|
More about Dreaming
You say it is important to deal with the issues that are causing nightmares. How would you go about analyzing a dream and knowing why you have that nightmare?
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Health & Fitness category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Mental health?
Hmm...
First, try to identify common themes and symbols.
For example: all my nightmares featured different villians trying to harm me in various scenarios. However, I identified common themes... Most villians were fictional characters. (Meant that my subconcious wasn't trying to antagonize a certain person. The 'villian' was only secondary. What was important was how I _responded_ to the villlian.) I responded to most villians similiarly... I would run away. (Symbolic of how I tried to 'escape' problems in the waking world by either repressing or ignoring my feelings, avoiding a person that had hurt me instead of confronting them, etc.)
Ask yourself these questions: who is the villian? If the villian is someone that you know... What is your relationship with that person like? In your nightmares, how do you respond to the villian? If the villian is not a person... Then what is it? Is it a natural disaster? An accident? Unforseen death or trauma?
Symbols may be specific objects that continue to appear in your dreams, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Play a game... Write down what the symbol is and then what you think of in the first five seconds of hearing that word. Now what do you associate with the second word? Keep going...
If you visit your local bookstore you'll find numerous 'dream dictionaries.' I have found these books to be ineffective simply because symbols mean different things to different people. An excellent example is the swastika. Most people identify the swastika as being a negative symbol because of association with the Natzi party and white supremestists. But the original meaning of the symbol, before being adopted my Hitler, was very different and actually positive.
So ask yourself... What do I personally associate with this symbol? Does it remind me of anything?
You could also try working the problem from the other end. What I mean is... What is going on in your life right now? Are you stressed out? Why? Because of work or school? Are you having problems with your family, friends, significant other? Are you depressed? If so, why do you think that is?
Then... See if what you are encountering in the waking world connects in anyway to what is happening in your dreams.
If you're not having any luck, or would like a second opinion... Please feel free to describe your dreams to me. I may not be able to interpret your dreams for you... But I may be able to present you with an idea that may prove helpful in your own interpretation.
]
More Questions: |