The Meaning Behind Dreams
What is the true meaning behind dreams? Can they be decoded?
Dreams are like letters from the unconscious brain. If only they were written in the same language that we use in waking reality.
Alas, they are disguised through conceptual thinking, which is how the unconscious mind works. But we can attempt to decode this information with dream analysis...
How to Begin your Dream Interpretation
To begin your dream analysis, start a dream journal, for three reasons:
1. Improve your Dream Recall - so that in time you can 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 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!
2. Identify Dream Symbols - 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 clear when you count the number of times it appears in your dream journal. That's because your unconscious mind is trying to send you a message in conceptual form.
3. Increase Dream Meaning - writing and talking about your dreams places greater importance on them in your unconscious mind. The power of the unconscious 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. You may also realize that your dreams become more meaningful for as you open up a new communication channel with the unconscious mind.
How to Translate Unconscious Dreams
The essence of dream interpretation is not to take things literally. Dreaming about death does not mean you are going to die. Instead it may represent the end of an era or part of your life.
Dream analysis is symbolic - because that's how the unconscious mind works.
The human brain thinks and learns in neural patterns. If you fall off your bike and cut your knee, you will associate your bike with pain. Your unconscious then creates a "rule" to avoid falling off a bike in future. This is a neural pathway; a link between neurons in your brain. It is learned through experience.
Neural pathways become more complex over the years. They apply to every kind of experience in life. Your unconscious mind uses these associations in dreams.
How to Interpret Dream Symbols
You have a unique understanding of the world around you. As you grew up, your unconscious learned about friendship, love, loneliness and betrayal. It made up rules about every human emotion and how you should feel about life. These "rules" are reflected in your dreams each night.
But equally, we have all grown up in the same culture, the same era, and we are all human. So it's no coincidence that we all make the same conclusions about life, unconsciously. That's where a dream dictionary comes in extremely useful.
Cloud Nine: A Dreamer's Dictionary is a most comprehensive dream dictionary for beginners. It provides thousands of dream symbols and definitions from which you can base your personal dream translations.
For anyone looking to find the meaning behind dreams, this dream dictionary is a good start. It also teaches you how to:
- Keep a dream journal
- Identify dream symbols
- Encourage peaceful sleep
- Remember your dreams
- Gain insights from nightmares
- Invoke healing dreams
About the author
Rebecca Turner is a science writer, illustrator, explorer of consciousness - and founder of World of Lucid Dreaming. She is currently studying for a biology degree in Auckland and blogging at her site Science Me.
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