.:Website
by:.
| EVERYBODY
DREAMS: Interpretation of Common Dream Symbols By Rosemary Watts, © 1994 |
| Dreams
which may seem "crazy" are really your subconscious relaying important
information in a creative, often funny, sometimes scary way in order
to capture your attention. Dreams are multi-dimensional gifts from
your inner self with layers of meaning to be discovered. Dreams come
from you, to you, for you, to benefit your highest good, enhancing
waking life experiences. There are many common dream symbols with universal meaning which can be applied personally. What follows is a framework and examples with which to consider these symbols. It is important first to understand your own definitions, personal associations, memories, and history in order to comprehend each dream symbol. Don't merely define a symbol's meaning, but continue to explore it and allow the dream to teach you. Stress dreams are very common. An example is a dream where you are in school and go into a class you've missed entirely just in time to take the final exam. Another common dream is having to give a speech or showing up to an important meeting where you are naked. These dreams highlight areas of stress in your waking life -- stress in relationships, career, creative endeavors, health, self-esteem, and personal growth. The school dream reveals the feeling of being "tested" and realizing how unprepared you might be or feel. The second dream of being naked emphasizes vulnerability and being "exposed." When you have these dreams, it is important to look at how you might be feeling tested, unprepared, or vulnerable in waking life. What stress are you not acknowledging? The dream may be directing focus to these feelings in order for you to pay attention to them, thereby releasing tensions which allow you to respond with more confidence in waking life. Houses appear frequently in dreams and tend to represent the way things are structured. It's important to notice to whom the house belongs. If it's your house in the dream, but not the same as in waking life, how is the dream house more ideal or troublesome? If it's another person's house, define the qualities and characteristics of that person and their home. Does the home represent safety, comfort, growth, or does it mean restriction, tension, feeling unsafe? Consider the room(s) where the dream occurs. Living rooms are places where we have others over (community), where things happen; kitchens are where we are fed or nurtured; bathrooms are places to clean up and/or eliminate; bedrooms  are
more intimate and personal. Relate these rooms and the activities
that occur during the dream to your waking life. For example, if you
dream you are having a dinner party and spend the entire time serving
your guests, the dream might be emphasizing how you give too much
to others and need to spend time nurturing yourself. Dreams offer solutions, insights, wisdom, warnings, encouragement, and challenges that are individually significant and timely. Allow dreams to continue to speak, sharing messages which you can more fully integrate into waking life. The more levels of understanding and application, the better. Listen to your dreams for answers from within. (Original printing: The Women's Voice newspaper, Volume III, Issue XI, St. Louis, MO, July 1994.) |