Understanding Dreams: Dream Meanings and Interpretation

Common dreams and the possible interpretations are as follows -

• Test Dreams - anxious and perturbed feelings, lack of confidence, others are judging.
• Flying Dreams - a strong mind and will, being afraid of challenges and success, being on the top of a situation.
• Chase Dreams - fear of being attacked, presence of self-destructive actions, method of handling stresses and fears.
• Naked Dreams - inability to conceal something, fear of being disgraced, being caught unaware, desire to get noticed.
• Teeth Dreams - anxiety regarding appearance, fear of being abashed, sense of powerlessness, lack of self-confidence.
• Falling Dreams - presence of insecurity and instability, feeling of failure or inferiority, yielding to a sexual urge.

Dream Meanings
Depending upon the physical characteristics, sexual outlook and native desires, animals are seen in dreams. The dream meaning can be deduced by considering the wild and uncivilized side of the personality of an individual. Flying or chirping birds symbolize happiness, love, balance and a sunny perspective towards life. Presence of body parts in dreams depend upon the dream ego and the conscious identity. Sometimes the dream may forebode any health problems of the specific part. When ants are seen in a dream, the meaning is that there is a feeling of being neglected as well as unimportant and a gross discontent in the daily routine. If there is an unterminated communication with somebody, characters appear in the dream till the issue is finalized. The presence of different foods in a dream can be connected with new beliefs and ideas that one imbibes and digests mentally.

Dream Interpretation
Dream Interpretation was explained by Sigmund Freud as the basis of fulfillment of desires. Calvin S. Hall proposed a theory of dreams In 1954, according to which, dreaming is considered to be a cognitive process. Hall stated that the dream images were simply visual symbols of personal views. According to Hobson and Solm, dreams are a type of psychosis. They are either a delirium or schizophrenia. For interpreting dreams, the use of any dream dictionary is not recommended. The dreamer should ponder upon the following topics, so that the import is revealed.

• the actions in the dream
• the prominent symbols and relation between these
• the issues, combats and situations
• the connection of one dream with past dreams
• how the dreamer acts in the dream
• the opponents and supporters in the dream
• part of the dream, the dreamer would like to avoid
• what does the dream demand from the dreamer
• why did the dreamer have the particular dream

When all such information is collected and arranged, it is quite possible to interpret it correctly.

Dream Analysis
The first step in Dream Analysis is to write down the dream. Then, disregard the petty details and recognize the main theme of the dream. This can be attained by pure commonsense. The names, places, things are to be neglected and the emphasis should be only on the action in the dream. It must be kept in mind that a majority of dreams are not prophetic and are pertaining to the dreamer. Now that the theme is found out, the part of the life it applies to must be thought of. The emotional state during the dream plays an important role. If many parts of the life fit in the theme, the emotions assist in detecting the correct part of the life. Further, the details of the dream are taken into consideration. Here it is worthwhile to consider the symbols in the dream. Symbols must be taken personally. Every dreamer associates symbols with different things. So, generalized definitions would not help as they furnish a common meaning and not a personal one. All these issues have to be kept in mind in Dream Analysis.

In a nutshell, understanding dreams is a very complex topic and requires considerable application and experience to deal with it successfully.