Dream Interpretation
Posted Wed, 22nd Feb '12 at 5:56am by Dice
I've periodically kept dream journals from my early teens to present. Dreams have always had a fascination for me because of their psychological significance. It is our brains way of sorting out and cleaning up the crap that fills it during the day.
There are a lot of cotton-candy "dream interpretation" books that can be found in the occult section of any book supplier. Personally I believe those books are no better than the daily horoscopes found in newspapers and magazines. A white horse means death and dreaming of flowers means you're going to meet someone new... Might as well break open a fortune cookie. You can find truth in any of those generic sayings if you want to.
What I'm interested in is real dream interpretation. Anyone who has had a dream and has said that it was complete garbage and/or too weird to be made any sense of has not actually looked very far into their own brain. Understanding your dreams is actually very simple if you know what to look for.
The subconsciousness converts situations and emotions into a language of symbols. Although there might be some universal symbolism, for the most part it is highly individual. The key to understanding your own dreams is deciphering your own code. By recording a dream journal and noting how you were feeling or what was happening in your life at that time you will probably begin to note certain scenarios and basic symbols that link your dreams to your daily life.
An example I could use with my own dreams would be elevators. Often when I'm battling anxiety or indecision I will dream I'm in a hazardous broken elevator that is either necessary to use or difficult to escape. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I'm certainly not scared of elevators in waking life but I sure as hell don't want to come across one when I'm sleeping. I've often found these elevators combined with decrepit buildings with rickety floors and walls missing. Just another element of danger and lack of a solid ground to walk on.
Another interesting thing about dreams are the people who you choose to fill them. Often if the people are known to you then you are dealing with some unresolved conflict involving them or they represent something about that conflict. People can either be a direct symbol or your brain might be placing those people in a safe testing ground. The testing ground is to decide how you should deal with these folks or to make you feel better about how you would like to deal with them.
All in all I think the subconscious is an extraordinarily useful tool in self understanding.
There are a lot of cotton-candy "dream interpretation" books that can be found in the occult section of any book supplier. Personally I believe those books are no better than the daily horoscopes found in newspapers and magazines. A white horse means death and dreaming of flowers means you're going to meet someone new... Might as well break open a fortune cookie. You can find truth in any of those generic sayings if you want to.
What I'm interested in is real dream interpretation. Anyone who has had a dream and has said that it was complete garbage and/or too weird to be made any sense of has not actually looked very far into their own brain. Understanding your dreams is actually very simple if you know what to look for.
The subconsciousness converts situations and emotions into a language of symbols. Although there might be some universal symbolism, for the most part it is highly individual. The key to understanding your own dreams is deciphering your own code. By recording a dream journal and noting how you were feeling or what was happening in your life at that time you will probably begin to note certain scenarios and basic symbols that link your dreams to your daily life.
An example I could use with my own dreams would be elevators. Often when I'm battling anxiety or indecision I will dream I'm in a hazardous broken elevator that is either necessary to use or difficult to escape. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I'm certainly not scared of elevators in waking life but I sure as hell don't want to come across one when I'm sleeping. I've often found these elevators combined with decrepit buildings with rickety floors and walls missing. Just another element of danger and lack of a solid ground to walk on.
Another interesting thing about dreams are the people who you choose to fill them. Often if the people are known to you then you are dealing with some unresolved conflict involving them or they represent something about that conflict. People can either be a direct symbol or your brain might be placing those people in a safe testing ground. The testing ground is to decide how you should deal with these folks or to make you feel better about how you would like to deal with them.
All in all I think the subconscious is an extraordinarily useful tool in self understanding.
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Sounds very sensible. I was bracing for you to start in on the "golden unicorn swimming in a lavender ocean means your late grandmother wishes you'd settle down" stuff.
Posted Wed, 22nd Feb '12 at 5:40pm by Gaear 
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I think the golden unicorn swimming in a lavender ocean means you have to stop eating spicy food before you go to sleep - or cut down on computer games which your late grandmother wouldn't approve of.
Posted Wed, 22nd Feb '12 at 9:48pm by Dice 
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I deleted the duplicate comment for you...Posted Thu, 23rd Feb '12 at 5:36pm by Blackthorne TA
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Thanks BT - you are all powerful
Posted Fri, 24th Feb '12 at 11:06pm by Dice
