Dreams

[WaterBorn]

I have been wondering about what my dreams could mean. My dreams have always been a source of mystery and quite frankly pain in my life and Id like to know what i could do to understand them or simply have better dreams. So many of my dreams include some kind of devastating end of the world scenarios ranging from alien contact and supernatural weather to comets any ideas? Also Ive had more dreams than I can count where zombies have been involved not specifically loved ones being zombies but mass populations of them even of being a zombie myself in one of them. What does it mean? Ive read a book on symbolism in dreams but i what it says on these topics is not consistent with how I feel.

[Echo_of_shadows]

This isn't really my area of expertise, but I think I can help a little bit. My first suggestion is to start a dream journal. This is the biggest step you can take to understand your dreams. Dreams are your subconscious mind sorting things out as well as giving you messages. Sometimes those messages are clear and obvious, other times they're quite puzzling. Recording your dreams in a journal will help you start to recognize the themes and patterns in your dreams. It also allows for better dream recall. If you can recall the entirety of your dreams, versus just bits and pieces, you'll get a better understanding of the meaning of your dreams.
My second suggestion is to take a grain of salt when reading dream interpretation books. Dreams are complex things and unique to the individuals that dream them. Sure, your dreams can share common themes with other people, but they can mean entirely different things to different people. Take a black dog for example. For one person, dreaming of a black dog can be a positive experience because the dog they grew up with looked like the dog they dreamed of, and that dream gave them the warm fuzzies. For another person, dreaming of any dog can be a terrifying experience if they were ever bitten by a dog in real life. Dream books are written from the author's own experiences and does not necessarily reflect the symbolism of anyone's dreams but their own.
Next, you might want to look into lucid dreaming and/or dream incubation. I'm not going to go into detail here, but the two links I provided should help you get an idea of what these concepts are. Basically, they're techniques for taking control of the type of dreams you have.
Lastly, be careful of what you do before going to sleep and sometimes what happens while you're asleep. Television can have an effect on your dreams. I once had a dream about a tornado because I had watched The Weather Channel before I went to bed. If there's a television on in your room while you're asleep, you might be able to hear it while you're still dreaming. I had an ex that would sometimes watch TV in bed when he woke up. He was watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air one morning and I ended up dreaming that I was Will Smith.

[Myrth]

Great post, Echo, and funny story!! roflol!

[SnowCat]

I have been wondering about what my dreams could mean. My dreams have always been a source of mystery and quite frankly pain in my life and Id like to know what i could do to understand them or simply have better dreams. So many of my dreams include some kind of devastating end of the world scenarios ranging from alien contact and supernatural weather to comets any ideas? Also Ive had more dreams than I can count where zombies have been involved not specifically loved ones being zombies but mass populations of them even of being a zombie myself in one of them. What does it mean? Ive read a book on symbolism in dreams but i what it says on these topics is not consistent with how I feel.

I've had extremely similar dreams. I think in some of these cases, we're tapping into alternate time lines or realities.

Snow

[Lillady]

First off my apologies for not seeing this earlier! To answer you I agree with what Echo stated about keeping a dream journal. Keep in mind not all dreams mean something though. Dreams revolve around life, past and present and things we seek in life. Some are realistic some are not. So focus on the details of you dreams, write them down then study them. In time, you should be able to piece them together to get an answer. Good Luck!

[WaterBorn]

Thank you all for the advice and comments and I understand my fair share of what can affect dreams as well as I am somewhat adept at lucid dreaming. I can think of a few times where I could have a dream, wake up, do something for like 5 minutes then fall asleep and jump right back into the dream. I think what messes with me is my chaotic thought process + dreaming.