Saturday, October 15, 2011

Understanding Your Dreams

Did you know that everyone dreams each night? It's just that when we rush to jump out of bed when we hear the alarm and start our day,our dream experience slips out of our awareness.One great way to understand more about your inner life is to keep a spiral bound dream journal,where you jot down notes about what you remember as soon as you arise in the morning.This way you can look for patterns in your dreams,and relate the dreams to what you may currently be experiencing in your life.Keep your dream journal right by your bedside,as dream memory can quickly fade.

In a dream journal,be sure to record your feelings in the dream,along with what you remember about the action,animals,people and images.Later,you can use that dream material to better understand deeper levels of youself.Over my 20 years in private practice as a therapist,clients often bring in their dreams and we collaborate together to understand their meaning.

Dreams do hold meaning,and can inform you about your needs.Dreams can help you understand concerns you are holding on an unconscious level which can guide you in making neede changes.A wonderful new book,called "Into Your Dreams:Decipher Your Unique dream Symbology to Transform Your Waking Life(Janece Hudson,EdD,Adams Media,2011) has some clever suggestions.Name each dream at the top of each page in several brief words,and date it.Below the dream,write a short account of the previous day's activities,including your thoughts,feelings,achievements,decisions,and disappointments.Hudson suggests if you can do this every night for a week,you will learn a great deal about yourself.

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