Psychology of Sleep and Dreams - Assignment Example

 “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instructions. In this scripture Elihu states that God gives us sealed instructions in the form of dreams” (Milligan, p.21). However, psychology defines dreams in a different manner. At the time of sleeping, a person’s conscious mind becomes inactive whereas the subconscious or unconscious mind becomes active. As a result of that the things that were stored in the unconscious mind may become active during sleeping. Dreaming is often take place while a person sleeps. The themes of dreams may have some connection with the things stored in the unconscious mind. This paper analyses ten different dreams and how I felt in the morning with respect to expressions and emotions. According to Bible, God communicate mostly with the people through dreams. As God is an invisible entity to human, his communication means may be different from the ordinary communication means popular among the human beings. Hamon has mentioned that “the Bible contains more than 50 references to dreams and visions in which God delivered messages” (Hamon, p.22). Being a highly religious person, I do believe that some of my dreams were real messages from the God. For example, in one of my dreams, I found that my father is trying to wake me up at around 3 am. I woke up in an agony and rests in my bed for a while. Immediately I felt something goes wrong somewhere. I went to kitchen and realized that the gas is leaking. I do believe that God has waked me up at early morning to convey me the danger. I was actually surprised and the whole morning I was thinking about this incident. For believers of God, dreams are the messages from the God. However, psychologists have different interpretations about the dream. “A dream unifies the body, mind, and spirit. It provides you with insight into your own self and a means for self-exploration. In understanding your dreams, you will have a better understanding and discovery of your true self” (Welcome to Dream Moods). During my early childhood, I have the habit of seeing threatening dreams. I found many times as some animals trying to attack me in my dreams. I do believe that these dreams were contributions of my grandparents who told me the stories of animals, especially that of elephants. I think the stories about elephant attacks were stored in my unconscious mind and these things became active while I was sleeping during my childhood. “The act of dream is physiological (physical), whereas the content of the dream is psychological. The images, emotions and activities of the dream are a product of the individual's unconscious mind, having to do with the total make-up of one's human condition (conscious and unconscious)” (Raffa). Most of the dreams are normally associated with our own past experiences. In some cases, these experiences might be even decades old. For example, I had a bitter experience of watching a bus accident in which 48 people were killed. The frightening scenes I have seen at the accident site are still in my memory. It will come in the form of threatening dreams occasionally at the time of sleeping. I think this incident is still causing huge problems to me in the form of threatening dreams. It is impossible for me to come out from the agonies and hangovers of this dream easily, every time after watching it in the night. Negative dreams like this one is always creating problems to me in the morning. “Most images (symbols) in dreams are personal representations of the individual (dealing with events and emotions in our waking lives), but also found within the dream are representations (symbols) that have nothing to do with the individual's personal knowledge” (Raffa). Last week, I found a dream in which I interacted with some aliens. So far I have no knowledge about aliens and never seen any film or read any book about aliens. Yet, I found extremely strange creatures during my sleep. I am still unable to explain this dream in detail since my knowledge about psychology is limited. Unlike many other frightening dreams, I felt happiness after watching this dream. Charmaine Saunders has mentioned that “dreams are direct messages from our subconscious mind and are therefore an invaluable source of information”. Recently I have seen a celebrity in my dream. She came nearer to me and chatted with me in my dream. After waking up, I realized that my fascination towards this celebrity (A film actress) has resulted in dreaming about her. This dream also presented me a positive energy in the morning. Actually I like to see that dream again and again. I have the knack of justifying even big mistakes committed by me. I have the habit of projecting even simple achievements as great things. As a result of that, I usually see good things in my dreams. A couple of weeks before, I have seen a dream in which I acted as a police officer. Becoming a police officer was my childhood ambition. However, I failed to become a police officer. However, still I see dreams in which I act as police officers. I think my childhood ambition is appearing in the form of dream in this case. This is an example of positive dream which gives positive energy in the morning. I have the habit of seeing many dreams during sleeping. However, the themes of only few dreams can be recollected in the morning. In other words, majority of the dreams which I see during night cannot be recollected in the morning. This type of dreams is called digestive dreams. Digestive dreams are the ones which summarize the day's events, concerns, thoughts, and ideas. “Many famous creative works such as the poem "Kubla Khan" appeared firstly in the form of a dream. Paul McCartney says that he got the words and tune for his classic song "Yesterday" through a dream experience” (Saunders). I recently faced a problem with respect to functioning of my laptop. I tried many options to rectify it. However, I failed to succeed. However, during one night while I was sleeping, I got an idea in the form of a dream which helped me to correct that problem. I think the laptop problem was haunting me even during sleeping and that is why I was able to see this creative dream. Anxiety dreams are related to something which worries the person in his life. Before examinations, I always see anxiety dreams in which I develop lot of concerns about the results. It would be impossible for me to enjoy a peaceful sleep in the night before the examination day. Moreover, I have many anxiety dreams related to the success and failures about my love affair with a teenager. Occasionally, I see nightmares. Nightmares always present me sleepless night. I wake up immediately after the nightmare and it is impossible for me to sleep further during that night. Nightmare dreams often appear in the form of violence, ghosts or dangers. Even after the waking up, I feel the after effects of nightmares. Warning dreams are also repetitive in nature. This type of dreams warns me about certain thing. For example, I usually see warning dreams before the beginning of my examinations. Such dreams warn me about the possibility of failure and encourage me to work hard to attain success. To conclude, dreams are part of human life. Dreams are of different kinds. For a believer, dreams are the messages from God. For psychologists, dreams are caused by the information stored in the subconscious mind. In any case, one thing is sure; dreams are capable of providing both pleasant and frightening feelings and emotions. Works Cited Hamon, Jane. “Dreams and Visions: Understanding Your Dreams and How God Can Use Them to Speak to You Today”. 2010. Publisher: Regal Books (May 2000). Print. Milligan, Ira. “Understanding the Dreams You Dream Revised and Expanded”. 2010. Publisher: Destiny Image Publishers; Revised & Expanded edition (May 1, 2010). Print Raffa, Jean, Benedict. “The Unconscious World of Dream”. 2004. Web. 09 December 2013. Saunders, Charmaine. 2007. “Understanding Your Dreams”. Aphrodite Women’s Health. Web. 09 December 2013 “Welcome to Dream Moods”. 2010. Web. 09 December 2013 Read More