Step 1. Is to Record Dreams
To Record dreams is of vital importance to an accurate dream interpretation.But in order to record them you must remember them, right? How many of your night time escapades can you remember clearly? If you are anything like me, you will remember from 1-3 dreams every night, record all of them and begin the process of dream interpretation straight away.If not, all those wonderful images and adventures would be lost forever!
So, the first step in recording your dreams obviously, is to remember them!We all dream, every night, each person will dream 3-20 times a night. Remembering and writing your dreams down is not only a great exercise for recording your dreams but it is also a wonderful tool for exercising the imagination. And for those of us who so seldom call upon our imagination in daily life, this is a precious skill to practice. Let’s assume now, you are remembering at least 1 dream a night.
The next step of dream interpretation is to write the dream down as soon as you wake up. Recording your dream quickly when waking is of vital importance to this process.Within the first 5 minutes of waking you will forget 50% of your dream content, and then 90% will be forgotten after 10 minutes. So keeping a pen and paper by your bed will enable you to record your dreams on the spot.
Step 2. How to Record Dreams
1. The date
2. A brief outline of your day’s events and any “major occurrence” in your life at that time. ie. Had a fight with boss, broke up with boyfriend. This comes in handy later on. The next step is recording the dream in as much detail as possible. Record how you felt in your dream, what you saw and what you did. Who else did you see in your dream? Did you know them or were they strangers? Write in as much detail as you can. Feel free to express yourself in any way that is natural to you with your dream description. If you would prefer to draw then do so. A combination of drawing and writing is also a good method. Don’t try to be too neat here there is no need. If you do draw you should have some focus words for the drawings that you include that indicate what you are doing in each scene. Once you have recorded your dream, make separate notes on: • How you felt when you woke up from the dream • The main dream images • Overall feeling while dreaming The most important thing at this point is to keep your dream interpretation record honest. Resist embellishment for the sake of a more interesting dream record. Avoid also trying to interpret dream symbols at this stage. Doing so too early on in the piece could lead to false conclusions and lead you in the wrong direction. These images show some creative ways to approach dream recording and that ultimately aid dream interpretation and definitely make it more fun!
Step 3. Identifying Dream Symbols
The next important step of dream interpretation is to identify your dream symbols. Dream symbols are any dream images that have played an important part in your dream.
Dream symbols can belong to one of 5 categories:
• Dream Stars • Actions • Objects • Settings • Feelings
In this Image
Dream stars: goldfish
Actions: goldfish swimming towards meat
Objects:meat on fishhook Settings: fishbowl
Feelings: confusion!
You can see in the example image to the left how we identified the dream symbols. This was just a funny little example to show you how to identify the dream symbols within your dream images. See how we identified each dream symbol with a different marker? You do not have to use the distinguishing markers I used in the PDF example. However, do clearly identify each dream symbol group.
Step 4. Symbol Descriptions
The next step of dream interpretation involves writing a brief description on each of the dream symbols you have identified.
As you do this bare the following questions in mind:
• How you feel about this action/setting/object/person/feeling in waking life?
• How you feel about this action/setting/object/person/feeling in the dream?
• What purpose does this action/setting/object/person/feeling have in waking life?
• What purpose does this action/setting/object/person/feeling have in the dream?
• Are there any distinguishing features about this action/setting/object/person/feeling in the dream that stand out?
Look closely at the dream analysis PDF example here for how I described all the dream symbols in the sample dream.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to write all your information down!
It is much easier to know where the dream is going if it is all written down in front of you.
Go into as much detail as you can. At first, when you have just started out interpreting dreams the more information you include the better off you will be able to discover the meaning of dreams.
Step 5. Understanding Dream Symbols
(i) Dream Theme
Once you have your descriptions done, you can focus on identifying the theme of your dream.
Every dream has a theme, and without understanding the theme you will be at a loss to understand the individual elements within.
Theme examples are: • being chased • losing something • being naked in public The theme of the dream example is being chased. Write down briefly what you feel the theme of your dream is.
(ii) Dream Feeling Once you have your theme, you need to focus on how you felt the whole time this theme was playing out. What was the overall feeling of the dream? Was there desperation as you were searching for something you couldn’t find? Were you exhilarated at the new ability of flying you had just discovered? Were you scared because a vampire was chasing you? Write down briefly what the overall feeling of the dream was.
(iii) Finding the Dream/Waking Life Connection Now turn over your dream interpretation so far…no cheating! This is important because you are drawing on your memory and not just copying what is written in front of you so something new has the opportunity of floating to the surface.
Ask yourself this question:
In what waking life scenario do I (insert dream theme description here) and makes me feel (insert dream feelings here).
In the example I would be asking myself this question: “Who or what do I feel has a power over me where I feel helpless/ powerless and scared around? Who or what situation has control over me where I feel like my life is in their hands and I cannot escape? Who or what situation do I feel like distant forms of communication are involved and that I cannot protect myself from?”
If nothing comes to mind here, read back over the life description you entered prior to your dream record to see if that sparks any connections to pop into your mind.
Once you have composed an answer in your head write it down. Now read over what you just wrote and then ask yourself, how this dream can shed light on what you are thinking and feeling about the situation you have described in the previous section?
Remember that to become proficient at analyzing your dreams you need to practice. Don't expect for it to be obvious from the start. The more you analyse the more obvious your dream symbols will be.