My Magical JourneyCreating a fabulously fantastic life!

Dreams can be kooky, funny, scary, and downright confusing, but they’re almost always fascinating. Despite their apparent absurdity, interpreting our dreams is a great way to receive guidance and gain clarity about situations in our lives.  Have you ever been in a funky mood and didn’t know why?  Our dreams usually mimic feelings we have in our waking lives, so paying attention to them can help us gain insight into our emotions.  Another great reason to pay attention to our dreams is because Spirit Guides and deceased loved ones sometimes communicate through them.  During the day, we usually have so many other things to think about that the subtle messages of our spirit friends cannot be heard.  However, when we’re sleeping our conscious minds are resting, and we are much more receptive to otherworldly wisdom.  Here’s a quick Q & A about remembering and interpreting dreams.

How do I remember my dreams?

1. Set your alarm 10 minutes early to make sure you have time to write your dreams down before you begin your day.  Along with being practical, this reinforces the expectation that you will remember your dreams in the morning.
2. Put a notebook and pen beside your bed to write your dreams in.  If you’re feeling crafty, make this notebook special with decorations, artwork, and a cute pen.  I also have a word document on my computer to keep track of my dreams. I write what I remember of the dream in black. I write the interpretation in a different font color so it is easy to recognize when I look back at a later date.
3. Before you go to sleep, say to yourself, “When I wake up in the morning, I remember my dreams.” Imagine yourself waking up in the morning and remembering your dreams vividly.  See yourself writing them down in your notebook and understanding their meanings.
4. Expect to remember your dreams. If you say to yourself that you never remember your dreams, you will continue to create that.  Expecting to easily remember your dreams in the morning creates that reality.

What do I write down?

First, write down how each dream made you feel.  Then, write down everything you remember, including people, places, feelings, the weather, scenery, numbers, and predominant colors.  Feelings are the most important and the key to understanding what your dreams mean.

Then what?

Examine each symbol in your dream and figure out what it means to you. For example, if it was raining in your dream, what does rain mean to you? What feelings does it invoke? What does rain make you think of? Rain could mean any number of things depending on the person: cleansing and renewal, storms and hard times, raining on their parade, or relief from drought. Because you are unique and have unique associations, it is very important to figure out what each symbol means to you before you look up symbol interpretations written by someone else.  This goes for every symbol that you write down.  If your Uncle Ernie was in your dream, what qualities do you think of when you think of him?  People in your dream usually always represent an aspect of yourself.  When you have numbers in your dream, add the digits together until you get a single digit.  For example, if your apartment number in your dream is 237, add those digits to get 12.  Add 1+2 to get 3.  So, 237 = 3.  Then, look up what the number 3 means in a dream dictionary.

If you’re stumped or want other ideas, look up the symbol in a dream dictionary.  There are many websites and books on the subject.  One of the websites I like is http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/.  If the interpretation you read rings true to you, use it. If you don’t agree with the interpretation, don’t use it.  Always follow your intuition and trust yourself first.

Once you’ve interpreted the symbols, look for the theme or overall meaning.

Sometimes, it may take a while, depending on how thorough you are and if you use the dream dictionary for each item in your dream. Once you become more comfortable trusting your own interpretation, you will be able to get meaning from your dreams in a fraction of the time.