Dream consciousness is not the same as wakeful consciousness. We have varying degrees of consciousness when we are dreaming.
A lucid dream is any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. Because you are aware you are having a dream, you may be able to change the course of the dream at will.
Vivid dreams feel so real that even when you wake up, you can’t immediately tell if the dream is really over or if it is reality.
Nightmares are scary dreams that make you feel intense fear and anxiety. In nightmares, you don’t know you’re dreaming so the unconscious mind processes everything as if it were really happening. Nightmares are an indication of a fear that needs to be acknowledged and confronted by the conscious mind, which is first worked through by the subconscious mind.
Daydreams are a level of consciousness that is somewhere between being asleep and fully awake. Studies show that most people have the tendency to daydream an average of 70-120 minutes a day. As with all types of dreams, you enter a kind of hypnotic trance and allow your unconscious thoughts to rise to the surface. We’ve all had the experience of daydreaming on a long drive, then suddenly becoming fully awake and realizing we have no memory of driving the last 20 miles, yet we managed not to wreck the car.
In false awakening dreams you think you have woken up and go about your daily routine like brushing your teeth, making coffee, brushing your hair, etc., only to awaken a second time and realize you were only dreaming you were doing such things.
Recurring dreams repeat themselves over time, with little variation in story or theme. These dreams may be positive, but most often they are nightmarish in content. Dreams may recur because a conflict depicted in the dream remains unresolved or ignored. Once you find a resolution to the problem, your recurring dreams will cease.
Healing dreams serve as messages for the dreamer in regards to their health. Many dream experts believe that dreams can help in avoiding potential health problems and healing when you are ill or when you are grieving. Your body is able to communicate with your mind through dreams, which can tell you that something is not quite right with your body even before any physical symptoms show up.
Prophetic dreams, also referred to as precognitive or psychic dreams, are dreams that seemingly foretell the future. One rational theory to explain this phenomenon is that your dreaming mind is able to piece together bits of information and observation that you may normally overlook or that you do not seriously consider. In other words, your unconscious mind knows what is coming before you consciously piece together the same information. But sometimes prophetic dreams let you know a loved one far away is hurt or has died unexpectedly, or some disaster is coming or has occurred that you had no way to know about, which is not explainable with this theory.
Signal dreams help you how to solve problems or make decisions in your waking life.
Epic dreams (also referred to as Great Dreams, Cosmic Dreams or Numinous Dreams) are so huge, so compelling, and so vivid that you cannot ignore them. The details of such dreams may remain with you for years, yet be as clear as your latest dream. When you wake up from such a dream, you feel that you have discovered something profound or amazing about yourself or about the world. It feels like a life-changing experience.
Progressive dreams occur when you have a sequence of dreams that continue over a period of nights. The dream continues where you left off the previous night. Such dreams are problem-solving dreams and help to explore different options and various approaches to a problem, situation or relationship.
Mutual dreams are described as such when two people have the same dream. You find out that a friend, a significant other, faraway relative, or someone else with whom you have a very strong bond has had the same dream on the same night as you.