The Meaning of Dream Imagery
by Alan Pritt
You may find dream dictionaries to be fun, but they are essentially a waste of time. Certain symbols may occur over several people’s dreams, but this is just a reflection of society. Since certain symbols and ideas are common knowledge they manifest themselves in different people’s dreams. But by reading about these definitions in dream dictionaries, you don’t get a sense of how they relate specifically to you.
And they do relate specifically to you. The meaning of dreams you have are related to the questions you’ve posed for yourself during the day, and they relate to matters of concern that you may not have been thinking about. Sleep experts are still arguing over the meaning of dream time, but we do know they can be extremely useful in gathering answers which elude you during the day. Thus the expression: I’ll sleep on it.
Engaging with and deciphering the meaning of dreams draws stronger connections with yourself and your unconscious mind. It enhances your ability to remember, to come up with creative thoughts, to answer problems and it brings attention to that which you may have suppressed.
Let us first engage with sleeping on a problem. How does sleeping on a problem help?
There are several reasons.
Firstly, leaving a problem until the next morning means we will have gained some distance from it. When we get too focused on a problem we tend to approach it in the same way over and over again. This leads to getting the same non-answers again and again. But when we have taken a break from it, we are more likely to come at the problem from a new perspective.
Secondly, during sleep our brains consolidate much of the learning from the previous day. Our memories are more firmly implanted and so we are more easily able to understand the problems we are trying to solve.
Thirdly, after a rest, we are more refreshed and awake and much more easily able to think about the problem.
And finally, our dreams may well provide us directly with the answer we have been seeking...
Generally, when we’ve been thinking about something a lot during the previous day it will appear inside our dreams. When it does so, it will do it in a very fluid manner. Thoughts will drift around, but will keep coming back to the same problem. Eventually a random thought will collide with the thought of your problem and a solution will manifest.
When you awake you will likely know instantly, or at least have a clue, as to the answer to your problem. (There are ways of improving this which you will find later in this article.)
But what of the dreams that aren’t solving our problems? What is the meaning of dreams like this? Well, these can still give us general insights about ourselves; they can enhance our creativity; and they can improve our memory.
Furthermore, by asking questions and interpreting our dreams we engage in a process of reasoning which will enhance our intelligence.
You must learn what the right questions to ask are when trying to find out the meaning of dreams. For example, if I were to have a dream about an elevator, factors such as whether it was going up, down or was stationary would have an influence on the answer. Whether I was alone in the lift, would also be a factor in deciphering the meaning. Whether it was made out of glass, had any buttons, was large or small – all these things could be significant to the meaning.
I won’t go into details about all the things you should be asking to find out the meaning of dreams. This would be a never ending quest. Rather you need to build up an intuition for asking appropriate questions so that you can become your own dream interpreter. What I will do, however, is give you these simple guidelines:
Firstly notice something about the dream. You may start with examining the dream as a whole, and then gradually move into more specific details.
Ask a question about that specific part of your dream… What does it mean? What is the significance of your friend being there? Why do the staircases never end? Why are you observing yourself rather than being inside yourself?
Your intuition will give you an answer. Listen to it, and notice your response to that question. Does the answer seem important? Does it concern you in anyway? Or does it not resonate with you at all.
Look out for even the subtle reactions and explore from there. Keep asking yourself questions and listen to the answers. Deep down you will know if the answer brings a real insight or not.
You can ask someone else for their opinions on the meaning of dreams you have. However, you should be extra careful when doing this to listen out for your response to what they say. More likely they will be projecting things about themselves onto you. Their answers, therefore, will probably reveal more about them than they do about you.
Sometimes the meaning of dreams is really obvious and sticks out. Take heed of these dreams first. Other times you may find that meaning is less obvious.
Try associating the dreams to events in your life, the things that you are working on, your creative projects… When you get the right answer, you’ll know.
Engaging with your dreams in this way is great practice for learning how to engage with the more subtle faculties of your unconscious mind. What you learn from deciphering the meaning of dream imagery can also be used to learn from your daydreams. This practice will help you to become more in tune with the answers your brain sends you during the day, but you don’t listen to.
The answers you receive during your sleeping dreams may well be more profound, because they are not mixed up and distorted with the thoughts of the day. More important things that you’ve been trying to forget may surface.
But if you feel you need to guide your dreams into answering certain questions try the following. As you drift off to sleep think about your problems. Keep the question you need answering in your head as you drift off into your dreams. Be careful though, because if you are too engaged in finding the answer, you will have trouble sleeping. So don’t try and answer it, just repeat the question over and over, in a sleepy voice.
For those who have trouble remembering your dreams in the first place, a similar technique can be employed. As you drift off to sleep imagine that you’re going to remember your dreams on waking. Imagine writing them down in the morning. And try repeating a mantra such as ‘I will remember my dream in the morning’ over and over to yourself.
Also, set a dream diary and a pen next your bed so that it is the first things you see in the morning. Pick this up automatically upon waking and when you remember anything about a dream write it down. Don’t worry about details, or getting the beginning. Just write as it comes to you.
This can be a bit tricky, because you must keep your mind in a certain meditative state before the memory of the dreams gradually slips away. If you get too excited it will slip away much more quickly. This is an art, but the more times you achieve it the easier it will get. If you don’t get anything on the first try, try again the next night. For some this may take several weeks, but eventually you will catch a dream and the next one will be easier.
Simply by remembering your dreams you should achieve great satisfaction. Once you have mastered this, however, exploring the meaning of dreams that you remember will be incredibly rewarding for you.
As you engage more in catching and interpreting the meaning of dreams you will begin to develop a much stronger connection with yourself, with your unconscious mind, and with you imagination.
