I always, always, always recommend that my readers keep a dream journal.
Dream analysis is utterly fascinating and the best way to get ALL you can from the experience is to keep a dream journal. Even if the dream seems unspectacular and commonplace, you should write down the details.
For example, in your dream journal you should include the following information:
- How you felt during the dream.
- How you felt when you first awoke.
- Who was in the dream with you.
- The predominant colors in your dream.
- Any dream symbols you recall
- The date
- VERY IMPORTANT: Include a few words about how you felt during the day. I’ll tell you why in a minute.
You don’t have to go into great, lengthy details in your dream journal (unless you want to, of course!). You can simply write down a series of words and names. Just remember to include HOW you felt during and after the dream. You don’t even HAVE to have an actual dream journal, you could most definitely use an old notebook! However, don’t use random loose sheets of paper. Why? They’ll inevitably get lost and unorganized. What you’re looking for is a pattern. You need to see what dream symbols you frequently dream about and what people show up often in your dreams.
You also want to watch for situations or emotions that recur in your dreams. Do you often lose things in your dreams (a sign that you feel overwhelmed)? Are you often mistreated in your dreams (a sign that you feel like a victim)? So, as you can see, it will greatly benefit you to have your dreams chronicled in a very organized and ordered manner.
Why What’s Happening in Your Life at the Time Matters
You want to include what’s going on in your life at the time of the dream. For example, if you’re feeling stressed at work, write it down! You’ll be able to see what sort of dream symbols and situations occur when you’re dealing with stress in your life. Also… and this is pretty cool…. you’ll often find out exactly WHAT or WHO is causing you the most stress! If you have recurring “frustration” dreams and a certain co-worker consistenly shows up in them, he or she is a source of your stress and frustration. It could be one small thing they do (or fail to do) that irritates you or it could be every single thing about them! On the other hand, the stress could possibly come from the fact you don’t know how to handle or deal with them. Only you will know for sure.
The thing is, the dream journal and your entries in it will give you a great place to start looking for the root of your stress.
Emotions we feel during the day impact our dreams like nothing else. If we experience FEAR during a movie, for example, we’ll probably face it again in an upcoming dream. That’s why we always say, “I dread my dreams tonight!” after seeing horror movies. We know all too well the fear factor will rear its ugly head again!
The same is true with other emotions. If we feel angry or annoyed, something will probably happen in our dreams that angers or annoys us. It’s as though our dream tries to sort out the strong emotions by “acting out” similar scenarios. Also, if we’re feeling particularly close to someone, we may have dreams that are very pleasant, positive, and even romantic.
This is why it’s so important to jot down a few words about how you’re feeling in “the real world” at the time of the dreams.
I hope you’ll strongly consider keeping a dream journal. The benefits are amazing and, trust me, you’ll have a really fun time!
The Bedside Dream Journal: A Nighttime Memory Book, shown at the top of the post, is an excellent dream journal. It’s available on Amazon for just a little over $10.
Here’s a recently submitted dream for dream analysis:
I’ve been dreaming a lot lately about being lost. A few nights ago I dreamed I was in a town I used to live in but I didn’t recognize any of the restaurants or stores. I didn’t know which way to drive because nothing looked familiar. I knew it was the town but it just looked different. Last night I had a similar dream but I was in my aunt’s house. The rooms were different and each time I went through what I thought was the right door, it led to another room. I kept going in circles and just couldn’t get out. I’ve read where you say that you can tell a lot about the dream analysis by how you felt during the dream and after waking up. You’d think I would have been frustrated in these dreams and after waking up but I wasn’t. I enjoyed driving around and seeing new things in the first dream and was even laughing in the second one. I’m just wondering what’s behind these dreams! Thank you in advance. – Lara
Lara, I have actually had similar dreams at different times in my life. Ironically enough, the first dream you described is alarmingly close to a dream I once had. I dreamed that I was driving my daughters around a town that their father/my husband and I lived in when we first got married. Some things were the same but a lot was different. I had no idea where I was going! Like you, I didn’t feel frustrated, worried, or upset. In fact, in my dream, my daughters and I stopped and ate at an Arby’s (which the town didn’t even have!).
These types of dreams are simply your brain processing change or changes in your life. Given the fact that your emotions (during and after the dreams) were positive, I’d guess that these changes have been positive – or, at the very least, NOT terrible! My own dream came right after my family moved to a new home in a city. I was excited about the home as well as the city, so the emotions were all positive and upbeat.
Even when the changes in our lives are positive and desired, our brain still has to sort of wrap itself around everything and process what has happened. When everything else is, literally, turned off while we sleep, our brain seizes the opportunity to sort things out. When your own brain has finished processing the recent change or changes in your life, your lost dreams will, themselves, get lost.
“I had a dream that has me pretty worried. I dreamed a few nights ago that I had been given a $50,000 check from my boss. I went immediately to some sort of store that I’ve never seen before and blew every last penny on stupid stuff, I mean really STUPID stuff. Things I didn’t want and things I’d never buy in my real life. At the end of the dream, I was very sad and frustrated because I blew all the money and didn’t have it any more. I kept thinking, “I want it back. I wasted it all and I can’t get it back!’ What does this dream mean? I haven’t lost anything or anyone in my life recently. Does this mean I’m going to lose a lot of money or lose something or someone near to me? I’m a real wreck with worry!!!” – Rita
First of all, Rita, this dream isn’t an omen. Dreams don’t tell the future – because no one can really, accurately do that. This dream has a real, genuine meaning, but before we get to it – I think it’s a good idea to remind everyone that dreams aren’t, by nature prophetic. HOWEVER, they can point out situations or needs to us that’ll allow us to avert potential problems sensed by our subconscious mind.
Here’s the thing, our subconscious mind is much more in touch with what’s going on in our mind and heart than our conscious mind is. Our conscious mind has so many different things to process and take care of during the day. Too many things are vying for our attention! However, when we yield ourselves to our subconscious mind (such as in sleep or deep mediation), we give our subconscious mind a chance to speak up and have its say.
This is why dream analysis is so VERY important. If we can grab and hang onto what our subconscious mind tells us in our sleep, we can learn extremely valuable things about ourselves and our lives – things that aren’t caught by the over-stimulated and over-worked conscious mind.
In this particular dream, the dreamer (Rita) is getting a very clear and distinct message. This dream indicates that Rita is, deep down, afraid that she’s missing a great opportunity. I believe that her subconscious mind recognizes that she’s letting something slip by that she’ll later regret. This could be a job opportunity, a relationship, time spent with a loved one, a house, a car… basically anything.
Only the dreamer knows for certain what may be slipping away from her!
Rita, my suggestion would be to get alone someplace very quiet and private. Go deep into your thoughts and find this opportunity that your subconscious mind is afraid of missing. The dream symbolism is that you are “blowing it.” The fact that you felt so dejected and wanted so desperately to “get it back” indicates that we’re talking about time. This sort of dream is very common amongst parents who feel they aren’t spending enough time with their children. A lot of people have this sort of dream when they’re afraid they aren’t spending as much time visiting their parents or other family members enough.
The thing your subconscious mind is most afraid of losing seems to be TIME. Money and Time are often interchangeable in dreams and money is a commons symbol for time (after all, they’re each things we SPEND and the subconscious mind would have a difficult time symbolizing time, itself).
If you dream of being a bridesmaid, the dream analysis and interpretation all depend on one thing: How you FELT in the dream and how you FELT as soon as you woke from the dream.
If you felt sad or angry during the dream (and upon waking) the dream means that you’re currently feeling jealous of someone or something. You may even resent the attention they’re getting and wish some of it were coming your way!
If you felt happy or excited during the dream and upon waking, you are currently feeling very happy for someone – probably in regard to a romantic relationship they’re enjoying. Your happiness for them is simply spilling over into your dream(s).
Of course, if you are currently planning a wedding with (or for) someone, the dream is only a symbol of the wedding you’re planning for.
Hole in the Road Dreams: What they mean and why it matters!
A recent dreamer submitted a frustrating dream they were having for analysis. This dream involved a hole in the road that they knew they had to avoid. In fact, in the dream, they were aware of the fact that falling in the hole meant certain death.
The funny thing was, they could see into the hole and it was only about a foot deep and beautiful yellow flowers were on the bottom! The dreamer wondered why such a shallow, innocent looking hole would elicit such fear in the dream. As he/she pointed out, “… the thing that had me so frightened during the dream, and even after I first woke up, seems silly now. It looked like a flower bed that had sunk about a foot!” However, the dreamer also mentioned that this was actually one of the worst nightmares they’d had in a long time and that they woke up “frightened” and “breathing heavily.”
While it may seem that avoiding the hole would have been easy, the hole in the dream was on a very narrow road that the dreamer HAD to travel on. They simply HAD to get past the hole without falling in. Dreams are amazing like that, we just KNOW something but most dreamers have no idea where the knowledge stems from. What makes these dreams even more fascinating is the fact that the knowledge does stem from someplace… the dreamer’s subconsciousness. Which is, of course, why dream interpretation is so important and fascinating – our dreams truly do let us know what’s going on deep in our minds and hearts.
In the dream of the hole in the road, the dreamer KNEW that the innocent-looking hole was deadly. While this may be a bit extreme for what lies in their day to day world, make no mistake about it: There is something in their life that spells trouble. Whether it’s a relationship, hobbies, a goal, plans, job, etc… There is something that, while on the surface seems innocent (as lovely perhaps as a flower bed), could spell disaster. Deep in the dreamer’s subconsciousness, they know it.
The thing about this dream that worries me most is how the dreamer felt during the dream and upon waking. So much about a dream’s interpretation lies in how the dreamer felt (or feels). The intensity of the feelings indicates that the potential danger that lies within the dreamer’s real life isn’t something they should play around with. When our dreams are this intense and bring about such strong emotions and feelings, make no mistake about it, our subconscious mind REALLY wants us to listen!
Of course, changes in our lives shouldn’t be made on the grounds of a dream alone. The dream should serve as a reason to look more closely at what’s going on in our lives.
If you’ve ever had a dream about a hole in the road (or along your path) that you were afraid of falling in, realize that it’s symbolic of something in your life – something that you’re afraid of “falling into” or “falling prey to.”
Some people, who have recently quit smoking, will have hole dreams. The dream symbolism is that they’re afraid of falling back into a harmful habit. Many times, realizing that their subconscious mind fears for their well-being is JUST the extra incentive they need to avoid the pitfalls while awake as surely as they do in their dream.
Have you ever personally had hole dreams. Do you realize what the hole in the dream symbolized? Share your dream and experiences in the comments!
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