Dreams

Aren't dreams just the most fascinating thing!

I read that dreams are of three types:

1. Good/True dreams -- which are from Allah (which you are meant to share with good friends, especially as such dreams are the only thing left of 'Prophethood' since the death of our last Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him -- possibly a prediction of what is to come in yours/someone else's life.)
2. Bad Dreams/Nightmares -- which are from Shaytan/Satan (which you are meant to keep to yourself; the Prophet, pbuh, teaching us to "Seek protection with Allah from Shaytan" and 'spitting' to your left three times, upon waking up from such a dream -- I guess as a way to be like, 'Yeh, WHATEVER Shaytan! I'm not letting it get to me." :P)
3. Those other RANDOM dreams that people usually barely remember (but I was reading somewhere that such dreams are perhaps the ones you can learn most from, because they are actually a reflection of what is on your subconscious mind! So, for instance, if you find that your dreams are quite immoral, then you know that you need to work on yourself--learn more to build your Iman, etc. Or if you find all you can dream about is chocolate--eating it, breathing it, swimming in it -- then you REALLY have a problem ;P hehehe).

But SubhanAllah, just the whole concept of 'dreaming' is very interesting... They say that when you are asleep, it is like "semi-death"
-- so your soul actually sort of leaves your body but still has a connection with it. It has even been suggested that sometimes while sleeping/dreaming, you may even 'meet' with other souls -- which is perhaps an explanation for those instances when you find you and a friend had a really similar dream the night before. (Wallahu 'Alam)

Another interesting thing related to the topic, is how your MIND actually can't tell the difference between DREAMS and REALITY (e.g. how many times have you had the most awesome dream--like swimming in Lindt chocolate, mmmmm--and recall actually saying to yourself, "I hope this isn't a dream, and that I don't wake up from this!" ...then you wake up! lol :P).
So regardless of whether its just a dream or if it actually happened in real life, SubhanAllah you will still find yourself feeling/EXPERIENCING the same emotions/senses. And what is also interesting is how again, in both cases, all that is LEFT from the EXPERIENCE is just MEMORIES (those things that actually DID happen in your past, NOW all but a distant DREAM...).

So...if you now find yourself waking up from a really good dream, instead of being like, "Oh man! That's so unfair - it was just a dream!", rather just ENJOY the fact that you even EXPERIENCED it at all!