The Meaning Behind Dreams

If you want to understand the true meaning behind dreams, then you have come to the right place. This article is about the basics of dream interpretation, with further sources for dream analysis online. I have learnt the following through dream research and my own work with lucid dreaming.

Dreams are like letters from the unconscious brain. If only they were written in the same language that we deal with in waking reality! Unfortunately, they are disguised through conceptual thinking, which is how the subconscious mind works. However, we can decode this information with dream analysis.

Dream Recall

Dream analysis begins with a dream journal. This is important for many reasons. Firstly, it improves your dream recall, so that in time you may remember up to five dreams every night (one for each REM sleep cycle).

A powerful technique for remembering dreams is to set your alarm clock to wake you after each REM cycle has finished: first after 3 hours, then every 90 minutes thereafter. This is a lot of effort and can be disruptive to your sleep, but it is worth trying one night, You will be bowled over by the number of dreams you can recall! It also helps to write each dream down in your journal throughout the night, or you will probably forget them by morning.

Secondly, a dream journal allows you to track recurring dream symbols and translate the underlying meaning behind dreams. For instance, you may repeatedly dream about falling, but this only becomes apparent when you count the number of times it appears in your dream journal. That's because your unconscious brain is trying to send you a message in the conceptual form of falling or losing control.

Thirdly, writing and talking about your dreams places greater importance on them in your subconscious mind. The power of the subconscious is truly amazing, and if you give it a task (to remember more dreams) it will comply. Suddenly you will be able to boost your dream recall and have greater opportunities to translate the meaning behind dreams.

Dream Interpretation

The next step is to understand the meaning behind dreams in terms of dream symbols. This may include the use of a dream dictionary but, more importantly, is your ability to connect the dream symbol with what is happening in your life.

The essence of dream interpretation is not to take things too literally. Dreaming about death does not mean you are going to die - but instead may represent the end of an era or certain part of your life. Dreams are symbolic and it would be foolish to interpret them as read.

The human brain thinks and learns in neural patterns. I'll give you an example of how this works. If you fall off your bike as a child and cut your knees, you will associate that event with pain. Your unconscious brain then makes a note to avoid falling off a bike in future. This note is a neural pathway; a link between neurons in your brain. It learns entirely through your experience.

Neural pathways become more complex over the years. They apply to physical laws (like falling off bikes) and emotions (like love or hate) - in fact, every experience in your life has formed a neural pattern in your brain.

Your unconscious mind uses these associations in dreams. You may be going on a cycling marathon the next day and be apprehensive about injury. Let's say you have 200 memorable experiences linked to pain, so your subconscious can present any one of those in a dream to represent pain. But it is unlikely you will actually have a dream about falling off a bike.

Dream Symbols

Over the years, dream research has allowed experts to create all kinds of dream dictionaries. These interpret the meaning behind dreams by listing dream symbols and their most likely translation to real life events. However, remember that dream dictionaries can vary a lot between different cultures, since we view things differently depending on our social upbringing.

For instance, a lot of people in the Western world have an irrational fear of spiders. Yet most of us have never been face-to-face with a tarantula or other large eight-legged creature; the worst we deal with is the odd house spider. In comparison, people in South America report less fear of spiders and even eat them in traditional foods! And that is where you will find the biggest spiders in the world, including the enormous bird-eating spider. So you can see that cultural views have a major impact on how we view the world around us, and this must be reflected in dream interpretation.

A complete dream dictionary is beyond the scope of this website, so I recommend this online dream dictionary at The Curious Dreamer to look up specific dream symbols. It has detailed definitions of over 15,000 dream themes with variations on the context of the dream.

In your own dream analysis, look up the most important or vivid aspects of your dream, and remember to relate it back to your personal life experience. Consider what major events have been happening to you lately, or what events from the past you may only now be coming to terms with. Often they will affect you on an emotional level for them to be present in a dream.

Discovering the meaning behind dreams is a journey of self-discovery. No-one can tell you what your dreams mean without having some insight into you as a person. So the best person to interpret your dreams is... you! Keeping your own dream journal, identifying key dream symbols, and watching for recurring dream themes will help you on your way.

You can learn more about different types of dream research, including how to use lucid dreams to speak directly to your subconscious. Just sign up to The Lucid Dreaming E-zine for free articles and dream experiments for everyone to try.