When your dreams incorporate reality

[ree-Xi]

I used to have a whole bunch of books on dreams, and a few years ago, had researched some psych (not pyschic) journals and academic papers about the biology of dreams, dream types, dream interpretation, etc. So among my family and friends, I'm the "go-to" person... like a dream doctor (note that I have no professional education or experience doing this).

If you care to hear my thoughts on the topics, read on.

Regarding "reality"-based dreams. Let's put aside the possibility of a purely prophetic dream (which apparently, is very rare to have). If you rarely remember dreams, or if your dreams are about the past, fantasy (like flying or being in a spaceship), fiction (a story playing out like in a book or a film), or weird dreams with symbols that you can interpret (see any dream book or website), and you suddenly have dreams that are rooted in reality, I'd suggest paying attention to them.

A friend of mine used to only dream about her past (random stuff, not necessarily just bad memories), and had a very specific recurring dream. Anyway, she had been in therapy for various stuff, had a lot of anxiety and depression After a good 6-8 months in therapy, where she had moved on from her past issues and started working on every day life issues (coping skills, etc.), for the first time that she could ever remember, she dreamed about her current life. I don't remember if it was about work, or something like the gym or her kids, but she was shocked to dream about her current reality.

Now, we can draw an obvious connection between her strides in therapy and the new topics of her dreams. But you don't have to be in therapy or have a something extreme going on for this to happen. Some scientific theories suggest that dreams can be a byproduct of our subconsciousness - our brains figuring out during dreams, stuff that we can't figure out while awake or aware.

As some of you have pointed out, you have had dreams that provide insight into a problem or situation you are facing. Some are literal - like Thetaprincess's dream, others are symbolic, like Lovespink. I find the literal dreams to be less common than symbolic dreams. For Thetaprincess, it's like your mind was rehearsing what you need/want to say/do - it seems like you were THERE in that moment. For Lovespink, the dream is more of a cautionary tale or suggestion to pay attention to details. Though it's relatively generic, the fact that the dream is recurring and happens when certain things are happening in your life, there is a "reality" based connection.

To the OP - You didn't elaborate on what your dream was about, or the situation it reflects in your current reality, but it can't hurt to write down your dreams. It's best to do it when you first wake up. Don't edit yourself, just write words or phrases, everything you can remember. Do this every morning for a week or two. Look for symbols, recurring themes, specifics like numbers or people or anything very detailed (for example, directions to a certain location, names, dates, colors, etc.). I find those things more helpful than "what happened".

For example, if I dreamt that I went to a convenience store, I'd pay attention to the details that I remembered - maybe stop lights, street signs, people I encountered in the store, what I was looking for or bought, what the merchandise cost, etc. Often, it's not so important as to what you did - like go to a convenience store - but the details that I could remember from the dream. Try to recognize patterns, triggers, and note anything that happened during your waking hours that relate to your dream.

You can take or leave my theories. Like I said, I'm no expert, but I am really interested in the whole dream concept.

As an aside, I have a recurring dream. I am living or moving into a house that, as I go through the house, I keep discovering new rooms - usually bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as doors leading to the outside that normally wouldn't be in a bedroom. There are 3 different houses that my dream has taken place in, none of which I have ever been to or seen in my waking life. The dreams rotate the houses I am in. Two of them are more common than the third, which has only been in the past few weeks. In all of them, I am concerned with security of the doors. Each house has specific details that are always present. However, every time I have the dream, I discover more and more rooms. I've been having these dreams for at least 5 years and I don't remember when they started. They don't occur according to any recognizable pattern or trigger. Sometimes I wonder if I had past lives where I lived in these places, but I don't know if I believe in past lives.