**The importance of a Dream Journal**
Keep a journal next to your bed. When you wake up after having a dream, write as quickly as possible the dream you had in your notebook/journal. Then, every so often, go over all your dreams.
I have had a lot of dreams about this one girl I once liked. I remember my firest dream of her and I remember a few other ones of her as well. I dreamt of her nearly every night.
Now back to the journal. I kept one and I wrote about 2 dreams down (I need to get back into the habit of writing down my dreams). I completely forgot about this one dream I had. I remember finding my notebook where I wrote it down. I couldn't remember a single thing about the dream. It was such an amazing feeling. As I read through it, I remembered exactly what I dreamt (that is to say, I remember everything the same exact way as I had when I first woke up from the dream). Now I can easily recite that forgotten dream and picture I picture it as clearly as ever.
**Dissection of my Dreams**
Some dreams will have an obvious meaning, some will be not-so-obvious. Others, at times, are completely random and though they lack meaning, something (or many things) influenced that dream.
If you wan't to inturpet your own dreams, you must first be honest with yourself. You must be at least slightly aware of your problems, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, pains, fears, ect. You may know yourself, but you can't lie to yourself.
Random Dreams and influence
I won't lie, why we dream, I don't exactly know. To me, thats not really important. The fact of the matter is that we do dream. Our brains continue to run as we are asleep. When you go to bed without anything imparticular on your mind, and you have some weird dream, you may wonder why you dreamt what you dreamt.
Popsickle Stick Heaven
When I was very young, between the ages of 6-8, I used to watch Nickolodian. When I fell asleep, I dreamt that I was in this weird world, as if I was in some giant shoe box diorama. The walls were covered in blue tissue paper. Stars dangled on strings and there were a bunch of characters zipping around the place. Most were paper cut outs of cartoon characters that I was familure with. Remember the cartoon Doug? Hey Arnold and possibly CatDog, but there were a lot of popsickle stick people. There were a bunch of random objects such as bycicles and toy buckets and shovels.
It is obvious, I was influenced by the cartoons that I watched. Why popsickle stick people though? This may be before your time (well, you probally were to young to remember) but there was this little feller named Stick Stickly. Here is a link.
This is the best example of a random dream that I can come up with, influenced by every day life. Though I can't remember specificly what else was in my dream, I remember a lot of objects such as toys and other familure objects were scattered across my dream. The toy bucket and bysicle being 2 examples.
Desires
Many dreams we have are influenced by our desires. Some times we dream about objects we want. Othertimes, we dream about things with a deeper meaning, things that you can't simply buy.
The trail
I can hardly remember this dream. I shall explain the parts that I remember, the important parts.
Me and my classmates were all lost in these woods. We were traveling around and I remember we had to cross this deep fisser. I remember that the land was just clsoe enough that I could grab onto the other side and make myself into this bridge. Why, if the fisser was that close together, why didn't we all just jump? Well, dreams are funny that way. I was in gradeschool at the time.
The reason why I had this dream was clear to me as soon as I had it. I was around 7 or 8 at the time. I was never very popular in gradeschool. I remember wanting to be a leader. I wanted people to look up to me. I dreamt I made myself into a bridge because everyone was so greatfull that I was there to lead them, to help them out.
Here on out, I will be using the dreams I had of a girl I used to like. I have had plenty, and I remember them better than almost any other dreams I have had.
FeelingsSome dreams we have bring out our feelings.
The trail dream that I had was also a dream expressing my feelings. Sometimes, when you feel a certain way, it will show best during dreams. If you feel lonely, you may be lonely in your dream. I myself, I was in love (I do hate using that word but at the time, I was in love, now I question my own feelings and how I should define them).
She understandsFreshman year in highschool, I met a girl. We instantly got along great and I remember we talked a lot. She had a boyfriend that didn't go to school (he was a drop out), but I knew she liked me. I liked her too.
No for my dream.
I was in a classroom, I stood in front of the class and started explaining something very complex. Of course, it was simple to me. Everyone started laughing because to them it made no sence and sounded like nonsence. Of course, the girl I had just met was there, and she smiled and comforted me. She knew what I was talking about.
At the time, I just got out of gradeschool and I completely changed my behavior. I stopped being so annoying and tried to be more mature. I was a freshman, and looking back on it, I was still immature. Those were the good days. I felt like many people did not understand me. of course, people did, but nobody seemed to understand me as well as she did.
Worries and DoubtsSometimes you dream about things that you are afraid of. In the dream I am about to explain, I also had a question that I didn't know the answer to. I never asked that girl out and it was sophmore year. She still had a boyfriend. They had an off/on relationship and I never seemed to be there at the right time to ask her out. There was another guy, a friend of hers, and he liked her too. She began to show more inturest in him. Of course, she didn't like him, but I didn't know at the time.
The chaseI was in this mansion. There was a huge dinner going on in this one room, but nobody seemed to notice what was going on. I was outside the room. Why the room was there, I honestly don't know.
The girl I liked began to withdraw from me more in real life. She started playing the silent treatment. In the dream, me and the other guy were both trying to find her. I was alone, but he had friends. We were all being chased by these mysterious shadowy figures. They were after the girl I liked as well. I remember that throughout the dream, I was almost caught many times by the shadowy figures. I was trying to find her before anybody else could. I was scared to death the other guy would find her before me.
I finally found her, outside. It was raining. I found her and I asked her what was wrong. She turned to me. She had a frown. She hesitated. As she began to speak, I woke up.
I was trying to find her because I felt like she was hiding from me. I felt like she wasn't close anymore. I was competing with the other guy which was also obvious. The whole dream revolved around me asking myself "why are things going downhill?" and I feared losing her.
MetaphoresSome dreams have metaphoric meanings. Common ones would be the sensation of falling, which ussually means you feel like you have no control.
At this time, I was being completely ignored by her. I dreamt we were both in a small room. It was dimly lit and we were both in these chairs, cadycorner from each other. She was naked (but when I looked at her, I had no perverted feelings what so ever). She was like an angel. I began to speak to her, but she got up and inturupted me. She said something to me, but I can not recall. I remember her turning around and on her back I saw a tattoo. It was a crowd of people, all looking foreword. I knew who they were as a whole, but not individually.
They were the people who influenced her past, present, and even future. I was looking for myself but there were too many people. I woke up.
The reason why I had this dream was because I thought she was absolutely beutiful, like an angel. I wanted to know why she didn't talk to me. The people on her back, they were all the people who had influenced her, helped her, and hurt her. I was looking for myself. I did not know if I would be one of those who would be part of that circle.
ConclusionThere are many different reasons why we dream and there are many different things that make us dream. There are many different influences. Often, a dream may have all of the things I mentioned above. Some may have weird little things you remember in them, while at the same time having a metaphoric meaning and showing your fears, feelings, and wants.
