The average person spends roughly a third of their life asleep, yet often have very little knowledge or control over their dream state.  This essay provides research on the invariably surreal and mysterious dream world.  This includes the basic understanding of the dream state, the meanings attributed to particular dreams, and the phenomenon of controlling the experience via entering the world of lucid dreams.  A package of free eBooks on the world of dreams is offered for instant download.

The dream state has mystified members of the human race for eons, generating a multitude of questions.  What are dreams? Do we go anywhere when we dream?  Why do we dream?  Some speculations include: beliefs that the dreams state is in fact another world or dimension, a predictor for future events, or even a direct link to the afterlife.  All these ideas are open to conjecture and one’s personal belief.
 
From a scientific perspective the dream state has been likened to a 'mind sorting process. Rather akin to a computer hard drive, the human brain has a finite memory capacity, and a sifting of important from the not so important information is believed to be undertaken whilst we sleep.  Furthermore scientific studies have shown the dream link between the often astute subconscious and conscious mind.
 
Dreams do often have specific meanings and can help an individual enhance their decision processes throughout their life.  The dreamer may be able to understand the emotional content, the symbolism, and the reason for certain dream images; providing a unique link between the subconscious and conscious thought processes.  They have a wealth of material available, as the average person will dream over 150,000 dreams in a lifetime! 

A fairly common dream amongst children and some adults is being in the woods, perhaps being chased by a monster or wild animal.  This sort of dream has its roots in prehistoric times.  Mankind could regularly encounter such scenarios in real life, and the dream experience provides a practice of various escapes and other strategies when dealing with these critical situations in the reality.  In the modern era, problems may be subconsciously dealt with during dreams.  This is why it can often be an excellent idea to sleep on a problem and make a decision in the morning.

Mixed in with the problem solving type of dream and the sorting through events of the day to prioritise events to commit to memory, there are the type of dreams that can just be described as weird.  A personal favourite of the author is being on a passenger aircraft, it has just taken off and the roof rolled back whilst high in the sky.  The aircraft then preceded to the manoeuvres such as flying a loop the loop with all the passengers having to hang down from their now upside down seats for dear life!

Their are many  traditional books, electronic books, and software available that provide in  encyclopaedic form a ready made index of dream meanings, including a free eBook package available from the details at the foot of this article.  Some meanings have psychological routes, others have religious connotations according to a persons personal belief system, many are simply speculation.

Some people blatantly claim they do not dream!  Unless they are in a vegetative state this is simply impossible; what they really are stating is that they 'do not remember dreams'. Some individuals dream so vividly their dreams can shock them into waking up. This is when a handy bedside notebook proves invaluable, dreams can then be recorded in the often few minutes available, before they fade into oblivion.  Once recorded in written form, it is often very easy to recall the detail of a dream, even many years later.

One of the most surreal experiences is the world of Lucid Dreaming. This is basically dreaming while being aware of actually dreaming.  A person in a lucid dream will usually have some power over the dream - anything from being able to fly or making an object or room appear behind a door, right up to being able to change into animals and create a whole world for the person to explore!  It is rather like being a director of a movie; with full control over the scenery, props, actors, and the screenplay!  Lucid dreams have been scientifically proven to exist, can be surprisingly easy to induce, and formulate a world very few individuals even realise they can experience.

An example of a lucid dream would be the dreamer realising they are in a semi-dream state, being aware of lying in bed, then being able to float up through the ceiling to the rooftop.  Then running off the rooftop; dropping into a land custom created by the dreamer.  Obviously the dreamer would want to make absolutely sure they are dreaming before doing such risky manoeuvres!  There are strategies to ensure they are in a dream state not reality.   In the Christopher Nolan film’ Inception’ (starring Leonardo Di Caprio)  a small spinning top was used to distinguish the dream world from reality (in reality this stops spinning, in the dream world it doesn’t).  Various devices can be used such as checking digital displays or light switches - these can produce unpredictable effects in a dream.

A simple method of inducing a lucid dream is whilst lying down in the dark, to visualise a patch of colour in the imagination (say Red) this will take a little practice, and may help to visualise objects coloured red (such as tomatoes, blood) until the patch of colour appears.  Then to change this imagined patch to another colour (say green).  As this process is repeated with other colours and returning to earlier colours, the intensity of the imagined colours should become more vivid.  This process can then lead onto lucid dreaming, where instead of colours a dream is instigated where the dreamer can control their dream content.  There is far more information offered in the free Dream eBooks on Lucid Dreams and Meanings as per the details at the foot of this article.

Dreams are said to be the human mind's way of making sense of the myriad of events the brain deals with on a day to day basis - whether it is work, family, health, or relationships. Dreams can assist in sorting out all the information and issues that a person is subject to during the day, particularly pertinent in the current western lifestyle for many, of information overload.  This can facilitate a pathway for a person, free of conscious limitations, to understand what is really going on, to gain clarity and insight into a situation, and ultimately to solve problems potentially more effectively than the conscious mind.  The average person spends roughly a third of life asleep, they owe it to themselves to maximise understanding and control over their dream state!

To find out more about dreams, you can read the ebooks in our FREE dream package.  This gives three eBooks:  ‘A Beginners' Guide to Lucid Dreaming’,  ‘Your Dreams Revealed’, and '10000 Dreams Interpreted.  You can download this package instantly from the panel below.