Hi friend,
How are you? I hope you’re doing well and normally have pleasant dreams.
Why dreams?
Well, because in my case lately, a recurring dream is making a comeback :)
In my dream, I go back to our first house in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
It’s part of the historical riverfront villages across the Hudson River, roughly a 50-minute drive to Manhattan.
The house sports a multi-level design that was very popular in the ‘60s. Ours was even a quad-level.
We enjoyed living there for over seven years as the area nicely balanced quiet town vibes with close proximity to the city action.
In my dream, I go down from the living room towards the above-ground finished basement where we used to watch movies using a fancy projector on a big screen.
Those were the early days of Netflix red envelopes, if you remember.
Anyways, in reality, four steps down, you will come across an intermediate landing where on the left side, there is a storage room that always felt like a cave.
Then, three steps down and you’re in the basement.
However, in my dream, when I arrive at the landing with the “cave” on the left, right in front of me, where there is normally a wall, I see a door that opens to a small dark room with packed wooden furniture.
“We should use this room more” I’m thinking.
To the right, where again in real-life there is a wall, another door opens to a much larger, nicely lit decorated room with very high ceilings.
I make my way inside exploring the grand space and further in arrive at a door that, if you open it, you’d find yourself, surprisingly, in a shopping mall…
Crazy, right?
Two rooms that never existed!
One dark, small, and cramped. The other, larger, lit, and fancy, with a side door to an unexpected destination.
Work vs. play? Threat vs. opportunity?
What’s your read? Drop your thoughts below.
You may hit on the right answer.
Let’s unpack
Starting from the top, Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a dream as:
“A series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep.”
Yep! As the above sub-title indicates. Dreams are nothing but emotion-driven visual stories your brain generates.
What’s the purpose of dreams?
The Sleep Foundation states that dreams serve:
“Multiple psychological and cognitive functions, such as consolidating memories, processing emotions, and rehearsing for stressful situations by simulating threats in a safe, brain-controlled environment.”
Dreams happen during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
According to the Cleveland Clinic:
“Its name comes from how your eyes move behind your eyelids while you're dreaming. During REM sleep, your brain activity looks very similar to brain activity while you're awake. This explains why dreams can seem realistic until waking up.“
This creative “film studio” is located in the hippocampus, which is connected to the prefrontal cortex, and specifically housed in the temporal lobe.
The hippocampus is involved in memory, learning, and emotion. Its largest job is to hold short-term memories and transfer them to long-term storage in our brains.
Now that we know what dreams are all about, their functions, and location, let’s look at one dream type.
Recurring Dreams
Recurring dreams often mean unresolved conflict, express repetitive habits, and fears. They also may serve as emotional reminders to pay attention to a specific emotional truth you may be overlooking.
As the dream evolves, it could also suggest gradual progress. New perspectives you’ve gained and emotions you may have towards it.
So, in essence, recurring dreams work pretty much like alert or reminder systems for us to address specific emotional truths we’re ignoring.
Two hidden rooms
Zeroing in on my recurring dream’s content, a house generally represents different aspects of your personality, memories, and potential.
For me, this dream always triggers this sense of excitement, wonderment, and anticipation of discovery.
Therefore, it could be of unrealized potential; it may signal that I need to look deeper for underutilized areas that are metaphorically waving at me:
“Hey! Over here! Not there!
HERE!
Yay! We’re bored out of our minds. Let’s do something!”
It made me more self-aware now as I am looking for more clues about figuring out what my other two hidden talents or opportunities are.
Even if it’s all mental game with no real meaning, it’s fun to try to figure it out in case it isn’t.
Do you have recurring dreams? What’s coming up in your “big screen” deep in REM sleep? Hey, you never know what important lessons they may hold.
Here is the funny thing.
As a visual storyteller, you work tirelessly to craft compelling stories that draw others in, right?
At the same time, your brain’s perpetual “record button” never stops—constantly trying to decode every experience.
And in your deepest sleep, where your private screening room is located, it behaves like an early-generation AI chatbot, generating cryptic visual fragments and riddles, weaving them into that vivid, yet elusive language of your dreams.
Fascinating, isn’t it?!
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
story > visual > emotion > experience
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