5 Steps to Interpret Your dreams
Trying to interpret your dreams can be like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Or like putting together a new piece of IKEA furniture.
You look for the obvious pieces, assemble them in sections and then put it all together.
The following “system” is based on over 20 years of personal experience and interpreting thousands of dreams.
Step 1: Give the dream A Title
Use a verb in the title. In other words, use action words (from the action of the dream) to develop the title.
For instance, if you had a dream where a snake is attacking you, don’t just title the dream “snake dream.” Instead “Snake Scrapes My Ankle” is a much better title. It is specific and gives enough details to steer you in a certain direction when you interpret.
Very often, this step alone will give you the understanding you need to interpret the dream.
Step 2: Determine the Focus of the Dream
Think if it this way: if the dream were a movie scene, would you, the dreamer, be essential to the plot? If you took yourself out of the dream-scene would the action hold up?
If you are the main participant, or if you are the center of attention in the dream-scene, then the dream is about YOU.
If you are an observer, but helping things play out, then the dream is about you AND some other people.
If you are watching, then the dream is about someone else. Usually in these kind of dreams yhou are looking down on the action. Or you are looking through the eyes of someone else.
In any case, you are not at all part of the action or the “movie scene” will happen without you, the the dream is not about you. So don’t try to interpret the dream as though it was.
Step 3: Find the Tone of the Dream
What is the feel of the dream? What emotions did you feel when you woke up? Or what did you feel while you were in the dream?
You want to pay attention to whether you had a positive or a negative dream.
If the dream was not emotional (or even if it was), what was the lighting like? Was the dream full of color (a good thing) or full of darkness (ut oh). Were the colors muted or gray scale. Or were they vibrant colors?
The point of all this is to know how to respond to the dream. If you are having nightmares then you may have some area in your life where you need to be healed.
On the other hand, if you may have a vibrant dream with lots of flying and lots of cool action. That dream may refer to what you are called to do in life.
Step 4: Figure Out the Repeated themes
Look at the overall action in the dream. Is there something that keeps repeating? Where is the action taking place?
See if you can summarize the dream so that you give priority to the essential elements of the dream. Don’t get too bogged down with the details. What are the two or three main points?
You might also want to think about whether you had this dream, or this kind of dream before. If so, it probably means that something has not been resolved in your life from the last time.
Step 5: Interpret Your Dream Symbols & Metaphors
Notice I put this last. Too many people try to start by looking at all the symbols in a dream dictionary and plug the meanings into their dream. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
That is how you get a weird interpretation. You need to put everything into context. Dreams are like night parables. That means they usually have a story to tell. The symbols are relevant to the story — and to the dreamer.
Dreams, like parables, use a metaphor or word pictures to emphasize a point. That point is what you are really looking for when you interpret a dream.
Get an overview of the whole “movie scene” before you start on the symbolism. Even if you don’t know what the symbols mean, you usually can get a gist of what the dream is talking about through understanding the action and the emotion.
Don’t try to understand every picky detail of the dream. Pick out the symbols (an action can be a symbol too) that has the most weight on them. Usually there are only two or three in a dream.
Once you do that, hold the symbol in your imagination. Interact with them in your mind’s eye. Only use a dream dictionary as a prompt, NOT as a substitute for your unique reality when you interpret.
If You Are Still Stuck ..... Look Again at the ACTION & EMOTION
You need to know that the most important elements in the dream are the action and the emotion.
So step back and look at what is going on. What action is occurring in the dream? That is the main message of the dream. Even if you get confused by all the symbols of the dream, you won’t be confused by the action.
For example, is someone (or some thing) stabbing you in the back in the dream? Look to where that might be happening in life.
Or, have you been looking for something and cannot find it in the dream? What are you searching for in life? Maybe it is time to address that issue.
Following this straight forward method will give you a solid model for understanding your dreams.
