Dreams can be an important for self-understanding and is an important aspect of your life since we spend over a third of our lives asleep. Get acquainted with yourself by becoming attentive to your dreams.
Many people believe that dreams are just dreams and don't represent anything. If one were to pay attention to their dreams, write them down and read them back later, they will find that dreams are a form of individualized messages and dreams can help you understand what you are all about, without the help of a psychologist. Dreams are not necessarily coherent at first, as they tend to resemble a jigsaw puzzle that needs to be fitted together before it makes any sense.
Some dreams are universal, or at least very common. Many of us have experienced flying dreams as children yet flying dreams tend to disappear during adulthood. Flying dreams in children tend to be a pleasing experience because flying is an expression of freedom.
Dreams represent our deepest emotions and our responses to them. In waking life, we are bombarded with a massive amount of information our brains cannot process immediately. Much of the information we receive in waking life is relegated to the subconscious. We unconsciously prioritize information reserving the rest for consideration at a later time, or they can be previewed through our nightly theater.
Dreams help us understand what it is we are truly feeling, uncensored and non-judgmental. We all hold our tongues from time to time for decorum sake and everyone has felt the urge to strangle someone we felt desperately needed it. We repress our anger and attempt to censure our thoughts. We are slaves to our conscience, our sense of morality and societal laws. Dreams allow us to let off steam and allow us a peek underneath the mask we show the public at large. The mask is a form of a protection mechanism that has been built up over the years as we gain experience with betrayals, disappointments, trauma and other incidents that causes pain.
Emotions felt in the distant past could be triggered by a seemingly trivial incident in waking life, which can be revisited in our dreams. A gentle reminder that the issue is still there and still needs to be resolved. Like it our not, we are emotional creatures and we are governed by our emotions more often than our logic. Our emotional responses do not just disappear, no matter how well hidden. They germinate and simmer and if not effectively addressed, boil over into depression, ulcers, headaches and phobias.
An affective way of experimenting with your own dream interpretation is to start paying attention to them. Try this for a month or so. Because dreams fade upon waking, it is a good idea to keep a dream journal. Keep a notepad or tape recorder at your bedside.
When you awaken from a dream, immediately write it down or record it in the first person. This will get you into the habit of remembering that your dream is specifically about you. Do not try to interpret your dreams as you write, you could lose a few possibly important details. The most important aspect of any dream is how you felt so make sure this is recorded as well. Note if the dream is in color or black & white, if you were a participant, observer or both and try to notice any smells you may have noticed. Bear in mind that many dreams reflect waking incidents and are usually straight forward with no abstractions or symbolism. The difference is that straightforward dreams are easily recognized as such. Don't make yourself crazy searching for symbols that are not there.
Dreams can also form patterns. Once the dream has been written down, you may see certain patterns emerge or themes coming into play. Recurring dreams have certain patterns, and details are often added to recurring dreams each time it's dreamt. A pattern of frustration for example, is if you find you are constantly looking for something and never finding it or trying to get somewhere and are always prevented somehow. What you need to find out is what is causing your frustration and how to stop it. These are the easiest to interpret because you probably already know what you are frustrated or anxious about. The trick is to find out how to overcome it.
