How to Interpret Your Dreams
Everyone dreams. We may not remember them as they tend to disappear as soon as we wake up. Keeping a dream journal will help you not only remember your dreams, but can help you understand the messages that all dreams have in common.
A dream journal can be in the form of a simple notebook kept on your nightstand or a tape recorder. Once you are awaken, think of what you dreamed and immediately record or write the dream down.
Don’t attempt to analyze the dream as you write but go back and read or listen to it when you have the time. Always write in the first person as this will keep you more focused.
Understand that our minds are constantly busy. Often things that we do, say or hear goes unnoticed in our everyday life, yet it is still there, hidden away. We generally concentrate on the things that we consider important. Driving to work, concentration on the jobs we do, grocery shopping and paying attention to the kids etc.
Emotions also tend to be censored in our everyday life. Society dictates a certain amount of decorum. You may be upset at your boss or he/she made you angry. But you kept your mouth shut so as not to be cited for insubordination. This could be revisited later in your dreams.
By analyzing your dreams, you can come to terms with difficult issues and perhaps find a way to deal with them. Simply by identifying the issues in your dreams will help.
Dreams are not always clear cut. We tend to dream in the abstract. Losing teeth for example is a type of frustration dream. Looking for something, trying to get somewhere important only to find that the floor has turned to rubber and you can’t get to where you need to be are all frustrations, generally from real life that you haven’t paid attention to yet.
There are some common dreams that everyone has experienced. Flying, for example, is common in childhood and not very common in adulthood. Flying is usually a sign of freedom. In normal childhood, we generally are not concerned with too much responsibility. Children are fed and housed and hopefully, loved and parents helped us in a lot of ways, or we had a favorite relative or a good friend we could always rely on.
Once we have morphed into the teenage years, school work becomes a responsibility and our responsibility keeps increasing as we morph into adulthood. The flying dreams disappear.
So start paying attention to your dreams. Write them down or record them. Go back and look or listen to your dreams. Write down the particulars you remember, colors, smells and people. Pay attention if you are an obsrver, participant or both. Most important, write down how you felt in the dream. Anger, fear, happiness etc are all important in finding out what your dream means.
Often, you will find your dreams forming a pattern. Are you frustrated a lot? Is there a fear you need to deal with? Your dreams can tell you this.
Finding out about yourself is the first step in understanding yourself and how you deal with different aspects of your life.
In many articles on dream interpretation, authors will attempt to talk about the symbols of dreams and what they mean. There are many symbols in dreams, but they are particular to your situation and do not mean the same thing to others. For example, the psychologist Jung saw a snake in a dream of a female and determined that it must be about sex. A snake would take on a completely different meaning to a person who raises snakes, has a fear of them or a love of them.
The one thing to remember is not to attach too much significance to symbols or think about complicated meanings. Common sense should rule.
Many times a dream is straight forward. If you are throwing rocks at your mother in law, chances are that you are angry with her. At least the dream is telling you that you are angry and that you should recognize that you are angry. Dreams are not judgmental; they are just showing you what is concerning you and sometimes what you need to be concerned about.
A dream dictionary may be a good buy, but only as a reference point. Dream dictionaries should be used as a guide and often will trigger an explanation of the dream.
Paying attention to dreams is a way to get to know yourself and what you want in life and it’s fun.
