What do your dreams say about you

Every night we dream, but not every morning do we remember the dream. Throughout the centuries, different cultures have tried to decipher dreams, and some have come up with their own theories and methods of interpretation that have prevailed for a long time. In this article, we will attempt to provide some expert-validated guidelines to help us uncover what our dreams tell us about ourselves. Do you dare to try it?

The human mind is, in effect, a marvel of perfect mechanism that does not rest while we sleep. At night we give free rein to our subconscious, and it does its thing, revealing fears, desires, and, according to some, even premonitions. If we were fully aware of our dreams, we might have greater knowledge of ourselves and our personality, but, for better or worse, Most mornings we don't remember what we dreamt. Sometimes we even think we haven't dreamt anything, but in reality, it's been such a deep dream that it's left no trace.

María Jesús Palmer, author of Dream Interpretation Manual and an expert on them, gives us some Keys to remembering dreams In the mornings: «The stuff of dreams is so fragile and subtle that if, upon opening our eyes, the first thing we do is look at the time or focus our thoughts on the daily routine, the rational mind takes over all our attention and the the memory of the dream evaporates. We'll be left with the vague feeling of having dreamt something curious and possibly interesting, but we'll already be incapable of knowing what it was». The first thing to do, according to Palmer, is to want to remember. to voice the dream to aid memory. Drinking a glass or two of water before bed helps with this. «It also activates the connection to the unconscious when before sleeping you memorise previous dreams that are still remembered and you look for their possible meaning.

Who hasn't dreamt of animals, colours or loved ones? There are common elements in dreams that dictate our priorities. It seems that the more we dream about something or someone, the more important it is to us, or at least, the more present it is in our daily lives.

Dreaming of flowers symbolises joy and beauty. They are a fairly common element in dreams and speak of Creative inspiration and happy moments, especially if in dreams we see ourselves picking flowers in a garden. Among the variety of flowers, white or pink ones stand out for representing emotional fullness after having overcome a thorny path (a bad patch).

Dreaming of animals represent the inherent qualities that characterise them and which we already associate in the collective unconscious. For example: the fox symbolises cunning, the bear strength, the ant thrift, the goat madness, the dog loyalty… The bull is a relentless pursuer that makes us run and flee from it.

Dreaming of celebrities is also quite common, as we see them repeatedly on television, mobile phones or magazines. They tend to be dreams Pleasant or enjoyable filled with emotion at being with them - something we considered impossible - or, even, playing the hero's role in relation to them.

Dreaming of water It has different meanings depending on the state it is in. Clear or falling water announces pleasant encounters and happy moments. On the other hand, murky water or strong tides highlight disturbed emotions or the fear of «getting your feet wet» when faced with a difficult situation – an argument or a decision.

«Death in dreams is often an indicator that major personal transformations are underway.. Transformations, such as the one representing the passage from childhood to adolescence, then to youth, maturity, or old age. It also justifies the old belief that says: when you dream of someone's death, you prolong their life. Because the dream indicates that the person you see die somehow remakes their life, reinvents themselves, and, in short, lives longer,» assures María Jesús Palmer.

Anyway, there can't be an article about dreams that doesn't mention the great Sigmund Freud and his most revolutionary work: The interpretation of dreams, in which he uses his own dreams as examples to demonstrate his theory on their psychology. Freud distinguishes between the content of the dream manifesto or the dream experienced at surface level, and the Latent dream thoughts, ..., unaware that they are expressed through the special language of dreams. His theory revolutionised the practice of psychology throughout the 20th century and guided research in this regard. The psychology and theory of the subconscious that we have today is of a high standard and reliable thanks to him and his work.

Freud considered that all dreams are interpretable, that is, it has its own meaning. The task of interpretation does not fall on the dream as a whole, but on its components based on a kind of dream book, where each dreamed thing is associated with a generic meaning – as we have seen in the previous examples of animals, water, flowers, etc. –. That is, first the story is broken down into parts, and then the final or global interpretation emerges, in which dreams are revealed to us as wish fulfillments.

When a dream is unclear because it has a completely altered language of reality, Freud wonders Why does there have to be a distortion of reality when it wasn't necessary?. This question is answered by the expert among experts himself, who says that when this phenomenon occurs, it means that the subconscious is trying to deny that idea or does not want to face it in reality. In other words, this The deformation is intentional and it is due to the censorship that the subject exercises against the free expression of desires, as they find them censurable for some reason.

The subconscious, being a realm that escapes our control, has seen attempts at approaches from the arts such as cinema, literature, or painting since time immemorial. From films like Origin (2010), literary works such as Life is a dream From Calderón de la Barca to artists like Dalí, how can it not arouse interest when it's about the possibility of creating a totally different universe, without physical or rational laws, guided by spontaneity? It's also important not to get carried away by any obsession of this kind. Dreams are involuntary and «innocent», and if there's any problem such as insomnia or the constant presence of unbearable nightmares, it's advisable to consult your doctor or psychologist as soon as possible to try and remedy it.

This theme of dreams and the subconscious continues to leave the door open to research and creativity. And we hope it continues to surprise us and provide us with anecdotes to share in the mornings. How many important ideas must have originated from a dream!