Dreams: messages from within?

By Uthpala Gunethilake

What are dreams ? Are they a meaningless kaleidoscope of bits and pieces from our daily life or are they a collection of symbols holding a deeper meaning for us ? 

Dream analysts have debated over this for centuries. Most of us do not remember our dreams after a good night's sleep, much less bother to pick our way through the disjointed images looking for a meaning. Scientists say that we find dreams confusing because the logic and the rationality that we hold on to in real life do not apply to dreams. But whimsical as they may seem, it is believed that some of our dreams do contain messages that can help us forward in our lives.

Now before you start scrambling around in your memory to remember what you dreamt of last night, let me tell you that some dreams are indeed meaningless fragments of the day that our minds have held on to for some reason or other. (Dreaming of Brad Pitt may be the direct result of drooling over his picture for half an hour at a shop window, rather than him having a special message just for you!) It is only through your intuition that you can learn to separate the two.Dream analysts say that although there are certain common symbols and images that we all see in our dreams, they must be interpreted and understood in the light of our own experiences and our individuality. Let's look at some of the common dream themes and what analysts say they may mean.

Birth, death and change

Our dreams become the most magical and illogical when it comes to change; animals change into birds, fish become tigers and buildings dissolve into water, all with no warning. Dreams of this kind, analysts say, may signal psychological changes in our lives. For instance, a heavy burden which we are carrying may change in an instant to something more desirable, indicating a changing attitude towards responsibilities. Dreams of change are hard to analyse on a general basis, because the same object or image may have a different meaning for each person. They are understood best by your own intuition.Dreaming of the death of someone doesn't always come as a warning; it is another symbol of change. It maybe telling you, however, to look closely at certain people who are close to you, whom you have taken for granted. Birth may mean giving birth to an idea, or discovering new horizons in life or the need to do so. 

Flying

The simple joy of flying is one that is denied to humans and hence this can be one of the most fantastical of dreams. Flying may be the expression of a desire to escape from the hassle of daily living. It signals freedom, and maybe dreams of flying are a hint that you need to break free of an inhibition. If your flight was free, and if you were flying "high" maybe you are at the brink of an achievement.

Crowds

Perhaps you were part of a team, everyone pulling together, or maybe you were trying to pull away. Trying to pull away may signal that you are a loner, also hinting that you need to be more interactive.

The crowd may have consisted of friends and family. Sometimes we dream that we are making a speech or even preaching; maybe we are trying to impress those who are closest to us. But if the crowd was ignoring you, maybe you are being a bit too attention - demanding in your real life.

Dreaming that a crowd is trampling us or that we are simply lost in a crowd may signal that we are letting problems get on top of us without putting up a fight.

Landscape

Were you standing on a high point where you could clearly see what was going on in the area below you ? Then, you may be at a point in your life where you were trying to make an important decision, and if you weren't already surveying the entire situation clearly, this may be a reminder to do so. Or you might have been blissfully happy in a beautiful landscape. This by itself may mean that you need more time to yourself, to be alone, or simply that you should get away for a while. But if the blissful state was interrupted rudely, may be you are being urged to look into a problem that is disturbing your otherwise peaceful life. Perhaps the lovely landscape started receding before your eyes; are you allowing things that matter most to you to slip away? Or was it an unreachable vision of an ideal landscape, which you may have been looking at through a barrier? This could suggest wishes that seem too faraway, and maybe you should seek a way of breaking those barriers in real life.Psychologists believe that we make our own dreams, however fantastical that may sound. And because they are our own they may be of much practical use to us, if only we understand them properly.

TECHNO PAGe

eTickler 

One day, he ran into a man dressed in a fine suit. "That is a nice suit, my friend," said Gates. "Where did you get it?" "Actually," the man replied, "I was given a hundred of these when I got here. I also got a mansion on a hill overlooking a beautiful hill, with a huge five-hundred acre estate, a golf course, and three Rolls Royces." 

"Were you a Pope, or a doctor maybe ?" asked Gates. 

"No," said his new friend, "I was the captain of the Titanic." 

Hearing this made Gates so angry that he immediately stormed off to find St. Peter. 

Cornering St.Peter, he accosted him, saying, "How could you give me a paltry new house, while you're showering new cars, a mansion, and fine suits on the Captain of the Titanic? I invented the Windows operating system! Why does he deserve better??!!!!" 

"Yes, but we use Windows," replied St.Peter, "and the Titanic crashed only once."

By Kesara Ratnatunga and Chatura Randeniya

Hunting aliens on your desktop.

You can join the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence or SETI as it is better known, from you own home. Seti@home is a project where information gathered by the world's largest radio telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico is distributed via the internet to home computers around the world. The software which is a screen-saver will use your computer's idle time to help sift through the vast amount of data gathered each day as the Arecibo telescope scans the sky. The transfer of data is handled by the software every time you log onto the internet. 

About 500,000 computers from 203 countries are participating and donating over 1000 years of computer time each day to the project. 

The necessary software can be downloaded from www.setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

So log on now and join the intergalactic hunt !

The Site Selection

www.musicmatch.com - Cool MP3 site. It's Mac compatible as well. Download, record and play!

www.idrive.com - Free Personal internet space

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - See the blueprint nature used to make you! The result of the Human Genome Project on-line. 

For the e-diots : Defrag solutions

However, there is a solution- Defragmenters. Defragmenters are small utility programs which scan your disks for fragmentation and remedy the problem automatically. 

During a defragmentation run, all the little bits of a file are retrieved and temporarily stored in an empty section of the disk. These bits are then reassembled and written into sequential memory areas on the disk. The result is that all the data of a single file will be in one place, and all files will be arranged without leaving blank spaces between them.

Most files can be defragmented in this manner, except for those which the operating system or the user has classified as unmovable.

Defragmentation makes disk operations perform more efficiently, reducing the time you have to tolerate that irritating whirring disk drive and hourglass mouse-pointer.

If you have any ideas, stuff you want to know or would like to see on this page, or tips and tricks you would like to share, please feel free to write in to us at: 

The Techno Page

Mirror Magazine
C/o Sunday Times
No.8 Hunupitiya Cross Road,
Colombo 2.

Makeover magic

Hiruni Fernando found herself in this dilemma having had a plaited perm done to her hair. Her naturally wavy hair had become dry and lost its elasticity, which made the hairdressers at 'Kess', the salon we selected this time for our 'Mirror mirror on the wall' contest, wrinkle their brows. But only slightly. Very soon Hiruni, this week's "chosen one" for the contest, was enjoying a thorough back-to-life hair treatment at the capable hands of Kess hairdressers.

Before
It was evident that her hair needed as much moisture as could be given. First it was heavily conditioned and steamed in an attempt to revive its natural texture. The chemicals that were used in perming had done much damage, and much treatment was needed to try to reverse the effect.

Then her hair was blow-dried, a relaxing balm applied to replenish oil and thus make her hair smoother. The transformation was now being felt: Hiruni's hair was now softer to touch, and more flexible. But still it showed a tendency to flare up in a frizz. A little bit of frizz-control serum- a balmy lotion- however, did the trick and helped make her hair more manageable.

Kess experts decided to snap one and a half inches off Hiruni's hair. It wouldn't have suited her face to make her hair any shorter than that, but the edges were the driest and had to go. Then her hair was slightly layered leaving the front strands slanted and just long enough to frame her face. Her hair was styled using an iron to give it a natural look. Before pinning the hair up to do her face, we asked Hiruni how she felt about the difference; "Just great," she managed to say amidst many smiles.

After
Makeup was used to lighten her face and highlight her eyes. Her eyebrows were cleaned and shaped. A brownish shade of lip colour was used.

Now, for a clear view of the new look! A smiling, stunning-looking Hiruni stood before us. The experts had done their magic.

U.G.

Our " Mirror mirror on the wall" contest gives you a chance to win a free makeover from one of four leading salons in the country. Please send in your entries with a photograph of yourself to reach us on or before August 9 to- Makeover. 

C/o Mirror Magazine
No 8 Hunupitiya Cross Road. 
Colombo 2.

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