Since the beginning of time, people have tried to figure out what dreams are all about. There is even a field of study called “oneirology” that looks at dreams. People who are more interested in the mysterious side of things than in science love to use dream books to figure out what their dreams mean and think they can predict the future. Psychologists, on the other hand, think that dreams accurately show how we feel right now and that sometimes our subconscious tries to tell us something important through dreams.
CuriousMob.com has discovered that there are some dreams that we all share. Every now and again, we all have these kinds of nightmares. Our innate instincts, a cultural code, our ancestors’ experiences, and personal experiences all contribute to these dreams. A psychologist and a specialist in dreams, Patricia Garfield, calls them “universal dreams” and says, “Like a hearty stew that is rich with local produce, the universal dreams differ among different peoples, but they are all nourishing variants of the same wholesome meal. They are as old as humanity and as widespread as our globe.”
10. Falling
When we’re adults, we fall more often than we fly. Ian Wallace, a psychologist, says that a dream about falling shows that you are afraid of losing control. Something in your life is out of your control now because significant changes happened that you weren’t ready for. Think about the parts of your life (work, relationships, finances, health, etc.) where you feel the most stifled or vulnerable and how to fix it.
Some scientists use simple facts about the body to explain why people dream about falling. As the body starts to fall asleep, the nervous system begins to calm down, your blood pressure and heart rate go down, and your falling asleep brain, especially if it was overworked during the day, can see this as a sign of danger or death and wake you up quickly.
The opposite of this dream is flying, which means getting rid of an onerous burden and getting the freedom you’ve always wanted.