INTERPRETING YOUR DREAMS


        Interpreting your dreams can be a lot of fun. As we’ve
said, it can also give you valuable insight. Dreams are like
coded messages from your unconscious mind. When you
decode them, you gain access to a wealth of intuitive
wisdom.

        Remember that only you can interpret your dreams.
Many people have published "Dream Dictionaries" that
describe what each part of the dream symbolizes. Actually,
the same dream can have infinite meanings, depending on
the person who dreamed it. The important thing is, what
does it mean to YOU?

        Interpreting dreams isn’t something you can pick up
and become an expert at right away. It takes time and
practice. First, keep the following things in mind:

• Dreams are the reaction of the inner self to daytime
activity and often show the way out of the dilemma. So
relate them to current activity, because dreams may be
retrospective as well as prospective.

• Observe carefully recurrent dreams, as well as the
serially progressive ones. These often illustrate
progress or failure.

• Be practical in your interpretations. Always look first for
a lesson. What have you refused to face or been
ignoring?

• Dreams come to guide and help, not to amuse. They
direct your attention to errors of omission and
commission and offer encouragement for right
endeavors. They also give us the opportunity to pray
for others and to help them bear their burdens.

• Look for past-life experiences in your dreams. These
manifest themselves not only in color, but in the proper
costume and setting of their period. They come to warn
you against repeating the same old mistakes; to
explain your relationship and reactions to certain
people and places; to reduce your confusions; to
enable you to better understand life.

• Dreams that are unchanged through the years indicate
the dreamer's resistance to change.
The difficulty most people have with interpreting their
own dreams is that they aren't objective enough. Their
familiarity with the people and places in their dreams
obscures the dreams meaning. Experts have come up with
the “I AM and I NEED” formula, devised to overcome this.
Here's how it works.

        Once you have your dream written on paper, get two
different colored pens. Using one color, underline every
negative word or phrase in the dream which indicates
limitation, disrespect, containment, avoidance or damage.
Using the other color, underline every positive word or
phrase. You now make two lists. List the negative words and
phrases under a column titled I AM. List the positive words
and phrases under a column titled I NEED. You are almost
ready to interpret your dream.

        Determine the subject matter of the dream. The
location where the dream takes place is one of the best
methods for doing this. When you have determined the
subject matter take each of the phrases or words in the 'I
AM' column and fit them into the following sentence.
When it comes to my (subject matter) I AM (phrase or
keyword)
Change the phrase or keyword slightly to force the
sentence to make sense. If you cannot determine the
subject matter apply the keywords to yourself in general.
This exercise tells you how you feel or react to the subject
matter of the dream. When you have done this read through
the 'I NEED' column to learn what you must do to correct
the problem. To get the meaning put each of the phrases or
keywords into the sentence,
When it comes to my (subject matter) I NEED (phrase
or keyword)
Let's take an example. Using the sentence 'The dead
woman lay on the cold hard slab'. The negative keywords
are; dead, cold and hard. Women, in dreams, can represent
emotions so in this case the sentences constructed would be
When it comes to my emotions I am dead.
When it comes to my emotions I am cold.
When it comes to my emotions I am hard.
The meaning is obvious. With analyzing just one
sentence from a dream we have learned a lot about the
dreamer. Using this technique you now have all of the
information you need to start interpreting your dreams.
However it takes practice to be able to apply what you have
learned. Be patient with your efforts.

        Not all dream interpretations will be that cut and dried,
but it is a way to remain objective when you are analyzing
what your dreams mean and how best to put the messages
they are conveying to good use in your life.
Keep in mind that Most dreams are * NOT *
precognitive, and once one learns the subtle differences
between a precognitive dream versus a regular dream, they
are easily discernable and will put your mind at ease.
The first thing everyone should consider is the typical
universal symbology of the dream images. For instance,
death symbolizes the end of something that's ready for
change, and a new beginning. Most people start out highly
resistive to changes of any sort, and see any upcoming
change in their life as something foreboding and scary.
Death dreams are usually about change.

        The symbols and what they represent is the most
fascinating part of dream interpretation. There are literally
hundreds of them. We don’t have the space to address ALL
of them, but we will touch on some of the most recurring
themes in dreams as well as the symbols of those dreams
and what they mean.