Interpreting Dreams: What Does My Dream Mean?
Dreams are universal experiences that everyone has. They can be lovely or terrifying, impossible or mundane. It can be hard to work out what a dream means, especially if it was particularly powerful. It can be helpful to look for symbols and patterns that are meaningful to you to interpret the meaning of your dream. It always helps to write down the details of your dream moments after waking up.
Understanding Dreams as Problem-Solving Tool
Dreams offer us a space to digest our worries and struggles, as well as explore places and events in our lives that are difficult to examine consciously. By learning to interpret the metaphors dream images can offer, we may gain insight and understanding into our inner personalities, and find solutions to our problems.
Interpreting Symbols and Processing Feeling
When interpreting a dream, it’s important to take note of the symbols and characters as well as the environment. These elements might help to give you a hint of what your dream means. From there, ask yourself, why was this person or object being featured in my dream? Does it have significance to me? It can be just as helpful to explore the emotions you felt in the dream. How did it feel to be in the dream? What were the feelings that were evoked? Was an underlying message being communicated in the dream?
Once you’ve gathered all that information, take a step back and see if themes and patterns arise from the elements of the dream. For example, if the dream was filled with stormy skies, and people being highly emotional, maybe you can draw the inference that it was tied to feeling overwhelmed by worrying. Alternatively, if it was a dream told through the lens of comedy, perhaps it could mean that you have the resources to work through your bigger worries in a way that’s amusing and light hearted.
Ultimately, the message of the dream is up to the dreamer to decide. Don’t feel pressure to force an ‘answer’ that feels uncomfortable. Dream interpretation is a personal journey that can be tailored to suit an individual’s life and hopes. Some dreams are so incredibly memorable and impactful, that they may require further exploration and processing with a professional therapist who specializes in dream interpretation.