You might want to get a cup of tea and a nice selection of biscuits. This might be a long episode. But whatever you do, don’t fall asleep! In fact, so we can avoid such instances, I have decided to divide this title into two parts. Feast your eyes on part one of ‘Sleeping With Dreams.’

It all starts when we fall asleep. Sleepers enter a portal that remains unexplained to many. Dreams are a manifestation of your mind. The brain paints pictures, and puts you in a situation that’s not only unexplained, but unexpected. The dream world is a complex phenomenon to encounter alone. ‘Sleeping With Dreams’ features Jane Teresa Anderson, host of ‘The Dream Show’ podcast. She’s also a dream analyst, an author, as well as a speaker. Her expertise leads us on an exploration of the dream world. Ever since I was kid, I’ve always wondered why we dream? Why they are important? Personally, I believe our dreams are a representation of our characteristics and personality. It’s the form factor of our existence. Dreams illustrate a portrayal of each and every individual’s profile.

The renowned dream analyst Anderson explains dreams are an image of one’s conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 24 to 48 hours. “Sometimes reinforcing the beliefs we built about similar experiences in the past, sometimes creating new beliefs based on distinctions between the recent experiences and those from the past. So we dream to update our beliefs about the world – based on our experiences – and our place in it.  Let’s go a little deeper: We may or may not remember our dreams, but either way they do their work of processing, consolidating, updating, and we may awaken to respond differently in the world as a result. The dream itself – when remembered – is the experience we have while our mind and brain are doing this processing work.” She says. We have reestablished dreams being a form factor to understanding one’s character.

Here’s a question for you. Have you ever been told as a kid that you should never reveal your dreams to anyone; otherwise it won’t come true? Wouldn’t you then assume dreams are made up of a wish? My inner child thought so. That’s why grown ups always said not to tell anyone. That was until – a few weeks ago. Looks like my genie is sucked back into his lamp. Since Anderson proved me otherwise.

The Dream Show host doesn’t believe dreams and wishes are related so much. “Not really. You may wish for more money, and experience your thoughts and feelings about that need for money, which are then processed in a dream. Your dream, once understood, will throw light on your conscious and unconscious beliefs about money (why having more of it is important to you, or why you are experiencing a lack of it, for example). So, in this example, experiencing the wish led to the dream, but dreams process far more than wishes. I know Freud had a wish-fulfillment of theory of dreams.” She said. However, the dream analyst follows with an interesting theory. If we as individuals choose to think of a wish as a belief (consciously or unconsciously) then it’s fair to suggest dreams can become the result of a wish. It’s accurate to examine dreams as uncovering beliefs rather than wishes.

“Dreams are unconscious desires and experiences!” Words uttered by Sigmund Freud. The man behind psychoanalytic therapy, he established a treatment for psychopathology. For the Austrian neurologist, dreams bring ultimate insight of the unconscious mind. Freud is responsible for the divide of the human mind. He also, unleashed the id, (instincts and energies that are fundamental for psychic activity), ego, and super ego forward. Not everyone entirely agrees with his theory concerning dreams.

Jane Teresa Anderson meets halfway. She says; “Partially. Dreams reveal our unconscious desires and experiences, but they also factor in our conscious desires and experiences, and they are not limited to either unconscious or conscious desires and experiences. They go deeper to reveal the underlying beliefs that influence our desires and experiences. I disagree that “dreams ARE …”. Dreams are the experiences we have while our mind and brain are processing our desires, experiences, beliefs and so on.”

I’ve always wondered if there’s an element of deja vu with dreams. Only because on the rare occasion, it feels as if I’ve dreamt what I’ve experienced before hand. (Hope that makes sense!). Bearing this in mind, it left me wondering if deja vu plays an important role in a dream sequence? When asked: do you think there’s an element of deja vu with dreams? The Dream Show host outlines the relationship between dreams and deja vu.

“If you mean, is the deja vu that you experience during the day related to dreams, then yes.  If you suddenly experience deja vu, think back a moment or two to what you were feeling or thinking. It might be a conflict over an issue, it might be a solution to a problem.” Experiencing deja vu can trigger traits of one’s character to come forward. It can be anything from one’s mindset, conflict or outcome.”

Anderson takes the time to explain the process / development between dreams and deja vu. “What’s most likely happening is that the feeling, conflict, or solution you had just before the deja vu suddenly seemed inexplicably familiar. So familiar that you think you’ve experienced this moment before but you can’t quite put your finger on it. If you remembered your dreams from the night before, you’ll most likely see the connection. (And if you didn’t recall any dreams in the morning, the deja vu experience itself might bring up sudden recall. Or you might never remember the dream, but the connection is still there.”

Your encounter with the dream world matters! It reveals elements of one’s personality, fulfillment’s and wishes. It’s the only world that allows those wishes and fulfillment’s, that we call dreams, to reenact in an unconscious state of mind. It’s your ticket to the ‘Cave Of Wonders. The only place you’ll find your genie sitting in his lamp!