Candid Quick Take: This Is What Dreams Are Made Of

I have a recurring dream that leaves me waking up with more questions than answers. In this dream, someone from my past—someone I knew in high school and had a close, loving relationship with—becomes a central figure. The dream takes place in my current life, but this person is there, present yet distant.

I feel my heart pull me toward them—literally, a physical sensation in the dream. But we never speak. There’s always something in the way, preventing any words from passing between us. Instead, my thoughts swirl: I wonder if they still like me. Do they even know I’m still here?

When I wake up, I can’t shake the weight of the dream. Woah. Why does this person keep appearing? Why can’t we communicate? And what does it all mean?

Dreams are fascinating, aren’t they? Little movies created by our brains, filled with vivid scenes, emotions, and symbols. They often leave us wondering: What does this mean? Recurring dreams, peculiar symbols, or those vivid, unsettling scenarios—they stick with us, begging for interpretation.

The truth is, no one really knows. Dreams remain one of the great mysteries of the human mind. Despite literal centuries of exploration, science and psychology still haven’t settled on a single, unified theory of why we dream or what dreams mean. And maybe that’s part of their allure—the idea that something so universal remains so deeply personal and profoundly mysterious.

While we might not be able to definitively interpret dreams, what we can do is explore what stands out to us about them—why certain dreams linger and what questions they raise. Sometimes, the act of reflecting on our dreams can be more meaningful than interpreting them.

A Brief History of Dream Interpretation

Dream analysis isn’t new. In ancient cultures, dreams were seen as messages from the divine or omens of the future. Over time, this view evolved as psychology emerged, and figures like Freud and Jung revolutionized how we think about dreams:

Freud: The Royal Road to the Unconscious

Sigmund Freud believed dreams were a window into the unconscious—a way for hidden desires and repressed conflicts to surface. For him, dreams were full of symbolism, often disguising forbidden or uncomfortable truths.

Jung: The Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung saw dreams as more than individual expressions of the unconscious. He believed they tapped into the collective unconscious, a shared reservoir of human experience filled with universal symbols, or archetypes, like the Hero, the Shadow, and the Wise Old Man. More on Jung's archetypes here.

Modern Perspectives

Today, many psychologists view dreams as a byproduct of the brain’s processing of daily experiences, emotions, and memories. Others suggest that dreams act as a kind of mental rehearsal, allowing us to work through challenges or practice responses to perceived threats.

Despite the range of theories, one thing is clear: dreams are deeply connected to our emotions, experiences, and unconscious minds.

My Take on Dreams

I think dreams are a little bit of everything. They’re part recycling center (sorted), part highlight reel (what’s most pressing in our minds), and part symbolic narrative (the brain’s way of processing emotions through metaphor).

Dreams as Your Mental Recycling Center

Have you ever wondered what your brain does with all the random thoughts, emotions, and memories that accumulate throughout the day? Picture this: your mind is a Mental Recycling Center, constantly working to sort through the clutter of daily experiences. On this internal conveyor belt, fragments of conversations, fleeting worries, and snippets of sights and sounds pass by.

Some pieces get tossed into the “discard” pile, deemed unnecessary or unimportant. Others, however, catch the brain’s attention—maybe because they’re emotionally charged, unresolved, or simply strange enough to stick. These fragments get “recycled” into your dreams, transformed into vivid, surreal narratives that don’t always make logical sense but still feel significant.

In this metaphorical Mental Recycling Center, the sorting process isn’t deliberate or neat. Your mind doesn’t have an operator making conscious decisions about what stays and what goes. Instead, it’s a mix of randomness and intuition, driven by your subconscious needs, anxieties, and emotions. That’s why your dream about grocery shopping might suddenly feature a long-lost friend or why a frustrating work meeting could morph into a high-stakes adventure on a spaceship.

Like a recycling center, the brain doesn’t discard everything that seems useless. Even the most trivial scraps might be reimagined into something meaningful. Dreams show us the creativity of the mind, capable of weaving unrelated pieces into stories that can feel deeply personal, even if we don’t fully understand them. Sometimes, the recycled “product” is strange or nonsensical, but that’s okay. The process itself—sorting, recycling, and reimagining—is part of how your mind works through the chaos of life.

Dreams as Highlight Reels

Imagine your mind as a director, piecing together a “highlight reel” of your most significant thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Dreams often reflect what’s been lingering in your mind, whether it’s the stress of an upcoming deadline, the joy of reconnecting with an old friend, or the subtle worry you’ve been trying to ignore. These emotional highlights get compiled into a cinematic experience—sometimes clear, sometimes abstract—but always personal.

The scenes in this highlight reel aren’t necessarily the biggest or loudest events of your day. Often, they’re moments that carried weight emotionally, even if you didn’t realize it at the time. That passing comment from a coworker might show up as a strange confrontation in your dream. The pride you felt completing a challenging task might morph into flying triumphantly through the sky.

Unlike a traditional highlight reel, which celebrates achievements or major milestones, dreams highlight the emotional undercurrents shaping your inner world. They don’t distinguish between positive and negative—they simply amplify what feels most pressing. That’s why recurring dreams often center around unresolved stress, fears, or desires. They’re your mind’s way of saying, This matters to me. Pay attention.

When you reflect on your dream “highlights,” you might uncover emotions or thoughts that have been simmering below the surface. This reel is a snapshot of what’s most alive in your psyche, giving you an opportunity to process, address, or celebrate those emotions.

Dreams as Symbolic Narratives

Dreams are more than just fragmented leftovers—they’re storytellers, weaving symbolic narratives that reflect our emotions, conflicts, and desires. These narratives often use metaphors, archetypes, and vivid imagery to explore things we might not be ready to confront directly.

These symbolic narratives don’t always make logical sense, but they resonate emotionally. A storm might symbolize inner turmoil, while climbing a mountain could represent a personal challenge or achievement. The symbols your mind chooses are deeply personal, shaped by your experiences, culture, and emotional landscape.

Remember my recurring dream about the person from high school? Let’s put it on the metaphorical dream operating table and cut it wide open together.

In this dream, I have two distinct phases of life: my current self and my past self, represented by this person. These two parts of my life—present and past—aren’t able to connect or communicate. And, if I’m honest, that’s true outside of my dream state too.

I don’t have many stable connections to my pre-college life, except for my brother-in-law (🫶🏻). I rarely visit my hometown, don’t keep tabs on my high school, and actively avoid revisiting that part of myself. In fact, I’d rather box up my high school self, put her in the back of a closet, and leave her there where she’s safe—untouched and unexamined (a topic for another day).

Ah, there it is. That’s what the dream is reflecting, isn’t it? The person in the dream isn’t necessarily a symbol of “you need to reconnect with this person”. Instead, they’re a beacon—a reminder of a time in my life when things felt comfortable, before teenage years got hard and life changed.

This is what makes symbolic narratives so curious. They don’t have to make literal sense to hold deep meaning. They reflect our internal worlds, using people, places, and things as metaphors for what’s happening beneath the surface.

What’s so fascinating is how the mind blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. A dream might start in your childhood home but suddenly transition into a surreal, underwater city. These shifts don’t follow the rules of reality, but they allow your subconscious to express itself freely, unhindered by logic.

The beauty of symbolic narratives is their fluidity. The same dream symbol—a river, a bird, a door—can mean something entirely different depending on your context and emotions. By approaching your dreams with curiosity, you can uncover deeper truths about yourself, even if the narrative itself remains mysterious. The trick is to look beyond the literal and explore the emotional tone and significance of the symbols your mind has chosen.

When You Can’t Interpret Your Dreams

Let’s say you’re having a recurring dream about an ex-partner, night after night. You haven’t seen or talked to this person in over a decade, and it makes no sense why they’re suddenly showing up. You start to spiral:

• Does this mean I’m still in love with them?

• Are we meant to be together?

• Do they symbolize a simpler, happier time in my life?

• Or did I just see their face on social media, and my brain grabbed the first familiar image it could find?

The truth is, dreams are too complex to pin down into a single interpretation. Even the most brilliant minds in psychology—Freud, Jung, and countless others—couldn’t agree on why we dream or what dreams mean. So rather than driving yourself nuts trying to decipher the “hidden message,” I suggest a different approach: reflect on why interpreting this dream feels so important to you.

Shift the Focus to Yourself

When a dream lingers, and you’re desperate to make sense of it, start by asking these questions:

1. What is standing out to you? Is it the imagery, the emotions, or a specific detail? Maybe the dream feels unusually vivid or carries a sense of urgency. Something about it is grabbing your attention—what is it?

2. Why are you seeking answers? Are you hoping the dream will clarify something in your waking life? Or does it feel like it holds a hidden truth you’re not ready to face? Reflect on what’s driving your need to interpret this dream—because that need is telling you something about yourself.

3. How would you feel if the dream were interpreted? Would you feel relieved, validated, or more in control? Often, what we want the dream to mean reveals more about us than the dream itself. Why is this interpretation important to you? What would it change for you?

4. What do you think the dream means? Trust your gut instinct. Often, the first thought or feeling you have about a dream offers the most insight. You know yourself best—what does this recurring dream say to you?

Why This Approach Matters

Dreams, especially recurring ones, have a way of pulling us in, making us feel like they hold the key to something vital. But instead of digging into the dream for answers, turn the lens on yourself. Ask:

• Why is this dream sticking with me?

• What does it reveal about my emotions or current reality?

• What am I hoping to resolve or understand by interpreting this dream?

For example, in the case of the ex-partner:

• Maybe they represent unfinished emotional business, even if it’s not about them directly.

• Perhaps their presence reflects feelings of nostalgia for a time in your life when things felt simpler or more certain.

• Or it could be as random as seeing their photo recently, and your brain grabbed onto their image while piecing together its nightly “mental recycling.”

The dream itself may not hold the answers you’re looking for, but the process of reflecting on why you want those answers can uncover insights about what’s happening in your waking life.

Dreams Are Mirrors, Not Maps

Instead of treating your dreams as puzzles to solve, consider them mirrors reflecting parts of your inner world. If you’re drawn to a particular dream, it’s because something about it is resonating with you—an emotion, a memory, a theme you’re grappling with.

You may never know exactly why your ex is starring in your dream night after night. And that’s okay. What matters is how the dream makes you feel, what it makes you question, and how it helps you understand yourself better.

Why Dreams Are So Cool

Pause for a moment and consider this: your brain creates entire worlds, stories, and characters while you’re asleep. It weaves rich, immersive narratives—complete with emotions, sensory details, and sometimes even plot twists—all without your conscious input.

Dreams remind us of the incredible complexity of the human mind. They show us parts of ourselves we might not otherwise notice—hidden fears, unresolved conflicts, and creative connections we wouldn’t make while awake.

And while we may never fully understand why we dream, their mystery is part of their magic.

Final Thoughts

Dreams are one of the last great mysteries of the mind. They’re deeply personal, endlessly fascinating, and often surprising. While they may not have all the answers, their value lies in the questions they raise and the reflections they inspire.

The next time you wake up with a dream lingering in your mind, resist the urge to immediately “figure it out.” Instead, take a moment to sit with it. Let it reveal what it needs to, not in definitive symbols or meanings, but in the emotions and thoughts it stirs within you.

Dreams don’t need to be solved to be meaningful. Sometimes, they simply need to be felt, explored, and appreciated as the beautiful, mysterious creations they are.

Sweet dreams, dreamers ✨