Thread: Do optomistic people have better dreams?

Originally Posted by HeritageDreamer

Now that I am working through this in therapy I am feeling worry and fear, I generally feel unsafe and my trust in men that I do not know has decreased (not that I ever trusted men that much anyways). I have recently had a dream where I was walking down the street with my favorite counselor and a man kept trying to pull me away from her. He eventually succeeded. This dream was based on fear and insecurity.

You are correct in thinking that emotions dictate the materials in our dreams, but some dreams contain messages in them, as we are far wiser than we know (also I believe God talks to us in our sleep). Let us take yours for instance. You missed the message in it. The "man" successfully pulled you away from your counselor. The man represents the enemy and the enemy is "temptation", to keep your walls up, withdraw, or give up out of frustration, and this is trying to prevent your healing. The instruction is to stay focus and be open for healing....to shake the man/enemy off of you. You unfairly judge men as a whole (you said "not that I ever trusted men that much anyways"). This is a door that still needs to be opened and healed and a simple judgment like that can prevent your healing in general. So, you see a dream can actually instruct us too.

Thank you. I think you are right. I do tend to 'keep up my walls' when it comes to fear and insecurity. I have many dreams where I feel like I need to fight for my safety and I am usually fighting a man. I didn't even realize how negative I was by saying "not that I ever trusted men that much anyways". This is just proof, as you said, that "this is a door that still needs to be opened and healed". I'd like to thank you because you have given me a different perspective. I joined this website for that exact reason, to gain a different perspective.

also you are really the only person that can interperet your dreams, its your mind and you know it best.

Originally Posted by siuol

also you are really the only person that can interperet your dreams, its your mind and you know it best.

Maybe, but other people can certainly help a lot in doing so.


To the OP, I am positive that your waking emotions dictate your dreams in their entirety. If a person is optimistic, it would follow that their optimism carries over into their dreams. There are other factors that influence dreams, too, but all of these factors stem from the subconscious.

That's my take on it. Of course, others may believe that entities affect their dreams, etc, but those are just beliefs.

HeritageDreamer.

You are most welcome. I wish you complete healing and joy for your life.

Originally Posted by siuol

also you are really the only person that can interperet your dreams, its your mind and you know it best.

I don't believe that is true. Interpreting our own dreams is far more difficult than interpreting others. We can't be objective enough often times to even see what is right in front of us concerning our own dreams. Sometimes our dreams are full of good things about us, and we are the last person to see the good in what we are or what we do. Oh, we easily see the bad things though, but we miss the answers and just see the problems...a "forest for the trees" syndrome....as you have just witnessed with HeritageDreamer.

sry i meant we can interpret them best, but you may be right. i was just thinking that we know our minds better than anyone else, so there are things other people would have no clue on. backround information helps in understanding other peoples dreams, like how she said she didnt trust men helped you out alot. you have all the backround information on your dreams, so you may just need to look at it in another way, other people can just guess. like if i said i have dreams about snakes crawling up me you may think im afraid of snakes or feel restricted or scared, but that would change if i told you i love snakes and they were my pets. also the dreamer has memories of their emotions, thoughts, and details they forgot or couldnt describe. so i dont think its more difficult to interpret our own dreams, its just a matter of analyzing everything.

That is the main reason I don't put too much stock in dream interpretations. It's nice to have another perspective on things, of course, but when someone takes a stab on interpreting your dreams, there is so much context that is missing, it can almost render the interpretation useless. The best they can do, unless they have a detailed of account of all of the mental associations you have, across concepts, is to use general/common themes to try to make their assessments. Superficially, it could be helpful, but defining what a certain dream theme might mean for one person doesn't necessarily mean that the same interpretation works for you.

Sometimes I want to dream about an adrenaline-filled chase that ends with a really dark fight, or something else that isn't considered "good". I enjoy the thrill in these type of dreams, especially if I "know" someone is coming to get me, or if I'm racing against the clock for something. I simply use passive expectation and try not to be visibly or mentally optimistic in these situations, because the outcome I want isn't necessarily optimistic. I find that if I do become scared (which has only happened once or twice so far), the dream doesn't get away from me all that much. It might become a bit darker or blurry, but that's pretty much it.

yea i prefer the more thrilling dreams. im more of asking if your optomistic will things go your way more, like talking to a girl then making out instead of getting slapped, or reaching for a candy bar and eating it rather than the chubby guy stealing it and running, not so much better dreams as in fluffy bunnies. cant tell you how many dreams ive had a goal that somehow manages to elude me, and its almost within grasp but unobtainable. im hoping that if in waking life if i expect what i want will happen it will carry over into my dreams.

Yes, I'd consider my dream-self optimistic in that regard. It's as if I'm very sure of what's going to happen next, and that things will turn out the way I want them to.

My experience with interpreting my dreams is that one of the general symbol interpretations is usually correct. When the many symbols are fitted together, they will usually fit very well into the theme I had first, intuitively assumed that the dream was about. Other times, they form a perfect illustration of a situation I was thinking about the evening before.
I don't think our minds are so different to the point where we can't understand each others' dreams. If you speak the same language and live in a similar environment, you probably have a similar dream language.
I don't have significant experience in interpreting others' dreams myself but I think that others can pick up on the major themes, unlike the symbol-by-symbol, by-the-book interpretations.

Spareohs; You have said you don't have much experience, but you have just made an excellent contribution here.

I'm a pretty optimistic person and am stress-free (unless im about to tell my parents something bad, then i stress a little bit)

But most of the time I make a decision and I either follow through with it, or I don't. Pretty simple really, keeps me 99% stress free.

My dreams are always very vivid [I forget them through the course of the day, but they're generally very vivid] and I haven't had a nightmare for as long as I can remember. My furthest memory of a nightmare was when a cat jumped on me in my dream, but this was in 7th grade...

Originally Posted by siuol

since dreams are run on expectations, do optomistic people who expect good things have better dreams, like less nightmares or more things work out? usually i have a very tiny bit of dream control in non-lucids just from just wanting something, but many times i dont get what i want and im wondering if thats because i have doubts on it happening.

Expecting to have a lucid dream should certainly help your chances. As for dream control, that's a whole differetn beast. The key is, no doubt. Any little uncertainty (which always seems to be trying to enter into the scenario) will lessen your control. If you really want full lucidity and control, you have to act with total confidence.

Here's a quote from Carlos Castaneda's "The Art Of Dreaming" that sums it up pretty well:
"Explanations always call for deep thought. But when you actuallly dream, be as light as a feather. Dreaming has to be performed with integrity and seriousness, but in th midst of laughter and with the confidence of someone who doesn't have a worry in the world. Only under these conditions can our dreams actually be turned into dreaming."

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

I don't really think it's that deep. I've always been very imaginative, so it's only understandable that, since I've also always immersed myself in action/adventure toys and media, such scenarios will replay in my head. I've also taken martial arts as a kid, which forces visualization of attackers. My mind is basically a potent mix of Kung-Fu battles, gunfights, demon-hunting, super-powers, science fiction, magic, etc etc. Hell, when I was like 9, one of my favorite movies was The Monster Squad, which is about a group of young kids who end up as Earth's only hope for survival against Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the "Gillman." Pretty graphic movie, but it was also hilarious. I had epic good vs. evil battles with action figures of all types (most of them having to do with supernatural creatures and bigger-than-life villains). There really has never been any shortage of intense/scary conflict, because I have always been exposed to that kind of thing. And don't even get me started on Saturday morning cartoons. Haha.

It's all fantasy, though. In reality, I've actually had a pretty positive life. I mean, I've had my fair share of horrible moments, don't get me wrong, but I'm pretty certain that there is nothing that I'm "stuffing." If anything, I've probably just ingested too many horror movies as a young kid. I always had one of those "I'm horrified, but I can't stop watching!" relationships with them. Lol. Even now, I find them hard to watch, because they make my imagination go crazy.

Maybe 'pacifist' was too heavy a word, though. While I will do whatever I can to avoid conflict, I understand that violence is sometimes necessary. Perhaps it is because of this understanding that I enjoy fantasy violence. I love a good story about good vs. evil, and I love stylized action. I think that, because of this, I tend to identify with heroes, and when you take into account that they are constantly being persecuted by someone or something, tragedy simply comes with the territory...

That being said, it's possible. Like I said, I've seen my fair share of real-life conflict, and I have been around it at some point, as a kid. So it's really hard to say what attributes to what. I simply think that it would be a bit premature to say that my desensitized stance on fictional violence (like in my avatar and stuff) is anything more than an attraction to a good ol' epic battle scenario.

Cont forget to mention your love with epic lucid battles

Originally Posted by siuol

since dreams are run on expectations, do optomistic people who expect good things have better dreams, like less nightmares or more things work out? usually i have a very tiny bit of dream control in non-lucids just from just wanting something, but many times i dont get what i want and im wondering if thats because i have doubts on it happening.

I can say from personal experience, yes. During these past few months I started having a more positive view on life and myself. My dreams reflected on that.

Probably. Looking at the threads and contents quick it does give that impression. Either people are shaped by their dreams or their dreams are shaped by them, but outlooks tend to tie in fairly strongly in the waking and the dreaming as a rule.

I guess paranoid scared people are more likely to have those thoughts in their minds when they sleep.

Example: Static / chemical reaction. Sleep paralysis. You "wake up" seeing dark figures etc. A more paranoid person would seem likely to retain a sense of fear / dread. I'm fairly optimistic, and felt able to literally banish any sense of fear, substituting it with a sense of friendship / openness. Result = better dream, so my votes with yes.