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What happens while we sleep?

You would think that while our body is at rest and sleeping, not too much activity would be taking place; nothing can be further from the truth.

While we are “sleeping” there are many different things that go on. The physical body rejuvenates itself; the muscular structure, the organs, the immune system, even on a cellular level, all of it. And even though the body lies sleeping, repairing itself, the sub-conscious mind is fully awake and charged.

When do we dream?

The whole process of falling asleep is interesting. There are several stages one will go through before they begin to dream. First you will fall into a deep sleep. Your heart rate, body movement, respiration and brain wave activity are calm and slow. From there, you come to a more aroused stage. This is called the REM. It is at this stage, that we will dream. This stage comes and goes through out the sleep cycle, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to up past an hour.

What happens physically while we dream?

During the REM stage, the eyes move back and forth from side to side. The brain waves are more rapid, the heart rate rises, and breathing becomes irregular; yet the body lies very still with little or no movement. It is funny how, while the sub-conscious mind is alert and active, the body lies very still and basically motionless.

Why do we dream?

Some believe we dream to filter out or process our daily events. Some feel we play out our fantasies. Others feel we use dreaming as a way to problem solve. I say it is all of the above and more. There are many reasons why we dream. Our sub-conscious never sleeps. We think of it as the “secondary state” when in fact, it is always “awake”. (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days out of the year)

While we are awake and using our focused mind, our sub mind is recording everything that goes on, even the stuff that we don’t pay attention to or may not notice at all. The sub-conscious is like a central data base system of files and recordings. While it takes inventory of everything going on around you, your usually focused on other things.

The sub mind has the ability to multi-task, and it uses the sleep state “dreaming” as a means to journey. It teleports from different areas of the mind in seconds.

A person can have several dreams through their sleep cycle and each one will most likely be different in nature.

Examples are listed below:

First dream: You could dream about the keys you lost, or missed placed. You may actually dream where you put them. (This would be a trouble shooting - problem solving dream.)

Second dream: You could dream about swimming in a nice warm, clean lake. You may dream this if it were winter outside, you love to swim, but the lakes are all frozen over. (This would be a fantasy dream; acting out something you wish you could be doing.)

Third dream: You could dream that an elephant was sitting on your head. You may dream this if you are feeling mentally crushed, or you might be having a headache. (This kind of dream would be symbolic.)

Fourth dream: You could dream of a loved one that has passed. This may happen if you were missing them and just wanted to be on their presence, or you may have had an actual visitation with them. (This type of dream would be mystical.)

Any one of these four listed above could be a reason why we need to dream. There is still so much about the dream world that we don’t understand, and probably will never.

Our sub-conscious mind is very powerful. The sub mind uses dreaming as a tool. It is a pathway  for our spirit to roam free. It is the realm that connects the dead with the living. We can choose to play out our fantasies in this safe place. It uses our imagination and all of its resources to create scenes that seem like they are from a movie. It can lay out all the events that happen on a daily basis, sort through them, and process them on a deeper level. It can even travel to places or see people both alive and passed.

Spiritual Suggestion:

When you make yourself aware of your dreams, you can learn a lot about yourself. If you take the time to record your dreams in a dream journal or interpret them with an interpretation book, you will understand your true thoughts and feelings. It can also show you how some issues may be lingering and need some attention. If your lucky, you might be able to see your lost loved ones from time to time.

I am thankful for the “dream world”. I try to pay close attention to the content and activities in my dreams. I love when I am able to recall a dream that was fun or playful. I love the ones when I see my father even more. But the ones I love best, are the ones that I am free. The ones where I go from place to place, staying only long enough to say that I was there.