Working With Dreams

Working With Dreams | Dream Encyclopedia


Working with dreams

How to Remember a Dream
Everyone of us can learn to remember dreams. This, of course, is a prerequisite to working with dream symbols. After you are reliably recalling dreams, you can begin to program them for problem solving.

The most effective way to work with dreams is to keep a dream journal. Date each entry as you go along, for you will begin to see patterns and recurring themes as the weeks go by. If you do not understand an important dream message, you will be given more dreams trying to get the same point across. So do not worry about losing a big lesson; you will be given the message again and again until you finally get the idea. The most important thing in learning to remember a dream is your intent to do so.

Before going to sleep sit on the side of your bed (if you lie down you may fall asleep before you finish the process), take several deep breaths and relax. Then say to yourself, “Tonight I want to remember a dream and I will remember a dream. As soon as I awaken I will write it down.” Then go to sleep with a pad and pencil beside your bed, expecting to remember and write down a dream as soon as you open your eyes. If you prefer, record your dream on a cassette tape recorder.

When you awaken, whether at 3:00 a.m. or right before getting up the next morning, immediately record any impressions, images, or feelings about the dream. If you do not usually remember dreams, you may have only a vague sense about it: a feeling of frustration, uplift, concern, peace. Just write down whatever you sense in the waking moment. If you have good recall of most of the dream images, put down everything in as much detail as possible: people, vehicles, scenery, objects, colors, shapes, numbers and so on.

If you do not immediately write down the dream, you will lose it. Do not think that you can go back to sleep and remember it later. You are in an altered state of consciousness, that half-awake half-asleep state when you first open your eyes. Until you learn to build bridges between levels of consciousness, you will not be able to recall your dream once you are fully awake. That is why you tell yourself you will remember and write down the dream.

By continuing to practice this technique of writing down material, bringing it back from superconscious to conscious mind, you are learning to bridge the gap between levels of consciousness.

You dream all during the night, but often your best teaching dreams occur between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. or right upon awakening. Of course, if you are working the night shift and sleep during the day, your dream schedule will be adjusted to your biological rhythms. But dreams can come at any time whether during a nap in the afternoon or a catnap after dinner.

Using Dreams for Problem Solving
Even if you do not consciously use dreams for problem solving, you no doubt have had the experience of waking up in the morning with a clear and simple answer to a problem. You may not even remember a dream, but you know what to do in the situation at hand. This technique has been used for centuries to get insight. The conscious mind can struggle and wrestle with a problem, but when it is released to the superconscious mind, the greater infinite resources of consciousness, the answer effortlessly appears.

Deliberately programming your dreams for answers to problems, however, is taking even more control of the dream state and letting it work for you.

To use dreams for problem solving, again sit on the side of your bed before going to sleep. Take several deep breaths, relax, and bring the problem to mind. Whether it concerns relationships, career, health, inspiration for a creative project, or whatever, go over in your mind all the different parts of the problem that seem relevant. You have already thought about it, reflected upon it, but you are not sure which is the best direction, or the most positive solution. Feel into the problem as well as mentally reviewing it. Now mentally repeat, “Tonight I will have and remember a dream containing information for the solution to this problem. The problem concerns . . . (and briefly describe it as objectively as possible). I will now have this dream, and will recall, understand, and record it upon awakening. I open myself to the highest possible insight and guidance.” Then go to sleep, completely releasing the situation from your mind, resting in the expectation that you will receive the answer.

As soon as you awaken write down everything you can remember. Write down any general sense of the dream, feelings, impressions, as well as images. You may awaken with a clear recall of a dream which, upon analysis, gives a very definite answer. You may awaken with a strong sense of just knowing what to do. Or, sometime during the day, something in waking reality may trigger an image or impression from the dream, and you have your answer.

You may recall a dream that you cannot seem to figure out. Just record it, and continue the process the following night.

Avoid telling yourself that the process is not working, however. It is working; you just do not yet understand it. So if you do not have the answer you want upon awakening, do another little relaxation before starting your day. Suggest to yourself: “I have completely released this problem or situation to a higher wisdom within me. This answer is now presenting itself to me. I am open and receptive.” Then dismiss the concern from your mind. Holding on to it or worrying about it will block your insight. If you do not get the answer during the day, repeat the programming pro-cedure again before going to sleep. You should have the answer to any problem within a three day period.

Some people have said to me: “But I have tried to program dreams and it just did not work.” There may be a variety of reasons. First, anything that affects the chemistry of the body significantly—alcohol, drugs, barbiturates, Valium, sleeping pills—may completely botch dream recall. Your dreams will not be clear if you are able to remember them at all. A full meal right before going to sleep also affects dream life in a negative way.

Second, it is important to be relaxed when programming or asking for a dream. Do deep breathing and relax your body. Still the conscious mind enough to focus on the programming technique. Feel the desire to problem solve or get insight from your dreams. Don’t just mouth the words. You want the feeling of the heart center but the detachment and clarity of the third eye, so you are not reacting emotionally. Love yourself for creating the situation. It is a valuable teacher. Love yourself for now desiring to resolve and move beyond it. Love all persons involved for helping you learn and get to know yourself. When you approach problem solving through love, the answers are more readily available to you.

Third, ask yourself, “Do I really want to know what is best? Or am I trying to dictate the answer? Am I really open to the best and highest solution, or am I blocking my receptivity through fear?” Sometimes we ask for things that we really do not want to know. Particularly if the problem involves a decision over a major transition—leaving a relationship, changing jobs, taking self-responsibility—we may not really want to hear it. Ask, and you shall receive. But the asking must be an honest, open asking.

Finally, you may not be asking the right question. Questions should always have to do with insight into self, not how to change or manipulate others. If you are asking how to get your spouse to stop drinking, you are starting in the wrong place. Instead, realize that it is his or her responsibility to change, and all the love and support in the world may not be enough to help. The question should be: why have I created this situation for myself? What in myself needs to be changed to enable me to have a love-filled, joyous life? Through a need to be needed, a martyr syndrome, poor self- image or a number of other things, you may feel stuck in a situation. You can be assured of only one thing: with genuine self-insight the situation will change. You may have to leave it, you may not. But above all you must desire wisdom, not limiting ideas about self and others.

Remember the greatest thing we can do for another is to honor his or her inner power to make decisions and choose the kind of life he or she wants to live. We are all free to make our own mistakes. That is the only way we learn. When you are too concerned with shaping up someone else’s life, you can be sure you are copping out on your own lessons. If you are saying to yourself, “If so and so would just change, then I would be fine,” that is handwriting on the wall that you are avoiding self-responsibility.

So, ask for insight into self. Release others to learn their own lessons. You certainly can pray for others and send them love. But do so in the way that you are honoring their higher self, giving them the energy and freedom to make their own decisions, to determine their best life path, whether or not it may include you and your expectations and desires.

Kinds of Dreams
There are six basic kinds of dreams, and often you will remember snatches from several of them. As you begin to work with dreams more and more, you will recognize the differences and determine the value each is offering you. I call these different dreams clearing house or clutter, teaching, problem solving, precognitive, prophetic or visionary, and outside interference.

Clearing house
These dreams clean out the input from the day, sorting through mental and emotional clutter, rerunning experiences. Often the mind is still running a mile a minute when you first try to go to sleep. You are worried, anxious, stressful. These dreams begin the process of releasing useless concerns and integrating helpful ones. They help body and mind begin to relax.

If you meditate before going to sleep, stilling and focusing the mind, the clutter dreams are usually unnecessary. If you practice briefly rerunning the day in your mind, blessing, releasing and forgiving self and others, you are ready for a higher level of awareness in the dream state. Also, your energy will be higher and your dreams will be clearer.

Teaching
You usually have one important teaching dream a night. This gives you information on problems you are facing, or shows you higher teachings from advanced levels. You are prepared for what is going to happen during the next 24 hours. Often a dejâ vu experience is remembering what the superconscious mind stored in the subconscious memory back during the dream state. You already knew you were going to say something in a certain way, or that a particular person was going to do or say something. Most dreams are concerned with what you are presently going through and how best to deal with situations and relationships.

You may find yourself sitting in a classroom, giving or hearing a lecture, or walking with a teacher in some beautiful surroundings. You may be hearing information you never knew before and have good recall of it upon awakening. Many discoveries and inspirations have come from higher levels of these teaching dreams.

Problem solving
These are dreams you have programmed or asked for. You may be seeking insight on understanding a difficult relationship, solving a scientific mystery, or asking for the plot of a new novel. All knowledge and information are available to you when you learn how to tap it. Learning how to program dreams and understand their messages is one of your most valuable inner resources.

Precognitive
This dream gives you a glimpse of something in the future. It is different from the cieja vu experience, because precognition is usually concerning someone other than yourself. Precognition means foreknowing. There is a special sense or feeling to the precognitive dream. As you learn to recognize it, you will know which images are symbolic and which may happen to be literal precognitive events. It is a psychic level phenomenon.

Most precognitive dreams are given to awaken people to expanded dimensions of the mind. Often non-meditators will have them, for then they are forced to ask how they know such and such about a particular person. The mind, of course, is not bound by time. Hopefully these dreams direct your attention inward so that you become more interested in developing and learning about the inner self.

Prophetic or visionary
This dream comes from the highest level of the soul. It is a message from God or the God-self and concerns spiritual growth. It comes from the mystical level of awareness. It may have a personal message or may contain a universal truth. The vision is on a much larger scale than you commonly associate with dreaming. It has a totally different quality of awareness about it. You know you are awake, aware, yet also realize you are in the dream state. Prophesies of old and mystical teachings have come through the visionary level of consciousness. A vision has many qualities within it: insight, understanding, expansion, realization of the oneness of all life, power and love. I may have only one vision a year, but it is always worth waiting for.

Outside Interference
This dream is produced when something in your physical environment is causing enough disruption to get incorporated in your dream story. For example, you dream you are very hot and awaken to find too many covers piled on top of you. Ringing phones, barking dogs, cold feet on your back—anything can be a part of the dream, with no real message from the superconscious or higher self.

Also, if you fall asleep watching television or listening to the radio, any or all of that information can affect your dreams. It is always best to sleep in a quiet, restful environment. There is enough blaring into the subconscious throughout the day without adding more to it during your sleep time.

Indigestion or a full bladder also affects dream images. Just be aware when interpreting dreams that you may be picking up such outside interferences.

Anatomy of a Dream
Dreams often present themselves in three steps. First they give the time reference for the problem, situation or program you are running. For example, if you are shown a house you lived in when you were a child, the house represents an old program or awareness of self that started way back then.

Second, they will show you how the problem is manifesting itself now in your life and present awareness—what is surrounding it.

Third, they will present the solution to the situation, or how to learn from and move beyond the program or problem that is limiting you.

Most teaching dreams will follow this format. If you remember seeing a car, house, school or person of your past, that is usually part of the first phase of the dream.

Understanding Dream Symbols
The most curious thing about dreams, perhaps, is they speak to us in symbols. These may seem strange, but once we understand the meaning they are much clearer than our usual way of attempting to communicate with ourselves and others.

Why, you may ask, do I have to go through all the symbology in dreams? Wouldn’t it be easier just to get the straight message? Communication among people is difficult at best. So many things are open to misinterpretation because of blocks and perceptual filters.

My guidance has said that dreams are given symbolically because once you know your own symbols you cannot mistake the message. You will know instantly what is being given to you and you will understand it totally. Actually symbols are like shorthand and are much easier to interpret than verbal conversation.

Working with dream symbols might be compared to playing the piano. When you first begin you are certain that this has to be the most awkward and complicated thing you have ever undertaken. But after a routine of regular practice, your new skill becomes a natural, flowing easy part of your life. Or, take the computer industry. If you do not understand computer language, it all seems foreign and difficult. If you hear someone speaking a language different from your own, it is the old ‘it’s all Greek to me” feeling. If you speak, read and write Greek, however, it is another story.

So think of working with dream symbols as just learning another language. They are a higher, more accurate, more integrative level, that enables you to become aware of self as an interdimensional being.

The Starting Point
There are primary dream symbols which usually have the same meanings. A good place to begin is to realize that everything in the dream is you. You are the producer, writer, actor and director. People in the dream usually represent qualities within yourself you have projected on to them. Male and female figures represent your own masculine and feminine energies. A child represents your child part, an aged person an old part of self, either one that is wise or a part that is dying because you have outgrown it. Animals represent feelings you have about specific animals or the characteristics associated with them; for example, a wolf is danger, like the wolf in sheep’s clothing; a fox is cunning and craftiness.

A house, building, store or other structure is you. If it is large, it indicates great potential and awareness of opportunities and/or inner resources. If the rooms are cluttered, you obviously are not keeping your house in order. If some of the rooms are dark, they are parts of the self you do not know or understand. The attic or upstairs represents the spiritual self, the ground floor the physical or everyday self, and the basement the sexual or subconscious self. The various rooms and how they are decorated and arranged indicate that particular aspect of your life; bathroom—cleansing, eliminating, releasing; dining room—nurturing, fellowship, and so on.

Any vehicle—a car, plane, spacecraft, boat—also represents the self. It is your mode of traveling or being in the world. A car is your physical vehicle and indicates how you are traveling in everyday life. Going backwards, downhill, the wrong way? Got a flat tire? Are you speeding ahead in perfect control? A boat or ship is your emotional vehicle and lets you know what is going on in your emotional life. Are you being tossed upon the seas of life, going up and down? Are you in dry dock? Are you at the helm? Do you have an anchor?

An airplane or any airborne vessel is your spiritual vehicle, and if you are on your way to the airport, you know you are preparing to take off to new spiritual understanding.

A motorcycle or bicycle means you need balance in your life.

Water represents the emotions, fire is purification, air is the spiritual self and earth is the physical self (or degree of grounding).

Once you begin to recognize a few basic symbols, then you begin to look for colors (you do not dream in black and white), clothes, people, scenery, objects, sizes, shapes, numbers, words, letters and so on. Everything has its own significance. Fences or road blocks indicate that creative thinking is needed to get beyond a particular problem that is now facing you. The kind of road on which you find yourself traveling represents how smooth or rough your journey is at present. If you are on a freeway it is easy going. If a bumpy road you are getting there but it is a little rough at present. If you are paving a road you are making your way easier for the future.

Any symbols given to you—whether in fantasy, meditation or guided imagery—are all the same. They are coded messages from self to self. When you “get the picture,” you understand the situation.

You Are The Final Word
Remember that you are always your own best interpreter. You are the final word on the meaning of a symbol for you.

Do not be so gullible that you eagerly accept another’s interpretation. This is giving away power and neglecting the refinement and trust of your own inner resources. If the symbol in the dream dictionary does not feel right, look it up in an unabridged dictionary. Often meanings are there you have never considered before, and a little bell will ring in your head when you read one of them. The definitions offered in this book are generalized and if they do not apply to a specific situation, you need to keep looking, reflecting, and meditating upon a symbol until it reveals its true meaning to you. And by working them out, they become so simple that you know you are always being guided by your own higher self or the God within you.

Common Types of Dreams
Nothing is off limits in the dream state. We are open to experiencing all levels of self, all fears, frustrations, suppressed images, unknown territory, visionary insights. We will become more comfortable with all dream images when we learn to welcome them, whatever they are, as symbolic messengers of self.

There is no such thing as a bad dream symbol. The most grotesque or frightening dreams have the most positive insights once they are worked out. Remember, dream images are just trying to get your attention, so do not resist them. Seek to recognize the insight so you can move on to more joyous awareness. Many people have the following common types of dreams:

Nightmares
A dream known to most all of us is the nightmare. It is one of our most valuable teaching dreams because it shows us a fear that has been blown way out of proportion or something we have suppressed that is affecting us negatively. Often we do not remember the happy dreams. But the frightening ones will make more of an impression and we will be more inclined to work them out.

For example, a man had a recurring nightmare that a large rat was eating away at his neck. He would awaken screaming and clawing at his neck to remove the rat. Upon analysis, he discovered that the neck represented the throat chakra. He was not verbalizing his needs, and the suppression was gnawing away and resulting in self-destructive behaviors. The rat was an insecure part of self that was betraying him. We must always nurture the inner self, taking care to verbalize and express what it is that we want and need. After he began to take assertive steps to resolve these problems both at work and in his personal relationships, the rat dream no longer continued.

Disaster Dreams
Whether earthquakes, flood, fire or tidal wave, a disaster indicates a sudden change in some area of your life. A flood means an emotional upheaval and an earthquake means a big rearrangement in your affairs. They usually indicate turning points or opportunities to take advantage of a new direction.

See specific disasters in Part II.

Sexual Dreams
Sex is a big part of many dreams, and usually has little to do with the literal meaning of intercourse. Usually it indicates learning to balance the male and female polarities of our being. Remember that each one of us is both male and female, manifesting itself in a particular body.

To have sexual intercourse in a dream represents a merger of energies. If having intercourse with a man, it is a merger of masculine energies within the self; with a woman it is a merger of feminine energies. If you are a female (or male) and dream of making love with another female (or male) you actually know, it represents taking within the self qualities you associate with the particular individual. Making love with a member of the same sex usually has nothing to do with homosexuality.

Also, having intercourse in a dream with members of your family does not indicate a desire for incest. If making love with your father or mother, it represents a merger of wiser, nurturing qualities of the masculine or feminine self; with a son or daughter, an integration of the more childlike or youthful qualities of self. Remember all persons in the dream are an aspect of you.

A sexual dream accompanied by an orgasm may indicate a need to release and balance physical energy, and this is a way the body has of restoring equilibrium. We must remember that we are physical, sexual beings and this part of the self needs to be honored.

Costume Dreams
If you find yourself in a costume, it usually represents a past life. It may be that a problem you are facing now was the same one you were dealing with in another time and place. Remembering and understanding the dynamics of the costume dream will help you gain a perspective on whatever is presently confronting you.

Direction Dreams
The direction in which you are traveling indicates whether you are on the right track. If you are going up in a dream—up a mountain, up a road, ladder, staircase, elevator, whatever, you are going in the right direction. If you are going down, it is the wrong way. If you are going both up and down, your energy is scattered and you need to get centered. Going around in circles speaks for itself. If you are going to the right, you are following the path of intuition and guidance. To the left is the intellect and reason.

One man asked if he should participate in a conference and got a dream showing him riding on a down escalator, so steep that he had to heave his briefcase in front of him in order to hold on. Wrong direction, not in support of his study and projects at hand. Another example: a woman was considering the purchase of a certain automobile. She was shown the car sitting down at the bottom of a hill, and she had to walk down crowded streets to get there. She did not buy the car, and a much better offer came up within a few days.

Flying
Flying dreams are great fun, and usually mean you are consciously out of the body. If you can gain control of a flying dream you are free to go anywhere you like. You may think yourself in different places in time/space and instantly be there, or you may transcend dimensions. If you are flying around and then start losing altitude or think you are going to crash, it simply suggests that you have a fear of exploring higher dimensions and breaking out of limits. Try again the next night.

Falling
If you dream you are falling, you are probably having a bad landing coming back into the body. We all leave the body at night. If you jerk as you are dozing off, it is a bad exit. If you wake up and cannot move or talk, it means you are half in and half out of the body. We cannot move until we are totally in. Think yourself down to your feet. This will ground you.

We leave the body at night, or transcend physical awareness, to be taught and trained. The physical or third dimension is illusion; the dream state is reality. Through meditation and working with dreams you will never fear death as you will experience the fourth dimension and be as comfortable there as you are in the third dimension here.

Obscene Dreams
Nothing in a dream is obscene once you understand the meaning. Nothing is meant to insult you or offend you, but to get you to look at a level of self or limitation that you have avoided. Work it out and usually you will find a great deal of humor behind it.

Recurring Dreams
Like a movie rerun, there is a message you are not seeing. Recurring nightmares mean that you have not dealt with a particular fear. Recurring fence or barricade dreams mean there is a limit you imposed upon yourself that you have not yet recognized and removed. These are most important to write down and work out. Once you get the message they will stop.

Snake Dreams
Snakes frequently appear in dreams, and are power symbols. They represent the kundalini energy, or life force. One woman dreamed that a snake entered her lower body and moved up through the body trunk to the throat. The snake stuck in her throat, and she started choking. She awakened horrified. At first glance this does seem a bit unnerving, but actually it was a perfect explanation of what was happening in her life. The kundalini power is housed at the base of the spine. So the snake enters her body and begins to move upward. As we awaken energy it moves up through the various chakras. Her energy was flowing well until it reached the throat center, and there it stopped, causing choking. She was blocking energy in that center, and not verbalizing her needs and feelings. She was choking off communication because of fear and a poor self-image. This dream explained that her inner power was alive and well, and through releasing the blocks in the throat center by verbalizing and not suppressing she would get past present limitations in relationships with others.

Money Dreams
When you dream of coins or dollar bills, it represents changes coming into your life. Small coins, small change. Lots of bills, big changes.

Toilet Dreams
These dreams concern how well we are taking care of our inner garbage. Are we letting go of unneeded thoughts and experiences? Are we releasing the past so that we are able to live fully in the present? Difficulty in elimination or constipation indicates suppression. Diarrhea suggests forced elimination whether ready or not, and we are out of control in the process. A stopped up toilet means you are not releasing, flushing out negativity and wastes.

I had a dream with three stopped up toilets sitting out in the open. This was letting me know that I had to clean up my act mentally, physically and emotionally. I was now aware of things to do, priorities to establish, because the toilets were totally exposed for all to see.

Blood and Guts Dreams
Blood in a dream means loss of energy. If you are being stabbed, note the area of the body and check the corresponding chakra to see how you are losing energy. If you are being murdered or are murdering someone else, you are killing off a part of the self. This may be an aspect no longer needed, or a part that you are failing to nurture that is still valuable to self-growth.

Death Dreams:
A death means the ending of the old and making way for the new. A death seldom means a literal death. Rather it suggests the dying of a part of self necessary in the process of growth and regeneration. It may also mean you are dead inside and need to awaken feelings and sensitivity. So check carefully the symbols in the dream to get the message.

Chase Dreams. If you are being chased, or trying to run away from something, you are avoiding looking at a problem. If you cannot get your legs to move or are moving in slow motion, you will soon have to confront the fear you have been avoiding. When you are being chased, you are putting yourself through unnecessary anguish and pain. Remember to turn around and confront whatever aspect of self is chasing you, make peace with it, and the drama will end.

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