
47 - Scared
I have this dream at random times in the year.
My mother tells me she hears me screaming at night and cursing freely.
But the only thing I ever remember is a small man picking flowers.
Many people laugh at that. The worst nightmare i've had is a man picking flowers. Its strange because its always the same thing, over and over.
What does this meen?
48 - Jen
My boyfriend has this recurring dream about calling for this entity and then when it comes it terrifies him to the point that he trembles and cries out in his sleep. I hate to see him so disturbed. The last time it materialized as a horrible ghoulish woman. I know he's been let down by women in the past and he's really scared of our relationship. Could his desire for a loving relationship with a woman be what he's calling for, but the fear of past hurts keeps rearing its ugly head? I love him dearly and hope he can get past this. Any ideas anyone?
49 - kathy
I dont know if this are dreams cause they feel so real very pyhsical.I feel me watching myself and feel me rising while a man next to me is wispering something latin.I wake up scared and i turn on the tv for the rest of the nite.Next time i hade a dream where this same man was spinning me in my bed and laughing at me i started to like it but i told myself no and that god was my father then i woke up. Next time he graved me and from my bed through me into the wall and closet door. But the thing is i can feel it all happenning, every little detail! I haven't had any for awhile now but i prefer not to say anything so they don't come back! What does this mean ?? This dreams! Thank you
50 - staci
I have this dream of an old boyfriend and i find each other again after 10 years. and we are at this dance and he is looking for me and as he is looking for me i appear and tell him "Im right here" like it was silly for him to look for me cause i was always there. what does this dream mean?
51 - staci
Kathy that dream scares me like you have a battle with evil in your dream.
52 - kurtis
I keep having this dream that me and my x-girfriend are gettin back together...in all reality i havent spoken to her in 6 months...what does this mean?
53 - Michelle
I had a dream that a really good friend of mine, that I almost trust with my life, kills me by strangling me with a wire. What does this mean?
54 - Sierra
I keep having bad reams about my boyfriend and I like last night i had a dream that he hugged me and kissed me on the cheack and said goodbye. I went to run after him and he disappered. What does this mean ??
55 - Joanne
I keep having these dreams that my husband is cheating on me, and I keep finding out. I freak out and leave him.... I know he is not cheating on me, but what does this dream mean ??? Help I have these dreams frequently...
56 - Gillian
Theres this girl who steals a mask and when she puts it on she turns invisable when she takes it off she has no body or face then a nicely dressed lady comes and picks up the mask next the girl starts imagining something and goes,"bigger feet". then it says would you like to see the creation? and my mind goes NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then it shows the thing and its the most disgusting thing ever! it has a witches head w/t hat a caterpillers body and huge human feet! what does it mean?
57 - Majella
I have these dreams about my boyfriend having affairs which I find out about and its usually with people I know, like my sister for example.
When I find out I go crazy crying and then ask questions why? why? Then I get really violent, last night when I dreamt about it I stabbed him in the hand with a fork, but when I wake up I have to remind myself that the dream wasn't real... Am I crazy? What does it all mean I have this dream all the time...
58 - Marina
Hi, i keep having dreams about me being in school, especially in my jewerly class and the kid that i like which is kinda weird to tell you the truth..... and I'm always looking at him, and there's another one where im in my history class with my classmates and teacher but it doesnt look like my history class i have both of those dreams like or twice... and i really dont know what it means. Please help me figure it out.
59 - gabby
well i dont really ever have scarey dreams but the other night i had this really horriable to were i woke up crying and shaking like crazy and the dream was were my family was getting killed but in the most disturbing way i dont know wat it meens do u??
60 - Dawn
I used to have dreams that my husband was cheating on me and I found out shortly after the dream that he really did cheat on me.
Now I often have this dream about my instructor, and I am with him. If it is not with him it is with some one else but I can't see his face. What does this mean?
61 - Kayleigh
a few months into my current rship i started having really horrid dreams, this was a year ago, and unfortunatley they are as horrid and as hurtful as ever, some nights i wake up crying, fall back to sleep and wake up again crying from these dreams, for the last year on and off, now more frequent, i have them. they all have the same jist but different surroundings so to speak. every single dream involves my boyfriend deceiving me, cheating on me and being incredibly nasty about it to me, for example by laughing at the fact he has cheated on me frequently. now its just getting way too much for me as they are so real, and really seem to take my emotional energy out of my life and relationship, they make me so paranoid and it makes me feel like shit! i dont have a clue how to analyse them as the same problamatic content is obvious- due to past occurences i am worried about him cheating and the exact amount to which i am worried appears in my dreams, it is now like a fear of mine, some analysts say its a fear of being abandoned or hurt- which i totally agree about but then that doesn't help me, i need advice not descriptions! its really taking a toll on my relationship so any comments would be helpful x
62 - Marcus
i keep getting a dream where i am in an open field its green and beautiful and theres no one around i its kinda sloping and i know when i reach the top i will be able to see he world repeatedly have been having dis dream
63 - Renee
I keep having this dream that I'm walking through my house and it's distorted. It looks sort of like people when they look in a house of mirrors, all stretched out and bent.I'm running away from someone, I don't know who because it is to dark and all I can see is his figure. Every time I have the dream it goes farther and farther. last time I had it I was lost in a hallway running and running as it kept getting longer and longer and I finally got to the end and ended in a closet with staring eyes. I know it sounds stupid but I just don't understand how that could relate to your theory. Is it because of an insecurity or fear at home you think? I don't know but I always wake up panicked.
64 - Tiffany
i had a dream that my brother committed suicide in front of me and threw himself in front of the bus. i remember seeing him in the coffin and everything and have a emotional breakdown in the funeral parlor, and then all of a sudden his foot moved and he coughed and got up and walked around like it was nothing
65 - KJ
i had 2 dreams one I was somewhere and I was looking for my boyfriend and he told me he was at the river so my daughter and I went down there. we had to walk through this path thing and I was stepping in mud and I was on the phone and he just kept saying walk to me ur almost there. then all of a sudden I had to climb this thing with my best friend and another friend. and then another friend of mine appeared. and i am afraid of heights on this huge thing and couldn't move then it turned out we climbed a roller coaster and some weird guy hijacked it and made us all get on it. and we were going around a million times and my daughter was at the bottom of it and i thought she was going to get kidnapped and I kept sneaking a call to my boyfriend to come get her, and all he kept saying I'm on my way I'm on my way. then all of a sudden we got off and were at the bottom of it. and some guy came and destroyed the roller coaster and I grabbed my daughter and we all made a run for it. I ended behind this fence and the was a rabbit there and it kept bothering us and on the other side of the fence was a dog. then i heard my best friend calling for me so i tried to get to her and i ended up in this tunnel thing that brings you from one side of the train to the other. and i just kept running and running and i felt like I was never going to get out. at this point I have no idea where my daughter was, even though a minute before she was right with me. and then I got down some steps collapsed because i couldn't cathc my breath and this guy with a broken arm kept looking at me telling me he couldn't call 911. then i woke up.
66 - Lost In Emotion
I woke up this morning and felt this sudden urge to finally do some research on a dream that keeps recurring. I wake up feeling very empty inside from these dreams and the feeling lasts quite awhile. I am 24yr old female . I dated my first love many years ago and we had a very terrible, tumoltuos relationship. The break up was very, very hard on me.
He was a severe drug addict and I always wanted to help him. Now I am married, I have been married to my husband for 1 year and we were dating for 4 years. In the beginning of our courtship, I cheated on my now husband with my ex. I realized it was never going to work out with him and that my new boyfriend, was very loving so I broke ties off with my ex. We had made a date one last time to say good bye when my new boyfriend had left to the military.
It was the worst thing I ever did. Alot of hateful angry words were said, and many tears flowed. My ex cried and asked me to live with him and get married and I said no. So needless to say that day was the last day I ever spoke to him again. I moved out of state, changed my number and never ever saw him again. I heard since then he was suffering in and out of Rehab.
I am sorry I am telling you all this but I think it might have to do with my dreams. Every since that break up 5 yrs ago, I keep getting recurring dreams. ANd it always feels very real. Like my ex sends his soul through dreams to visit me.
Each dream is different but its always the same.
We try to talk about what happened, he apologizes for hurting me, he wants me back. I just cant understand after soooo many years why I still keep having these dreams.
Last night was the most vivid dream yet. I had a dream we were in an apartment building in a stairwell. He showed up to husbands best friends house with his girlfriend. I killed her in the dream and threw her down the elevator shute. Then me and him just sat together on the floor and looked at each other in the eyes and just smiled and made amends. In the dream we literally hugged and said now everything is OK. Eveything is ok between us.
I love my husband very much, but I feel so guilty that I dream about my ex so much. Please can you help me understand why?When I dream of my ex I always cry over him. WHat is going on?? Please help!!!
Sincerely,
Lost in Emotion
67 - valeska
i keep having these dreams and i dont no what they mean there not the same but i keep getting stabbed or cut and i feel the blade or knife dig in to me and i feel the stinging and the split in the skin then i wake up feeling lost and weird help please tell me what it means
68 - sr
Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.
69 - nicky
you dont help use at all
70 - patrick
i had a reoccuring dream that i was falling and when i hit the bottom i wake up.
wat does this mean?
71 - albert einstien
e = mc u suck
72 - Mandy
I need your help please in seriousness. I am so embarressed to even talk about it here. But, I keep having weird dreams where my dead mom is a zombie and, wants to come get me.She scares me very bad and, she wants me to go with her i guess. And, this is everytime I dream. I can't get rid of dreaming about my dead mom. And, I just wake up screaming and crying. Also, sometimes the dreams I have about her are sexual. I wake up saying what the heck was that!! I am so ashamed to even say this. Why am I having these weird sex dreams and, about my dead mom trying to scare me?? What does this all mean?? This is how bad my dreams are. They are no ordinary dreams they are very, very bad. It is nothing as your imagining they could be. I really am scared and, I need to find out once and for all about what my dreams really mean. It is so embarrasing to me. Please help.
73 - Cindy
I have a couple of wierd dreams one is when I am on a wood bored and I am spinning on it around mountains. Then I wake up. The next dream is I am having a baby and before I have the baby I wake up.Then I am running and there is people around me and I cant see them its all black but they are chasing
74 - JESSE
I KEEP DREAMING MY TEETH KEEP FALLING OUT.
75 - Mandy
Jesse that means your under alot of stress. And, the only way for your body to release this stress is by dreaming about teeth falling out. I may be wrong but, this is what I am sure this is what it all means.