hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about seven things your dreams say
about you now let's begin number one dream symbols what do dreams mean some experts say
dreams are a reflection of your subconscious needs and desires others claim they're random
combinations of sensory experiences in your daily life after decades of research into the subject
there's still no clear consensus on what your dreams actually mean but we do know one thing
dreams are unique to every single individual you're the only one capable of dreaming the dream
you had last night because your unique perspective influences the way your dream unfolds researchers
have however noticed a number of interesting patterns in the way our dreams take shape in
other words the dreams are unique but the emotions environments and ideas are nearly universal you'll
find them in different cultures you'll find them on different continents no matter where you go
almost all humans share a diverse collection of dream experiences which experts call dream
symbols according to a 1958 study published in the journal American anthropologist these symbols are
usually an action or a feeling we'll dive into this in more detail later but flying is a great
example dreamers all over the world have flown in their dreams and there's almost always a real-life
explanation natural disasters are another common example you might see a tornado hitting your house
or feel like you're getting washed away by an ocean of chocolate milk while these disasters
are obviously completely different both are dream symbols which means there's some kind
of hidden meaning now in this case you may be feeling overwhelmed by work or you might
have experienced some kind of hardship in your personal life so your dreams are interpreting
those negative feelings as a natural disaster now before we dive deeper into some of the most common
dream symbols there's something important that you need to remember when analyzing your dreams it's
attempting to pay attention to specific details but the details of your dream are not only hard
to remember they rarely ever makes sense so don't pay as much attention to specific people or
things instead focus on thematic differences ask yourself what a dream feels like or think about
how you were affected by whatever you dreamt about your subconscious interprets things in
wild and nonsensical ways but underneath all those crazy visuals your dreams can tell you a
lot about yourself number two the neverending chase few dream symbols are more popular than
the chase dream I'm sure you've had one at least once in your life maybe you were running through
your house with a monster nipping at your heels or sprinting down the street trying to escape a
stampede of wild animals the experience is a little bit different for everyone but the
narrative is almost always the same you're being chased by something you're running for your life
but right before that thing's about to catch you your dream ends and you wake up in a cold sweat
so the big question is what do chase streams really mean well researchers actually have a
couple of different explanations one perspective says you're unconsciously avoiding something you
could be running away from a person an idea or just some feelings but you're definitely running
away from something and your subconscious is paying the price another interpretation is
that Chase streams represent a guilty mind you may not realize it but your subconscious could
be bogged down by feelings of guilt maybe you did something that you're ashamed of or you're
worried that a mistake will come back to bite you either way that guilt will keep chasing you
around until you take the time to figure out why now of course these aren't the only two
explanations out there because chase dreams are so popular there are dozens of different ways
it can reflect a person's life but one thing's for sure if you're having chase dreams there's
something in your life that needs your attention number three public embarrassment have you ever
felt embarrassed or humiliated in a dream according to a 2004 study from the Journal
of Psychology interdisciplinary and applied public embarrassment is another very common
dream symbol the classic example is realizing you're naked at work or school that's the one
most people are familiar with it's been shown in countless TV episodes and movies but that's
not the only embarrassing dream you can have sometimes you're bombing a presentation and the
whole room is laughing at you other times you're just running around searching for a bathroom these
three dreams seem really different right and they are but each one has the same theme insecurities
if you're feeling embarrassed in your dream you could be experiencing something similar in your
real life you might be self-conscious about the way you look or feeling unprepared at work either
way embarrassing dreams tell you that you're not feeling as confident as you should be so don't let
those dreams go unnoticed number four falling out of a dream imagine you're in the middle of
a dream you're walking down the street the world seems pretty normal but then you take a small step
off the curb and everything changes suddenly you're falling off a cliff tumbling through
the air at a million miles per hour you hurdle closer and closer to the ground until you jolt
up out of bed you look around and realize it was all just a dream few dreams are more frightening
or disorienting than falling but what are these dreams tell you about yourself well stress is
almost always involved you're falling because something in your life feels out of control that
tension is triggering a stressful experience so try to unravel that unnecessary stress in
your life and save yourself from falling out of another dream number five flying in dreams flying
is a universal dream symbol and has its fair share of different interpretations but unlike the other
dream symbols on this list flying is almost always a positive experience it's fun it's freeing and it
leaves you wanting more I mean who doesn't want to soar through the air a study from 1977 and
the International Journal of symbology explored all the different meanings of this popular dream
symbol and it found that many people are flying in their dreams for the same reasons it's a sign that
your life is moving forward for whatever reason you're feeling free and confident maybe you're
enjoying your newfound success or embarking on an exciting journey all of these positive experiences
trigger a sort of weightless sensation in real life you're in a great mood your confidence is
sitting at an all-time high so that happiness finds its way into your dreams and literally
lifts you off the ground number six dream recall now that we've covered for the most common dream
symbols let's switch gears a bit because there's more to a dream than its content for example how
well do you remember your dreams most people struggle to piece together any sort of clear
plotline they wake up with a faint idea of what just happened but most of that crucial
information slips through their fingertips the act of remembering your dreams is called dream
recall it's a pretty challenging thing to do but a small group of people can remember their
subconscious chaos for hours or days afterward and their personality type may be the reason why
according to a 2010 study from the International review of neurobiology certain personality types
make it easier to remember your dreams but which personalities retain the most information to
answer this question let's look at the Big Five personality traits you may have heard these
categories before but let's do a quick review the big five traits are extraversion openness
conscientiousness neuroticism and agreeableness every person has a unique combination of these
five traits so which one do you think affects your dream recall - most it turns out openness
is the key open people like to go on adventures to meet new people and to try different things
they place more value on exploration so their brains are receptive to unfamiliar
experiences and on top of that open people have better retrospective memories which means they
can reflect more carefully on past experiences those fine-tuned reflective skills are critical
for dream recall because they allow you to store information that anyone else would forget so if
you usually remember your dreams you might learn something new about your personality number seven
recurring nightmares other dream behaviors can reveal aspects of your character going back to
that same 2010 study recurring nightmares are a telltale sign of another big personality trait
in fact that personality trait may be the root cause of your bad dreams recurring nightmares
usually affect people who are nervous or worrisome normally when you're awake your conscious brain
keeps your worries and fears under control but after your conscious turns off those fears run
wild which ultimately triggers a nightmare but recurring nightmares are especially important
because repeating the same bad dream means something's continuously bothering you you
have an unresolved fear that's eating away at your subconscious and ruining your sleep night after
night for most people it's hard to figure out exactly what's driving your brain crazy because
most nightmares look and feel nothing like real life but each recurring nightmare will give you
a clue and each clue will push you one step closer to unraveling your fears hey thank you
for watching top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way