| Dreams - those bizarre bits of jumbled
pictures that come to us when
we sleep. Are they merely mental
flashbacks of our day’s activities
or could they be more? Could they
contain information – valuable
information – that is helpful
to us for solving problems and
gaining guidance? Yes, our dreams
are one of our most valuable mental
resources. They contain messages
– messages from ourselves to ourselves.
Dreams will often come to give
you a “state of your state of
mind” message. They may come to
say, “You’re doing fine. Hang
in there.” Or the message may
be, “You’ve gone off in the wrong
direction. Take a close look at
your life and make some adjustments.”
Like intuitions, dreams come from
your inner, subconscious mind.
Dreams come in many forms - creative
dreams, precognitive dreams where
ones “sees” a future event, problem
solving dreams, intuitive dreams,
and simple “logging in” dreams
where one can catch a glimpse
of their mind’s “filing” of daily
information.
Reoccurring dreams are especially
important because they are a message
that your subconscious mind is
desperately trying to get you
to pay attention to. Your subconscious
will patiently give you the same
message over and over for years
until you finally “get” it.
What Do Dreams Tell Us?
Dreams allow you to become aware
of your mental programming. They
let you see how it is affecting
your life. Sometimes a dream will
give you a message that an old
attitude or belief is no longer
working for you. A dream may suggest
a new attitude or belief that
would work better, or will sometimes
give you a little pat on the back,
a little encouragement. Often,
dreams come to warn you that you
need to be more aware of a certain
situation in your life. And often
dreams come to present you with
solutions to problems you have
been working on but could find
no conscious solution to.
Dreams tell you how you really
feel about yourself and others,
and the situations in your life.
They give you your personal perceptions
of reality (and this may or may
not be consistent with objective
reality).
Dreams tell you about your self-image,
when and where you feel in control
of your life, when and where you
don’t. They tell you about situations
where you feel that you have been
“good,” and where you feel that
you have been “bad.” Each of these
facets of your self-image is represented
in your dreams.
How To Remember Your Dreams
To get the help available from
your dreams, you must first remember
them. It usually takes an average
of five weeks to learn to recall
your dreams. But by following
some simple, easy steps, almost
everyone can begin to remember
their dreams and reap the benefits
of these important messages.
• Give yourself a pre-sleep suggestion.
Just before you fall asleep, say
to yourself several times, “I
am going to remember my dreams.”
• Keep a pad and pencil by your
bed to down any memories or scraps
of memories about your dreams.
• Upon awakening in the morning,
do not jump right out of bed.
Stay in bed a few minutes and
mull over any thoughts or images
that may be floating around in
your mind. These may remind you
of a dream.
• Give dreams a name or “theme.”
This “classifies” the dream and
helps you remember it. It also
helps you to bring up any associations
connected with it.
Interpreting Your Dream Messages
What do your dreams mean? The
best and most accurate interpretation
of your dream will come from you,
through your intuition. Your dreams
are part of you, your subconscious.
Who better to know what your subconscious
is telling you than you yourself?
Start by asking yourself, what
does each dream image mean to
me? How do I feel about the image?
Dream therapists generally agree
that a dream image reflects your
own personal attitudes and feelings.
So, for instance, while dreams
of snakes for most people would
represent something they are afraid
of, for a person who keeps reptiles
as pets, a dream of snakes might
represent friendship or companionship.
Once you have identified the general
feeling or attitude that the dream
image represents, ask yourself
how this feeling or attitude may
be manifesting itself in your
life today. (What is happening
currently in your life that is
making you fearful?) Use this
method of discovery even when
you dream of friends, family members
or acquaintances. Remember, dreams
are messages from yourself to
yourself, and they are most often
about yourself, your feelings,
your concerns, etc. Assume that
all dream characters, even people
you know, represent aspects of
yourself and are there to represent
a feeling or attitude. The question
you should ask yourself is: How
do you feel about the friend or
family member?, not why are you
dreaming of them.
By looking at your dream images
as aspects of yourself, you can
most often identify the feeling
or attitude associated with the
image and uncovers the dream’s
message. But when interpreting
a dream message, if you don’t
intuitively feel that it is right,
it probably isn’t. On the other
hand if the interpretation elicits
the response, “Yes! That’s it!”
it probably is accurate. A true
interpretation always feels right.
More importantly, it can tell
you a lot about yourself and which
areas of your life may currently
be in need of attention.
Common Dream Symbols
• Vehicles - cars, busses, trucks,
trains, boats etc. - often represent
your direction in life. Are you
on the right track? Are you heading
in the right direction? Often,
if the vehicle is headed toward
the right, it means that you are.
• Monsters, savages, wild animals
- often represent the “dark” part
of you. This is the part of you
that you may not want to know
about - your bad habits, your
negative traits and your fears.
But by “making friends” with these
parts of you - listening to them
and letting them tell you what
they need - you can help all of
you grow.
• A House - often represents you.
Is your house dirty and messy?
Does it need to be cleaned up
and taken better care of? Are
there hidden rooms that need to
be explored? If your house becomes
bigger and better over time, then
you can be sure that you are growing
and learning.
• Clothes - often represent feelings
of protection. Having a dream
of going to school without your
clothes on means you feel unsafe
or unsure about something.
• Teeth - often represent how
you “face” others. If your teeth
fall out in a dream, you may be
afraid of “losing face.”
• Hair - often represents your
thoughts. Stiff hair might mean
you are not being flexible in
your thinking. Black hair could
mean you are having sad thoughts
or feelings but not recognizing
them.
• Water - often represents a cleansing,
a new beginning.
• Paralysis - often means you
are afraid to take action about
something.
• Crashing waves, tornadoes, hurricanes,
etc - often mean your emotions
are in an upheaval.
• Failing a test or exam - often
mean you are afraid that you are
“failing” in some area of your
life (it may mean school, but
often it is about another area).
• Being unable to find your classroom
- often means that you are “not
sure where you are going” in some
important area of your life.
• Going to the bathroom in public
- often means that you fear that
others have caught (or will catch)
you showing your negative habits
or traits.
• Not being able to reach someone
on the telephone - often means
that you are trying to “get through”
to someone, but feel you can’t.
Rita Milios, the Mind Mentor,
is a psychotherapist, author and
speaker on topics of mind, creativity
and behavior. Her intuitive training
books include Dream Journal and
Intuition Log Book. Visit http://www.ritamilios.com
for more articles and information
about Rita's speaking topics.
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