Dream Interpretation

Dream interpretation is one of the most common things that therapists get asked about, and not only by our clients. People (in trains, in dinner parties, in a box and with a fox!) love to recount their dreams and ask what they mean. Unfortunately, I can't give them an easy answer. The meaning of a dream is in its meaning to the dreamer. Sometimes it helps to talk things through with another person, but the ultimate meaning for the dream resides in the unconscious of the person who birthed the dream.

When you work with someone else and want to express your interpretation/projections onto the dream, you can try using the words, “if it were my dream...” But more importantly, if you are sitting on the edge of your seat dying to give an interpretation of someone else’s dream, try and hold back and consider why it's so important to you to share. Does their dream have meaning to you in your life? Or are you using their dream as a vehicle to try and tell them something about themselves that you'd like to just tell them outright?

Can't remember your dreams, let alone try to interpret them? Here are some tips on remembering your dreams:

• Avoid cookie-cutter symbolism. You can find LOTS of this online, where a bear always means your father, and interpretation is simply a matter of plugging in different elements. Only you can find out what the different aspects of the dream mean to you.
• Keep a dream journal. Do you not remember your dreams? One thing that helps is if you put a journal next to your bed and write as soon as you wake up in the morning.
• Some people use a tape recorder instead of a journal.
• Try drawing pictures of the scenes in your dreams.
• Say an affirmation before you sleep. Maybe "I remember my meaningful dreams," or "I remember my vivid dreams with clarity and ease."

Here are some ways to work with your dream content, beginning the lived process of interpretation - by that I mean that it's not like you interpret, and then it's over. You live with your memory of the dream, and your making meaning out of it, and it marinates and peels away and invites new meaning and interpretation:

• What do you think the main theme of your dream was? If you were reading it as a story, what would you see as the theme? Now, can you see a way that theme relates to your life?
• As far as the things in the dream, think about what they are in general. How would you explain what a cat is to someone who had never seen a cat. That can help you get some distance from the dream itself.
• What was your feeling tone throughout the dream? How did you experience the action?

Here’s one classic resource I highly recommend:
Conscious Dreaming: A Spiritual Path for Everyday Life

Return to the main dreams page.