Discovering the Meaning in Your Dreams -- Dream Hints

Psy 228 Spring 2001 Dr Robert Manis

The three most important elements of the dream are the action, feelings, and symbols in the dream. The idea is to train yourself to attend to these three elements and then identify their connections to your waking life.

Action Metaphors

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance. Action Metaphors are reflected by what you are doing during the dream (climbed, got lost).

Symbols in Dreams

A symbol is something used or regarded as standing for or representing something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance. Symbols are tricky because many definitions of their meaning exist. Each definition can lead to quite different understandings of your dream. A good place to begin is to reflect on what the object is to you. Your association is very personal and particular. In different dreams, the same symbol may have different meanings. Check your own description of the object, then consider the popular interpretations, then test the associations to determine what fits for you.

Symbols are your dreammaker's way of representing something to you in a novel or unusual way that highlights the quality of what is being depicted. Often a symbol will represent the particular quality with a poetic artistry that is quite poignant. Many symbols don't always make logical sense, but they will when you describe them to yourself and check that description for what it reminds you of in your waking life. Incongruities, and "strange" things are wonderful clues to meaning. If the meaning(s) of the symbol(s) remains unclear, set them aside for a while. Frequently the real mystery of a dream is solved by getting a sense of the action-metaphor, and in bringing your feelings to the surface. Symbols often then fall into place.

Many dream analysts believe the following symbols on the left represent the item in the right column:

Symbol in Dream	Area in Life Represented by the Symbol
lobby of a bank	your financial situation
car/vehicle (especially if you're driving)	your identity in life, your predominant role
a house	your self, or your physical body
pregnancy	pregnancy, something new is emerging from/for you -- your "new self", a book, a project, a new life-style
an animal	the characteristic(s) you feel the animal possesses, your feelings about the animal
a loathsome animal	unpleasant characteristics of loved ones, yourself, or coworkers
insects	something that is "bugging" you
injury or illness	a health issue or area of your body you've been ignoring or neglecting
age or numbers	number of years ago something happened, age of something, how long you have been doing something
baby clothes	something you have outgrown, suitable to give away
(you have a) forgotten baby	aspects of self or life you've overlooked, abandoned, such as a talent
a famous person	aspect of yourself or of someone or an element in your present situation
an old friend	a quality of you, someone else or something
police	something to do with authority

Other Hints for Evaluating Your Dreams

Whenever the dream setting and action differs from what you would expect in waking life, you are being given an excellent hint. Cherish the apparently illogical aspects and sudden inconsistencies of your dream; these are always good clues to meaning. After getting the descriptions of the other aspects of the dream, use the feeling to make the link back to your waking life. However, don't be tempted to make that link before you have gathered a full description though, or you will simply target the life situation the dream is about, but miss the message the dream has to offer. It helps to have others involved in your dreamwork. Often the dreamer will "fix" on one aspect of the dream that has a particular emotional charge, and will overlook other clues and important messages.

Characters, Objects, and Setting

The characters, setting, and objects often convey the context (topic) of the dream. For example, objects, items, papers, people from work tend to be clues that your dream is work-related. When working with a dream, if you generate a description of a character and it doesn't ring a bell, just move on to the next part of the dream. By the time you have described the actions, feelings, and symbols you will often find that a mystery character has spontaneously fallen into place and is revealed as the perfect representation of the person being depicted.

When you look for symbols in your dream, be sure to make note of the other characters, and the setting in which the dream takes place. Where are you? Who (or what) is there? Often people will appear in dreams representing themselves. A good red flag with regard to characters is this: If the person in the dream is someone you have never met, or don't know in waking life, someone who is deceased, or someone you haven't seen in years, or is a talking dog or other magical being, then that character is likely representing someone else, or some part of you, in your waking life. In this case, it is necessary to go over the qualities of the character in order to identify who or what is being represented symbolically. Ask yourself: Who is (this character) to me? What qualities to I personally associate with this character? Who does this character remind me of?

Setting is where the dream action takes place. Common settings include home, office, work-place, social gathering, driving or traveling, being in a building, or the home in which you grew up. The setting is a definite clue to the meaning of the dream and at times can be a "dead giveaway". When you look at the setting of your dream, try to look at it symbolically, rather than literally. Dreams of going back to college may have to do with learning something, or for some, the feeling of going backwards in time to a point when they had less power and were under the authority of others. Dreams of going to a shopping mall or a store often have to do with making choices or searching for something in life that will "fit" your needs.

If you dream you are back in your childhood home, you are probably dreaming about something in your current life that is an echo of your childhood. Many adults repeatedly have the same nightmare they had when they were little children. This means your subconscious is still experiencing the same fear or issue that was a challenge when you were a child. The "monster" in your waking life may have a different face now, but the psychological dynamic is roughly the same. (Trouble with authority, handling criticism, trying to win approval through performance, feeling discounted, etc.)Take the setting and describe it back to yourself. Take whatever the dream offers and assume it is ideal for depicting the exact meaning of the dream.

Exaggerated Emotions

Keep in mind that dreams usually exaggerate the emotions you feel (and refuse to feel) during the day. This amplification of emotions takes place in order to attract your attention and as a response to hidden or suppressed emotion. Dreams often allow you to play out emotions that simply aren't appropriate to express (or even to think about) in waking life. You find yourself doing and feeling things you would never think of doing in your waking life. This does not mean your moral philosophy or political convictions have slipped, or are less than deeply held. Rather your dreams are allowing your impulses and forbidden thoughts to follow some kind of evolution in order to release them from your system. In this way dreams act as a balancing system for the psyche, validating experiences that might otherwise have been denied due to cultural or other external pressures.

Dreams can also act as warning signals for our health and well-being. They reflect back to us situations, patterns, and trouble spots that we apparently are unable to recognize in our waking hours. The more dangerous the situation to our well-being (mental, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual) the more dramatic and memorable will be the dream. In addition, the signal seems to be amplified when previous dreams were not understood or attended to. The emotional language of dreams is very basic, very intense, and startling. Your dreams will tell you very vividly when you are feeling violated, exposed, starved, or uplifted. Sometimes the feeling you have when you examine a dream is different from what you experienced during the dream. The feeling to use for interpretation is the emotion you felt during the dream, not the one you feel when you are telling or thinking about the dream.

Dream Groups

When describing symbols for yourself or your dream group, if you don't know what to make of an object, start with what the item means to you. Frequently, your association will be slightly different from the everyday one, or will reveal an important slant that you need to be aware of. Although it is helpful to get information from other sources, it is your description of an object or setting that matters in understanding your own dream. Your dreammaker is generating material out of your understanding of the world. The description that "pops out of you" and is personal (but feels universal) is the one that you want. It isn't necessary, unless you feel suspicious, to delve for deep psychological symbolism or abstract connections.

If you are helping someone else with a dream, don't assume that your meaning for a symbol is their meaning.

If someone tries to help you, thank them, but don't necessarily believe them. Instead, hold that as one possibility and ask yourself questions about the quality of the symbol to arrive at your own connections. What was the like? Describe it for yourself. Was it powerful, all-consuming, scary, exciting? Did you want to contribute or were you scared out of your wits?

Recurring Dreams

Recurring dreams are signals to pay attention. You are being given the same message over and over. The dreams may address a theme you continue to encounter in waking life. Something is happening currently that has happened many times before or at least the psychological nature is happening the same as it has been in times past. Often, recurring dreams escalate in intensity until you "get" the message or make some kind of change in your waking life. They do not indicate there is something wrong with you, but usually indicate what is wrong with your situation. The value in the recurring dream is in illustrating the way(s) in which the past may be impacting the present. It is to convey information long overlooked by presenting it repeatedly in a manner which cannot comfortably be ignored. Recurring dreams tend to stop when the issue is addressed.

Theme Dreams

Theme dreams are similar to recurring dreams except only the plot and action are the same, the characters and setting may change. They often indicate that you are experiencing similar types of challenges in different situations. You may have a typical style of reacting to situations that is not working for you. Like recurring dreams, theme dreams tend to stop when the issue is addressed.

Dreams of Spiritual Guidance

Trust yourself, trust your experience, and keep your mind open to explore even the unknown. Look at the literal meaning first. If the literal meaning is silly or inappropriate, then consider the symbolic level of interpretation following the 5 steps. If that level of understanding seems inadequate (rely on your subjective feeling), then look for the possibility of symbolic information.

Lucid Dreams

Lucid dreams are those in which the dreamer is consciously aware of the dreams state while still in it and controls part or all of the dream. Some researchers believe lucid dreams provide excellent opportunities to work out problems and challenges, as well as to explore creativity without limitations.

What are the possible benefits of examining your dreams?

-- Dreams can help resolve "unresolvable" differences. Boundaries, separations, and black-and-white thinking which define so much of our waking experience are suspended or revealed as illusory in the dream state. Much stress and pain we experience in life is connected with our insistence on viewing things as either good or evil, one way or the other. By viewing the world as sets of opposites, we limit the possibilities for connectedness and insure that for every profit, we shall feel a loss. One function of dreams may be to provide experiences in which rigid rules of existence that contain us during waking hours are suspended. Bridges are formed between one belief and another, one possible self and another. Working with your dreams will assist you in seeing the connections between things in your waking life. You will understand more about why people do the things they do, and you will become more comfortable with diversity and differences of all kinds, in others as well as in yourself.

-- You will feel that you have better 'instincts" or intuition. Part of intuition is simply permitting yourself to listen to what you believe to be true, even when you, as yet, have no evidence to support it. Because more information appears in dreams than you can handle when awake, you have access to far more information than you possessed before you explored your dreams.

-- You will come to recognize your talents, abilities, and personal power to a greater degree. If you dream of someone famous who is known for their profession, talent, or contribution, and you don't know anyone in waking life who reminds you of the celebrity, it is highly likely that they are representing that talent as it exists in you. It is likely that you would be more balanced, healthy, and fulfilled, and an unknown hunger haunting you would be assuaged by allowing that aspect of yourself to be a greater part of your waking experiences. You could incorporate into your waking life the kinds of activities that would stimulate and enliven that part of yourself.

Excerpted from Gillian Holloway, Dreaming insights: A 5-step plan for discovering the meaning in your dreams. 1994. By Evelyn Doody CCSN