this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
23 points (87.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26858 readers
1764 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Do you have 90% meaningless dreams? Do you think 50% have deeper meaning?

top 34 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ericisshort@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But they're still very fun!

[–] ericisshort@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

…except when they aren’t!

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Mine are usually nightmares, sometimes with anatomically accurate gore, so they're rarely fun at all.

Significant as in "useful for everyday life"? Zero.

.. or as in "useful for anything else"? Then maybe 20% or so. I'm an avid roleplayer and sometimes, a particular dream can be the inspiration for a plot, character or story.

But mostly I feel that dreams are the IRL equivalent of animated screensavers. They don't have to make sense as long as there is something on the screen while the CPU is idle.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Today I dream that I meet my wife in a sex shop called Peg that was run by a couple of lesbians. Not sure if is a sign, but is giving me courage.

[–] DuskyRo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't dream.

[–] banana_meccanica@feddit.it 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Dreams are just a reflection of your past experiences, your memories, what you've been through.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you're saying they're 100 % significant. 😛

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, processing the day in dreams is very helpful to me. I see things from a different perspective and can deal with life better

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

My dreams are nothing like that. They are wacky and jump from scene to scene. I spend half my morning trying to figure them out. Of course I have a vivid imagination and it helps sometimes with my writing.

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But I’ve never met Fiona apple and wanted to impress her. That was my dream last night

[–] banana_meccanica@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

That wasn't Fiona Apple but a past or present woman of your life.

[–] newtraditionalists@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Zero have meaning.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm going to say 0% because my dreams are fucked up and I hope they are meaningless.

[–] therandoe@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Same.
Most recent dream was about a bog where snakes sat on sticks, waiting for someone to go by so they could swallow them whole. I woke up when a snake had its mouth over me and the inside looked like the inside of a sleeping bag.
If you say you can read meaning out of that you lie.

[–] confluence@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

From a biological perspective, your dreams are part of the process of moving short term memories from the hippocampus to the neocortex. This will involve perceiving symbolic representations of your experiences, feelings, memories, predictions, etc. As far as being "meaningful," that's relative to the implications you're interested in. If you're looking for meaning, look for the common psychological underpinnings of certain symbols (e.g. teeth falling out, not wearing pants, etc.) and see what that might expose about the things your brain is processing. Just remember that specific archetypes are often offered by people based on tradition and superstition; Make sure you're looking at reliable sources, especially considering that your brain is going to process a lot more than people have worked out, and not every archetype is likely to carry information you find meaningful.

[–] Moghul@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

0% are significant, but some are fucking annoying, I'll tell you that.

[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Less than 1%. I've had stress dreams about work and school, which is probably a sign that my life is out of balance.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I see stress dreams as part of the meaningful category. It makes me face just how stressed I am when I try to ignore my mental health for too long

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Maybe a few a year, so one percent.

[–] oNevion@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As someone going through trauma therapy stuff, every dream has some sort of significance to my life.

But it's mostly about how the dreams make me feel vs any type of symbolism. I usually feel overwhelmed, stressed, terrified and like I'm failing my son. Which all matches with what I'm working on in therapy

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I've seen very little good in trying to track down symbolism. Hopefully your dreams mean that therapy is working!

[–] oNevion@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Thanks! Yeah, that's what they tell me. With trauma work, a lot of times it gets a lot harder before it gets better. But the frequency and severity of the dreams/nightmares has decreased as I've worked through some of that stuff :)

[–] SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] oNevion@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We have a winner. Been really beneficial for me but also really hard

I've been waiting since March to start and I finally got a therapist who isn't inept, so I'm starting my first "real" appointment next week.

Even just indirectly referencing my trauma gives me horrific nightmares for days, so I'm extremely nervous. But I just want my life to get better, so I'll try anything at this point.

How long have you been doing it? Have you seen any improvement? I'm so sorry that it's been difficult for you. Getting better is never easy, is it?

[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Loaded question. Metaphysically, dreams are 0% meaningful.

Epistemically though? Dreams might alert you to things going on in your own brain you didn't know were there.

[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Not meaningful, but can be impactful. First time I asked out a girl was because I dreamed about her, and suddenly had a crush. Definitely paved the way for me being able to ask out girls in the future

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So, it depends how we're counting. I don't usually think of a dream again unless I've had it at least twice; so do we count recurring dreams as one dream or do we count every iteration of a recurring dream separately?

If the former, something like 10%; if the latter, something like 60%.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think it's up to you. My experience with repeated dreams is a lot like watching the same movie twice.

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So like, you appreciate it more and notice details you missed the first time around?

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, having the same dream twice helps me see the whole story and solidify the feeling it gives me.

[–] zacher_glachl@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

100% of my dreams have about as much meaning as any other biological process.