Discovering Dreams

Enhancing Dream Recall And Interpretation

By Elizabeth Wallmann-Filley PhD; C.Ht

Dreams have always fascinated humankind.
Throughout the ages, many cultures and
peoples have gleaned the importance of
dreams and dream messages as guides to
individual growth, reflections on family
activities, and solutions to personal, collective
and world affairs. Some societies encourage
dream investigation as a means to connect
with the collective consciousness. Others view
dreams as a window to the individual soul's
journey. If you choose to begin (or deepen) a
process of systematic inquiry into the
phenomenal realm of dreams, you may be
well served by allowing your own intuitive
guidance to direct new paths of
understanding.

We can all learn to remember our dreams,
confront our nightmares, and/or become more
conscious while in the dreaming state. As in
so many endeavors, it just takes a little
practice.

Dream Recall

Enhancing dream recall begins with a firm
desire to do so. You might encourage yourself
by stating or repeating a short phrase as you
are falling asleep such as, "Tonight I
remember my dreams", or "When I dream I
also retain the feelings, images, and
concepts". When you are awaken - either in
the morning or after a dream - remember to
lay still and allow dreams details to come to
your conscious mind. Dream awareness can
be very fragile, initially, and immediate
movement can prevent rich remembrance.
While you remain still, replay the dream in
your mind, so as to capture all elements of the
story. Then, with paper and pen close at hand,
write down your dream, along with any
awareness or insight you may experience.

The Dream Journal

Keeping a dream journal provides many
benefits. It prepares a record of dream (and
waking) patterns and concerns, while offering
an opportunity to examine emotions, and how
those events affect our subconscious. A
dream journal provides a safe place to
ventilate thoughts and feelings, and prepares
a framework for examination. Journaling helps
to clarify thinking processes, illuminating our
inner self, and shine light on our "dark side." In
the long run, dream journal can also confirm
our energetic interconnection with others and
may illustrate that consciousness is not
time/space dependent.

You might use the following dream journal
format as a template in creating your own
dream journal. Be flexible and open, however,
and use what works. Remember, formality is
not as important as your intentionality.

Dream Journal Ideas:

***Date/ time of dream

***Dream title

***Contents (brief)ญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญญ

***Dream story

***Dream ending

***Emotions of the dream

***Vivid images

***Waking events of the day before the
dream, including problems, concerns, focus

***Connections and initial Interpretations

***Main message or moral of the dream

***Literal and metaphoric meanings

Making Sense of Dreams:

After your dream is safely recorded in your
notebook or dream journal, you may choose
to play with the "interpretation" of that dream.
Unlike recalling and recording your dreams,
interpreting dreams makes use of both
intuitive and concrete mental processes to
create meaning. Before deciding on exact
interpretations, it is often helpful to look at the
common elements involved in the interpretive
process.

Dream Elements:

Space/ time structures: These structures
reveal the temporal pace of the dream,
whether it occurred indoors or outside, in a
large space or a small space, etc. Looked at
interpretively, the space/ time structure may
give us a general ideal about our feelings of
our current life space.

Inanimate structures: These are the
building, houses, chairs, tools, etc., that help
build the structure of the dream. They often
represent particular capacities to do things in
our lives, such as a dentist dreaming with
dental tools; or they can represent our "self-
structure," such as a house with many rooms
may indicate the awareness of many aspects
to our personality.

Recent memory images: Often, dreams
are populated with images from current
events preceding the dream. These may
indicate a need to synthesize the day's activity
or may be used as metaphoric conditions for
deeper processing.

Remote memory images: These are
memory images that come from further back
in our lives, which may not have been fully
integrated in our conscious mind and/or are
linked in some other way with present day
circumstances or perceptions.

Symbolic coverings: Symbolic coverings
can occur in many of our dreams. These are
often interpretable by looking at puns and
associations. If a person is feeling blue, for
example, there may be a preponderance of
blue objects in his or her dreams.

Disowned aspects of ourselves: Each of
the previous categories of dream images can
represent disowned elements of who we are.
This is most dramatically illustrated in
nightmares that show terrifying forces coming
to destroy or hurt us. The reality is these
"forces" may be aspects of our personality
that want to "come forward" (such as a young
child's anger at parents divorce).

Our Consciousness and Willpower: Our
own consciousness and will power are most
evident as we "wake up" within our dreams.
This is known as lucid dreaming. It occurs
when you exert voluntary control over aspects
of your dream (such as consciously choosing
to fly in the dream world). In non-lucid
dreaming, we may experience our own
consciousness as a desire to end or
terminate a dream.

Dilemmas and problems: If we have
focused on a problem or artistic creation just
before going to sleep, we may dream about
that problem and discover an answer. Many
cultures have used the dreaming world as a
vehicle to find solutions for problems or
inspirations to creative projects.

Psychic Phenomenon: The dream state is
a deep state of consciousness and may be
an energetic link to non-local existence. Over
millennia, individuals have reported out-of-
body travel, connecting with the deceased,
moving forward or backward in time, etc. In
such dreams, it is best to listen and affirm
your own intuition. If you have strong internal
indications that you visited India while
sleeping, then you might consider it so. And
remember, more is always revealed, if you let
it.

Interpretations:

There are many roads to interpreting your
dreams. Some avenues involve the idea that
there are universal symbols that show up in
dreams. Some books contain a catalog of
definitions for dream elements, thus providing
you with a basic source for interpretation.
Another approach is to let yourself become
each dream element and discover what
intuitively comes to you. For example, let's
say you dreamed that you were in a large
house with many rooms, and were having an
extravagant dinner party. Use your intuitive
imagination and "become" the house. Feel
yourself as this big house with many rooms
and people in it having dinner. What do you
feel (as the house)? Notice what comes to
mind. Now, become the guests. Notice how
it feels to be at someone else's extravagant
dinner party. What comes to mind? As you
"become" each of the elements, notice and
write down your thoughts. Also notice what (if
any) emotions surface. This can be very
revealing.

Remember, no matter what means you use
for interpreting your dreams, you are the final
authority on a dream's meaning and
significance in your life.

Basic Steps for Dream Work:

***Expect to understand at least one layer of
your dream's meaning.

***Imagine yourself waking, remembering,
and recording the dream.

***Keep a blank journal (or dream journal) and
pencil by your bed.

***After writing recording your dream, refrain
from analyzing it right away.

***Make note of details in the dream
(especially the "weird" ones).

***Focus on your emotions, particularly those
that are strong or disturbing.

***Give the dream a title that captures its
specific content.

***Reflect on your own interpretation and
understanding.

***When discussing dreams, remember that
dreams are very personal.

***Take insights from your dreams and put
them into action in your life.

extravagant dinner party. Use your intuitive
imagination and "become" the house. Feel
yourself as this big house with many rooms
and people in it having dinner. What do you
feel (as the house)? Notice what comes to
mind. Now, become the guests. Notice how
it feels to be at someone else's extravagant
dinner party. What comes to mind? As you
"become" each of the elements, notice and
write down your thoughts. Also notice what (if
any) emotions surface. This can be very
revealing.