Why Pay Attention to Dreams? (Curveball: Because They’re Meaningless and That’s Okay)
I’m trying out something odd this week. I’m going to share my dreams, and what I think they mean.
| Daily thought-storm for April 6, 2020. |
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve kept dream journals. Good for you, you’ll say. Dreams are meaningless. I say nay, dreams are not only entertaining films produced by the firing of sleepy neurons. There’s more to it than that, but only if you think so.
Can the meaningfulness of dreams be tested using the scientific method? Well, that’s a leading question. Of course, they can’t…but with a caveat. It’s likely that the true question is “Can you claim any objective truth from an individual’s interpretation of their dreams?” A better inquiry would be something akin to this 2015 study, which aimed to:
“Interpret the possible connections of positive dream emotions and dream recall to subjective well-being and mental boundaries.”
The results of that study leave you wanting more information, but it did reveal something anyone could have guessed: People’s subjective well-being is connected to their dreams, but it’s a mixed bag of associations. And the study from earlier also states this:
