In the psychological world, dreams are a symbolic representation. They reflect our everyday lives in that they are expressing what has been consciously or unconsciously occupying our minds. Psychologists often ask the people with whom they are working to bring dreams into session work. These dreams bring vital information to treatment and help highlight conflicts, wishes, traumas or fears. Analyzing a dream does not need to be done with a therapist who is highly skilled in dream analysis.
There are things that you can do to help you find the thread in the fabric of your own dreams.
First: Learn to remember your dreams. Most people can't remember their dreams, or believe that they don't dream at all. The fact is that every night we dream. So, tell yourself that you will remember your dream and invite that possibility before you go to bed each night.
Second: Keep paper and pen by your bed. When you wake up, see if you can jot down aspects of your dream. As you do this, you will get better and better at recording and remembering your dreams.
Third: Look at the themes in your dreams. Once you are awake see if you can find the theme in your dream. Is it a dream about fear? Is it a dream that illustrates a wish? A conflict? Sometimes there can be people you know in your dream or strangers. What do these people represent? Things that don't seem right, are weird or don't make sense are perfectly normal in dreams. The point here is to sense the thread of what is going on. Even names or words that come up in the dream can have great meaning.
Fourth: Link and associate what these themes, objects and people mean to you. Once you have these identified, see how they link to your everyday life - your struggles and your experiences.
Fifth: Don't try too hard or make yourself feel bad if you can't get it. Dream analysis takes patience and creativity. Sometimes I get a dream right away, and then there are times that I don't. But when I finally realize what the theme of my dream is or the issues therein, I always have an "a-ha" moment.
