Exploring the Hidden Meanings in Your Dreams
Here’s a simple question: Do you ever remember your dreams? Do you ever take a moment when you wake up in the morning to consider their possible meaning? Or do you roll out of bed and turn all your attention to the day ahead and let the threads of your dreams unravel until they’re no longer recognisable? The fact is that if you’re not taking a little time to gather your dreams and consider their relevance, you might be ignoring a very valuable resource
From the far-off days of ancient Babylon, dreams have been considered as deeply significant. Often referred to as a source of divination or as a means for telling the future, their real value was only appreciated from the early pioneering days of modern psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud is famous for recognising his patients’ dreams as a valuable source of information concerning their psychological condition. And today, we can interpret our dreams in terms of their rich symbolism, precise indicators that can shed light on our circumstances and our state of mind.
All men whilst they are awake are in one common world:
but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.
-??????Plutarch
Most of the interesting dreams that we experience are a product of our subconscious mind’s efforts to share its profound insights and analysis. Though many dreams are more mundane in nature and represent the mind’s attempt to file and catalogue the day’s events, it’s the richly-textured material that flows up from the depths of the unconscious that can provide us with fascinating insights into our lives, ourselves and the people around us.
This makes perfect sense because of the way our minds are structured to handle data. The conscious mind, for example, can deal with some forty environmental stimuli per second. And, at first glance, that might seem like a relatively large amount of data. However, the unconscious mind can process some twenty million environmental stimuli per second. That’s an unimaginably vast difference between the processing power of your conscious mind and the staggering capabilities of your subconscious.
Clearly, even on the basis of this simple yet impressive difference, your unconscious mind is collecting and processing information on a massive scale. Yet, with this vast amount of information and analysis available in its memory banks, how can your subconscious mind communicate its knowledge and insights to your waking, conscious mind? The simplest and most direct pathway is through the medium of your dreams. And this is where the message can often become confused.
Dreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language.
-??????Gail Godwin
Surprisingly, perhaps, the unconscious tends to communicate its messages through the medium of symbolism. A dream, therefore, often requires interpretation so that the symbols can be clearly understood. And the meaning can vary from one individual to another. Standardised symbol dictionaries are not always helpful. The way you react emotionally to a particular symbol can be as relevant as the symbol itself. Take the example of a dog. If you think of dogs as super-friendly, loyal creatures that are fun to be with, the presence of a dog in your dream can be seen as a very positive sign. Whereas, if you’ve had a bad experience with a dog or you’re afraid of them, the interpretation will obviously be different. Understanding your personal resonance with the events in your dream can provide valuable insights into the dream’s message.
A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul.
-??????Erich Fromm
With such a rich and deeply personal resource freely available to you most nights, wouldn’t it be a great idea to make full use of such a precious gift to your welfare and happiness?
The secret is to learn to take a moment or two as you wake up and make a conscious effort to hold onto your dreams before the day rushes in and distracts you completely.
Like any skill, it can take a little practice but the benefits are extremely worthwhile.
We don’t have a strong tradition in our culture of recalling our dreams so, if you ask anyone what they dreamed about the night before, most people will shrug and say they didn’t dream or that they’ve forgotten. If you keep a notepad and pencil by your bed, you can develop the fantastically useful habit of making brief notes about your dreams as soon as you wake up. This will help you to remember more and more detail.
You can also take a moment before you go to sleep to tell yourself that you’re going to remember all of your dreams when you wake up in the morning. This is another excellent mechanism for encouraging a stronger link between your conscious mind and your subconscious resources.
Dreams are free therapy. Consult your inner Freud.
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-??????Terri Guillemets
If you’re facing difficulties, worries, challenges or dilemmas, seek the answers in your dream state and take note of how your subconscious frames the problem and offers suggestions about the best way to resolve everything. Your subconscious has access to a truly vast array of resources and analysis. If there’s one place where you’re likely to find the right answer to your questions, it’s in the domain of your subconscious realm. It’s in your nightly consultation with your dreams.
Though it might take a little practice, start the process this evening with a clear declaration that you’re going to remember your dreams in the morning. And tell yourself that you will be able to understand exactly what the dream is aimed at revealing. This could be the most important resource you will ever develop and grant you access to an extraordinary level of insight and perception into your life and your future. Your subconscious knows everything about you. What better place could there be to seek advice about yourself and everything that touches upon your life?
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right.
We sleeping wake and waking sleep.
- Michel de Montaigne
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