Most of us dream. But only a very small percentage of us understands that dreams hold much importance and opportunity for our self growth, improvement and self discovery. But many mystics of both Eastern and Western origins are aware of the fact that dreams hold a wealth of knowledge. Because of its inherently vague nature, dreams and the art of interpreting them never entered mainstream sciences. Jungian psychology is the closest mainstream science that took dreams seriously.

This article is a concise description of the method of dream interpretation that I use. There are several points/guidelines to take note.

1. The dreams are often symbolic representations of what we are experiencing or are about to experience in the near future. I have found that my dreams mostly will convey messages of occurrences that will most likely happen within a month's time.

2. Usually the people that we encounter in the dream symbolize the different aspects/characteristics of ourselves. For example: a woman may represent a feminine aspect of oneself even when one is male in the waking hours. Much of our repressed tendencies also tend to manifest themselves as characters in dreams as well.

Have you ever wondered why we sometimes appear and behave so differently in our dreams. Well, my take is that dreams offers an outlet for us to be 'somebody else' that we never had the opportunity to be in our waking hours.

3. Often how we feel and the emotion we felt during the dream reveals and conveys much about the meaning of the symbols.

Intuition and the willingness to see examine ourselves with brutal honesty are two very important factors for successful analysis.

Below is a list of commonly encountered symbols. I believe, we should take into account the possibility that the symbols may hold certain semantics and meaning that are specific to individuals.Therefore there are no hard and fast rules.

Common dream symbolism

Water- associated with emotion.

Ocean or any large body of water - often represent the subconscious mind. The state of the sea often is an indication of the emotional state as well

Eating/digesting- Trying to understand the issue/situation

Walking- learning, assimilating

Path, road or pavement- life or spiritual Path/journey

House- Our self. Within the house, the various rooms could represent the various aspects of self.

Snake- knowledge

Tree and forest - subconscious feelings that governs our emotions

Bridge- a transitional phase or period of transformation / change

Below is an example of a dream and its interpretation.

Dream
Miss A was visiting a foreign country. She boarded a train that has a stop in a shopping complex and it passed through mountains and terrains. She remembered telling the train driver that she wanted to alight in the shopping centre so that she can find her way home.

Instead of alighting at the intended destination, she alighted at a strange place. She had difficulty getting to her destination. She contacted her partner. Though they communicated, she was still lost in the strange place. In the moment of depression, she woke up from the dream.

Symbolism involved
Foreign country- unknown knowledge, new experience
Train- accelerated learning and understanding
Through mountains and terrains- ups and downs
Find the way home- spiritual path
Train-in-charge guiding aspect
Her partner male/ mental aspect
Queen shopping center station an intermediate stage that must be attained.

Interpretation

Miss A is currently experiencing and/or learning something that is still unknown to her. It is something that is rather difficult for her to grasp and apply. She is/will be experiencing some feelings of ups and downs. However, if understood the newfound understanding and knowledge could significantly accelerate her self-growth and discovery. However, for the time being, it is something not within her experience yet (as symbolized by alighting at a strange place instead of the designated station). When she tried contacting her male partner (which symbolizes using her mental reasoning), she was still confused and thus became depressed.

Well, that's all for a quick lesson in dream interpretation. I hope it is informative and beneficial.

Happy Dreaming...