Why interpret dreams?

WHY INTERPRET DREAMS?

Many people feel that important messages are hidden in dreams. They strive to decipher each symbol and discover what the true path is. Are messages hidden inside dreams? Should we follow the advice we get from a dream?

It is likely that advice is hidden inside dreams. But that is not always the case. Dreams link to logic and intuitions. They do help us make decisions. But think about how your own logic and intuitions work. You do not sit down and try to come to a decision on some issue. Instead you work through all the available evidence and look at all the arguments for and against. Dreams are linked to how we assess and analyse a situation. That is slightly different. We may analyse a situation without coming to a firm decision about what is best to do.

Try not to see dreams as linking to some hidden realm where the right path is revealed. Intuitions are often just hunches. The dream mind makes associations and often makes very accurate judgments. For instance you may spot some change in behavior and wonder why that change has taken place. You may say to yourself "my sister seems a little quiet recently - I wonder if there is something wrong?" In some cases she maybe behaving differently because something is wrong. But you could easily be way off the mark. Thats the thing with intuition. It is by its very nature wrong sometimes and right sometimes.

Often we have to make a decision on something but really we are not sure. Yet that is just life. We have to make a guess. We often do not have enough information to make good decisions. Should you trust your boyfriend? Should you allow your seven year old son to walk to school on their own? Has your foot healed? These are the sorts of questions the intuition asks. Often the answer is not clear.

Its also easy to misintepret a dream. So do not try to base some major decision on a dream. Often we really do not know what to do and seem to want guidance from above. That is misguided. The truth is that dream symbols often have several different meanings. A dream can be about the past and the future. It can capture some real thoughts or feelings. It maybe about you but equally may easily be about someone close to you. We can never truly understand the meaning of a dream. You can guess.

This website has collected many dreams which follow on from big events. Either something big has just happened or something was really on the mind of the dreamer. In all cases though the issue mentioned is assumed to be what has caused the dream. If something big has just happened then are we really going to dream about anything else? When you fell asleep on the night of September 11th,2001 then would you truely be thinking about anything other than the terrible events in New York. Whatever you dream MUST be related in some way to what has just happened. It may link to some fear or some insight. Its very difficult to see what truely caused the dream. But we must assume that the dream links to what has been filling your mind. In fact we can compare what we have been thinking and the insights we have just had. Often a dream will link symbolically to some key insight into what has just happened. If you wake up thinking "the thing I really didn’t like was how he tried to manipulate everything I said" then thats a key insight. Try to see how a dream may try portray such key insights. Its still not easy even then. Dreams make very loose associations.

It is important to interpret dreams. But its more of an intellectual study. It may help us understand how the brain works. If you study hundreds of dreams following some big event(as this site does) then surely you can glimpse how the mind works. But do not assume that any interpretation is correct. The interpretations on this site are thought to be correct - yet a total guarantee is not given. The dreams are especially chosen because there is a higher chance that the interpretations are correct.

LINKS TO RELATED WEBPAGES

A study of nightmares: This article takes many dreams which have been researched and believed to be understood. Therefor by reducing a dream interpretation to a quote we can start to build up our knowledge of what triggers nightmares.CLICK HERE

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DREAMS AND THE MIND
DREAM THEORY :Towards a theory of dreams
THETAWAVES :Hallucinations and dreams
DREAM SYMBOLISM :Neural patterns and their relevance to dream interpretation
ROBERT STICKGOLD:Robert Stickgolds studies of dreams and the game Tetris

NIGHTMARES
DYING MAN'S NIGHTMARE: Making sense of a medical condition by dreams.
DISTURBING DREAMS : Nightmares.
NIGHTMARES : Childrens Nightmares.
WORLD WAR ONE NIGHTMARES : Dreaming of the front line.
NIGHTMARES : A practical study of nightmares showing what individual nightmares meant
CONFRONTING FEAR IN NIGHTMARES : By Dorian Paul

SLEEP PHENONOMA
HYPNOPOMPIC AND HYPNOGOGIC IMAGERY :Hallucinations and dreams
HYPNOGOGIC IMAGERY :Example dreams
SLEEPWALKING :Dreams and sleepwalking
SLEEP DEPRIVATION :The TV reality show "shattered"
CIRCADIAN RYTHMS :Dreams and melatonin
LUCID DREAMS

DREAM SYMBOLISM
ANIMALS IN DREAMS :By Dorian Paul
ANIMALS IN DREAMS : Animals in dreams
COLOURS IN DREAMS : By Urban
COLOURS IN DREAMS : By Kafka
Archetypes and myths : Jungs archetypes by Dorian Paul
INDIVIDUATION : understanding the Jungian approach
ARCHETYPES : Jungian archetypes
EVIL ARCHETYPES : By Dorian Paul
Heros and archetypes : by Dorian Paul
DREAMS AND MUSIC : by Dorian Paul
CRUSH DREAMS : The archetype
DREAM DICTIONARY? : Are we influenced by the dream dictionary we use by "Comrade Bart"

PREMONITIONS AND TELEPATHY
PREMONITION STUDY - A personal study showing how dreams can link to the future
HEART TRANSPLANTS - Does the heart have a memory
DAVID MANDELL :Psychic paintings?
OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES :OBEs and psychic phenonoma
Premonitions :places deep into the future?
NEURAL IMAGING:Attempts to prove or disprove the existence of ESP
SCIENCE :Towards an understanding of premonitions
EXPERIMENTS :Premonition studies and false premonitions

OTHER ARTICLES
EMOTIONAL DREAMS : Using dreams as a way of expressing your emotions by Dianne Porter
BIG BROTHER : A study of the Big Brother reality show
THE SPIRITUAL APPROACH : By Always Dreaming
INSPIRATION : By Dorian Paul
THE FUNCTION OF DREAMS Why do we dream
COMMUNICATION SKILLS : Dorian Paul on left and right brain issues?
MEDITATION :Using meditation to expand your mind

FAITH AND DREAMS : By Weiss
DREAM JOURNAL : dream diaries
MONTAGUE ULLMAN : Swedish researcher
DREAM FORUMS : Helpful advice
ETHICAL GUIDELINES : By Dorian Paul
FACTS ABOUT DREAMS : Some thoughts
FAQS : Some frequently asked questions

LINKS
Links page :Reciprocal links