Of dreams

by Bob Panic life coaching & mentoring series

A personal insight and observation on human psychology from a change and transformation evangelist www.rockstarconsultinggroup

Read this 1st! 1st off, the caveats and disclaimers: I am not a qualified expert or psychologist. My day job is change and transformation: both from a business (business process, human capital and organisational design perspective) and a technology focus (systems, new technology, new governance processes). Put simply, I am a fan of dreams. I am almost a bigger fan of others dreams than my own. This article is my personal opinion on the subject. No, I am not a voyeur, its purely scientific and my desire and personal interest - to understand the motivations, passions and desires of my fellow citizen. This article is not a research piece, it is a fan page of sorts, one developed over 30+ years of observation and insight and research, and ultimately this article is the equivalent to a drop of water on the tip of the iceberg of what dream science can tell us (or at least tries to tell us) about dreams. I do go on tangents, this article is written ad lib and is free flowing . There is no portent or prophesy to dreams (sometimes it looks that way but I will explain later in main body of my piece), if you think this way; that there is some unseen force guiding your life through the use of your personal dreams, then this article might not be for you.

And it begins Most things you will find written and discussed on the topic of dreams, even in science, is that a lot of the findings and research stems from personal theory and scholastic study. At times, personal interpretation - and very little real science - is involved. Sleep therapy, in my opinion, is the closest of the sciences related to sleep; it is not concerned about dreams as such, just sleep patterns (or lack thereof) and other moderately interesting stuff. Most peoples concerns about dreams especially in the west are, that even though dreams are the most natural thing in the world (we all dream), only a few are interested in talking openly about them. This is a social issue - in the west we are considered crazy or perceived as such - due to the just plain weird nature of dreams and in particular those dreams of an erotic nature especially those kinky dreams about close friends or work colleagues another sub topic ramble: erotic dreams are the most useless and meaningless dreams of all - in my opinion anyway - not much can be read into them, most, if not all, are a result of hormones kicking in

when we subconsciously admire someone, at times with no romantic link to the individual what so ever)

If we are from the east, this is where the portent and mysticism concept of dreams comes from (not that I am saying that none of this stuff comes from Christianity, Judaism or Islam) but in the pure eastern philosophical sense, dreams are seen as communication to or from a deitys and or ancestors. As mentioned I am not even going to go down this path just providing a bit of a context.

So why do I dream something and then it happens Sorry but God is probably not communicating to you. Fate or Predetermination (a false perception of fate or our misinterpretation of fatalistic occurrence) does not exist. But your belief system might allow for this and that is perfectly fine. However I find this aspect of dreams really fascinating because from a logical and scientific reasoning point of view, most fate/kismet occurrences and such things can be explained. But even the most in-depth insight into our dreams and happenstance reveals unexplained mystery. The main reason for this is that our brain, through our 5 senses, perceives, and in fact observes, everything we encounter. Stop and re-read that last sentence and think of the extent of what that covers. It is very hard for us to truly comprehend this concept because we are not acutely aware that we are fully aware of EVERYTHING, if that makes sense The best way to understand what the brain absorbs, was told to me by my High School Physics teacher in science class (back in the day): when you walk into a room - lets say a bathroom, a large bathroom, one that is full of small white wall and floor tiles your subconscious brain collects every detail about that room including the size and dimensions, the colour of the tiles (easy, they are white) but also the texture, and most importantly for this example, the total amount of tiles (number of tiles) both in the floor and wall! Think about that next time you go to the loo! Or perhaps concentrate on the job at hand Ever play the game as a child where you counted the steps as you walk up and down a bunch of stairs? Well you gave up after a while (thank goodness, as the counting out aloud is really annoying for observers and passers-by) or if you were young enough, you ran out of numbers. But as an adult your brain contains the number of every step you have taken in your entire lifetime. The reason why we dont likely know the answer to how many steps we have taken in a lifetime, is because we are normal and our brain is functioning as per normal defined parameters. I will quickly digress: a trained psychologist can use hypnosis to extract such

information from your subconscious. Hypnosis is a subject beyond my interest and understanding, and whatever personal opinions that I might have on the subject are based on others opinions, so I wont even go there

Higher brain functioning and social stigma However, if you can recall every aspect of every detail of every moment, then you are considered higher functioning from a brain sense - but on the other hand you might not be able to write, read or speak or be able to deal with people or social situations, your brain considers these things as irrelevant - and in some instances, upon reflection - who are we to disagree. These are the categories of the extremely gifted and various other high functioning disorders I hate the term of disorder, as it states that someones brain is not ordered (like as if ours is) just because we dont understand or accept , as a society, what is going on in someones head So now, in the simplest of terms and explanations, we begin to understand that our brain absorbs and perceives everything and that the conscious brain edits what we see, so we can socially function - and modern society accepts us as normal and functional - which is nice of your brain to do so, well I think so anyway Women in particular are even more fascinating due to their natural perception abilities. If you are a creationist, you might believe that is an extra beauty of Gods creation, or if you are an evolutionist, you would believe that it is a survival instinct coupled with the natural (and in my humble opinion, socially forced) need to look after and raise children. Personally I think its the chemicals making synaptic connections in the female brain that do not get created in men because of our chemical release of testosterone, which in all probability prevents us from any sort of thinking at times

And back to dreams and the future sense So yes at times you will dream something, it will be vivid and astounding and sometime down the track (usually the very next day), it will become a reality (or aspects of it will be realised). So why does this occur? Well back to my previous comments on the brain observing everything and filtering. During dreams perhaps the brain files all this stuff somewhere else (the ultra-dark pits of the brain my thinking) and during this storage work you get perceptive and vivid dreams, some which are of use (especially if you are a medical professional focused on the psyche), or you are a fan of dreams like me, and want to try to make sense (in effect interpret) your dreams in a limited way. Now you might disagree with the above as you feel that you have been privy to highly specific details of what will happen tomorrow, and it has continually occurred and come to pass, and you have realised this, and kept quiet while secretly making millions of dollars and capitalising upon your new found skill for future sensing: you may have a brain tumour and need to seek medical assistance immediately

Serious medical issues and dreams I was not being glib before about what I said. Most dreams are just subconscious manifestations of desires or observations or unrealised (or realised) actions . Nothing more nothing less. The next level of dreams, night terrors, insomnia, repetitious dreams (same dream continuously playing for days and weeks on end) and in particular repeating dreams of considerably vivid nature, sleep walking (in adults) and simular things, are a sign that there is something seriously wrong. Medical attention must be sought immediately! Either you are on medication (see your GP for drug interactions, complications and dosage) or you are taking non-prescription drugs (recreational drugs) that are causing serious chemical reactions (or delayed reactions) in the brain, or you have another medical condition. Lack of sleep is a serious medical condition and all the stuff listed above needs professional medical and scientific help no ifs or buts book an appointment to see your GP (no not your herbal acupuncturist/naturopath) but a medically trained, certified, registered general practitioner who should refer you to a sleep specialist or mental health professional. If your GP doesnt, get obstinate and demand a referral, or get another GP. Sleep issues are very, very serious!

Why dream This is a highly complex and scientific question. No one really has a definitive answer. The following is my personal simple opinion and reasons listed are neither comprehensive nor detailed, but I feel they are pretty close to the mark, from a moderately well read and researched casual observer and semi scientific person that I am: 1. A chemical reaction. This is where I ask what medication and drugs one takes as the brain (the most complex thing in the universe and about the closest that we will ever get to fully appreciate the unending force of Gods creation or if you are an evolutionist, the most complex evolutionary step in humankinds development it is the most complex chemical and electrical system ever! This is the crux of dreams: there are chemical and electrical exchanges in the brain that are active (or more active) during sleep and Dream Sleep in particular and less active during the day (or else you are hallucinating and seriously need medical attention) a. Hormone induced dreams. It seems that we have more highly vivid dreams during puberty (makes sense as new chemicals are being produced by the body and affecting the brain) and these dreams (the highly vivid ones) will dissipate (reduce) or disappear once we hit 30. This is my personal experience. I am well on my way to middle age now, I find that the highly vivid dreams I had in my younger years very rarely, if ever appear now, so speaking from personal experience, I think this theory has merit

2. Stress. This is a key aspect, not just general health and personal wellness, but also to vivid dreams especially night terrors (as opposed to nightmares), varied sleep disorders etc. This is where most dream interpretation from doctors comes from (psychologists and psychoanalysts etc.) 3. And then there is my personal and unfounded theory (which, given the complexity of the brain, who is to say I am wrong?) Entertainment! At times, and the more you get to understand why you are having the dreams and start empowering yourself (to an extent) to understand dreams, you might come to the same conclusion that I did: during 8 hours of sleep (8 hours is the average most people sleep) your brain gets bored. And this is my reasoning: how many times during the day have you found yourself (or in my case listened to others) say I am bored or I have nothing to do. In our conscious state we want to be engaged (the younger the generation you are the more engaged you want to be, even repetitively) so my theory is that, if we crave entertainment and engagement during our conscious awake time , why not during 8 hours of rest time? anyway a worthy debate for a slow day

My personal interest in dreams Like I said I am a fan. Like most, I experienced highly vivid dreams, cinematic events or dream movies to an extent, well that is how I classify long and vivid dreams (some I considered epics, as they seemed to continue as soon as I went back to sleep) some I remember to this day. At one point, because I had so many vivid dreams, I even had a top 10 of dreams. Once I had a true night terror and panic attack after a dream (I calmed down after a few days, the dream ended up as my no.1 all-time coolest dream still there to this day). All this has led me to write the above article, and my main conclusion that in most instances vivid dreams were a result of stress (mostly self-induced, unconscious or long forgotten stress factors) and growing up hormones. The rest I put to creative expressionism of a very bored brain during 8 to 10 hours of sleep. A few things that I do now is sleep less (approx. 6 hours on average) and try to de-stress. I took up writing, photography, arty things. I avoid highly charged endless debates on religion, science, politics, gossip, technology etc. I avoid annoying and disruptive company. I have learned to disassociate myself emotionally from highly charged situations; this is more due to my professional acceptance of change nature and upbringing than any learned ability or resilience training

Further reading: Personally I would avoid spending more than 15 minutes reading any one thing on the internet; everyone has a view (both scientific and empirical like me) specific to dreams.

However you should get a good rounded view of many things around dreams, this article sure should help, and absorb and research as much as you can cope with. Sigmund Freuds The Interpretation of Dreams as the first serious scientific attempt at dream interpretation and well over 100 years old is a bit of a slog even for me as a moderately literate reader the original was written in German and all transcripts are translations of that work (from what I know) - but if you can wade through the case studies and intellectualised translation, well worth a try. However once you start looking at the internet, things get very murky hence my discretionary warning there are not just two camps of thought, but like with almost any area of science, everyone has their own way of interpreting the human Psyche. There are more views on the subject, so much so, that you will literally be kept wake and have nightmares and doubts on the right - dream interpretation. The element of dream interpretation is muddled not just with the iconography of dreams (i.e. what the hell water represents) but also your feelings at the time of the dream (during the dream) and what you felt straight after the dream (and continue to feel), yes it is the dreaded so, how did that make you feel? question aaahhh frustrating. But if you try to apply a bit of pragmatism, forearmed with a good rounding in how our noggin operates electrical and chemical plus the impact of external forces: drugs and medication, stress and internal forces; including hormones, conscious and subconscious reaction to events, then getting something of an insight in how you operate at a deeper level can be extracted from your dreams or then again, just maybe its just your brain entertaining itself If you are ever in doubt and need help go to a doctor first, or if you would like a bit of a debate and discussion (in the absolute strictest confidence) feel free to email me at bob_panic@me.com Sweet dreams!