Do our Dreams have Meaning

Since time immemorial, there has always been a belief that our dreams have meaning. I wonder if this is always the case, or are some dreams just a manifestation of our fantasies? Would love to hear what you think.

In exploring this many faceted phenomenon, we know that there are quite a few references to dreams in the Bible. For instance, when Joseph was in prison, the Phar’aoh had a dream. Joseph is then brought out of prison to interpret the dreams and the Phar’aoh tells Joseph his dreams: ‘I saw seven fat, beautiful cows. Then I saw seven very thin and bony cows. And the thin ones ate up the fat cows. Joseph says to Phar’aoh: ‘The two dreams mean the same thing. The seven fat cows and the seven full heads of grain mean seven years, and the seven thin cows and the seven thin heads of grain mean seven more years. There will be seven years when a lot of food will grow in Egypt. Then there will be seven years when very little food will grow.’ ‘In my second dream I saw seven heads of full, ripe grain growing on one stalk. Then I saw seven thin, dried-out heads of grain. And the thin heads of grain began to swallow up the seven good heads of grain.’

So Joseph tells Phar’aoh: ‘Choose a wise man and put him in charge of collecting food during the seven good years. Then the people will not starve during the following seven bad years when very little food will grow.’

Phar’aoh likes the idea. And he chooses Joseph to collect the food, and to store it up. Next to Phar’aoh, Joseph becomes the most important man in Egypt.

For me the dream that Phar’aoh had was a prophetic dream. There are many types of dreams including Prophetic Dreams which are also referred to as precognitive dreams. Prophetic dreams are believed to be a form of extra-sensory perception (ESP) in which a person is said to perceive information about places or events through paranormal means before they actually happen.

This is definitely something that each one of us have experienced at some point. So either dreaming about something that is going to happen or about a particular place and then we find ourselves visiting that place at some point in the future. And the ‘aha’ moment there, is that we tend to get the feeling that we’ve been there before. Maybe we connect the two, the dream and the moment, maybe we don’t. And very often, what we dreamed would happen, does eventually come about. Once again, there are times when we don’t make the connection and times when we do.

Having said that, the question of why the guides or the universe, would choose to convey information to us in this manner, then arises. If it is that we don’t always make the connection, would the guides just leave it there or would they find another way to ensure that we receive this information? Because for me, something that can be described as prophetic, would naturally be an event / occurrence / interaction / message of some great significance.

There are times when we dream and they appear so real that we wake up feeling sad, angry, confused, bewildered, excited. The Bible tells us, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28). I find this rather interesting, once again confirming for me that since the beginning of time (well since man started walking the earth), a form of communication from Spirit to mankind has been through the process of dreaming.

So just how much attention should we be giving to our dreams? There are many who suggest that keeping a dream journal is particularly helpful in keeping track of your dreams, recording their interpretations and seeing what (if any) patterns develop. I think it’s a really good idea, however, would probably never stay awake long enough to record my dreams.

From a scientific perspective, dreaming can also be just a release for the day and a way for our minds to work through some of the stuff that we fill our heads with and for me these are the fantasy dreams. Psychologytoday.com says, we spend some 60 to 70 percent of sleep time dreaming, mostly processing daily stressors. When researchers wake up subjects while they are dreaming, some 75 percent of the emotions the subjects describe are negative. When slipping into REM sleep (when most, but not all, dreaming occurs), the limbic system (sensate and emotional centres) go into overdrive, releasing lots of brain chemicals, much more so than when you’re awake, which is why dreams often involve scary scenarios. Our brains are processing negative emotions and fears on a regular, intensive basis—while we sleep.

I suppose the question then arises, how do we tell the difference? How is that we know that what we have dreamed is a message to us from Spirit and how do we know if it’s just what I refer to as fantasy?

Sleep-state is a really great way that Spirit can communicate with us whether this be our loved-ones who come to spend time with us, or our guides who want to impart information to us. Every night when we sleep, our souls return to the spirit world and we have this amazing opportunity to commune with those whom we love who are in Spirit, and to connect with our guides. Why would we do this? We connect with our guides so that we can check in with them to see where we are along our spiritual journey to enlightenment. We connect with our guides to seek their advice and assistance in various things that we’re tackling in our daily lives. We connect with our loved ones well, because we love them, and we still want to be able to be close to them.

There’s a trick to confirming for yourself whether or not you’ve been with your loved ones whilst in sleep state and that is to ask them to place something in your head to remember when you wake up the following morning. So, it could easily be a dream that you remember, or you wake up singing a particular song or with a line of poetry or just a deep sense of calm. Be specific in what it is that you want to use as your ‘communication sign’ and then be sure to look out for it, because once again, as humans we don’t always make the connection. For me, with my mom, it’s really simple. If I’ve been with her and I don’t consciously remember when I wake up, I will always have a song in my head that is from around thd 50’s which is absolute confirmation that it’s from her because that era would be when she was a young adult and when she enjoyed music and dancing and a young and carefree life.

I would highly recommend that you pay more attention to your dreams and if you like, contact me to tell me about them. Perhaps we’ll publish them here on Spirit Connection. I’m also able to help you to interpret your dreams if you feel the need, so please feel free to contact me [email protected]