“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” -Carl Jung
Are dreams just random or do they have a hidden meaning?
Interpreting The Meaning of Your Dreams
You’ve probably heard many people say that dreams are random and mean nothing, but is this really true? Edgar Cayce, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung, leading experts in field of psychoanalysis, all believed that there is an unconscious message or meaning in all dreams. According to Cayce (1877-1945), who most consider a “Twentieth Century Psychic and Medical Clairvoyant,” dreams connect us to the universal unconsciousness where we can discover our life purpose, find answers to our own medical conditions, and even tap into future events.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), an Austrian Neurologist who is considered the “Father of Psychoanalysis,” believed that dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment," attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort, either something recent or something from the past.
Carl Jung (1875-1961), a Swiss Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist famous for his studies on individuation, believed the personal and collective unconsciousness is brought into consciousness by means of dreams. He also believed that artistic expression and images found in dreams could be helpful in recovering from trauma and emotional distress.
The two most popular systems of dream interpretation are those based on the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
Freud's opinion was that the dream was information that was unacceptable to the conscious mind and in order to bypass the ego was disguised in the form of symbols.
Jung’s view was much different than Freud's. Jung believed that dreams contained profound wisdom and insight coming from the unconscious mind into the conscious mind. He also believed that a certain amount of understanding was held in the unconscious mind, but that it was not yet understood by the conscious mind. Thus explaining the symbols appearing in the dream.
If dreams do in fact contain “an unconscious message in the form of symbols,” how do we know what it means and how can we learn to interpret our own dreams?
A good place to start is by keeping a Dream Journal and a pen or pencil next to where you sleep.
Your dream journal entry should include:
Dream interpretation can seem lengthy and time consuming, but the reality is that it can be very healing and beneficial to our higher good. It can also provide many insights to our true selves, answers to our questions, and bring back our sense of well-being. It can even transform what we perceive to be a nightmare into acceptance and understanding of our own inner conflicts.
There are many resources on dream interpretation, but nothing is more powerful than your own intuition when it comes to analyzing your dreams.
- Date - The date of the dream.
- Title - Give it a title. E.g. Floating Across New York or Scary Monster Chases Me Through Town. The importance of the title is that it gives you an idea of how the dream affected you and a reference for later use.
- Summary of Dream - Write a summary of your dream in as much detail as possible. Remember to jot down any symbols or characters that appeared in the dream. E.g. Bus, baby, police, garbage can, clouds, the kitchen cupboard, an old friend, the cashier at the gas station. All or most of these symbols can be of use in analyzing the meaning of your dream.
- Lay still for a few minutes after waking.
- Consciously ask yourself if you were dreaming and then start to recall the dream.
- Once you are sure of the dream, slowly get up to a seated position and start writing. You’ll be amazed at what you can recall as you continue writing.
- Next, if you’re not already doing so, start keeping a Daily Journal. This is so you can compare the notes of your daily journal to the notes of your dream journal and see if you recognize any correlation between the two. You can also add a spot in your dream journal to jot down the previous days events for reference.
Dream interpretation can seem lengthy and time consuming, but the reality is that it can be very healing and beneficial to our higher good. It can also provide many insights to our true selves, answers to our questions, and bring back our sense of well-being. It can even transform what we perceive to be a nightmare into acceptance and understanding of our own inner conflicts.
There are many resources on dream interpretation, but nothing is more powerful than your own intuition when it comes to analyzing your dreams.
A List of Resources & Websites
http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/http://www.dreamdictionary.org/
Books
DREAMS - Tonight’s Answers for Tomorrow’s Questions By - Mark ThurstonThe Dream Book: Symbols for Self Understanding By - Betty Bethards
The Hidden Power of Dreams: The Mysterious World of Dreams Revealed By - Denise Linn
No comments:
Post a Comment