Hello friends!  Welcome back to artful Living with Lynda Anne. Thanks for joining us today as we continue with part 3 of our series on dreams, what are they, why do we dream, what do our dreams mean? We’ve talked about how I began dream interpretation, what dreams are and taken a historical walk down dream lane in the first 2 episodes in this series.  Today we’re going to examine the different types of dreams. 

Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to thank my monthly sponsors.  I really appreciate you and your support.

Now let’s get started discussing types of dreams.  The reason we want to do this is because the type of dream will determine the way you interpret it.  Or don’t.  Not all dreams require interpretation.  Understanding which dreams are just processing you daily data and defragmenting your brain’s hard drive will save you time and energy.

The answer to the question “What types of dreams are there?” depends on who you ask. 

Some scientists only recognize a few:  general dreams, nightmares, and daydreams for example. 

Other dream experts recognize manner more than that including:   prophetic, night terrors vs nightmares, lucid, recurring, and general dreams.

Some researchers will list twenty to thirty different dream types.  But it can get a bit redundant.  For example, some dream researchers consider ‘healing dreams’ to be in their own category, but this can have a great deal of overlap.  All dreams serve in some capacity to heal as sleep is healing and restorative by its nature so are dreams  

Let’s go over some types of dreams, define them, and try to understand what each means in terms of interpreting.  I’m going to give you my own definition so we can avoid the awkward reading of citations.  Fun as it is…You may find variations in these definitions, that’s ok.  You will develop your own unique perspective eventually as well, and the more points of view you consider, the more well-rounded and multi-faceted your definition will become.  I look forward to learning from you. 

All right, I like to eat my desert first so let’s start with the most exciting types of dreams…

Prophetic – data supports there is a small percentage of people who are able to predict or see future events in dreams.  Reasons why will depend on who you ask.  Ask a scientist and you’ll probable get an answer something like subconscious is recording data and problem solving applying theories such as Achim’s razor to determine or guess at an outcome.  The ones that are accurate are “prophetic!!” oh my!  The ones that aren’t are processing and we dump or forget them.

Ask a more spiritualistic person and you’ll find it’s in fact communications with spirit guides, or projectile out of body time travel.  We can’t disprove so… try not to judge.  These aren’t mutually exclusive either.  So that it may well be a biological memory process, but it could also be astral projection into the future or another dimension.  You don’t know.

Lucid – is simply when we are aware that we are dreaming in our dream.  I have been a lucid dreamer since my adolescence.  This is something I did so frequently in my thirties that dreaming became almost impossible as I was directing the dream rather than letting it unfold so I would just wake up.  I guess that’s a recurring  dream right there and the theme is metaphoric –I would interpret it to mean I needed to let it / life/ whatever I was dealing with / let it unfold or you ruin it; don’t try to control everything. 

Nightmare vs Night Terror / Sleep Paralysis A nightmare is simply an unpleasant or bad dream. It can come in any form, during any part of our sleep cycle. In other words any type of dream can be a nightmare or bad dream. But there are some dreams that go a step beyond – night terrors. If you’ve ever had one, you know that what makes them so terrifying is how realistic they are; they feel so real. That and the fact that you cannot move! What is happening? Your body is super relaxed and you’re mind got a bit crossed transitioning between the NREM and REM stages so that you are aware, but so relaxed that movement is hard (feels impossible). This includes moving your mouth – often times in night terrors we cannot scream for help – this is why. You’re just to relaxed.

Telepathic – this is different than the prophetic dream because it is not the future; the dreamer is able to see what is happening in the present – but it may not be in the place where they are sleeping.   Some people can see other places in their dreams. Other people feel they can can go to other places in their dreams.

Out of Body – astral projection We’ve all had dreams that we were falling.  Some say these can be a type of or maybe a pre / or beginning / astral projection type dream. Astral projection is when the soul or consciousness leaves the physical body and travels just about anywhere.

Shared dream / mutual dreams This is very common with very intimate relationships such as that of parent/caregiver and young child, or siblings, especially twins.  Could it be they processed similar experiences and remember the parts they have in common so that it feels like the same dream?  Some studies make the hair on your neck stand up over the precision and accuracy of the details the dreamers share.  Hoax?  What do you think?  Let us know!

Moving onto general dreams…

In his article entitled 7 Fascinating Types of Dreams, Dreams are often keys to insight and empowerment, Preston Ni M.S.B.A. describes General dreams as Including:

Processing data, current events,

metaphorical,  [sweet spot for subconscious to communicate – most dreams are this]

fantasy/comfort, childhood, [amusement]

problem solving   [daily life issues work etc]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/communication-success/202010/7-fascinating-types-dreams [brackets are mine]

Problem solving, metaphorical (when we don’t want to hear it), amusement/fantasy/comfort, and prophetic are the types of dreams where we do most of our interpreting. These are the dreams that are teaching us and directing us from our intuition and subconscious mind, or from the spirit realm.  Or both. Do read the article if you can; it’s very insightful.

Another really great resource we discussed on a previous podcast in this series is an article in Medical News Today, medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph.D., CRNP and Written by Hannah Nichols on June 28, 20:

What does it mean when we dream? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284378

If you read one article about dreams let it be this one.  Link is in the blog form of this podcast which can be found in description box/ or bio which ever it is called…

And finally I have saved the best for last – I want to offer every one of you a Free Dream Interpretation.  Go to my webpage www.lyndaanne.art and click consulting.  From there hit the Free Dream Interpretation page on the top menu bar (upper right side).  There you can submit a dream to be interpreted.  I will put as many as I can on the podcast.  If you want to hear your dream interpretation, submit it today.  It cost you nothing.  I’ll include interpretations in the series from here on out.   

So be sure to tune in next time as we delve into part 4 of our discussion on dreams.  We’ll be talking about the first step in interpretation – remembering your dreams!  It’s so much easier to interpret that way.  Most of us would like to recall our dreams better.  Some of us are sure we never dream – you do – so what can we do to retain the messages sent to us in our sleep?  Find out next time on Artful Living with Lynda Anne. Thanks for listening.  Again. I want to again thank my monthly sponsors.  I really appreciate you and your support.  Thank you!

Until next time, so long!