What Do My Dreams Mean?
There are many books and websites that attempt to interpret dreams. Many of us have had dreams about being chased, falling, losing teeth etc. and there are many interpretations for them. There are many kinds of dreams. Dreams are like hallucinations filled with symbolism making them hard to understand. Some dreams are simply the unconscious’ way of releasing stressors from the day. There are also premonitory dreams that predict future events. You’ll know if that is the case if the event happens or if you have them often. When taking medications, dreams may be more bizarre and be more nightmarish. Most dreams are meant for us to understand something about ourselves, even if it was from a stressor that happened in close proximity to the dream.
What I have found is that the best way to interpret dreams is by your feelings. You can forget about dream interpretation books unless used to help you identify your situation connected to your feelings. It might be helpful if you had a dream about pregnancy to look it up, as it will tell you about being creative or pregnant with ideas, that may be related to issues in waking life. So when waking up from a dream you are curious about, ask yourself what were you feeling when you woke up. Were you scared, anxious, helpless etc? Also how were you feeling in the dream, or how do you think you would have been feeling? Those feelings are likely related to feelings about situations in waking life. I quit smoking cigarettes in 1992 and every once in awhile I’ll dream of relapsing and smoking. I connected that to control and fear and related that to whatever situation I was coping with at the time. In sum, use your feelings to interpret your dreams, as dreams are like acid trips filled with symbolism that may make no sense. If you are very stubborn, your dreams might need to contain graphic and scary content to get your attention. Again, focus on the feelings and context and look at how it relates to areas you might be struggling with in waking life, or areas you may be avoiding.
Dr. Umfer is a licensed clinical psychologist in Tampa Florida. She works in private practice and has experience with forensic and military psychology as well. She also uses meditation and hypnosis in her practice as well. Visit her website www.umfer.org for more information and www.umfer.blogspot.com for more articles.