So, this might be life changing for some people. I don't know really, but it was some kind of small change for me in that I don't take people as serious as before and I've become a bit more outcast than before.
To the story. As a teen I had some kind of recurring dream. I didn't like it, but it wasn't really a nightmare. Just an unpleasant feeling really.
I once told my dad and he's like: -Recurring dream? There ain't such a thing. It's fake.
How could he not have had a recurring dream? Everyone has them at some point in their life. I was baffled. How could he call it fake?
He then told me to try to remember the last time I had that dream. I couldn't say a date, but I knew, in my whole body that I had dreamt it before.
So he told me that he believed that the dream itself makes us feel that the dream is recurring. Almost like deja vu. The brain fools itself to believe that the dream is recurring and if I would take notes about the dream and the date, he was sure I would never dream that dream again.
He was right. Since then I have had no recurring dreams or even dreams that are similar really. I think he was right. I dind't have to write anything down really. I only asked myself when I would have dreamt the dream before. Once you do that you can clearly see that the recurring aspect was probably made up in the dream.
I often use this as a "party trick" when someone says they have this interesting recurring dream. I always ask when they dreamt it before and they can't really tell. I tell them about my dad and everything and their reaction is like my initial reaction.
I've "done" this to some of my friends and some of them have come back to tell me that they think I'm right.
So, this is clearly one of my beliefs and it may not be accurate and I'm a bit sorry that this might destroy your beliefs about recurring dreams.
The next time your spouse say: - I had that recurring dream about... Steven again", chances are that you've never heard of that dream before.
I'm Swedish and English is not my native language.