What are dreams?

I don’t know about the term “subconscious.”

What is consciousness? I think it’s a narrative the brain constructs about its own behavior. Usually, the consciousness works with stimuli—sights, sounds, feelings, etc. When we sleep, those stimuli are blocked off.

When you block off stimuli while awake, I believe it’s common to start hallucinating. I imagine a similar process is at work during dreams, perhaps heightened by physical effects on the body of sleep.

Not all dreams have a meaning. Some dreams or nightmares are sometimes just trying to tell you something that is physically happening. Ever dreamt that you were sleeping and you peed your bed. You wake up startled and realize that you did not but you also realize that you have to run to the bathroom before it becomes a reality.
Some dreams are just a collage of different sites and sounds of the day. Your mind is restless. I’ve fallen asleep listening to the news and dreamt about murder, rape, war and storms. In a relaxed state your mind can easily be influenced by what you are hearing.
Some dreams are influenced by stresses that you are feeling. Stress creates caos in your mind. Events and things happening in your life while awake that really disturb you can creep into your mind when asleep. Your still trying to resolve the puzzle. It may seem like crap it the dream is strange but when you look at your biggest stresses and look at important part of the dream or important people, you may see how it relates to your current stress. It simply may point out a stress you have been denying simply because you don’t want to deal with it or you don’t like the solution to your problem and your avoiding that.
I once worked with a girl who saw herself kissing her boyfriends ex wife but although she looked like herself in her dream she felt like she was her boyfriend. I told her she probably felt it likely that they would get together but she didn’t want to face the reality of that. Then she said that when she went with him to pick up his child, his ex was going out on a date and he seemed jealous and acted irrational all evening long. She said she was suspicious of his feelings for her but she did not ask him. Later that week she told me they broke up. He told her he needed to try things out with his ex because he realized he still loved her.

I believe that when we feel strongly about a dream it has got meaning for us and only we can figure out that meaning.

Don’t really give dreams much consideration!

Similar to thoughts but we’re asleep. When in that state, thoughts from the back of our minds , for whatever reason not brought to the forefront, come up in sleeping thoughts. I find myself dreaming of things I’ve suppressed during daylight hours. All in MHO of course.

I think dreams are just the nightly exercises of the brain, nothing more.