Dreams are like enchanted doorways to the mind, revealing our deepest needs, desires, feelings, and fears.
In the most whimsical, bizarre and sometimes terrifying ways, our dreams present to us symbols, metaphors and allegories that are rich in personal meaning and significance.
Our dreams can teach us a lot about ourselves, there is no denying that. And while they are extremely invaluable tools of self-discovery, the art of “dream interpretation” has been greatly muddied, monetized and complicated to unnecessary extents.
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Have you ever had a dream that you were curious to discover the meaning of, but felt the need to consult some kind of “A-Z dream dictionary,” online dream meaning website, or even “dream consultant” such as a psychic or intuitive? If you are like most people, you will feel as though this is a natural and necessary step in order for you to understand the meaning of your dreams. But it isn’t.
I’ve bought dream dictionaries and have consulted with all types of people in the past, trying to desperately understand the meaning of dreams which I felt had great significance to me. But eventually, I realized that the entire confusing process was completely unnecessary.
Understanding the meaning of your dreams doesn’t need to be something cryptic or complex. It never needed to be in the first place. And today you will discover why.
The Answers Are Within You – Not Without
Since birth, we have been conditioned to listen to everyone but ourselves. We have been heavily indoctrinated into the belief that “any true and worthy answer” comes from without ourselves – from figures of authority, from religion, from educational institutions, and from family members. We are taught not only to second-guess our thoughts, judgments, and intuitions but to completely ignore and discount them.
Therefore, it’s no wonder that when it comes to understanding the meaning of our dreams, we immediately scour the outer world for answers, believing deep down that our answers aren’t truly trustworthy, satisfying or worthwhile enough. Strangely, this seems to be the norm.
And while it can help to consult websites, books, forums, and even other people for guidance and assistance, we seem to harbor a very imbalanced perspective towards understanding the meaning of our dreams that prevents us from truly learning from them.
While there are some widely accepted interpretations for the different objects, people and occurrences in our dreams (which shouldn’t be completely discredited), our dreams are highly personal in nature meaning that only really we can understand their true meanings and messages.
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Your life context; your experiences, your feelings, your beliefs, your values, your fears, your desires, your dreams, your perspectives will be uniquely different from others. Your dreams are finely tuned to you. And therefore, your answers will also be finely tuned to you.
Uncover the Hidden Meaning of Your Dreams with One Simple Technique
Personally, dream interpretation has been one of the most powerful tools of self-insight in my life. No matter how pleasant, embarrassing or horrific my dreams have been, I’ve always been able to learn lessons from them.
One technique I use that never leaves me lacking answers, vaguely confused, or under a cloak of skepticism and distrust, is called “free association.”
Free association is basically the process of spitting out as many thoughts or feelings as you can onto a piece of paper, and making connections between them.
Author Doreen Valiente, defines free association eloquently:
A method of interpreting dreams which is often recommended by psychologists, is that of free association. This means that you think over the symbolism of the dream, and record whatever your mind spontaneously associates with it, however irrelevant such an association may at first appear.
Originally created by Freud in the late 1800’s, free association is often used in psychoanalysis to uncover hidden thoughts and feelings that have been repressed. These thoughts and feelings often appear as stories, places, experiences, objects and feelings within dreams.
But … you might be wondering, “How do I go about free associating by myself?” “Do I need anything in particular?” “Is it difficult?”
The answer is that free association is just as easy and simple as making a cup of tea. All you really need is a pen and paper. But to effectively free associate you will need to keep a few things in mind:
1. Make sure you have an attitude of non-judgment and curiosity.
Free association is about letting thoughts and words come to you, completely unfiltered. This could mean that you might write down seemingly irrelevant, embarrassing, strange, shocking or even “crazy” things. Resist the temptation to judge yourself and hold back: you will only withhold potentially important and revealing information. The more open you are, the more you will understand the meaning of your dreams.
2. Write down anything and everything that comes to mind.
This is the essence of free association: spew out anything you think or feel in relation to your dream. It’s a sort of mental diarrhea. For instance, if you’ve had a dream about being chased to the edge of a cliff, you might free-associate words such as “fear of failure, threat, hiding from something, demanding parents, responsibilities, stressed, lost, scared, fed up, walking on eggshells” and so forth.
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3. Feel free to pause.
The difference between free association and free writing, is that free association is done thoughtfully, while free writing is done as an act of mentally purging all thoughts that come into your mind. When you start to free associate, take time to pause, think, introspect, and dig for a word or feeling – but not for too long (or, not for more than a few seconds)! Free association is about getting into a gentle flow.
4. Reflect and draw connections.
After you have finished free associating every word that comes to mind, take a few minutes to reflect on what you have written. What connections can you find? For example, you might have free-associated a dream about traveling to a foreign land with words like “adventure, change, desire for more, want to do something, excitement, big world, explore.” Reflecting on these words, it could be concluded that you want to expand your world and that you are ready for change to occur in your life. You might also be tired of your old ways, and you might desire the adventure of new ways of life.
5. The frequency of a dream greatly impacts its significance.
Ideally, free association should be applied to dreams that frequently emerge each night. The more often a certain type of dream appears in your life, the more likely it is of great significance to you. But then, if a dream pops out of the blue which just happens to stun or confound you, by all means, free-associate!
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While it might be easier and more convenient to quickly search up the meaning of your dreams online or in a book, true self-discovery is about looking inside for the answers and realizing that often the most authentic discoveries actually come from within you.
Remember that your dreams have unique and highly personal meanings that only you can uncover.
What have your experiences been with trying to understand the meaning of your dreams?
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When I was five or so I had a reoccurring dream of a long path or sidewalk with ocean on either side as far as I can see. I always ran forward
A huge shark would jump from the right side of the path to the left and get me. I’ve wondered about this for close to 30 years. After reading this I’m sure the shark was my ego. Thank you both so much♥️
I have a question.
I don’t know what this is called, or if I’m just a lunatic, but I call it Starseeing, because in my dreams, I can:
~Live multiple days.
~Force myself to dream about something.
~Continue a dream from the previous night.
~View myself in 1st and 3rd person. (This I cannot so far control)
~See the future. (Only sometimes, and even then, it’s vague)
Plus my grandmother can speak to the dead in hers.
Is this normal? If not, what is this ‘power’ I have called?
Please reply as soon as possible. I need to know whether or not I’m insane!
[sorry for the late reply]. In my opinion you’re not insane at all, you’re just able to tap into your intuition more within your dreams (because you said you also see the future which is super cool! Many people in my family have seen the future too but it doesn’t happen often). We’re kind of in the same boat because I’ve received some helpful advice through my dreams. If you can control your dreams it’s called lucid dreaming, and seeing the future sounds like clairvoyance. From what I’ve read, psychic abilities are something than you can “train” and cultivate so you might want to research about how to practice it. Good luck!
So i had 2 dreams.
The first dream i picked up a baby that was dying and had the thought “i can save it” but i just put it down and let it go.
In my second dream i picked the baby up again but it was dead and i thought that it was my fault and then i put it down again, and again i just let it go and kinda moved on
Hey, I would imagine that the dying/dead baby is a metaphor for something in your life. Perhaps. I wish you well. Paul.
I recently had a dream where I was on a conquest to retrieve an antidote for a guy I didn’t know (Or I assume I don’t know.) and I had to obtain this antidote in a small-like black tube that looked like on of those detonator controllers.?? Yeah so…….I was on this conquest and I had to fight 5 women ( 4 of her henchmen and then her being the last in total 5). The crazy thing about it, I was highly skilled and extremely taught well by a fine master that taught me the art of making that person cause infliction upon themselves instead of actually attacking the women. (what jackie chan has done in his movies. not really fighting people, making them fight themselves). If I could describe their appearances I would but i’d probably have to use free association to signify what they all mean internally but the boss, All i can remember is that she had long hair, in a ponytail and she had on a black button cloak like they have the hogwarts kids wear and underneath the cloak she had on a button-up long sleeve yellowish-lemonade shirt and a school girl style skirt like in the animes. (grey, white, red stripey thingy-ma-bobs) and she was trying to shoot me with a whole bazooka when I kicked her butt lol but I was able to overcome my conquest in time enough to get the antidote for my friend I had just met and i saved him and then we had to scurry away from the seen and get out of there. One thing Id like to add, I was being timed the whole time from 6 mins tops to fight those 4 women and get the antidote from the boss and literally towards 53 seconds I was able to get him the antidote in time to save him and im really stuck on the fact that in 53 seconds I moved at my most fastest I ever moved and we managed to execute everything profusely well and accordingly. Lol I just can’t wait to interpret what this really means after and I shall be back to let you guys know what I come up with.
I have strange spiritual abilities. For example, if I want to, I can:
~Continue dream from previous night.
~Force a dream.
~View myself in either third or first person (This I cannot control).
~Live multiple days in one dream
~Have powers, in some.
Plus, one of my relatives can speak to the dead in her dreams.
Is this normal? If not, why can I do this?
I also had a strange dream, and would appreciate interpretation.
This was one of my “forced” dreams. I wanted to find my spirit animal.
Upon entering the dream, there was a large black wolf standing at the edge of a forest. I knew it was a he. He looked straight at me, and I immediately noticed his emerald-green eyes. He looked at me, to the forest, and back at me. I think he was trying to tell me to follow him, but for some reason I chose to wake up, here. I knew I was dreaming the entire time.
Can someone please explain what this dream meant?
I think dreams have meaning you assign to them. Unfortunately other people can’t tell you about them because they are your experience.
it sounds like you have a lot of subconscious energy that you can innately use to help yourself understand more about yourself. I’d definitely keep working at it and looking for things that are meaningful to you.
Im starting to think that dreams are what the afterlife is. All of the experience of human existence, available to experience. When i dream i find that i am not always the same person.
I have clear memories of experiences and narratives not of this life.
Perhaps the body, brain, and physical sensations are the only filters to recalling our spiritual-community, and by cutting away those filters from our awareness, we are able to connect to the wider reality.
I had a strange dream that I really want to understand.
I saw birds flying all over and suddenly, a bird started to chase me, I realized it was an eagle. The eagle chased me to the extent that I ran very, very fast.
As I was running I met some childhood friends I’ve not seen in years. Anytime I tried to hide, this eagle would find me. It chased me till it broke it’s beak and I woke up from the dream. This dream is so strange and I would be glad to find its meaning. Thanks
Hey George,
My guess is that maybe at the time of this dream, you either:
-Felt unsafe, like you “can’t hide”
-Had a secret, were worried at someone finding it out
-Felt like your childhood friends wouldn’t conceal your secrets
Again, these are only guesses, but I hope they help you out!
For years it is either I don’t dream or I don’t know what I dreamt of. Thus, in my dream I was carrying 5 bags of rice at my back, there where obstacles but managed to go through. I feel I did not reach my destination but I voluntarily dropped the bags at somewhere trusted to rest.
Then, I was carrying more than 3 branches of leafless palm, and I was wolking fast to avoid somebody.
What could it mean?
I have dreams i call deja vu dreams were I will have a dream and redream the same dream and at the middle-end of the dream it will change.I have not found anything like it I searched the internet no luck.And I once was have a lucid dream woke up fell back to sleep and an had a dream wole up fell back to sleep and went straight back to the lucid dream.I also had many dream wear I almost always wore blue and kept dreaming about the same actor for 3 years.I figured out some of my dreams but what do you call these type of dreams.
I have these type of deja vu dreams too.
I have had maybe one dream I remembered over the past several months. I do not seem to remember any of my dreams. I am not sure what that says about me.
I agree that dreaming is a
highly individual and unique experience. My own dream types are rather
simple and easily distinguished. I either get meaningless nightmares,
meaningless brainfarts as my system processes past experiences, or
messages from my spirit guides. I can ignore all but the last, and those
are either blatantly obvious and non-symbolic, or carry strong
symbolism designed for my current state of mind. With the obvious
messages it is a no-brainer, I just follow the advice I’m given. With
the symbolic messages I usually write down keywords after waking up, go
back to sleep. Then in the morning I
write down the whole dream, isolate each symbol and work to interpret
its meaning. Some symbols are personal and I just have to think about it
for a while to find the meaning. Other symbols are more archetypal such
as animal totems or numerology, those I look up online, sift through
the information and discern what resonates with me, discarding the rest.
Then I work to find if there is any additional meaning with the
combination of present symbols.