QUESTION. CAN A DREAM DICTIONARY GIVE AN ACCURATE MEANING?
ANSWER. No.
The cookie cutter approach to dream analysis may be appealing. But the best feature of a dream message is that it is uniquely tailored to you. It is a personal, one-of-a-kind communication between you & your unconscious that does not apply to anyone else. A second fact is that dream language uses your unique symbol associations. Someone who in real life was attacked by a dog and then dreams of a dog associates it with pain and trauma, which becomes part of the dream message. But if a dog was your best friend, you associate it to loyalty, fun and friendship. Two dreams of a dog give a completely different message according to the dreamer's past experience and symbol association. Once you experience the advantages of following the DIY Five easy steps to dream interpretation to get a unique, practical dream message, you won't want to consult a dream dictionary. Yes, there are shared dream meanings such as recognizing a friendly smile as a positive outreach or an altar as a symbol of worship. But, like it or not, in dream analysis, one size does not fit all. That's why dream dictionaries don't work.
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QUESTION. WHERE DO DREAM ANSWERS COME FROM?
ANSWER. They come from many levels within and outside of you. Inner levels include your own unconscious which stores a lot of information you have forgotten. Some answers come from your soul. You may be the master of your ship, but the soul is the ship's owner and occasionally has something to say about the direction of the journey.
Some believe your guardian angels can whisper in your ear at night through a dream, and on occasion, even the Divine Voice itself comes through.
Most insights are from your own psyche, the part of you that never sleeps and has access to all sources of information. Acting as a best friend, your psyche guides you to become the best you can be. The dream psyche acts is the bridge between the waking mind and the unconscious.
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QUESTION. WHO IS THE BEST INTERPRETER OF A DREAM?
ANSWER. You are the best interpreter of your dreams. But like everything, it takes learning and practice. There is a "dream alphabet" and tried and true techniques that dream users know. Someone who is practiced in dream interpretation can help interpret your dreams. That's okay from time to time, but the goal is to feel comfortable doing it yourself. The good news is that, like learning to drive a car, it's really quite easy, after you learn where the controls are and how to steer!
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QUESTION. CAN DREAMS PREDICT THE FUTURE?
ANSWER. Many people have had dreams that relate to the future in clear terms. One way to think about that is to realize that the future is made up of today's decisions. Your "dream psyche", the part of the unconscious that is at work while you sleep, is aware of all your decisions and their possible consequences. One theory of how dreams predict the future is to think of the psyche as performing "best guesses" based on your current decisions. Just as you can see the path of a ball you have thrown as it’s flying through the air and can "guess" where it will land, your psyche may be projecting where your decisions will land you ... if you stay on your current course.
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QUESTION. DO FRIGHTENING DREAMS HAVE A MEANING?
ANSWER. Yes, mostly they come to help you fix something that would otherwise hurt you or trip you up.
Even frightening dreams bring a helpful message. The most common type of message as a scary dream is to act as a MIRROR for something unpleasant in yourself. We all want to believe we are wonderful and usually we are. But on occasion there is the small matter of acting bad tempered, lazy, thoughtless, or some such. When a dream (your own soul or psyche) confronts you about it, it is like meeting Darth Vader in a deep, dark forest. Seeing your own shortcoming feels like "Oops - a Scary Mirror" and frightens the ego which responds: "Who, me?" We don’t want to see or believe anything negative about ourselves, so it scares us. But a dream is a message from the best part of yourself, your soul - and comes to help you weed it out. Being willing to fix it prevents the negative feature from growing into something major that can later trip you up. For example, no one wants a bad tempered mate or employee. In that sense, most frightening dreams are helpful and describe a frightened dreamer instead of a frightening dream. See list of 27 dream types.
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QUESTION. DOES EVERYBODY DREAM?
ANSWER. Research in dream labs confirms that everyone does dream every night, about 4 - 6 times. Not everyone remembers their dreams. Many factors can interfere with dream recall: prescription medicines such as sleep medications, anxiety, lack of sleep, trauma, or merely lack of interest in remembering dreams.
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QUESTION. DREAMS AND PROBLEM SOLVING
ANSWER. Dreams are a great assistant for problem solving. It is natural for a dream to answer a question as it processes what is on your mind as you go to sleep. In fact, problem solving is the default stance of the unconscious, which uses dreams as its main bridge and communication channel to the waking mind. You may not even be asking a question directly, but because you are groping for an answer, the dream psyche treats it like a question. Like a night time Google session, it first investigates the topic from your unconscious storehouse of past and present experiences. It then sifts what it found and suggests a best direction or solution. This kind of night time brainstorming to help with problems is one of the main functions of dreaming.
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QUESTION. SHOULD I USE A BOOK ON DREAM SYMBOLS - A DREAM DICTIONARY?
ANSWER. If you plan to learn dream interpretation, it’s better not to use books on dream symbols. That’s because symbols in dreams relate to your personal experience. For example, if you have a dog you love, when you see a dog in a dream it will represent "friendship", "loyalty", "playfulness", and so on. But if someone was bitten by a dog, when they see one in a dream, it will have negative meanings such as "danger", "pain", or "fear". The bottom line is that a symbol relates to your experience. Trust your own experience. If done well, a book on symbols will help you relate back to your own experience of it rather than just give random meanings.
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QUESTION. WHAT IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY REMEMBERING YOUR DREAMS?
ANSWER. Experience shows that sudden movements can interfere with dream recall. Before jumping out of bed, take a couple of minutes to lie peacefully and get your bearings. While asleep, you are in a deep unconscious part of yourself. As you awaken, you edge closer to the conscious, awake, part. There are several hoops to jump from the deep in the unconscious before becoming fully awake. You also transition from the language of images to words. Tread the steps back into waking gently in order to retain dream recall. Dreams are like a deer in the forest, feeding quietly at sunrise. You want to sit and watch it a while, not startle it and make it run away.
Those few minutes between sleep and waking are called the "hypnopompic state". It is the in-between transition stage between sleep and waking. Some of your most creative thoughts and solutions arrive during this pre-waking time of day, so pay close attention.
Even if at first you don’t remember a dream, notice how you feel and what's on your mind. As you're doing so, a dream segment may pass by unexpectedly. In a relaxed way, savor it and go over what you remember. As you do so, you may suddenly remember other scenes and snatches, or even whole dream scenes. Go back over these, too. Once a dream is remembered comfortably, there's no point in lazing around any longer. It's time to get up and about, and of course, to write the dream down.
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QUESTION. ARE ALL DREAMS MEANINGFUL?
ANSWER. Yes. Even a single image or snatch carries enough meaning to be helpful. A man once recalled only the image of a large wooden wheel. At first it seemed meaningless. Then he remembered there was that kind of a wheel on the farm where he grew up. As a child, he sat next to it often, especially when he missed his mother who had recently died. When he had this dream, a good friend had recently died. He realized the wheel was reminding him that he was still mourning the loss of his friend, and that he needed to take time to be with those feelings. Even though it was just one dream image, the wheel brought him the message that he was once again sitting beside that childhood wheel, to mourn a loss.
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QUESTION. IS THERE A MESSAGE EVEN IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER A DREAM?
ANSWER. You may not recall a dream, but you can wake up with a new idea, goal, perspective, or attitude. These are often remnants of a dream. If you wake up suddenly and jump out of bed, the dream disappears but the "gist" remains.
Did you ever wake up with a song playing through your head? Pay attention to the words which may contain a message. At another level, you can treat your associations with the song as if it were a dream symbol. For example, ask yourself if the song has a special meaning to you, and when you last heard it. If you heard it last, for example, at a wedding where you were happy, the song and words may relate to happiness in a current relationship and your secret desire to marry that person. But if you last heard it on the radio as you were breaking up in a relationship, the melody may suggest that a relationship may be in trouble.
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QUESTION. DO DREAMS TELL THE TRUTH?
ANSWER. In my experience, Yes. Dreams always tell the truth. Of course you have to learn to interpret a dream correctly. If the end result does not match your interpretation, the interpretation was not on the mark.
When analyzing a dream, it is important to put aside what you want it to mean. When you are first learning interpretation, it is tempting to think you know what the dream means without working through the suggested steps. That can lead to incorrect assumptions. Even if you think you know what it means right away, follow the Five Steps of the Five Step Method. You may be right, or you may be surprised and find a new meaning, which makes even more sense to you and leaves you happy to know the correct message.
For example, a dream of winning a lottery ticket is rarely about winning actual money (though sometimes it is). More likely, it reflects you as a winner in some other way such as career advancement or creating a harmonious relationship, or finding a new opportunity in some way. But if all you can think about is the money and expect to win a lottery, your interpretation would be incorrect and you would be disappointed.
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QUESTION. CAN YOU JUMP TO THE WRONG CONCLUSION WITH A DREAM ANALYSIS?
ANSWER. The answer is: Yes, especially when first learning dream interpretation, jumping to the wrong conclusion can happen for several reasons. Your starting attitude is important. Before interpreting the dream, put aside preconceptions about what you think it may mean. It is also important to want to know the truth on a topic. If you are not ready to deal with the truth, the meaning may escape you.
There are two common twists that lead to a mistaken interpretation. One is to focus on a single symbol and base the entire meaning of the dream on that symbol. While a symbol can contain the whole meaning of the dream, it often does so indirectly. That is why in the Five Step Method, analyzing symbols is Step Four, not step one. Focusing on only the symbols can be misleading.
The other common mistake is that a dreamer may be too close to the topic of the dream. A topic that is important, emotional, or very close to you can make it difficult to see the subject in a new light. That is why Step Two of the Five Step Method for dream analysis is designed to create some distance between the dreamer and the dream. Stating the actions using impersonal terms like "someone" and "something", it is a way of backing off and seeing the overall picture. That way, the dreamer does not get lost in the details and can see the forest for the trees, which often leads to quickly seeing the intention and meaning of the dream message. That single step - Step Two of the Five Step Method - often creates a breakthrough insight on its own!
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QUESTION. HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A DREAM INTERPRETATION IS CORRECT?
ANSWER. A correct interpretation brings a positive shift in feelings or attitudes. When you get it right, there is an "Aha!"It can feel like a light bulb turning on, or a feeling of energy being released as if a burden lifts from your shoulders. It can bring a sense of peace or put a smile on your face as if a missing piece of a puzzle now fits. Something falls into place and you recognize it.
Proceed with caution if a dream is on a topic for which you have a serious bias. For example, you apply for a job and are convinced it is the one you want and nothing else will do. While waiting to see how the interviews turn out, you receive several dreams about getting ready to leave for a trip. But in the dream, you always miss the plane or train to get you there. The story line speaks of "A missed connection" or, "Something does not turn out as anticipated". However, because you want that job so much you misinterpret the dreams as "I am getting ready to go there, but am not there yet ". You miss a key point - the person in the dream does not arrive at the destination. The dreams hint that the job is not yours - it is not your destination.
To get the correct interpretation on issues for which you have a high emotional stake, have the courage to stand back, dare to want the truth and put aside any bias or wishful thinking.
For a correct interpretation, use the Quick Five Step Method. It is easy to learn and with it you can understand dreams within hours. By applying the five steps, you will be amazed at the insight dreams give, when compared to a dream dictionary.
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