Dreams And You
Find Out What Your Dreams Are Trying To Tell You
Conclusion
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Conclusion
Dream analysis and interpretation isn’t the mystical science that it seems to be. It’s simply remembering your dreams and then figuring out what your sub-conscious is trying to tell you about your life and anything that might be happening in your life.
You should keep in mind that dream analysis is simply an interpretation of your dreams, not a definitive answer for all that “ails” you, so to speak.
If you are having some major life problems, we suggest you seek the assistance of a trained professional. You can still, however, pay close attention to your dreams and report them to your therapist for some insight into your troubles.
Your dreams are unique to you. They can represent all that is good in you and all that you need to improve upon. When you better understand your dreams, you can better understand yourself.
Sleep well!
The following websites were used in researching this blog/ebook:
www.dreammoods.com
www.wiki.ehow.com
www.dreamemporium.com
www.near-death.com
www.about.com
Disturbing Dreams
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Disturbing Dreams
Disturbing dreams aren’t quite nightmares. They may cause you to wonder what exactly your sub-conscious is trying to tell you.
First, the dreams could be unconscious advice. Maybe in some way you are betraying yourself, forgetting something, or not fulfilling a potential. For example, persons on the edge of a midlife career change may have dreams about being in school and searching for a missing classroom, or they may find themselves in a class about to take a final exam while realizing that they completely forgot to attend the class all year. Thus the feeling of panic in the dream points to the real feeling of panic in their current life about the failure of their present career.
Second, the dreams could be an admonition, based in guilt. Imagine, for example, that you are embezzling the bank for which you work. Then you start having dreams about burglars breaking into your home.
Well, the dreams are simply a depiction of something happening to you that is similar to the hurt or moral injury you are inflicting on someone else. This same dynamic often occurs in children’s nightmares: in waking life, children often experience angry feelings toward their parents and yet lack the cognitive capacity to express these feelings openly; so, in unconscious guilt, the anger becomes turned against themselves as threatening nightmare images.
Third, the dreams could be hints of a repressed trauma. As I say above, nightmares often accompany the emotional pain of a traumatic event experienced in adulthood. But if a trauma in childhood is repressed, dreams reflecting the emotional intensity of the trauma can persist throughout life—as a repetition compulsion—until the trauma is eventually brought to conscious awareness and healed.
Finally, the dreams could be psychic premonitions. This is a rare phenomenon, but it does happen to some persons.
The best advice we’ve found about disturbing dreams is to just ignore them. You can try to analyze the images you find, but that is most likely not going to give you the answers you need.
Nightmares
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Nightmares
Children, especially, are prone to nightmares. Nightmares are common in children, typically beginning at around age 3 and occurring up to age 7-8.
People with anxiety disorder might also experience what experts term “night terrors”. These are actually panic attacks that occur in sleep.
It is especially difficult to remember these types of dreams since they conjure up terrifying images that we would just as soon forget.
In poetic myth, the Nightmare is actually a “small nettlesome mare, not more than thirteen hands high, of the breed familiar with the Elgin marbles: cream-colored, clean-limbed, with a long head, bluish eye, flowing mane and tail.” Her nests, called mares’ nests, “when one comes across them in dreams, lodged in rock-clefs or the branches of enormous hollow yews, are built of carefully chosen twigs lined with white horse-hair and the plumage of prophetic birds and littered with the jaw-bones and entrails of poets.”
Thus, in a pagan world of myth and blood sacrifice, the Nightmare was a cruel, fearful creature. Our modern word nightmare derives from the Middle English nihtmare (from niht, night, and mare, demon), an evil spirit believed to haunt and suffocate sleeping people. And so, in today’s world, when we speak of a nightmare we mean a frightening dream accompanied by a sensation of oppression and helplessness.
The blood-thirsty aspect of the mythic Nightmare, however, can give a good clue about nightmares in general, for in psychodynamic terms nightmares are graphic depictions of raw, primitive emotions such as aggression and rage that have not been incorporated into the conscious psyche. Thus we tend to encounter these “ugly” aspects of our unconscious lives as terrifying dream images in whose presence we feel completely helpless.
Nightmares are quite common in childhood because this is a time of our emotional development when we all have to come to terms with, well, raw, primitive emotions such as aggression and rage.
Traumatic nightmares can also occur as one of the many symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Repetitive, intrusive nightmares following a trauma often contain symbolic themes that mirror the original trauma and relate to threat to life, threat of abandonment or death, or loss of identity.
Therefore, traumatic nightmares need to be treated differently than other dreams. It’s not enough just to “know” intellectually the psychological reasons why you have these nightmares. An event is traumatic because it disrupts your previously secure—and illusory—sense of “self.” And so, to heal from a trauma, you must take the initiative to make conscious changes in your life to accommodate the traumatic shattering of your illusions about life and identity.
Some believe that nightmares have a physiological nature as well. Edgar Cayce believed that Nightmares, which bring with them an inability to move or cry out, usually indicate the wrong diet. To end the nightmarish dreams change your diet.
We found a technique online that can help people who suffer from recurrent nightmares. It is not meant to be a cure-all. It is just a suggested treatment to deal with frightening nightmares. The idea is to use this therapy every night until the nightmare has been resolved. It is called Imagery Rehearsal Therapy.
Here are the steps of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy:
1. Write out the text of the nightmare. Tell the story, no matter how frightening, in as much detail as you can remember.
2. Create a new ending for the nightmare story and write it out. Be careful, however, to make the new ending peaceful. Remember that the nightmare is grounded in emotions such as raw anger that have been provoked by a trauma. The point of a new ending is to “tame” the emotions, not merely vent them in violence and revenge.
3. Rehearse the new version of the story in your imagination each night just before going to sleep. Do this as close as possible to your falling asleep without any other activity between the rehearsal and sleep.
4. Perform a relaxation exercise. Do this immediately after the rehearsal, as a way to fall asleep peacefully. You may use any technique with which you are familiar. This could be meditation, yoga, or breathing exercises.
The “cousin” of nightmares is disturbing dreams with unpleasant images.
Accidents
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Common Dream Images, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream that you are in an accident signifies pent up guilt and you are sub-consciously punishing yourself over it.
To dream of a car accident symbolizes your emotional state. You may be harboring deep anxieties and fears. Are you “driving” yourself too hard? This dream may tell you to slow down before you hit disaster. You need to rethink or re-plan your course of actions and set yourself on a better path.
To dream that a loved one dies in an accident indicates that something in your own Self that is no longer functional and is “dead”. It is also symbolic of your own relationship with that person. Perhaps you need to let go of this relationship.
Accident dreams may also represent your straightforward fears of being an actual, physical accident. You may be simply nervous about getting behind the wheel. This dream may be a clear warning to cautious of approaching vehicles.
This is only a general partial list – of course. Every single detail in your dream could have some hidden meaning. There are a lot of places online to find information about the specific details of your dreams and what they might mean.
You need to discover the link between all these images and what they might mean. This process is a bit like those “connect the dots” puzzles that reveal a hidden picture.
Psychologically, you simply need to understand what this net of associations from the dream is telling you specifically, at this precise time of your life, about your current problems and conflicts.
Quite often, these associations are purely emotional; that is, you can take a particularly graphic dream image, examine your emotional reactions to it, look back into your past for times when you felt the same emotions, and then ask yourself in what way those situations from the past have any bearing on what is happening in your life now
Repetitive dreams indicate that you are continuing to miss the point about the meaning of the dream. If you don’t “wake up” to the unconscious meaning of the dream but instead persist in seeing it through your own wish-fulfillment needs, you will remain stuck in your own self-deception.
Almost everyone has experienced a nightmare at one point or time in their life.
Dead People
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Common Dream Images, Interpret Your Dreams
To see the dead in your dream forewarns that you are being influenced by negative people and are hanging around the wrong crowd. You may suffer material loss. This dream may also be a way for you to resolve your feelings with those who have passed on.
To see and talk with your dead father in your dream signifies that you are about to enter into an unlucky transaction or rotten deal. Thoroughly think through your decisions before entering into them.
To see your dead mother in your dream signifies your wretched and mean-hearted nature towards others around you.
Seeing your dead parents in your dreams may mean your fears of losing them or your way of coping with the loss. You may want that last opportunity to say your final good-byes to them.
To see your dead sibling, relative, or friend in your dream foretells that you will soon be called on for aid and assistance. It may also mean that you miss them and are trying to relive your old experiences you had with them. In trying to keep up with the pace of your daily waking life, you dreams may serve as your only outlet in coping and coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.
Do not fear conversation with the so-called “dead” in dreams. If the communication is one-sided, it denotes telepathy. If both participate, it may be an actual encounter of bodiless consciousness.
Children
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To see children in your dream signifies your own childlike qualities or a retreat back to a childlike state. It is an extension of your inner child during a time of innocence, purity, simplicity, and a carefree attitude. You may be longing for the past and the chance to satisfy repressed desires and unfulfilled hopes. Take some time off and cater to the inner child within. Perhaps there is something that you need to see grow and nurtured.
To dream that your own grown children are still very young indicates that you still see them as young and dependent. You want to feel needed and significant.
To dream that you are watching children but they do not know you are there is a metaphor for some hidden knowledge or some latent talent which you have failed to recognize.
To save a child signifies your attempts to save a part of yourself from being destroyed.
Angels
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To see angels in your dream signifies an unusual disturbance in your soul. Angels symbolize goodness, purity, and protection and comfort and consolation. Pay careful attention to the message that the angels are trying to convey. These messages serve as a guide toward greater fulfillment and happiness. Angels may appear in your dream as a result of your wicked and mean-hearted activities.
To see an angel holding a scroll in your dream indicates a highly spiritual dream. Your future and goals are clearer to you in dreams of this type. The message on the scroll is particularly significant.
Aliens
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream that you are an alien, symbolizes the undiscovered part of yourself. Your manifestation as an alien may be your way of ‘escaping’ from reality. Dreams of this nature also symbolize your outlandish ideas and your wild imagination.
To dream that you are being abducted by aliens indicates your fears of your changing surroundings or your fear of losing your home and family. You feel that your space and/or privacy is being invaded.
To see aliens in your dream signifies that you are having difficulties adapting and adjusting to your new surroundings. You are feeling “alienated” and invaded. On a psychological level, seeing aliens may represent an encounter with an unfamiliar or neglected aspect of your own self.
Love / Lust
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream of love of being in love suggests intense feelings carried over from a waking relationship. It implies happiness and contentment with what you have and where you are in life. On the other hand, you may not be getting enough love in your daily life. We naturally long for the sense to belong and to be accepted.
To see a couple in love or expressing love to each other, indicates much success ahead for you.
To dream that your friend is in love with you may be one of wish fulfillment. Perhaps you have developed have developed feelings for your best friend and are wondering how he or she feels. You are so preoccupied with these thoughts that it is evitable that it finds its way into your dreaming mind.
On the other hand, the dream may also suggest that you have accepted certain qualities of your best friend and incorporated into your own character.
To dream that you are making love in public or in different places, relates to some overt sexual issue or need. Your dream may be telling you that you need to express yourself more openly. Alternatively, it represents your perceptions about your own sexuality in the context of politic and social norms. You may be questioning your feelings about sex, marriage, love, and gender roles.
To dream of lust, suggests that you are lacking or feeling unfulfilled in some aspect of your life. Alternatively, you need to exercise some self-control.
Death
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream about the death of a loved one, suggests that you are lacking a certain aspect or quality that the loved one embodies. Ask yourself what makes this person special or what do you like about him. It is that very quality that you are lacking in your own relationship or circumstances. Alternatively, it indicates that whatever that person represents has no part in your own life.
To dream that you die in your dream, symbolizes inner changes, transformation, self-discovery and positive development that is happening within you or in your life.
Although such dreams may bring about feelings of fear and anxiety, it is no cause for alarm and is often considered a positive symbol.
Dreams of experiencing your own death usually mean that big changes are ahead for you. They mean you are moving onto new beginnings and leaving the past behind.
These changes do not necessarily imply a negative turn of events. Metaphorically, dying can be seen as an end or a termination to your old ways and habits. So, dying does not always mean a physical death, but an ending of something.
On a negative note, to dream that you die may represent involvement in deeply painful relationships or unhealthy, destructive behaviors. You may feeling depressed or feel strangled by a situation or person in your waking life. Perhaps your mind is preoccupied with someone who is terminally ill or dying. Alternatively, you may be trying to get out of some obligation, responsibility or other situation.
To see someone dying in your dream signifies that your feelings for that person are dead or that a significant change/loss is occurring in your relationship with that person. Alternatively, you may want to repress that aspect of yourself that is represented by the dying person.
Colours
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
Experts believe that almost everyone dreams in color. If a major portion of your dream reflects a consistent color theme, this could have some type of meaning in interpreting that dream. Below are the major colors and what they could mean.
Black
Black symbolizes the unknown, unconscious, danger, mystery, darkness, death, mourning, hate or malice.
If the feeling in the dream is one of joy, blackness could imply hidden spirituality and divine qualities.
To dream in black and white, suggests that you need to be more objective in formulating your decisions. You may be a little too unyielding in your thought process and thus need to find some sort of balance between two opposing views. Consider the views and opinions of others. Alternatively, black and white dreams are signs of depression or sadness. You may feel that there is not enough excitement in your life.
Blue
Blue represents truth, wisdom, heaven, eternity, devotion, tranquility, loyalty and openness. The presence of this color in your dream, may symbolize your spiritual guide and your optimism of the future. You have clarity of mind.
Depending on the context of your dream, the color blue may also be a metaphor of “being blue” and feeling sad.
Brown
Brown denotes worldliness, practicality, domestic and physical comfort, conservatism, and a materialistic character. Brown also represents the ground and earth.
Gold
The golden color reflects your spiritual rewards, richness, refinement and enhancement of your surroundings.
Green
Green signifies a positive change, good health, growth, healing, hope, vigor, vitality, peace, and serenity. Green is also symbolic of your strive to gain recognition and establish your independence. Money, wealth and jealousy are often associated with this color.
Dark green indicates materialism, cheating, deceit, and/or difficulties with sharing. You need to balance between your masculine and feminine attributes.
Gray
Gray indicates fear, fright, depression, ill health, ambivalence and confusion. You may feel emotionally distant or detached.
Orange
Orange denotes friendliness, courtesy, lively, sociability, and an out-going nature. You may want to expand your horizons and look into new interests.
Pink
Pink represents love, joy, sweetness, happiness, affection, kindness. Being in love or healing through love is also implied with this color.
Purple
Purple is indicative of devotion, healing abilities, loving, kindness, and compassion. It is also the color of royalty, high rank, and dignity.
Red
Red is an indication of raw energy, force, vigor, intense passion, aggression, power, courage and passion. The color red has deep emotional and spiritual connotations.
Red is also the color of danger, shame, sexual impulses and urges. Perhaps you need to stop and think about your actions.
White
White represents purity, perfection, peace, innocence, dignity, cleanliness, awareness, and new beginnings. You may be experiencing a reawakening or have a fresh outlook on life. However, in Eastern cultures, white is associated with death and mourning.
Yellow
The color yellow has both positive and negative connotations. If the dream is a pleasant one, then the color yellow is symbolic of intellect, energy, agility, happiness, harmony, and wisdom.
On the other hand, if the dream is an unpleasant one, then the color represents cowardice and sickness. You may have a fear or an inability to make a decision or take action. As a result, you are experiencing many setbacks.
A House
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
Dreams about a house symbolize a larger aspect of your Self, and the aspects of Self which make the whole. Each room is said to symbolize a different aspect of your Self; for example:
An ATTIC symbolizes your Higher Self, and your spiritual development & progress. Look at other symbols in the attic of your dream, and try to evaluate what they mean. Also pay attention to the feeling you experience in your dream…is it pensive, enlightening or what, exactly? All these things are clues for you.
A BATHROOM would symbolize the need for cleansing/purging/elimination of something in your life that isn’t quite working or that has served its purpose and now it’s time to move on.
A KITCHEN would symbolize the need or act of supplying nourishment or food for the body/mind/soul…whatever is currently “cooking” or developing in your life. If the food is plentiful, you have what you need. If the cupboard is bare, time to go shopping for new nourishment, and you need to figure out what is needed for that “shopping list.”
A DINING ROOM is similar to the kitchen, but has more to do with immediate needs for supplying & utilizing nourishment, and less with the preparation or taking stock of those needs.
THE MAIN ROOM or LIVING ROOM symbolizes your daily interactions with others, and often you will have other people appearing in your dreams in this room. Remember, they represent aspects of yourself, and not themselves. (See PEOPLE, above)
BEDROOMS symbolize the unconscious mind aspect of your self, rest, dreams, sometimes sexuality issues in your life.
THE UPSTAIRS symbolizes your spiritual awareness aspect of self, or the Higher Self that holds all the keys or knowledge to this life’s role you are acting out, and always has your higher good looked after, no matter how it might seem otherwise.
THE DOWNSTAIRS/BASEMENT symbolizes your subconscious mind aspect of self, which deals with habits, old coping skills, automation, ego. That’s usually the part of ourselves that makes us feel “torn” between knowing we should do one thing, and inexplicably ending up doing the opposite. Old belief patterns & fears have to be corrected, if that is the case. Tackle & overcome it, and you will feel much more peaceful about your life.
THE GROUND FLOOR of a house represents your daily agenda; what’s currently going on in your life.
REVISITING OLD HOUSES FROM CHILDHOOD OR EARLIER TIMES: This points to issues that probably are resurfacing in your current life, and need to be looked at, analyzed, and healed so you can move forward and not look back. If you find yourself repeating the same old tired mistakes, or dealing with the same old tired fears, chances are you will have this dream.
A HALLWAY symbolizes that you have reached an area that is necessary to journey through in order to get to the other side, and it may be a narrow path that has to be traversed with care and awareness. If you have that “closed in, claustrophobic feeling” then you need to expand your awareness/open your mind to more possibilities for completing this phase of your journey.
A PORCH symbolizes perhaps a metaphor of being undecided, such as the saying, “I’m still on the porch on that decision.” It could be symbolic of being contemplative, or uncommitted or withdrawn. It could be something entirely different such as being on the threshold of a new sense or an extension of self. It depends on the entire context of the dream. Is it the back or front porch? Is it screened-in or open, messy or neat, sparse or furnished? All these details add to the overall symbolism.
School
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
This type of dream relates to your current “lesson in life,” and if you learn how to interpret it, you’ll find out how you are progressing. Think of it as taking a test and getting graded on it!
Our “true selves” are our souls, and not our physical bodies. You are a spirit/soul having a physical dream, not the other way around. Ever feel like your life is like a play, and you are acting out some role that you don’t even understand, even surprising yourself with your actions sometimes? Bingo!
When we sleep, that proverbial “Veil of Forgetfulness” that prevents us from “cheating on the test” is lifted, and we are shown what type of progress we are making or not making and given guidance on what to do next.
We always have free will in our waking physical lives, though, and if we stubbornly refuse to finish our tests, then we have that right–but we are doomed to repeat it until we pass it; and each time we turn away from it, the next time it will be more unpleasant until finally we are forced to acknowledge it’s importance for our growth.
The things we consider vitally important in our waking physical lives are not nearly as important as the TRUE reason we are here, which is to overcome our shortcomings so that we may get closer to our Source/God/Higher Power. Don’t avoid learning the lesson or you will find yourself repeating the same tasks over and over again never making any progress.
Cheating
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream that you are cheating on your spouse, mate, fiancé, or significant other suggests feelings of self-guilt and self-betrayal. You may have compromised your beliefs or integrity and/or are wasting your energy and time on fruitless endeavors.
Alternatively, it reflects the intensity of your sexual passion and exploring areas of your sexuality. It is actually a reaffirmation of your commitment. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for people approaching a wedding to have dreams about erotic experiences with partners other than their intended spouses. Most likely, such dreams represent the newness of your sexual passion. It may also signify anxieties of changing your identity - that of a spouse.
To dream that your mate, spouse, or significant other is cheating on you indicates your fears of being abandoned. You may feel a lack of attention in the relationship. Alternatively, you may feel that you are not measuring up to the expectations of others. This notion may stem from issues of trust or self-esteem. The dream could also indicate that you are unconsciously picking up hints and cues that your significant other is not being completely truth or is not fully committed in the relationship.
To dream that you are cheating at a game, suggests that you are not being honest with yourself.
Ex-Partners
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.16.08 under Dream Symbols, Interpret Your Dreams
To dream about your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend or ex-husband/wife or that you and your ex got back together again, suggests that something or someone in your current life that is bringing out similar feelings you felt during the relationship with your ex.
The dream may be a way of alerting you to the same or similar behavior in a current relationship. What you learn from that previous relationship may need to be applied to the present one so that you do no repeat the same mistake. Alternatively, past lovers often highlight the positive experiences you had with that person.
In particular, to see your ex-husband/wife in your dream indicates that you are finding yourself in a situation that you do not want to be in. It suggests that you are experiencing a similar relationship or situation which makes you feel unhappy and uncomfortable.
To see your mate’s ex in your dream suggests that you may be comparing yourself to the ex. The dream is trying to tell you not to make the same relationship mistakes that ended that relationship.
Alternatively, seeing your ex in your dream also signifies aspects of yourself that you have crossed out or neglected.
To see an old ex-boyfriend or girlfriend from childhood in your dream refers to a freer, less encumbered relationship. The dream serves to bring you back to a time where the responsibilities of adulthood (or marriage) didn’t interfere with the spontaneity of romance. You need to recapture the excitement, freedom, and vitality of youth that is lacking in your present relationship.
To dream that your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend is giving you advice about your current relationship suggests that you unconscious is telling you not to repeat the same mistakes that you had made with this ex.
To dream that you are being massaged by your ex suggests that you need to let go of some of that defensiveness that you have been putting forth. You may have been putting up a wall or armor around you. You need to learn to trust people again.
To dream that you ex gives you a stuffed animal suggests that you are seeking for reassuring and nurturing aspects of a relationship. This is not to imply that you want your ex back. Alternatively, the dream could represent some immature relationship which may (or may not) describe the relationship you had with your ex.
To dream that you see your ex dressed in a suit at a hospital suggests that you have come to terms with that relationship and have completed the healing process.
Categories
Archives
