What the word "dream" means is entirely up to you. Some people will say it's an alternate reality. Some will say it's the true reality. Others might look at dreams as a way to see what's going to happen in their lives.
Ask a scientist what a dream is. They'll most likely tell you this definition: "A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep."
Why? Because that's the "correct" definition of a dream. While most of that is true, I believe there's something missing. My definition is quite simple. "A memory that never happened". Simple, right? Well, some may not see it as I do. And that's fine, it's their right and choice not to.
But let me enlighten you as to how I personally view dreams and the effects they can cause.
I believe the simple definition that dreams are just thoughts. Not premonitions or an alternate reality. Very simplisticly real thoughts. Thoughts that may be constantly on your mind, or even in the back of it that your subconcious holds onto. The ones that you may not have time to think about during the day with all of your activities taking place around you. Work, school, hobbies or even a crisis. They're light when you think about them at first, because you don't have the time, or maybe even mental energy, to go deeper into them. So we look at it as a "condensed thought". Simply a generalized view of what's ailing you or perhaps what's making you feel like a kid in a candy store again. Example? "What if he/she still loves me?" That's a very common thought, and often very generalized due to the lack of time/energy we as thriving humans have to put forth into it. You don't have time to really dwell on that...to really sink in.
At night though...that's where the circumstances change. It becomes heavier. At night, you see it in a more clear way because your mind has time to pick at it. To analyze it. Most likely because you've got time to yourself now. Perhaps you think about it right before you fall asleep. Maybe you have a bed to yourself, or the person who shares it with you has already drifted off to sleep...leaving you there to wade into your own pool of scenarios and emotions.
And that's where the dream begins to kindle. Your body slows down but your mind is still racing. So now, those thoughts that were in your subconcious all day? They're free to swim amongst the stars. You see what you think. You feel it. Physically and emotionally. Sometimes, my emotions are stronger in my dreams. A thought that may have saddened me during the day could make me cry in my dreams. Why? Because I'm experiencing it. It's not just a thought anymore. It becomes so real in our minds that we actually convince ourselves that it is. We live in it, if only for the night. I believe dreams are more powerful than any thought we could ever concieve. Because once it becomes a dream, it becomes almost completely real. We can feel it as if we were truly there. As if it might as well have happened.
All it takes is one dream. One dream...to stir up our deepest emotions and leave us haunted by a memory that never happened.
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