Dreams are selfish, in the sense that they always concern issues and events that were weighing on your mind at the time you had the dream. Dreams will warn you about concerns in your career, in your family life, in your relationship with your spouse, and give insight into problems with your children.

Everybody dreams, but memory for dreams is famously elusive. Even Sigmund Freud, without the benefit of modern technology's electroencephalogram, or EEG, did not know that adult humans dream 90 minutes per night, and that newborns spend eight hours per day dreaming (out of their 16 hours of sleep). REM sleep helps grow the brain!

By understanding the meaning of common dreams, you can identify issues that want your attention in your waking life.

Men and women dream the same amount. The main difference in dream content relates to biology and life events. Women dream about their fertility, pregnancy and delivery, and have more dreams about children - owing to their role as primary caregivers. Other differences in dreams have been exaggerated.

Dreams are more personal. We tend to only dream about issues that impact us directly: our careers, our marriage, our children, our family and friends.

It is more helpful to think of dreams as reflections of the present rather than as pictures of the future. A dream of a car out of control, for example, does not indicate that a car accident will occur in the future. It does mean, however, that the dreamer is feeling out of control in his or her life right now. It is important not to be superstitious about dreams.

Dreams are practical reflections of feelings and concerns that were present in your mind at the time you had the dream. You are smart and practical. So are your dreams.