How to Interpret Dreams

Guide Note

Dreaming is a part of everyone's nightly sleep cycle, but have you ever stopped to wonder what those dreams mean? For years both psychologists and spiritualists have been using dreams to learn about how the human mind works, and there is some indication that the symbols in our dreams are the brain's way of helping us work through problems and everyday situations. To understand what your dreams are trying to tell you, you need to learn to interpret them. This guide will show you several steps you can take to find meaning in your dreams.

Table of Contents

Dream Interpretation Tips
  1. Take steps toward remembering your dreams.
  2. Keep a dream journal beside your bed.
  3. Write down every detail from your dreams.
  4. Ask yourself questions about the dream.
    1. How did you feel emotionally?
    2. Does it relate to anything in your life directly?
    3. Does it remind you of any situations?
  5. Try interpreting the dreams of your closest friends.

Introduction

  • Dreams have entertained the nightly slumber of mankind since the beginning of time. Great psychologists like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung determined to dig into the nature and purpose of dreams in the hopes of unearthing mankind's deepest and most intimate secrets, and
    (Photo by Georgios Wollbrecht)
    (Photo by Georgios Wollbrecht)
    to this day psychologists continue to dig deep into the human mind in search of the answers in our dreams. Some believe that we dream of solutions to everyday situations and problems, and that discovering the key to the nocturnal play of the mind comes down to a simple interpretation of its symbols.
  • Interpreting dreams is a personal process, because the mind uses its own personal symbols to convey its messages. Throw away your dream dictionaries, at least for a moment. If you're truly interested in learning how to understand and interpret your own dreams there are a few helpful steps you can follow.

Step 1: Remembering Your Dreams

  • As you gather around the water cooler at work and someone starts talking about a dream they had the night before, it's not uncommon to hear people say things like, "I don't have dreams," or "I never remember my dreams." Maybe you are one of those people yourself who hasn't ever had much luck remembering your dreams. But no matter what you might believe, everybody dreams. In fact, many people spend a whole hour or two every night dreaming.
  • Remembering your dreams is the first step in beginning to interpret them, but this is not always an easy task. Here are a few tips that will help you begin to remember your dreams:
(Photo by Auro Queiroz)
(Photo by Auro Queiroz)
  1. Make a conscious decision to remember your dreams. Start out by telling yourself just before you go to bed that you will remember your dreams.
  2. Try to keep regular sleeping hours, going to bed at the same time each night.
  3. Stay in bed upon waking as long as possible so your mind has time to grab any dream fragments that may be lingering.
    • It only takes five minutes before the mind starts to forget important dream imagery.
  4. Replay any and all sequences from the dream upon waking.
  5. Keep a journal or voice activated recorder beside your bed so you can record any dreams immediately upon waking.
  6. Avoid eating before bedtime, especially fatty foods, whose digestion can distract the mind from sleeping comfortably.
  7. Study your R.E.M cycles, as most of your dreams take place during this sleep cycle.
  8. Relate your dreams to a partner or friend. Talking about dreams out loud can help put them into perspective.

Step 2: Dream Journaling

  • Dream journaling gives you a record of the dream to refer to, one that was written as close to the time the dream occurred as possible. As you write down the details of your dreams, you become one step closer to understanding them.
  1. Dreams fade quickly because dreaming is a right-brained activity, full of metaphor that the waking mind can't easily grasp or make sense of.
  2. The mind is still in this metaphorical state upon waking, so you need to help activate the left-brain story-teller by writing it down or giving it voice.

How to Dream Journal

  • Here are a few important things to keep in mind when writing down your dreams.
  1. Keep your dream journal tucked safely beside your bed for instant recall.
  2. Write down everything you can remember. As you are writing you may find that you remember things you left out. You can always go back in and add them when you do finally remember.
  3. Note any particular feelings or emotions associated with the dream.
  4. If there were any physical sensations in the dream, write them down.
  5. Where did the dream take place?
  6. Write down any symbols from the dream that you can remember.
    • This could be anything from a snake in the grass or a bird on a wire to a family member or co-worker.

Step 3: Dream Types

  • Before we start analyzing the symbols in your dreams, let's take a look at the different types of dreams.
(Photo by Asif Akbar)
(Photo by Asif Akbar)
  1. Physical Dreams will focus on the body and mind and include things like:
    1. Food or eating dreams
    2. Negative habit dreams
    3. Confrontation dreams
    4. Stress dreams
    5. Realization dreams
    6. Performance or rehearsal dreams
  2. Spiritual Dreams tend to be more mystical and are often hidden among dreams that seem more mundane. They would include:
    1. Visitation dreams featuring deceased loved ones
    2. Precognitive or premonition dreams
    3. Message dreams
  3. Recurring Dreams occur again and again in our sleep cycles.
    1. They can repeat over years, or over a short period.
    2. Many believe because these dreams are connected to a deep message, sort of like a wake-up call, and will repeat until you recognize whatever it is the dream is trying to say.

Step 4: Cracking the Codes

  • Now it's time to get down to interpretation. Dreams are a product of the right brain, and so they come in the way of symbols. Though we put those symbols into words with the left-brain, chances are they still don't spell themselves out clearly. It's up to you to determine what those symbols might mean.

Don't Use a Dream Dictionary

  1. Sigmund Freud used dream symbols to discover the most intimate secrets of his patients. He tapped into universal symbols and gave them all the same meaning.
  2. However, the factors and symbols that make up our dreams are as deeply personal as the components of an astrological chart.
    • For example, while there may be quite a few people who associate dreaming of snakes with sexuality, this association is a product of one's experiences.
  3. So if you've been using a dictionary of symbols to help you interpret your dreams, but haven't been getting satisfactory results, it might be time to toss out someone else's symbols and discover your own.

Discovering Personal Symbols

  1. How did the dream make you feel emotionally?
  2. Does the dream remind you of any real-life situations you've recently encountered?
  3. How could you change the dream?
  4. Do you have any resources in your life that could help you alter the outcome?
  5. What is this dream telling you that you might not already know?
Think Metaphorically
  • Once you begin looking at the symbols and asking questions about them, it will be easier to put them into perspective.
  1. For example, if you dreamed about your sister and your boss, that doesn't mean the dream is really about them. Your mind could be referencing your thoughts and feelings about your sister, while your boss could be a simple representation of your job.
  2. Maybe your sister is someone who is perpetually late, and recently you've taken to arriving late to work a couple of times a week. This would be the brain's way of demonstrating to you the impact of your behavior. It's reminding you how inconvenient and frustrating it is when your sister arrives late, and how little you feel she values your time. Now imagine how it is affecting your job.
  • Your personal symbols are derived from your personal experiences. No one else in the world has had your experiences, and this is why cracking the dream code can't be done with a universal dictionary. If you were stung by a nest of hornets as a child, your thoughts and feelings about hornets are going to mean something completely different to you than they would to someone who has only seen a hornet in passing.

Step 5: Testing Your Interpretations

(Photo by MagicMarie)
(Photo by MagicMarie)
  • Once you've spent some time analyzing and interpreting your own dreams, you'll begin to sense when you're on the right track. Until then, there are a couple of things you can try to make sure you're on target.
  1. The first thing you'll want to know is if your interpretation feels right.
  2. Does it make sense now that you've processed it?
  3. Have I learned anything useful from my interpretation?
  4. How would others react if I told them my interpretation?
  • Trust your instincts. You will feel it deep down inside when all the pieces fall into place, and knowing that you have unmasked the secret message of your dreams is the greatest achievement in dream interpretation.

Conclusion

  • Interpreting your dreams to discover their greater meaning can bring a sense of peace and calm into your life. Practice the techniques listed above to improve your skills as a dream diviner over time. When the language of our dreams is clear, they can offer solutions to help us face our darkest fears, while also pushing us to reach for our heart's desire.

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