Dreams, What a nightmare!

Dreams, What a Nightmare!

Kevin W. Gardner

Dreams can really play havoc on a person’s mind. Last night, for
example, I was placed in jail for no apparent reason. I was denied access to an attorney, or any type of legal help, and most of all, the worst part about it was that I did not appear before the judge to find out what type of crime, (or any crime) I have committed. Sometimes dreams can tell us what types of problems we are facing, or dreams can help us deal with issues that come our way.

A dream is an experience of a sequence of images, sounds, ideas, emotions, or other sensations usually during sleep. No one knows exactly why a person dreams, however we know that dreams do play an important part of our lives. Another type of dream that is not uncommon is nightmares. What is a nightmare? Nightmare is the term currently used to refer to a dream which causes a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror, or the sensations of pain, falling, drowning or death. Any bad situation in our lives can cause us to have nightmares. Another fine example of this is when I went into boot camp over 20 years ago, every once in a while I would have nightmares of being back in boot camp. Even though it has been over 20 years, I still have these types of nightmares. As stated earlier I have nightmares of being placed in jail for no apparent reason, and to this day I do not understand this type of nightmare because I have never, ever been placed in jail.

At some point in time, we all have loved ones that have passed away. And we sometimes would dream about our loved ones, not them passing away again, but them being with us in our dreams. This has been debate on what this means, on a personal level, with the death of my parents seven years ago, this means that they are checking in on me, making sure that I am okay. This is fine with me, because this shows me that they really loved me.

In some ways, dreams do help us release some of the stress that we face in everyday lives. However, it is important to know that we have to learn to separate dreams from reality. There are some people who have a difficult time separating the two, especially if they suffer with some type of mental disorders and in this type of case, it is important to seek professional help.

Another type of dream is not the one you have while sleeping, but while you are alive. What this type of dream mean is, “to have a goal, or purpose in life”. Without this type of dream, we just exist, however, it is important for us to have some sort of dream for our lives. In conclusion, we have to learn that it is okay to have dreams, both while we are sleeping and while we are awake. And when it comes to having nightmares, we have to remember that our nightmares are not real, just a way to release some of the trauma that we have faced at one point in time in our lives. Let me close with this motto from my High School graduating class, “Dreams Never Die, Just the Dreamer.”