When is the last time you heard someone say, “It came to me in the middle of the night, and all at once I knew what I wanted to do with my life”? For me it has been – well, actually, never. The word "dream" can mean a lot to people, and depending on the age group, the word’s meaning can have serious variation. In the context of conversation, asking younger kids about their dreams usually prompts conversation about their hopes and desires for what they want to do with their life career-wise when they grow up. Beginning with young adults, when you question someone’s dreams, the response details what they hope to achieve in life. These dreams are more along the lines of our biggest hopes and desires. However, if it is early in the morning, the conversation could just as easily approach what was on their mind last night while they slept.

These dreams are probably more popular in our daily lives. They have such a wide range of possibilities, which is the intriguing thing about them. If you are anything like me, you have probably realized they bear a lot in common with the endless potential of the real-life dreams promised to us when we were younger. According to Merriam-Webster, the first type of dream I discussed is defined as “a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep,” while the second type is “a strongly desired goal or purpose.” The most noticeable difference between these definitions is that one of them is based on chance and one of them is more deliberate. Not surprisingly, the more compelling of the two is the type that occurs in our sleep.

Psychologists have studied and analyzed dreams for many years. They try to define our day-to-day feelings or our deepest fears and inner aspirations by seeing where our minds lead us when our head hits the pillow at night. If it leads to us falling off a cliff, this means something completely different than if we lose all of our teeth unexpectedly or suddenly find ourselves standing in front of a group of our peers sans clothing.

To me, the most powerful characteristic of our dreams is their memorability, or lack thereof. I recently saw the new Pixar movie "Inside Out," in which the main characters are the five main emotions that power every decision we make and everything we feel throughout the day. It was extremely cute and I highly recommend it, but I digress. The movie had many take-away messages, as Pixar movies often do, and sleep had an important role in the development of the girl’s mind, which the audience inhabited for two hours. While she was sleeping, the emotions were at rest and dreams came into play. All of her dreams were put on through a box resembling a movie projector and had to do with memories that were stored deep in her mind. They reflected on memories from childhood and how they have manifested into her feelings about life now. In order to avoid a spoiler alert, I won’t reveal how her dreams connect to her dreams in real life, but it is a great ending.

So maybe we should take a nap today and discover something more about ourselves. Like Aerosmith said, “Dream until your dreams come true.”