A dream book, showing the meaning of dreams, has been created by humanity since the dawn of time. Dream books were created even in antiquity. Can dreams affect our he alth or reflect our emotions? Find out what, according to the dream book, the most popular symbols hidden in dreams mean.

Dream interpretation is a collection, mostly alphabetical, of dream symbols, together with a comprehensive explanation of their meaning . A dream book is a collection of recorded interpretations of dreams, which arose and arises as a result of the fact that dreams arouse the interest of most people. From the very beginning of mankind, dreams have been assigned great importance and often magical powers.

Neurologists call dreams mental activity in the form of visual images and emotions that make up certain scenes and experiences. Dreams occur during the REM phase. We remember dreams more often when we wake up in REM sleep than in nREM.

Interpretation of dream symbols

People have always tried to make sense of their dreams. In different parts of the world and in different cultures, along with the course of history, veritable compendia of knowledge about dreams were created, and even today there is a Polish dream book, a Babylonian dream book, and an Egyptian dream book.

The meaning of dreams was already de alt with by Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. In ancient Greece a separate field of science developed around dreams, the Egyptians had special temples of the sleep god Serapis where they would sleep whenwanted to influence the course of their dreams.

Ancient Chinese, in turn, believed thatduring sleep the soul comes out of the body and stays in its sleep , therefore it was not allowed to wake anyone up suddenly, as the soul might not be able to return to the body . In many African and Native American cultures, dreams were simply an extension of reality. When someone dreamed that he had been bitten by a snake, he would wake up and receive medicine.

Then came the time of negating dreams, they were thrown into the same bag with superstitions and omens that have nothing to do with reality. To this day, many people are of the opinion that dreams are nothing important, just a delirium of the subconscious, scraps of images that we saw during the day, or the pranks that memory plays on us - such random brain activity during sleep.

But since 1900, when the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, published his groundbreaking work, "The Explanationdreams ",dreams and their meaning again became the subject of researchnot only various shamans, esotericists and occultists, but also neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists.

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  • Dreams according to Freud

The scientist, called the father of psychoanalysis, believed that dreams represented "the royal road to the unconscious". There you can find hints about the intimate mental life of a person.

In the "Introduction to Psychoanalysis" he wrote: "We know that all ancient nations attached great importance to dreams and valued them as practically significant; they were for them a harbinger and a fortune-telling for the future. in those days, without consulting with interpreters of dreams, it is as impossible as we can not imagine that it is possible to undertake a fight today without having previously gathered information by aviators. "

Although the teachings of Freud caused an undoubted breakthrough in the approach to dreams, today you look at his theories with a grain of s alt, because they were quite… shallow.A trip or a journey meant his impending death, in fact, regardless of the context . Most of his dreams were related to some sexual problems - long objects symbolized the penis, and the containers symbolized the vaginas. Freud also failed to notice that the symbols should be related to the culture in which the dreamer lives, to his gender or age.

  • Dreams According to Jung

Zygmunt Freud's student was Carl Gustav Jung. He read the meaning of dreams quite differently. While for Freud, dreams were mostly images of unfulfilled desires, according to Jung, they were indications for the patient, flowing from his unconscious, suggesting which path he should follow.

He also believed that some dreams are unique, referring to the individual experience of a given person, and others - universal, archetypal.Noticed that certain patterns or themes repeat themselves regardless of cultural differences.

The conviction about the universality of some dream symbols has survived to modern times and today even psychologists and psychotherapists who deal with dreams in their work do not distance themselves from it.

When do we dream and why?

During physiological sleep, the body rests, but the mind continues to work. In the NREM (Non Rapide Eyes Movement) phase, mental activity resembles the way of thinking while awake, but during the REM (Rapide Eyes Movement) phase it becomes morecreative and casual character.

During the NREM sleep we analyze the facts of our waking life literally and directly, while REM sleep triggers our imaginations and metaphorical thinking. This is how we create a story developed on the basis of everyday problems.

During sleep, the brain puts everything that happened that day into drawersand mixes this information with the information it already has in its database.

Some people suggest that dreams express unconscious wishes, others attribute physiological meaning to dreams, and still others believe that dreams process information and emotions.

A dream is a reflection of reality but unconscious things. Therefore, we do not know what is going on and we do not want to talk about it or we are ashamed. Everyone dreams. Sometimes we just don't remember our dreams. It is easier to remember a nightmare than a pleasant dream. So if you want to keep its content, write it down as soon as you wake up, otherwise it will disappear.

While awake, we no longer think about what we dreamed about, but focus on the current affairs. Dreams are like a haze.

When it comes to interpreting dreams, an extremely important - if not the most important -issue are the emotions that accompany us in this dream . For example, an umbrella does not mean the same in every case.

In a greatly simplified dream book we can find: umbrella - the need for protection. But the meaning of a dream in which we give someone an umbrella and that someone thanks us for it will be different, and another when we panic looking for an umbrella, and when we find it, it turns out that it has a hole in it.

Therefore, good dream books, when explaining the meaning of dreams, give a different approach to symbols. Let's take a cat, for example: in general, a cat symbolizes our inner freedom and independence, a cat may also mean the need for intimacy, tenderness, longing for caresses, a cat's love is a woman - if a woman dreams, it means herself, and specifically this part of her, which requires independence, freedom or caresses, sex, tenderness.

If a cat is dreamed by a man, it means his partner, a lover, a cat meowing outside the window - a partner of a dreaming person, demands that she notices being scratched by a cat - the dreamer will encounter a sharp verbal attack from an enemy, someone will make him sadness.

What do we dream about?

Research shows that we mostly dream about what has happened in the last few days.Dreams are often repeated. Many people also "stubbornly" dream about specific events in their lives.

According to neuropsychological theories, the main tasks of dreams are: reduction of mental tensions, solving all kinds ofproblems, increase creative thinking and help in organizing the accumulated information.

Dreams can be divided into typically symbolic dreams and those that are only a reflection of days and events that have passed (there are also so-called prophetic dreams that supposedly foreshadow some future event).

If we spent the whole day on the train, and then dreamed of traveling by train , it is difficult to see any symbolism in this dream. Such a dream is a consequence - in a sense a continuation - of the previous day.

But if we haven't traveled by train recently, we aren't planning any trip at the moment, we haven't watched a movie in which the characters took the train, and no one told us that, for example, he forgot his suitcases from the train, it's a dream in which we are going somewhere by train, can already be interpreted symbolically.

Another example - if a boy dreams of a tooth falling out the previous day, such a dream only means that the child is experiencing a tooth loss.

If a woman dreams that she is pregnant and is actually expecting a baby, then her dream only means that she is experiencing her condition, imagining childbirth, maybe she is afraid of it, or she cannot wait to he will finally see his baby.

But when a woman who is not pregnant, or even plans to do so, dreams that she is having a baby, it is a strongly symbolic dream that signifies happiness, some beneficial transformation.

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Worth knowing

Do dreams reflect our character?

The philosopher Ralph Emerson believed that dreams reflect our own character, especially those features that are hard or not impossible to observe in our waking behavior. Interestingly, the character of other people is also manifested in them, because, as he claimed, in dreams we recognize the hidden forces underlying their behavior; therefore, dreams can often predict future actions.

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How to remember dreams?

  • Write your dream on a piece of paper.
  • Pay attention to the details: what you can see, what you hear.
  • Specify your feelings (excitement, fear, terror).
  • Name the sounds accompanying the pictures. Also specify "silence".
  • Note the colors: dark or light colors. Black and white?
  • Recall the pace of the dream events.
  • How many heroes were there, do you know them or do you recognize them?
  • Who are you in a dream? Observer or main character?
  • Are you the mastermind behind the action or is it happening without yoursprefer?

Analyze the individual elements of the dream on the next piece of paper. Read your comments and think about what they remind you of. For example, green: money, spring, hope … If the heroes of the dream are, for example, objects - think about what they associate with you.

  • Analyze the emotions that tugged at you during sleep and the emotions that were named after the interpretation of its individual elements. First associations count. Everyone will be different, for example red - blood, white - death, mother - love, security.
  • Think about what is happening in your life here and now. Are the symbols from the dream related to your associations. Is your subconscious mind giving you solutions to your waking problems?

Meaning of dreams

Pavlina Suchankova, a therapist at the Academy of Emotional He alth Stimulus analyzes dreams:

  • Woda - Maria, 40, lawyer

Summer evening. I am abroad at a resort. I'm leaving tomorrow. I did not have time to bathe in the sea, which is literally at your fingertips. The waves reach the hotel terrace.

They are dark blue, like the starry sky. I sit on the terrace, I look at the sky and the sea, it is warm and pleasant. My father (who has been dead for 10 years) is sitting next to me and says: "Don't worry, you'll have time to take a bath in the morning."

We are looking at the building on the other side of the bay. Suddenly, the entire skyscraper collapses and crumbles. There is silence, we watch it like a movie. Dad says it's better to run away. We climb the slope above the hotel. We are safe. We look, but the building is intact.

Sleep color:dark. Mood: I'm not afraid. My father's presence gives me courage. I am both a heroine and an observer of events.

About Maria:Divorced. He has a 19-year-old daughter. She is independent.

Comment:This is a dream of freedom and bonding. The father is a symbol of security. Water - a symbol of eroticism and sex - here also dreams. The desire for freedom in life, which the dreamer lacked for a long time - she is afraid that someone will take it from her.

  • Building a house - Anna, 40, ethnographer

I am building a house by the bay. It's a warm evening, it's sunset. I actually build two houses: one with my parents and one with my friends. The one with friends on the other side of the bay. The house is made of white stone, resembling seaside bungalows.

I have to decide on one of them. Friends urge me to go with them, I hesitate. I choose my parents' house.

It turns out that for me there is a space between the living room and the living area. My mother, however, promises to live in the living room.I agree and I am happy about it: on the seashore, overlooking the bay, it is fabulous.

Suddenly it turns out that there are also 25 young people in this house who are the hidden children of my parents. They are to live in the living room, not me. I hear the sound of the sea, the laughter of strangers. I go out to the seaside to watch the sunset.

Before leaving, I put my desk under the skylight. When I come back, it turns out that my parents had thrown my things into the attic, and the floor was replaced by a white sail cloth pinned to the walls. I can't even get in and get my things. I run to the house where my friends' taxi is waiting, but it's already gone. Sleep has been repeating itself since college. Three-dimensional, colorful.

About Annie:Independent, ambitious, unmarried, has a stressful job in a very responsible position, works intensively mentally, must still be creative, creative. She lives alone in a huge house with three cats, works 10-16 hours, rests sleeping and dreaming.

Comment:This is a dream about the desire for friendship, a sense of belonging, a close intimate bond. The sense of injustice and regret to the parents is noticeable, their attitude of "ignoring the child" (I would ask exactly about the relationship with the parents in the past and now), and at the same time the lack of any rebellion - this is the attitude of the victim of fate.

The dreamer feels cornered by work - she cannot go to friends, she is not close to anyone at home, she has no life partner. The word "must" puzzles me when describing his style of work. Maybe this dream is a good diagnosis - you feel bad, but what are you doing to change it?

  • Fatigue - Barbara, 50, Polish teacher

The dream about the exam haunts me from the final exams. The end of the year is approaching. I know that I did not attend lessons and I have to catch up. The worst thing is that it's math and I should be in for extra-curricular activities, but I can't get there. Either I fall asleep or my legs refuse to obey me, as if they have grown into the ground.

Each step requires an inhuman effort on my part. Leaning lower and lower, I drag my body, but I can't move. The more I care, the more I fail.

I am Sisyphus who must roll the stone in vain up the great mountain. The fear and stress of failing paralyze me. I wake up terribly tired, with the feeling that I have not de alt with this matter.

About Basia:She works a lot, is compulsory, you can count on her, she brings work home, she is still sitting at the computer. He rests once a year for three weeks. The husband cares for her, they have no children.

Comment:I think this is a dream of over-feelingobligation. Maybe she really broke something sometime and decided that it wouldn't be like that anymore. Well, it is not. Only work gives her a sense of worth. Or she was always told that she had to be responsible and prepared to the best of her ability.

Only then will it be okay. This is how she "grew" this Sisyphus stone for herself. Her work will never be perfectly done, Basia will never be satisfied, and we don't know what her husband thinks. It's a waste of life.

  • Party - Karolina, 22, student

Two Italians show up at my friend's party. Apart from me, there are a dozen girls and they are all robbed of their silver watches. The house where the party takes place resembles a labyrinth. We play and then we have to run away. We lock ourselves in a room upstairs. I want to go home.

Afraid to go out for a drink: unsafe neighborhood, night. When the party is over, I leave. The Italians are gone, and so is the sense of danger. My friend's brother came by car. I get in and it suddenly gets bright as noon.

About Karolina:22 years old, studies Polish, has a boyfriend in Katowice. He wants him to be there.

Comment:This is an image of a transition period. Great confusion and fear of leaving the family home. House from a dream - a symbol of the future, which is uncertain and causes anxiety, and it will not be possible to return to mum and dad so easily

  • Jump into the unknown - Marek, 31, dietitian

I am in a room with benches lined up along the walls. But this interior has no windows. I can feel the vehicle is moving because the engine is running. I'm alone. I know I'll get the signal and I need to jump out. I have a parachute and I line up in the doorway as if I were to jump from a plane. The door opens. I see darkness.

I feel anxious, but I know it's a doomed. I have no other choice. I cannot drive this vehicle anymore. I don't know how this jump will end. The vehicle in which I traveled is sad, I am bitten by the light of fluorescent lamps. I can't chicken out. I think I'm popping out.

The most important thing is that I overcame my fear and made the decision to jump into the dark. The dream is masculine, defiant. After the jump, I feel pga.

About Marek:Until now, playboy happy with life, divorced, loner, does not want to bond with anyone permanently, he trusts no one. At the crossroads of life, his ideals have failed, he feels disappointed. He wants to change a lot in his life, including his job or place of residence.

Comment : This is just a picture of what Marek knows and intends to. Perhaps while dreaming, she gets used to the situation to come. I do not want to go further through life alone and sad. He wants to overcome fear and take a step indark.

  • Unusual instrument - Andrzej, 32 years old, graphic artist

I dreamed of my wife as a musical instrument. I saw her naked in a room flooded with light. She had cello strings hooked to her teeth and ended in her crotch.

I couldn't look there, I'm pretty shy so I looked at her lips. But it seems to me that she had no panties. Her legs were pressed together and her body resembled a double bass.

Apart from this strange figure, there was no one in the room, as if a woman with a string in an intimate place and teeth was cut out of the background.

My emotions:curiosity, embarrassment, surprise. Silence, there was no music and no sounds. I was surprised there was such an instrument. And it is also perfectly symmetrical.

It was a very short dream. The funny thing is that a few days later, after my dream, I read in a magazine about a musician who constructs instruments in a similar way. One end of the strings hooks to the ceiling and the other end to the leg.

About Andrzej:Married for 6 years, they are expecting a second child. He graduated from music school, sometimes he composes, says that he has music in his head, he often writes down these pieces or their fragments on sheet music. Plays the accordion and guitar.

Comment:Musician and creator. He played on it and they created a child. Or maybe he would play another one? She's just his erotic partner. He is creative, so his dreams are very unconventional.

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Psychology