The Power of Dreams

By stacey chillemi, freelance writer
Dreams are the pathways to our inner souls and come from our subconscious mind. While we are sleeping, our body tries to send messages about the wants and needs our body. A person's dreams can give a sense of direction in life. Even though we cannot remember, a majority of our dreams when we wake up still have an impact on the way we think and function. Sigmund Freud believed that dreams are expressions of unfulfilled wishes and desires.

Dreaming plays an important role in our lives. Studies have shown that people who are repeatedly awakened at the beginning of dream periods for several nights become irritable and have difficulty concentrating. If your bodies' natural sleep cycle has been interrupted and has been deprived of dream sleep, your body will compensate by providing proportionately more dream sleep at the next dream sleep opportunity. Research shows that a healthy sleep is needed for a person's body to restore itself. Some scientists believe that adequate dream sleep is equally important because it enables the brain to recharge.

Medical research has not proven this testimony. Usually, when a person is awake, their brain waves will show a regular rhythym. When a person first falls asleep, the brain waves become slower and less regular. They call this sleep state non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

NREM sleep consists of stages. There are four stages and each stage is a progressively deeper stage. The deeper the sleep, the more your body restores itself. Stage one sleep is the transition from wakefulness to sleep. Restoration begins in stage two, but is more significant in stages three and four, sometimes called delta sleep.

After an hour and a half of NREM sleep, the brain waves begin to show a more active pattern again, though the individual is in a deep sleep. These sleep states are called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is when dreaming occurs. A person typically experiences a brief arousal from sleep and returns to stage two sleep after dreaming. This sleep cycle has begun again. The length of time in each of these stages differs throughout the night, with most REM sleep occurring during the later sleep cycle.

Dreaming and fantasizing give you a feeling of serenity and inner peace. Fantasizing has a positive impact on you and your body. When you fantasize, you put yourse

lf in a state of consciousness that lies between reality and the world of dreams. The imagination roams freely, although usually guided by mostly unconscious urges, concerns and memories. Fantasies help us find out what type of ambition we have and the people we want to become in life; it takes us into another world where we can do and become anything we want. It allows us to relax and joyfully think about the various scenarios that would make us happy.

While growing up, I always enjoyed sitting and closing my eyes and fantasizing about something relaxing. It seemed when I understood my body and mind, I was able to make them function as one and then release all negative thoughts and feelings that were putting unnecessary stress on me. My stress level decreased and so did the total amount of epileptic seizures I was having monthly.

During this time of dreaming and fantasizing, you can focus on anything you want, including making goals for yourself on how you are going to live your whole life. It is important that you always dreamed about positive things. Do not think negatively or feel sorry for yourself. Look at yourself as a fighter and an achiever. Do not let anything get in your way.


Dreams can stay in your mind, no one has to know about them, and you can record them, in your daily diary, where you write down your significant dreams and fantasies. These dreams and fantasies can be used as motivators to help you work on loving yourself. Your dreams and fantasies can help you plan your life five or even ten years from now and you can use your dreams to strengthen your inner self. When life seems too stressful to handle; close your eyes and let your mind take you somewhere you can relax and fantasize.

Dreams are the pathways to your inner soul, it is your soul that knows what your mind and body needs. Reach out and get in contact with your soul because it is necessity that you take the time out to understand what your mind and body crave.
Keeping a journal is a very successful tool for learning about yourself and finding out things that you never realized about yourself before. I write everything down on paper from my short-term goals to my long-term goals, to my dreams and fantasies. This helps increase my inner strength by keeping me in touch with who I am and what I need to do with my life. By writing, everything down expressing how you feel you can understand yourself better and the needs of your body mind and soul.

Now onto the four steps to strengthening yourself:

1. Start with writing a journal.
Create a journal that will help you strengthen and understand yourself, and make you feel better about yourself as a person.

2. Use this format to set up your journal.
MY DREAMS
WHAT THIS DREAM MEANT TO ME
HOW WILL I USE THIS DREAM TO MOTIVATE ME?
MY FANTASY
WHAT THIS FANTASY MEANT TO ME
HOW WILL I USE THIS FANTASY TO MOTIVATE ME?

3. Create a list in your journal.
Keep a list of the dreams and fantasies you have that mean something special to you. Write down how they can motivate you in this program and how they relate to helping yourself.

4. Do they relax you? Do dreams help you understand yourself and better yourself as a person? Do they give you hope for the future? While you write in the dream portion of your journal, answer the questions above. This is another way to strengthen yourself and understand your personal make up. These exercises will help strengthen your mind, body and soul in many ways.