For the last several months I’ve had the same recurring dream. I thought it would be interesting to see how people from three different fields would interpret the same dream.
So I spoke with Dr. Albert Ramos, who is a Professor of Clinical Neurology Sleep Medicine at the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine. I also talked with Marcus West, a psychoanalyst with a specialization in Jungian therapy. And with Athena Laz, who is a Spiritual Dream Teacher, Depth Psychologist, and 4th gen intuitive.
I was curious how each of these people understand dreams given their background. So…which one is right?
0:00 My Recurring Dream
1:41 The Neurologist’s Interpretation
3:27 The Psychoanalyst’s Interpretation
6:28 The Intuitive’s Interpretation
8:33 The Computer’s Interpretation
9:08 What I’ve Learned About Dreams
For more information, check out Sleep Foundation’s page on the Dream Analysis and Interpretation:
#dreams
#psychology
#intuitive
#neurology
For the last several months I've had the Same recurring dream I find myself Walking through the familiar doors in my Office but as I make my way to my desk I Notice a sense of I'm ease creeping in My colleagues give me strange looks and Whisper amongst themselves and I can Feel their eyes on me as I pass by as I Settle in at my desk I start to feel a Sinking sensation in my stomach Something's not quite right suddenly my Manager appears before me looking Stern And disappointed I already know what's Coming next my manager tells me that I'm Being let go due to underperformance I Try and defend myself but my manager Doesn't seem to be listening the feeling Of disappointment and anxiety Intensifies as I realize I'm reliving The same dream again Hey everyone I'm Seb dreams are wild They're these mysterious movies that Play in our brains every night and Oftentimes they don't make a lot of Sense sometimes they can be fearful and Many times they're just forgettable but The thing is this dream of mine keeps Happening and I'm nothing if not curious About my dreams I'm drawn to dreams and Learning about this whole other world That happens when we sleep but I also Know that because dreams are so Mysterious that they're open to a wide Variety of interpretations to some
People dreams are nothing more than just A late night show that plays in your Head While others think we should take Our Dream seriously To varying degrees I thought it would be Interesting to see how people from three Different fields would interpret the Same dream so I spoke with Dr Ramos who Is a professor of clinical Neurology Sleep medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine I also Talked with Marcus West a psychoanalyst With a specialization in Union therapy And finally I spoke with Athena Laz who Is a spiritual dream teacher deaf Psychologist and a fourth generation Intuitive I was curious how each of These people understand dreams given Their backgrounds The first thing I wanted to know from Dr Ramos was from his perspective what he Thought the overall purpose of dreams Are like what's actually happening in Our brains while we dream at night when We dream this occurs during what is Called rapid movement sleep what is Happening during REM sleep is that we Kind of start to to associate a lot of The things that we have learned Throughout the day the information be it Emotional content and we are moving this This information again from kind of the The USB drive of the computer into the More long-term memories within the brain
And we associate these newer memories With with the memories that that are Already there and this Association are Mixing up of different information Happens during rapid movement sleep so That makes sense streaming is like our Brain trying to dump short-term storage Into longer-term storage parts of our Brain think of this like your brain Closing tabs on your browser which you Should like right now close those tabs You're not going to read those articles Anyway dreams are like getting rid of The Clutter so all of that makes sense When I asked Dr Ramos to interpret my Dream he had really cool response which Is cycle of sleep we get more rapid Movement Steep and this is the stage of The brain or of sleep we have more of a Vivid dreams and we tend to recall the Dreams and also that we have to have This more of a emotional type of images And kind of random pictures and moments That we tend to associate with dreaming Even though there's a little bit of Dreaming during non-remely one of the Things I learned talking to Dr Ramos was That your dreams are your brain's way of Taking all of your thoughts memories and Connections you made throughout the day And sorting out what's important to keep And what's not your brain is simply Making room for the next time that you Are awake which is why sometimes people
Can have that aha moment during their Sleep because that's when they're Processing the day's information Next I wanted to talk to someone who Deals with dreams in a little different Context so I spoke with Marcus West who Is a psychoanalyst that works with Patients from a union perspective Carl Jung was famous for thinking that our Dreams had something very important to Tell us so I wanted to start by asking Why a therapist might want to pay Attention to someone's dreams so a dream Image is a kind of Rich series of Symbols the process of dream Interpretation is how to how to work With those symbols understand what They're trying to tell us the basic Method is to ask someone to for their Associations to the dream and to take it From there basically leaving space Respecting the dream Seeing how it unfolds leaving its space To unfold respecting the person's Personal associations and the other Therapists associations as well and Somehow in some mysterious way it all Becomes clear Hopefully so for Marcus dream Interpretation is a way of pointing out The symbols in her dream and developing An association with those symbols it's Not about the content of the dream per Se but about the symbols and the dream
And what those represent so when I asked Marcus to discuss my dream it went in a Direction I wasn't quite expecting so I'd be asking you with your associations This what's your what's the feeling in The dream what your thoughts about the Dream what I would then be interested to Do would be to look at the different Levels this this might apply so the Dream here is telling us about a Performance anxiety something might be Felt to be not good enough and that you Might then look at this on the objective Level the subjective level the Transference level and the archetypal Level so the objective level would be to Think about the areas in your life where This this kind of fear of not being good Enough is applied over in your personal History in the family is that in Relationships around you now or is it at Work where this dream is set also then Maybe look on the subjective level so How does this apply to yourself are you Very self-critical this makes you feel Anxious the transference level you know If you're telling this to a therapist You is the fear that they're going to Say oh this isn't good enough you're not Doing well enough or your past you know That there's a relational level of your Partner that they're going to say this Isn't good enough and the archetypal Level and I think you know you're
Hitting on here archetypal themes that We all have to deal with in life are we Good enough Healthcare that's going to React are they going to want to fire us As it was so okay unlike Dr Ramos your Brain isn't clearing out memories to Make room for new ones instead this is Your brain processing the day you just Had in an attempt to come to terms with It you each day is comprised of a Thousand little moments some more Important than others but our brain Takes all of these moments and begins to Filter them as Marcus West points out Dreams are like gold dust it's like Having a little truth speaker inside Giving you that bit of information that The person's conscious mind doesn't have If you can listen to those and tune in They really enrich the therapeutic Process and kind of put you online if You've gone straying or you're getting Stuck the dream comes along and you just Enlightens things really Finally I wanted to get an opinion from More of a spiritual perspective so I Spoke with Athena Lodge who is a fourth Generation intuitive and a spiritual Dream teacher for her when we dream it's Not just our brain clearing out waste or Processing the day instead dreams Connect us to a higher Consciousness my Feeling is that we dream for multiple Reasons we dream with our psyche and we
Also when we dream we connect to a Greater unified Consciousness and so Many people and cultures and traditions Have different names for this level of Consciousness so some people call it the Spiritual Universe meta awareness Greater awareness so for me our dreams Teach us how to understand ourselves on The world we find ourselves in but also How to understand our place in the Greater unified field of Consciousness What I liked about Athena's view on Dreams is that my dream isn't just about Me and what's going on in my day instead Dreams have something to teach us about The world we live in so what about my Recurring dream of getting fired I think Two main things come up the biggest one Is fear and then I would say comfort you Can become so comfortable and Conditioned in your everyday routine or Pattern of behavior or life that if Something needs to change it can become So difficult to just step out of that Way of being and I think that's where Dreaming is actually fundamental and Amazing because your dreams will help You forward people in my opinion will Always have repetitive dreams because if You're not getting the messaging right You're psyche because it's designed for Balance we'll just keep giving you Dreams until you get the right message So I spoke with a physician a therapist
And a spiritual teacher these three People are very wise and have clearly Spent a lot of time thinking about Dreams but there was something still Missing from my exploration around Dreams I needed Insight from the Smartest thing I know chat GPT so I Typed in my dream into Chachi PT and Watched it do its magic The dream you described appears to be Centered around your workplace and Feelings of an ease disappointment and Anxiety here are a few possible Interpretations one insecurity and fear Of failure two lack of control and Powerlessness three fear of rejection And judgment four emotional stress and Anxiety Well all right not bad Chachi PT it Seems to say everything we've already Heard so I guess in a sense that summed Up a lot of human knowledge in like 10 Seconds but I think with dreams I prefer Human interaction I've been on this Journey around dreams and learning about My dreams I don't think any of the Interpretations I heard were more right Than any others but I appreciated how Unique and insightful they were after Talking to these three experts in the Field I think I've Come Away with some Takeaway spot dreams first dreams are Unique and also personal which requires A lot of context to help decipher them
There is no one-size-fits-all approach Second take an interest in your dreams They're important an easy and free way To start taking an interest in your Dreams is by journaling and third keep In mind that a lot of things can affect Your dreams such as sleep hygiene as Well as substances like caffeine and Alcohol all of which could negatively Impact your dreams still I guess maybe These are all just results from my Overthinking I still have my job for now Seth can I see my office Thank you