Have you ever suddenly awoke out of a dream that seemed so real that when you open your eyes, you have to think for a second about whether or not it actually happened?

Numerous theories have been put fourth and debated in attempt to illuminate the mystery behind dreams over the years.
Perhaps one of the most well-known theories behind human dreams was introduced by Sigmund Freud.
In his 1899 book “The Interpretation of Dreams”, Sigmund Freud proposes the theory that dreams are wish fulfillments. For instance, if you see someone driving a really nice car on your way to work, it is likely that you will go to sleep that night and potentially dream about yourself driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in a brand new convertible. Makes total sense, right?
But if dreams represent our unconscious desires, how can we explain the bad dreams?
You know, the one where you’re running away from something as fast as you can but you never get anywhere?
What about lucid dreams? Reoccurring dreams? Daydreams? False awakenings?
It’s hard to theorize when it comes to dreaming because from person to person, our desires are so subjective and specific, down to the deepest inner workings of our souls.
What would be considered a dream for one person, could be a nightmare for the next.
Aside from being absolutely fascinated by dreams and the science behind them, I am someone who was born with the ability to travel within my dreams.

‘Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional outer-body experience, through which consciousness can function separately from the physical body and travel throughout the astral plane. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams and forms of meditation.’

Allow me to provide a visual example;
The dream usually begins with me waking up in bed, in my ‘dream room’. (This looks like a mashup of my childhood bedroom and my adult bedroom) From here I commute to my ‘dream job’. I pilot a helicopter over the ocean and land on a big beautiful cruise ship. Once on the ship, I begin my work day. I am an entertainer and explorer extraordinaire! I meet all kinds of interesting people and show them around the worlds most exclusive destinations. I’m familiar with all the best spots, the best shows, I always go to the same gorgeous 5 star restaurant, and my day ends with a swim in one of three crystal blue pools that extend from the outer decks of the ship. It is always golden hour, and I always have the pool to myself. My home is an all-white, grandiose estate built out from the side of a mountain over looking the Mediterranean Sea. The sprawling estate is always filled with family and friends, the most frequent visitor being my Grandmother. (No, she hasn’t passed on, she’s still very much with us here on Earth)…

I also should mention that I never go to bed at night with intentions set on having this dream, it just happens.
So please, explain that, Freud!

Unfortunately, there are some nights that this ‘alternate reality’ isn’t as divine.
Some nights it comes from a darker place of my subconscious.
My helicopter crashes into the ocean in a firey tailspin.
The big beautiful cruise ship I work on gets caught in a torrential storm.
Waves hit one side of the ship with incredible force.
Everyone on board begins to panic and run around common areas as we take on water.
The windows crack, the ship capsizes, the water rushes in, enveloping everything entirely.
(This is when I usually wake up in a cold sweat, thankful to be safe in my ‘real life bed’).

I’ve had this dream almost every night for the past 15 years, with only subtle changes here and there.
It’s like I go to sleep in this reality and wake up in another one somewhere else.
I’m still me, I have the same family and friends. Sometimes the people that come through in my dream are different versions of themselves. Sometimes the storm clears and the ship never ends up sinking. Sometimes I don’t go to work (get on the cruise ship) and instead I drive around an old beat-up black Mustang reminiscent of the one my father drove throughout my childhood. Sometimes I hike. Sometimes I explore an abandoned barn. Sometimes I find myself in this humongous field of wheat and I look to the sun and I can physically feel the sun’s warmth on my skin.
Although the details of the dream change slightly from night to night, the same outer-body feeling of being somewhere else remains constant.

It’s hard to articulate the feeling of knowing you went somewhere else during your sleep.
I could be having a conversation with someone so detailed and vivid that it is as if I were talking to a coworker or best friend. Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of a conversation, and knowing I’m about to wake up, I tell the person I’m talking to in the dream that I have to leave now. I’ll say something such as “Hey, I gotta go…”
Within seconds I’ll be able to visually watch myself breaking down like dust in the wind, and then I disappear.
Once or twice the person reached out to grab my arm and keep me there, in the dream realm, but I’m already starting to wake out of sleep.
I’m gone from that place now, my eyes flutter open.
I’m back in my bed, on earth. Not fully comprehending if I actually had that conversation, or if I even slept at all, because I feel as though I just lived an entire day elsewhere and now it’s time to rest. This lasts for a few seconds until my brain wakes up and computes that the entire interaction was a result of my astral projection. Sounds crazy, right? I’d think so too, if I didn’t experience it on a nightly basis.

Through the years I’ve grown to look forward to these dreams, mostly out of pure curiosity over what my next big adventure would be… especially in a realm where the impossible becomes possible.
My astral travels are my own little secret break from reality.
Whether the dream takes a dark turn or feels like golden hour for days at a time, these dreams are extensions of my subconscious. They may not exactly be “wish fulfillments” but more along the lines of my imagination running absolutely wild while my brain sorts thru all the thoughts that float around it all day long. Throw in some underlying fears, aspirations, miscellaneous anxieties, irrational scenarios, and there’s the basis of all my dreams.
I may never know the true reason behind these vivid experiences that come to me every night. As I age and the dreams become more vivid I only get more curious. It excites me to learn as much as I can. It excites me that not everyone has this ability. It makes me feel grateful and chosen in a weird way. Perhaps if I learn to control the dreams to a certain extent, I’d have the ability to travel this world and so many worlds beyond this without ever leaving my bed… after all, who’s to say otherwise? These dreams sometimes feel just as real as the days of my life here on Earth.

As Edgar Allan Poe wrote;

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

–A Dream Within A Dream