Did you ever dream something that then came true? How about a dream where you were in a free fall? Or a dream that you appeared at an important function naked?

You're not alone. Many people have the same type of dreams while also experiencing many diverse ones.

Recalling those dreams, inter preting them and realizing their significance is among the many program topics on tap at the Inter national Association for the Study of Dreams 23rd International Con ference to be held this week at Bridgewater State College. The conference, to feature myriad per spectives on dreaming -- from psychological and anthropological to spiritual and artistic -- starts Tuesday with a reception and will continue through Saturday.

Presentations will be made on current dream research and 10 dimensions of dream meaning, dreaming and waking conscious ness, the dynamics of PSI dream ing, dreams in Christianity and Islam, dreams and aging, and more.

The conference is expected to draw about 300 people, said Karen Bartnicki, a member of and spokeswoman for the IASD. The group was founded in 1984 and bills itself as a non-profit, interna tional, multidisciplinary organiza tion `` dedicated to the pure and applied investigation of dreams and dreaming.'' There are about 900 members from 30 countries in the organiza tion, Bartnicki said.

General interest in dreams has heightened in recent years, most likely due to the growth in the holistic health and alternative medicine industry, Bartnicki said. Her group has also done its share to boost public awareness.

`` Dreams have always been popular, but it's always been in the hands of the few,'' she said.

Now, with the Internet and other technology, nearly anyone can join other dream workers in sharing experiences and figuring out what it all means.

`` Once you begin to pay attention to your dreams, you start to learn more about yourself,'' Bartnicki said, adding that dreams can mirror the issues and concerns in your life.

They can also serve other purposes, like helping to relieve emotional steam, she said. Consider the dream where you are yelling at a co-worker for doing something wrong, an act you might not be able to pull off at the office.

Bartnicki said there are plenty of examples of artists' dre `` Our brains are always problem-solving,'' Bartnicki said.

Remembering dreams is one of the most popular topics on the group's Web site bulletin board.

`` A big problem for dream workers is that people often say they can't remember their dreams,'' she said. `` You'd be surprised how well just leaving a pad bedside works.''

Once you are able to remember your dreams, then you can start to determine what they mean. There are, for example, `` psychic dreams,'' or ones that come true. By recognizing one, people will know should it happen again and how to deal with it.

`` Is it a warning dream? Or perhaps it can lead you to avoid a situation,'' Bartnicki said. `` They can guide you, warn you and inspire you. They can wake you up to some greater power.''

(What the greater power may be is open to debate; some may believe it's God, others that it's an innate function of the brain.)

Others believe that dreams can help heal -- that they can be prompters to seek medical care or in helping to guide healing.

On the other hand, dreams can be `` gibberish,'' Bartnicki said. That's basically a dream that is a regurgitation of a daily routine, like taking out the trash.

Oh, and she said that belief that if you fall in a dream you die? `` That's a myth. I've gone splat many times and I'm still here,'' she said.

But it's distinguishing dreams that can help an individual.

`` We all dream a whole range of diverse things,'' Bartnicki said.

Nothing is off limits in dreams. Whether it's death dreams, dreams of flying -- or of ending up naked in the conference room, they can all be sending a message.

`` When you start paying attention to your dreams they can be a wonderful mirror for what's going on in one's life, right at this moment, right now,'' Bartnicki said.

SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or slahoud(at)(at)thesunchronicle.com.