THERE ARE DREAMS, and then, there are dreams— dreams that disturb you, haunt you and move you to search for their meaning.

Did you ever experience waking up from a vivid and disturbing dream, and you say I have to know the meaning of this dream!? Or, did you ever have a dream that keeps on appearing keeps re-surfacing every now & then? Those dreams must be telling us something.

Well, to all of you who always wanted to interpret your dream — this is your lucky day as I shall be sharing to you some insights about dream interpretation.

You see, I am a dream enthusiast myself. Way back in high school my sister brought this peculiar book called “Dream Interpretation”. There, you can see an alphabetical listing of objects and their corresponding meanings. I call it peculiar because it did not indicate the author, the publisher or where the content was based. But who cares? A wide-eyed 13 year old that I was, all I care about was the fun of reading what the objects in my dream mean. But as I went on recording my dreams, I realized that minding my dreams is more than just a game. Dreams are like a theater of my inner thoughts and emotions. There, I played out the day’s events were left “to be continued”. Or, I lived out my wishes that were left unfulfilled. And yes, many times they were also prophetic, telling or warning me of the things to come.

As I studied psychology in college and graduate school, I paid close attention to those literature and theories about dreams. And boy, there are many interesting finds! Did you know for example that our are brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake? That everyone sleeps & have an average of four to five dream periods each night? In fact, a lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality disorder. Another interesting finding about dreams—- men tend to dream more about men, while women dream equally about men and women..

Many years of study about dreams also led to another conclusion: dreams reveal many significant things about the dreamer. Indeed, our Dreams can show us dimensions beyond the everyday; they can even tell us that we are not who we think we are and make us confront things we are not aware about. No wonder we all want to interpret our dreams.

Well, there are actually many perspectives in interpreting dreams. But at this point Id like to present the top theorists who revolutionized the study of dreams.

Lets start off with Sigmund Freud. In his Nobel prize winning book Interpretation of Dreams, he exposed the symbolic nature of dreams and said that dreams directly connect to our unconscious. Because our guard is down during sleep, the unconscious has the opportunity to act out and express its hidden desires or repressions. For Freud wish fulfillment is always the central idea of dreams and was preoccupied with its sexual content— In his book, elongated objects like knives or pens are phallus while any cavity or receptacle like bowls or caves denotes the feminine organ.

Carl Jung on the other hand argues that dreams are an expression of our spirituality. Jung believed in the wisdom that dreams gives. For him dreams can guide the waking self to wholeness and offer solutions to our problems. Unlike Freud, Jung does not believe in giving direct or boxed meaning to the objects in our dreams because for him, it is the dreamer who is in the best position to say what that object means. Jung is more particular about the recurring themes in a series of dreams rather than isolate each dream.

Frederick Perls is another important theorist in dream interpretation. He believed that dreams contain the rejected, disowned parts of the self, and that every character or object in a dream represents am aspect of yourself.

It is in the light of their theories, that I will present other useful hints or guidelines on how to interpret your dreams.

Interpret in context with your life. Please be careful with how you interpret your dreams and with the reference book you use. A questionable, syndicated dream book (like the one we play with in high school, unfortunately) can actually do more harm than good. A dream is correctly interpreted only when it makes sense to you, the dreamer. Interpret your dreams therefore in the light of your own experiences and in the context of your present life circumstances.

Look for literal signs & objective truths. An important step when interpreting your dream? Considered it literally first. It may just be a playback of your day’s thoughts and feelings. Look for signs of objective truth, such as warnings or reminders, before moving on to symbolic interpretation. Like if I dream of delivering a speech the night before I stand as a speaker of our club & forgot my points, it is obviously a reminder that I should practice more.

Your feelings more important than the story. If your dream makes no literal sense, then view it as a symbolic statement of your feelings at the time of the dream. Your feelings during the dream are more important than the story line of the dream itself. Example: If you dream of being chased by a dragon, the dragon is certainly imaginary, but the fear is real.” Reflect on where the fear in coming from? What does a dragon mean to you or reminds you of?

The feeling in the dream usually gives a clue as to what particular life situation you are in. Example: if the feeling tone of the dream is miserable, then the dream was sparked by some miserable situations.

Be mindful of the message of recurring dreams. Be mindful of the pattern of your dreams especially dreams that keep repeating (these dreams are called recurring dreams). . Dreams that appear from time to time may be telling you a significant message or reminder.

Dreams tell us of things we don’t know yet. Dreams do not come to tell us what we already know. If a dream seems to be dealing with something you are already aware of, look for some other meaning for it.

Dreams come to expand us, not to diminish us. Finally, remember that a dream is incorrectly interpreted when it leaves the dreamer unmoved or disappointed. Dreams come to expand or move us to positive change and not to diminish us.

I hope that these hints stimulate you to look for your own meanings. Use your dreams to gain greater insight about you and your life—I’m sure you’ll find it fascinating. As an old saying goes, what is more delectable than a look into your own self? So enjoy, marvel and keep on dreaming!

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Christabel G. Garcia-Chao has a BS and Masters degree in Psychology & works as a psychologist & director of PhilPsyCor. For feedback: email christabel_g@yahoo.com