Do dreams have true meaning? Do dreams show the inner parts of ourselves? They most certainly do. While some psychologists in the past have not really gotten the whole thing down, dreams do in fact have a significant impact, should we understand them, on what we’re doing in our daily lives and how we can improve ourselves. Sigmund Freud was known for thinking that dreams were nothing more than carrying hidden sexual meaning, Carl Jung was known for believing that dreams were showing something more along the lines of a projection of his concept, the collective unconscious. I do not think that there is any one specific thing that dreams show, as there is not any one aspect of an individual that goes ignored in the scope of a whole person. A person is all sorts of things. We’re sexual like Freud had said, sure, but we’re hungry, we’re contemplative, we’re curious, we’re problem solvers, we’re infinitely more than anyone can label us as. In this article, you will receive an outline of just how to really interpret the true meaning behind your dreams, and not just your daydreams – the dreams you have while asleep.

First of all, let me say that if you are looking for meaning in the symbolism of your dreams purely for the purpose of introspection and understanding yourself, there are better, more practical ways to go about that than this. What this will provide is the icing on the cake, so to speak. But first, let’s talk about the importance of not just the dreams you have while sleeping, but your daydreams.

Interpreting Daydreams & Thinking About Image Streaming

Interpreting daydreams is critically important, because a lot of the time we will not remember some of the most brilliant ideas we’ll ever create in our lives because we have been forgetting about our daydreams. You might be thinking, No, I don’t daydream, this isn’t useful to me. Sure you do! And if you don’t – start. Daydreaming has numerous benefits. For one, it gives you the added advantage of having an imagination. If you can visualize, and think about particular concepts in a way that allows you to effortlessly look at them in a creative way, this is giving you an immediate edge toward understanding a new way to go about an old problem. Einstein came up with the theory of relativity by daydreaming! All of these teachers yapping at kids in school to stop staring out the window, stop daydreaming – they’re putting a squelcher on that child’s genius creativity.

One guy who really knows what he’s talking about on this one is Win Wenger, creator of the Genius Code course, and a very important concept called Image Streaming. Image Streaming is a process by which you record your mental imagery and thoughts aloud as you see them and are carried from one image or idea to another. Then you play it back and can begin to build references to what these images relate to. The process Win has created known as Image Streaming is the same process that daydreaming is, except you’re actively recording the output of it. You can also write it down. Now, the concept is not entirely this simple, but this is the fundamental idea.

So start paying attention to the content that you’re thinking about when you’re bored, idle, in the waiting room, etc. It could really make the difference in uncovering an outstanding thought.

Interpreting Dreams by Recall and Association

Now, moving onto the dreams you have when asleep, you have a different situation. Most people are not highly proficient at knowing when they’re dreaming, so often times it’s entirely possible you won’t be aware you’re having a dream while having it. This means that whatever happens, you will need to examine the dream outside the contents of the dream itself by remembering the dream upon waking up.

After waking, the first thing to do is to write it all down. Use whatever words feel the most right to you during this process. I once had a dream where I was driving around in a van with this one guy, and he was stopping at different houses killing people, then getting back in. He was trying to be my friend, and at the end of the dream he attempts to ‘rape’ me. The whole dream sounds violently disturbing, but when I presented it to a friend it showed some very valuable information in it. By simply examining the words you use to describe the process, you can then simply pair up synchronized meanings and definitions to get a clear cut meaning. For instance, ‘rape’ also is associated with my by the words violation, betrayal, sickness. At the time, I had just seen the end of one of my best friendships. The imagery that was shown in the dream was one way that my mind was processing and sorting the information. Another example might be that you’re visited in a dream by a dead relative – you may be thinking of something about this person in general, or perhaps your mind is wanting you to question if there is something important they may have wanted you to know.
There are other common basic dream interpretation methods, but I think simply examining recent events and determining the literal, contextual, and conceptual synonyms of the moments will give you the best results. One method that worked well for an ex-girlfriend of mine was Gestalt dream interpretation, a part of ‘gestalt therapy,’ which while it is an old concept, and often tedious, it can also yield results.

Directly Extracting Symbolic Meaning Using Lucid Dreaming

Another technique in extracting meaning from a dream is to become lucid, or aware, that you’re dreaming, then just come straight out and ask directly. People have varying degrees of experience with using this method, and all of them seem to eventually lead to a point where the meaning behind the imagery’s representations is presented to you in a way that is comprehensible. For more information on lucid dreaming itself, check out Information on Lucid Dreaming.

Your circumstances might be different from dream to dream, and obviously the experiences will be different from person to person. In the lucid dream, maybe you’re out in the middle of nowhere in a desert. I know it doesn’t make sense, but ask anything around you, even if it’s a huge black void – what this means. While it might not make sense to talk to a wall or a dune of sand in real life – your dreams do not operate under a logic of realism. Everything you see in front of you in a dream is your mind, no matter what it is, and even if you’re asking a lamp a question, the mind will find a way to answer you when you’re aware of what the mind itself is doing. Of course, if you get freaked out by dunes of sand talking to you or stars forming faces and all that bizarre stuff that might happen, then just create a person right behind you by deciding that there will be someone there. You might try summoning up your dream guide in the dream, and asking him, or her, or it(maybe your dream guide is an object of some kind).

One experience that you might encounter is you will be answered with a very strange, out there answer. I am under the belief that your mind has the ability to prepare information for you in a way that you can clearly understand. If you do not understand the answer, then reinforce your intention and ask again, “I must be answered in a way that is able to be clearly understood.” Demand another answer, and eventually you will get one. Remember that if the dream begins to fade, try using one of the techniques to prolong the dream.

So overall, we have talked about three potential methods to interpret dreams:

• Pay Attention To, and Record Your Daydream Experiences
• Extrapolate meaning of a dream after the dream itself using dream recall, and building associations.
• Directly interpret the meaning by having your mind tell you in a lucid dream.

I think my favorite out of these methods presented here is most definitely the direct approach in a lucid dream, but each one has their place, and each one can provide additional benefit.