Dreampedia Interpretation:
When beginning the steps towards interpreting your dreams, many people find it helpful to keep a notebook – a dream journal, if you will – right next to your bed with a pen or pencil. As soon as you are physically able, begin your journal.
Write down your dream as soon as you remember it. Write down everything you remember, even if it doesn’t make sense. Most often, the parts that don’t make sense or are out of place are the most valuable. Every detail, even the minutest element in your dream is important and must be considered when analyzing your dreams. Look closely at the characters, animals, objects, places, emotions, and even color and numbers that are depicted in your dreams.
Ask yourself, “What does this remind me of?” Write down the first thing that comes to your mind. This will likely be the real situation in your life that is symbolized in the dream. What did that real-life situation make you feel like? If this is the same feeling represented in your dream, you’re on the right track. Often when there is more than one part to your dream (more than one story line) that usually means there are two things your subconscious is trying to tell you.
Remember that we have between four and seven dreams per night. If you wake up from a dream, write it down. Don’t roll over and go back to sleep. If you don’t write it down, you’ll never remember it in the morning! At the very least, you can jot down the basic premise of the dream and go back in the morning to fill in the rest of the details such as feelings, etc.
Suggest to yourself every night as you fall asleep, “I will remember my dreams.” Say this over and over. Your sub-conscious will act on this subtle suggestion. Practice keen observation in your dreams through self-suggestion prior to sleep. When a problem confronts you, you might want to ask by prayer for guidance to be sent to you through your dreams.
Trust your instincts! If something seems important, it probably is. Try not to let your logical side take over.
So you’ve got your dreams down on paper. Where do you go next? The next step would be interpretation.
Every 90 minutes or so your eyes move rapidly around under your closed eyelids. At the same time your brainwaves become highly active, almost as though you were awake. It’s during this period of what is known as ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ or ‘REM sleep’ that you dream. In the early part of the night, which is when sleep is deepest, the REM periods are quite short, lasting only a few minutes at most. Towards morning, as your sleep becomes lighter, the REM episodes become longer. The last dream you have just before waking up can last for as long as three-quarters of an hour.
During REM sleep, your body is immobilized. This means that if you have a nightmare where you try to run away or cry out, you feel para¬ lyzed. People who walk and talk in their sleep usually do so between periods of REM sleep when the body is once again able to move.
Although some people have a natural facility for remembering their dreams, particularly those with emotional, creative or introverted personalities, few can bring back the whole experience whilst others recall little or nothing. Accurate dream recall is not easy. You learn it, as you learn any skill, by developing an interest, maintaining your enthusiasm and following a routine.
If you have a stressful lifestyle, try not to watch television late in the evening. Instead, spend a few minutes relaxing quietly and letting go of the day’s concerns. If you find it hard to switch off, light reading can be helpful and alcohol and coffee late at night should be avoided. They
are known to inhibit dream recall, as can sleeping pills. Keep a pen and a notebook within easy reach of your bed. Leave this special notebook open and write down the date as a signal to your subconscious mind that you intend to remember a dream.
As you start drifting off into sleep, tell yourself: Tonight Ishall have a dream and remember it in the morning.’ When you wake up, lie still and keep your eyes closed. Allow your mind to stay relaxed, drifting back until you recapture a fragment of a dream. Even a single image is better than nothing. As soon as you remember anything, write it down, however trivial it seems. Make it a habit to write something - even a note of the mood you woke up in is better than nothing. It’s important to do this first thing, before you get out of bed. The simple act of changing your position in bed can be enough to make a dream disappear without trace. A loud alarm clock can have a similar effect. Do remember that no skill is acquired overnight. Be patient and persevere.