Repeats in Dreamland

Lots of people have recurring dreams.  There's lots of people who dream the same dream over and over, every time they close their eyes.  Even my husband, who tends to have "Scooby-Doo" dreams where the Nazis chase him all over the castle looking for the lost city of El Dorado, will sometimes have the same dream a couple of nights in a row.  I've had dreams of tornadoes chasing me down a residential street, or spiders invading my mattress.  Some of us will consult friends or look up information in books or online regarding dream symbols or dream interpretation.  Others will just drink a glass of milk before bed and hope that does the trick.

Why do our brains offer us re-runs in Dreamland? It's like our dreams are created by ABC, so during the summer there are re-runs. If the brain does it, however, there must be a reason.  Is there some sort of  Dream Cable, and we are supposed to pay the bill on occasion?  If so, can I order a nice romantic comedy to dream about? Preferably starring Henry Cavil?  

Some say that dreams recur because there's something that you need to work on or change about yourself.  Once you acknowledge that, the dream will stop recurring. That's the one that I usually go with; tornadoes, for instance, are symbols of crisis, and that made perfect sense at the time.  Repeat dreams might also be your brain working out a problem while you are sleeping; when it figures out that difficult Algebra I equation from 8th grade, your brain will move on.  Maybe.  Recurring dreams could also just be a sign that you need to stop eating the Carnosaur special at the local deli after 7pm. You just never know. 

My latest repeat dream has no deep philosophical meaning.  I'm not being chased, I'm not falling, I'm not standing naked in front of the United Nations.  My brain is not working out any particularly important life problem.

My current recurring dream?  That I am sitting on the toilet, going. 

Yep. 

That's my big time recurring dream. Nothing bad is happening. I'm not scared. Jack Nicholson will not be popping up out of the commode to bite me on the butt.  I just really have to go, in my dream, and so I do. It's a wonderful feeling. I'll be in that half-dream sort of state, but everything is groovy in my dream, so I carry on.

Except that I am not actually on the toilet.  I am lying in bed!  Abort! Abort!   I always manage to stumble to the bathroom just in the nick of time.  Is this what small children go through when they are potty training? 

I have a brain that wakes me up so I can go to the bathroom.  How about that, Dr. Freud?   Does anyone else have that happen?  Or is it just me?  Should I be embarrassed?  Probably.  But if I were that embarrassed, I probably shouldn't be posting this online, huh?