Dreams can help us subconsciously work out problems that occur during our conscious state. If we learn how to understand, manipulate and control our dreams, we can use them as valuable tools to help us in our waking lives.
REM
Most of our dreams occur during the cycle of sleep in which we experience REM, or rapid eye movement. During REM sleep, our muscles become so relaxed that we are virtually paralyzed, with only our eye muscles rapidly moving. Your mind flashes pictures and events on its movie screen, while you watch in a basically paralyzed state (this paralysis is the body’s way of protecting us from acting out during a dream). REM sleep delivers the most fascinating dreams, in which the impossible becomes possible.
Deciphering the Meaning of Your Dream
People often come to me wanting help in uncovering the meaning of a dream. I can only tell you what the dream means to me and how I interpret it from my perspective. During a reading, I can tap into your energy field and tell you how I see your dream relating to your life and what it could possibly mean. However, you are the ultimate weaver of your own dream and therefore, the best person to interpret its meaning. One of the most successful ways I have found to help people interpret their own dreams is, during a meditation, I will tell you to go back to your dream and ask the dream to tell you what it means. Trust yourself to know. We will discuss how to best remember dreams and understand their symbolism below.
Subconscious vs. Conscious Mind
When we are dreaming, our subconscious mind is working while our conscious mind rests. The subconscious mind shapes our waking behavior, defines our character, manages our thoughts and determines how we live our lives when we are awake. When you are asleep, it is your conscious mind that is sleeping, while your subconscious mind remains awake. It is controlling your breathing, the functions of your organs, and the growth of your cells while you sleep, as well as your dreams. The subconscious mind thinks in symbols, in metaphors and in visual forms that are projected onto the screen of your mind. This helps to explain why dreams can sometimes seem to be very indirectly related to our conscious lives. In reality, however, our dreams are intimately connected to experiences from our daily lives.
How You Can Control Your Dreams Through Your Subconscious Mind
You can begin to control your own dreams and use them to your advantage to solve problems that occur in your waking life, through taking the following steps:
Go to bed with a clear mind, concentrating on one problem you wish to solve. Before going to bed at night, make sure that you have done everything you planned to do that day and can get under the covers with a clear mind. Think about a problem that you wish to solve, holding that problem in your mind for as long as possible. Ask the question that you wish to have answered. Tell your subconscious mind that when you awaken, you will remember the dream and its symbolism.
When you wake up after a dream, immediately write it down. Even if it’s in the middle of the night, write down your dream right away. Don’t get out of bed first – instead, keep a notebook or journal just for your dreams by your bedside and write down everything that you can remember about your dream. Include things such as colors, feelings, shapes and symbols from your dream. Write down how the dream made you feel.
Do not Google the meaning of your dream. While this may be tempting to do, you want your subconscious mind to be able to speak to you and give you the answer to your problem so that you will have the ability and the power to solve it yourself.
You may also choose to think about what you want to attract to yourself before you go to sleep. If there is something that you would like to do, or someone whom you would like to meet, hold the image of that thing or person in your head as you fall to sleep. In your dreams, your subconscious mind will reveal to you some of the ways in which you can attract this person or thing to yourself, and will also uncover some of the blocks that help to explain why you haven’t attracted this person or thing up to this point.
Repeat an affirmation before bed. This affirmation should define yourself struggling to manifest the answers to your questions. For example, if you have trouble holding a thought in your mind before bed, repeat to yourself over and over, “Tonight I will dream about _______.” To make this affirmation even more powerful, write it down before you go to bed. Taking something subconscious and bringing it into the conscious world by writing it down makes it more powerful.
Get the amount of sleep you require. If you don’t get enough sleep, your REM sleep cycle may be shorter, which means that you may not dream that often. If you are getting your required amount of sleep, your dreams will be more productive and easier to remember when you awaken.
If you find that you are having trouble remembering your dreams or aren’t getting any answers from your dreams, try focusing on holding onto one thought in your mind during your waking hours. If you hold onto this thought for long enough while you are awake, this will sometimes help you to dream about it when you go to sleep. What you think about during the day can greatly affect your dreams. In this way, you are inducing dreams through your subconscious mind.
Remember that not all of your dreams will be important. Dreams may be meaningless, or they may have a meaning that we can’t decipher for weeks, months, or years. A dream is a message that your subconscious mind is trying to share with you. Your dream state can help you to work out problems that you struggle with during your waking state. If we use our dreaming time productively and program our subconscious minds to produce a more peaceful, happy state for us during the day, the results can be astounding.
