I've always wondered why I dream so much, so vividly, and so often. I looked into it and read every person has the same amount of dreams as the next. If you say you don't dream it is because you don't remember your dreams. There are five stages of sleeping and only the last stage actually involves dreaming. I also found dreaming has been linked to depression in more than one way, and, although everyone dreams, it affects certain people more.
Every time I dream, I consult the dream dictionary. It's probably not the best source of information, but it's my only source. My friend Ashley bought it at a garage sale and it's insanely outdated but I consult it like it's nobody's business. I am not a religious person, but a spiritual one. I believe in fate and the zodiac. I want to get my palm and aura read one day. I believe everything I have ever done in my life has led me to that very moment, no matter how amazing or mundane that moment is. That moment could be typing this post alone in the dining hall and I would still find value in that.
So I believe in one hilarious dream I had after my freshman year of college to be fate. It was the dream that started it all. The dream that has made us all consult the dream dictionary, dream after dream after dream. I dreamt I was at the mall alone shopping then ran into my friends Ashley and Amber. I was going home after talking to them but Amber invited me to meet her new boyfriend and go to the movies with them. Her new boyfriend Phil Collins, that is. Yes, I dreamt one of my best friends was dating an aging rockstar and to this day we still think it's the funniest thing in the world.
We wanted to know what it meant though. Would Amber soon meet and date Phil Collins?! Ashley jokingly tossed her dream dictionary at me and I looked up every word that would lead me to my answer. Music. Movies. Mall. (I originally tried to look up prog rock, but that is apparently too specific). I also looked up love, minivan (there was a minivan involved), field hockey (Ashley and Amber used to play field hockey), anything that would have a speck of relevancy. I wanted answers to a question that probably couldn't even be answered.
Maybe I dreamt about Phil Collins because my parents are Phil Collins fan and it rubbed off on me (the "Tarzan" soundtrack is one of the best). Maybe I dreamt about running into Ashley and Amber at the mall because they are my best friends and I frequent the mall a lot. After every dream I needed deeper answers. It's amazing that something as simple as a tree or restaurant can have a deeper psychological meaning and I would have never known if it wasn't for the dream dictionary.
I've given the dream dictionary a rest for now. I'm just more aware of my thoughts that are running through my brain that I wouldn't have known existed thanks to the old, dusty dream dictionary. But other than that, even if I know what my dreams mean now, my life hasn't drastically changed or gotten better in any way. The wise words of Albus Dumbledore always stick in the back of my mind as I flip through the ancient dream dictionary though: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."