KEY POINTS

  • ALWAYS assume that a dream has a meaning beyond what is obvious to your waking
    consciousness.

  • Recognise that you must LEARN the language of dreams – dreams speak to us in
    metaphor and symbols and are born from emotion. You'll need to think laterally if you are
    to understand your dreams.

  • Your dreams reflect the way your inner self is experiencing life events. They are almost
    always about a current life issue. If the emotion of a current issue is similar to something
    in the past, the dreaming mind will flag this up.

  • To understand your dreams you must learn the skill of EXPLORING your dreams rather
    than applying a theory.

  • Illogical events, conflicts, exaggerations and inconsistencies in dreams are very important.
    They are usually good indicators of what's most important in the dream story.

  • Empower yourself as the final authority on your dream

WHAT TO DO

  • Write down your dream in as much detail as possible. Give it a snappy title - the sort of
    wording that would be used in a newspaper.

  • How did you feel when you woke up on the morning of the dream?

  • What are the things/characters that stand out most? Explore these by making
    associations to things in your past, present or future. If you're struggling with this, try and
    describe the object/character as if you were trying to describe it to an alien. For instance,
    you might say of a chair, 'It's wooden. It's something you sit on when you're eating / when
    you're tired / when you're watching TV etc...' You can expand on this if it's a chair you
    actually recognise from your waking life.

  • Ask yourself “Why?”  Why that particular symbol/character and not something else? For
    instance why a stool and not a chair? Why blue and not red?

  • Could any of the events in the dream possibly happen in the future?

  • Having got this far, what do you think the dream is about and what is it saying?

  • Write a personal motto from the dream story  to inspire you and remind you of the energy
    of the dream. For example: 'Express Yourself' or 'Angels Fly Behind Me' or 'Tiger is my
    Teacher!' Stick it somewhere where you'll see it everyday. Be creative!

  • Does the dream suggest, or bring to mind, any action you can take in waking life to
    honour the dream? This could be anything from modifying your beliefs or behaviour, to
    contacting someone who appeared in the dream. It could even be as inconsequential as
    wearing an item of clothing of a colour that was prominent in the dream.


DREAM JOURNALING

  • If you’re serious about interpreting your dreams, it's very helpful to keep a dream journal.
    You'll find some suggested formats here.

  • Record dreams in the PRESENT TENSE

  • Record the feeling where the emotion seems to be the strongest

  • Explore the metaphors and the symbols (and any prominent colours).

  • Leave plenty of room in your Journal to add comments

  • Avoid judging the relevance of a dream before you’ve explored it. Even simple, mundane
    dreams often hold very important messages

  • Follow up the dream - when you’ve arrived at an understanding, ask yourself, “Is there
    any action I can take to incorporate the message of the dream into my life?” If so, DO IT.

  • If possible, work with a series of related dreams rather than just one isolated dream.
    Important issues usually crop up in many dreams. Often dreams dreamed on the same
    night have a common theme running through them even though this may not be apparent
    at first glance.
DREAM INTERPRETATION.
What does my dream mean?
Only YOU can decide what your dream means. Dreams are multi-faceted and address issues on many levels. They speak with symbolism
and metaphor that are personal to you. You scripted the dream, you chose the story and the characters, and you chose how the dream
progressed.

With a little effort you can integrate the dream into full consciousness and, by doing so, understand yourself and how your mind works a
little bit better. You will also see your path through life with much more clarity and have the opportunity to make positive life changes.

There are many ways to work with dreams, all of them useful. Below is a simple guide to help get you started. There's more detailed
information in my books,  'Working the Nightshift, How To Understand Your Dreams'  and  'Dreaming Yourself Aware',  including step by
step guide on many interesting and fun dream interpretation techniques.