
Interpreting Your
Dreams
© Clare Gibson
Many of us suppress our emotions in the waking world especially extreme
ones for fear of somehow alienating those around us, or else of
appearing dangerously vulnerable, or even of disgusting ourselves.
This means that the only way in which we can safely express our true
feelings is in dreamland. Dreams that are flooded with a positive
emotion may furthermore often be categorized as wish-fulfillment
dreams, while those that are blighted by a negative emotion may be
classed as safety-valve dreams.
Below is an analysis of two emotions common in dreams: fear and freedom.
FEAR
If you had a nightmare that left you paralyzed with fear, you probably
awoke feeling very relieved to realize that it was just a dream, and
you may have spent most of the next day trying to push it out of your
memory. However, these types of dreams
are underlined by our waking fearswhich are very real, though perhaps
repressedwhich are likely to appear in our dreams again and again until
we confront and resolve them.
Symbolic and Verbal Associations
* Unconscious fears; phobias
* Something (or someone) that one finds
monstrous
* Repressed personal qualities or
characteristics
* External threats
* A call to action; the fight or flight
response
Positive Interpretations:
If you have a waking phobia of spiders, did you wake up in a panic
after dreaming that hundreds of giant, hairy arachnids were crawling
all over you?
Or, if you suffer from a fear of heights, did you have a nightmare in
which you found yourself dangling precariously over the edge of a very
high cliff?
If so, your dream was probably just mirroring your waking phobias,
especially if something in the real world has recently triggered your
fear.
And, as scary as your dream may have been to you, your unconscious mind
probably selected the nightmare scenario as a call to action, in order
to urge you to confront and conquer your fear.
If you have a recurring scary dream, you may find it helpful to tell
yourself that when you next have the dream, you will not run from
whatever it is that frightens you, be it spiders or boogeymen, but will
instead stand and face whatever it is.
If you do, you may be surprised to find that the dream consequences are
not as bad as you imagined them to be, which will help to allay your
fear and hopefully put an end to the dreams.
Negative Interpretations:
The unconscious will sometimes portray our fears in
monstrous form. Did you have a dream in which you were being pursued by
a hideous, fanged monster that had run you down and was about to
overtake you?
If so, the monster was most likely a symbol of something that you fear
in the waking world that you feel is threatening to consume you.
Doing some free association may help you to figure out whom or what
your dream monster represented. Was it your predatory lover? An
ogre-like teacher? Your own green-eyed beast of jealousy? Could your
dream vampire have represented your energy-sapping friend? (Or had you
just watched a vampire movie on late-night television?)
Once you have identified the source of your fright, you will be better
able to arm yourself in order to do battle with whatever it is that is
troubling you.
FREEDOM
Sometimes our dreams may fill us with an exhilarating sense of freedom
or liberation. And when we awake from this sort of dream, we may feel
somewhat let down or disappointed to realize that we must now deal with
the more mundane reality of the world.
Dreams of flying may be the most literal or obvious form of freedom
dreams, but almost any dream scenario may fall into this category,
depending on our own subjective feelings and experiences.
Symbolic and Verbal Associations
* Exhilaration
* Escape; release
* Casting off your shackles
* Being yourself
* Flying high, or floating free
Positive Interpretations:
In your dream, were you soaring over beautiful mountains and valleys,
or running carefree through a meadow of wildflowers? Or did your dream
self rise up and walk out of your tedious office job for the last time?
Dreams in which we finally break away from the chains and shackles that
bind usphysically or emotionallyare likely to fill us with an
overwhelming feeling of euphoria.
Wish-fulfillment, escapist fantasy dreams of this sort are special
treats from our unconscious minds, sent to us in order to make up or
compensate for the tedium or drudgery of our day-to-day lives.
These dreams may provide us with the little extra boost that we need in
order to cope with daily lifeand if we heed their message, they may
even encourage us to release ourselves from whatever (or whoever) is
holding us back or sapping our vitality in the waking world.
Negative Interpretations:
If you felt extremely sad or depressed after waking from a dream in
which you experienced ultimate freedom, do you feel that the dreariness
and the confines of your current life have chained you down so firmly
that there is no way of ever escaping to happiness?
For instance, are you in a relationship that is making you feel trapped
or claustrophobic? Are the demands of others, or of your workload,
stealing your time, your energy, or your individuality? Do you long for
a more exciting, stimulating relationship, job, or life? Do you desire
the freedom to be yourself ?
If so, your unconscious mind was probably using your dream in order to
urge you to seek appropriate help to take the necessary steps to
release yourself from whatever situation is confining you.
Though your dream may have provided you with a temporary release from
your troubles, you may continue to experience your waking sadness until
you make a conscious effort to cast off your shackles whether they were
put on you by yourself or by othersand to live your life in whatever
manner you find personally fulfilling.
About the Author:
Clare Gibson is the author of numerous books on dreams and astrology.
This article is part of an extract from her book: The Ultimate Dream
Decoder. The full extract can be read at
http://www.browsebooksforfree.com/books5-5.