Wolfy asks: Dreams are weird. That is a fact of life. There are also many myths about them. There is one myth I have been wondering about… If someone is thinking about you, that you will dream about them. I think it maybe is true? Maybe, as a common species, our minds are connected telepathically, which could explain why we get those feelings, like someone is watching us, or other little feelings we get that involve other humans. We know that people think about other people of course. The question I am asking is if someone thinks about you, will you dream about them?
Hi Wolfy –
Dreams are ridiculously cool. Whenever I think about them, my mind just goes haywire. Think about it – during your waking hours, your brain is working hard to take in all sorts of information (what you see, what you hear, smell, touch, and taste, what people are saying to you, what you need to remember to do later today… and so much more!), but when you sleep, it does its own thing, presenting images and stories that have nothing to do with what’s happening directly around you. And we all do it – if you’ve never watched a dog fighting or hunting in its sleep, you have an enormous treat ahead of you!
And so for years, the greatest minds have struggled to figure out exactly what dreams are. Some people say they tell the future. Some say they’re our channel to learn what God wants us to know. Sigmund Freud said they’re repressed parts of our personalities coming out. Carl Jung said their our connection to the Collective Unconscious, a world of meaning shared by all.
And what do I think?
I have absolutely no idea.
I’ve never heard the idea that we dream about those who are thinking about us before (though I’ve heard the line about how our ears burn when someone talks about us!), but it’s kind of nice. I’d have trouble with it if the argument was that we only dream about those who are thinking about us, since people often dream about people who don’t know them (Come on, admit it – you’ve dreamed about big stars, haven’t you?!). But I love the idea that if I’m thinking hard about someone, I might show up in their dreams! That’s so cool!
There’s one thing I absolutely do believe about dreams, which I’ve learned from psychologists. And that’s that the best thing to do with a dream is to, when you remember it, focus on what it means to you. If you dream about Taylor Swift walking into your house tonight and it makes you jump for joy, and I dream about her walking into my house and I start snarling because she’s a burglar, the important thing about our dreams is how we felt, not Ms. Swift herself.
But if we should find that Taylor was thinking about you or me, and that’s why she showed up in our dreams… how cool would THAT be!!!
Thanks as always, Wolfy. It’s people like you who make my dreams come true!
Cheers,
Shirelle