Posts Tagged ‘Dreams’

Dreaming of Bread: The staple food of life.

When bread appears in your dreams you’ll want to look toward the possibility that it is symbolizing something that is foremost in your everyday life. Use the other clues in your dream to determine what that could be.

The condition of the bread in your dream is a major clue.

• Is the bread fresh?
• Is the bread stale?

Some other clues are:

• Where are you eating the bread?
• Who is giving you the bread?
• Is it fresh from the oven, signifying something new?
• Is it leavened with yeast which promotes growth, or is it unleavened?

When determining what your bread represents in your dream, you’ll want to keep in mind that it is something in your daily life. The bread could be symbolic of a person, place or thing. It could represent something personal to you and your internal everyday growth. It could also be about others whom you are relating to on an everyday basis.

How Bread Becomes a Dream Message

A personal example:

In 2010, I dreamed of bread that was fresh but extremely old. The bread had an expiration date on it of 1994. In my dream I knew I had to get rid of this bread.

I determined the bread in my dream represented old thought patterns that I thought were fine; the clue here was that the old bread was fresh to look at.

These thought patterns originated way back in 1994, so this clue meant that I had to search for something that had been going on since 1994! I was working in my front garden when the bread was given to me. This was my clue that I needed to work on erasing these old thought patterns from my daily life in order to promote self-growth.

I began to do just that. In recognizing these old thought patterns and how they were interfering with my own enlightenment, it allowed a new understanding to blossom within me and overcome the old thoughts.

The garden in my dream was doing well. It had purple and white flowers, roses, vines, a tree, and strong roots.

Some Final Thoughts

This is a perfect example of why I believe understanding the symbols in our dreams is so important. My understanding of the symbolic meaning of bread, gardens, and fronts of houses helped me to grow in my personal life and let go of things that I didn’t even know were holding me back. This is the power of the subconscious mind.

In order to “read” the subconscious mind it is essential to understand the language of symbols. Perhaps, in learning to read your own subconscious messages, you will help others to open up to this great fountain of hidden information we carry within us which is continually flowing upward into our dreams.

As always, thanks for reading. Good luck in all you do. Questions and comments please post below. Michelle

Bridges in Dreams: Transitioning and Connecting

Why was the first bridge built?

“First thoughts” are the basis for the symbolic meaning to the man-made objects in dreams. Before the first bridge was built it was a thought in someone’s mind. Faced with a desire to travel over a body of water or a chasm in the easiest possible way someone created a bridge. The bridge became a way to cross what would otherwise be an obstacle to getting where they were choosing to go. This is, therefore, the basis for its symbolic meaning. When you dream of a bridge you’ll want to think about where you are, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there.

What you are choosing to cross isn’t always a “bad” thing, although it can be. For instance a deep river isn’t bad; a bridge simply makes it possible to cross the river and get where you’re choosing to go without having to bring out the boat! On the other hand, if you’re crossing a 300 foot deep ravine a fall would be deadly. This would symbolize the life or death feel to bridging something in your life.

For example: A diagnosis of cancer could produce a dream of crossing a bridge over a ravine, symbolizing something that holds the power of life or death. You’re at point A and you need that bridge to get you to point B, to “overcome” the cancer. The bridge symbolizes how you’re going to get there.

Examples of possible bridges in your dreams.

When you’re traveling along a road in your dreams and you come to a bridge, the bridge itself is a clue that you are transitioning from one place, activity, condition, thought pattern, or life situation to another. What you are crossing over, as well as where you start and end up, are additional clues to the meaning of your dream. The type and condition of the bridge can also be clues to the ease or difficulty of this transition.

You could dream of a particular type of bridge simply because it is the type of bridge you are most familiar with. On the other hand the type of bridge could be a significant clue to the type of transition you are experiencing.

Steel bridges-Steel is hard and flexible. Modern technology is involved in the making of steel from iron. Steel bridges used symbolically in your dreams could mean a firm yet flexible resolve to get something done; transitioning you to another stage in your life.

Stone bridges-Stone is a natural substance, of nature.

Stone could symbolically represent a natural transition.

• A bridge from adolescence to adulthood.
• A bridge from earth to heaven. Life to death.
• A bridge to anything natural, not man-made.

Draw bridges- Draw bridges protect the castle. Symbolically in a dream they would protect you and your home.

When a bridge is easy to cross you are finding it easy to make a transition.

When a bridge is hard to cross you are having a hard time making a transition or realizing that it’s time to make a transition.

When a bridge is a thing of beauty you are happy to be making a transition. Beautiful things are happening. Quite possibly you have found a beautiful way to rise above a chasm in your life.

Using Bridge Slang Symbolically

“Burn that bridge”

When you are burning bridges in your dreams you are symbolically cutting off all chances of going back to a previous way of being. You are leaving a past situation, place, thought pattern, or activity behind you.

“Cross that bridge when we come to it”

This means to handle the problems in your life as they arise. Think of point A as your first problem and point B as your second problem. The bridge is the path between the two problems. When this type of a feeling shows up in your dream it is telling you to take care of the first thing before you move on to the second one. Don’t jump ahead of yourself.

As always, I hope my understanding of bridges in dreams helps you to understand your dreams better. Please write with any comments, questions or suggestions.

Thanks, Michelle

Bedroom: To sleep perchance to dream.

A bedroom as a dream symbol is filled with highly personal content.

Traditionally your bedroom is your personal, private place. As a dream symbol it will reflect these personal aspects of the self.

Dreaming, in the figurative sense, is about your most cherished desires.  Dreaming about a bedroom could be a clue that you are dreaming about things which you desire.  What do you wish to have, do, or be?

First Thoughts on Bedrooms

In order for a bed and a bedroom to exist they had to have begun in the mind of a human being. The first thoughts about these items are important because they form the symbolic, universal meaning for beds and bedrooms in your dreams. What do you imagine was the first thought that brought a bedroom into being? Was it created for a child, or was it created for the self? What you think those thoughts might have been will help you to understand your own personal symbolism for your dream bedroom.

Let’s begin with the fact that your bed is a soft, comfortable place where you lay your head to sleep. Perhaps the first bed was an animal fur rug placed next to an open fire. Somewhere along the way there was a thought that created the need for a room in which to place your bed.

There was a time when there wasn’t such a thing as a house let alone a bedroom. I imagine a bedroom came into being as a private place to sleep within a house.

Some possibilities for the creation of the first house have already been explored at Dreaming of Houses. When you begin from the point that you are surrounded by four walls and there are as yet no “rooms” in the house, what would make you want a bedroom?

Did you perhaps give birth to a child and need a safe place where the infant could sleep? Maybe you needed to muffle its cries from the wild beasts that would think it was food?

Perhaps you shared your space with 10 other people and you were getting tired of their “crap”, literally!!  Your thought would be that you would like your own space within the communal house so you created an area of your own, your bedroom. This is how you get to the basis that a bedroom in your dreams symbolizes your personal, private space.

Asleep Within a Dream

Being asleep in your dream represents not being aware. It means that you are not fully conscious of something going on around or within you. To awaken into the dream action means that you are becoming aware of what you hadn’t been fully conscious of before. The rest of your dream clues will help you determine what this could possibly be.

The Bedroom is Private

Choosing to share your personal space with your significant other is a huge symbolic clue. It is an agreement to share yourself, to share your naked, exposed self. It is a place where you want privacy for being physically close to others. Traditionally we think of sex as occurring in bedrooms. Sex as a dream symbol stands for a deep, tangible, connection to someone or something. Sex can result in new life, physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Your dream bedroom could be symbolizing this closeness.

The Bedroom as a Changing Room

When you are naked in your dreams this means that you are exposing parts of yourself, or you feel that parts of you are being exposed. This exposure can be physical, mental, and emotional. Your bedroom is the place where you can feel comfortable in exposing yourself when you undress.

Symbolically, you can use your bedroom as a comfortable place to explore things that you are keeping hidden from others, but also possibly from yourself. Maybe there are things that you haven’t really wanted to face up to or admit. Maybe there are wonderful depths to you that you’ve always thought to be too good to be true. You could explore these things safely in your dream bedroom.

Beyond the Universal Meaning: The personal aspect.

Your personal feelings and experiences with bedrooms in your conscious life will influence your symbolic use of bedrooms in your dream.

Anything and everything that has ever happened in your personal bedrooms can influence how you use them as a symbol. Perhaps you are bedridden and cannot leave your bedroom. It could be your haven or your prison depending upon your feelings about the situation. Whenever your bedroom shows up in your dreams you are exploring something personal to you.

When It Is Not “Your” Bedroom

I also feel that I should mention that some dream bedrooms are not about you at all. When someone else features prominently in your bedroom dream, it could be about something personal to them.

For instance, I had a dream in which my son was exploring a bedroom in a house. In reality he really was shopping for a house. We looked at many houses, but there was only one that was the exact replica of the bedroom in my dream. In this case my dream was about a future event that was personal to my son.

As always, I hope my thoughts on dream bedrooms can help you in determining the meaning of bedrooms in your own dreams. If you have any questions or comments, please write below or send an e-mail

Thanks,

Michelle

Dreams with Closets

A closet is a private place to store things. These things can be good, bad, or neutral. In your dream, a closet usually stands for a place inside yourself where you store or hide memories, feelings, actions, or even character traits.

Hiding in a Closet

If you’re hiding in a closet in your dream, you may feel the need to hide from something in your awake life. Or, you could be seeking safety from a threatening situation.

The Positive Side of Closets

If you see a wonderfully neat closet in your dream and you are feeling happy as you look inside of it, you could be dreaming about your wonderful organizational skills.

Going inside your closet could also be about keeping things to yourself. There is no need to do everything openly to garner praise from others, and doing good things secretly, “in our closets”, is ok. This is about being good inside, as opposed to shouting loudly, “look at me and see how good I am on the outside!”

A Dream Example

What you’re doing in the closet – what you’re putting in or pulling out of it – and how you’re feeling as you’re doing it will help you to realize what your dream closet is telling you about your life.

Below is a very short closet dream that had quite a nice message.

I had a priceless platter (serving dish) in a closet in my dream. I didn’t really interact with the platter, but I knew that it was valuable.

The message: Stored or hidden inside myself is the ability to serve others. Serving others is of great value. I was reminding myself that my services had value.

As always, I hope my understanding of closets will help you in the interpretation of your own dreams. Thanks for reading, Michelle

Dreaming About Food: Feeding the mind, spirit, and body.

When you eat food in a dream, you should ask: What are you feeding yourself?

Are you feeding your mind, body, spirit, emotions, or any combination of the 4?

Food is meant to nourish you; to sustain your life and promote your growth. (You grow new cells every day!) Food in your dreams, therefore, can help you to see how you are using the things around you to sustain your life and promote growth. The condition of the food in your dream tells alot about the condition of the “thing” the food is representing in your life.

What condition is your food in?

• Nutritious: Represents what is good for you.
• Junk: Represents what is bad for you.
• Good: Represents something that is good.
• For instance, if you think candy bars are good, they would represent something good, although not necessarily good for your body.
• Bad: Represents something bad, it’s the opposite of a good food.
• Fresh: Could represent a new idea.
• Rotten: Could represent something that is no longer a good thing. Something is spoiled. Rotten food could also point to that fact that you feel someone is “spoiled rotten”.

How are you getting your food?

When you are involved in harvesting, gathering or purchasing the food in your dream, this points to a personal involvement in bringing what is needed to you at this time. You are doing the necessary work to supply that which is needed to sustain life.

When someone else is bringing the food to you, or gifting you with the food, this points to something from others. When the food is “good” this implies something good. When the food is “bad”, you obviously don’t want something from that source.

Is someone feeding you? Note what they are feeding you.  If you believe the food is “good”, then there probably isn’t any issue, but if you believe the food is “bad”, then you might be getting fed a crock of shit by somebody in your conscious life.

When someone is spoon-feeding you, it could point to the fact that you feel as though you’re being treated like a baby.

Sharing your food is, of course, about sharing things in your life that could be of benefit in sustaining someone elses life.

Throwing away your food is getting rid of things that no longer promote growth, for whatever reason.

How are you eating your food?

Are you having a picnic? Picnics are a carefree meal, eaten in the open. There’s nothing to hide, no worries. When things in our life are going good we say that life is a picnic. Picnics in our dreams speak of being carefree, without worries.

Are you at a banquet? Banquets are an abundant meal. Usually for some type of celebration. Banquets in our dreams speak of good fortune and happiness.

How do you feel?

When you feel as though you are starving for food in a dream, this points to a feeling of a desperate need for something.

When you are feeling “stuffed”  this points to an overindulgence in something.

Personal experiences with food in dreams:

Dream: An old lady at a well telling me to eat blueberries.

Meaning: I was being told to eat blueberries long before the antioxident rage, they are extremely good for you.  This dream was telling me to eat healthier.

Dream: Racing against time looking for just the right food. Being tempted by many things, but refusing to settle until I found the perfect, nutritious one.

Meaning: This dream was about not settling for things in my life, it was telling me to keep seeking until I found the things in my life that were good for me.

Dream: In a few of my dreams I am at a banquet or in a food court before I pass through doors where I can see people who have crossed over.

Meaning: I am being given that which I need for my growth — which is spiritual in this instance –  in order to visit this place.

The other clues in your dream will help you determine what your dream food is representing at this time. I can only hope that my understanding of food in dreams has given you food for thought!

As always, thanks for reading,

Michelle

Bathrooms in Dreams: Ridding excess waste.

A bathroom is a room in your house where you eliminate waste, clean and groom yourself. In a dream, a bathroom means getting rid of anything that makes you feel yucky.

• A bathroom allows you to rid yourself of all things that are considered waste; things that you don’t need. The act of using the toilet symbolizes this: getting rid of “crap”.
• Maybe you’re hanging on to some anger, resentment or misconceptions. Showers help you wash these things away.
• Sometimes bathrooms show up in dreams when our physical body really has to use the potty. Try and wake yourself up!

Where is the bathroom in your dream?

In public?

Sometimes you will see a toilet in your dream that is completely out in the open where everyone can see you. Using that toilet would be exposing a part of you in a very open way. When you choose to use the public toilet it means a willingness to be exposed and rid yourself of waste.

Inside your house?

You are getting rid of things inside of you. Your mind needs to get rid of things that are no longer needed, just as your body does. Using toilets in your own home symbolizes the mind getting rid of those unnecessary mental structures.

On your front lawn?

The things that you are getting rid of are visible, outward things. They are most likely on the outside of you, things that could be visible to others. One example could be excess weight.

At your workplace?

The things that you are eliminating are constructs that no longer serve you. For example, I was being very passive in a work situation that was calling for a more proactive approach.

I dreamt I was eliminating solid waste in a work bathroom. This symbolized the flushing away of the stuff that wasn’t working for me anymore. This dream helped me to get rid of the passive unproductive “crap” that I was holding on to and begin to take charge of my personal work environment. 

Pulling the symbolism together.

Bathroom processes invariably leave you feeling cleansed as you get rid of old stuff to make room for new things that you need for personal growth. It’s that wonderful feeling you have after a nice refreshing shower, or how much better you feel when you eliminate the waste that your body doesn’t need.

Take your cue from how you feel about being “exposed” in your dream situation, while taking care to keep your conscious thoughts about the action separate from your dream thoughts and feelings. You might find that you are very comfortable in your dream situation, but in your conscious life you’d be horrified. Try to get rid of that “yuck” feeling you have about the dream after you’re awake and get to the truth of how you were reacting within your dream. How you were reacting in the dream will lead you to the true meaning of it, as opposed to what you’re thinking about the dream after you are awake.

I hope that my understanding of bathroom as a symbol will help you in your processes of elimination.

Dream Journaling – Part 3

In part 2 of my ongoing blog series on journaling, I talked about how to record an entire dream. I gave some tips on how to stay in your dream and how to record your now-thoughts as you were journaling.

In part 3, I will be concentrating on separating your dream into the clues you give yourself in order to better understand your dream. Keep in mind that each symbol that you dream has a universal meaning as well as your own personal meaning to it.

You will begin this section with a completely written dream. You will need to separate each component, analyze them, and then put them all back together in a way that gives your dream the correct meaning. I use Dream Chart – 1, below, for this purpose.

Charting a Dream

The easiest way for me to explain how to do this is to give an example dream. This is a real dream that was given to me to analyze. You will simply substitute your own personal dream and follow the exact steps I am using.

The Dream as told to me:

I have titled this dream Zombie Swamp.

I am in a boat in a swamp. The boat is broken in two. A woman is in the other 1/2 of the boat. We come to a blockade of sticks and branches. There are bad guys. They resemble Night of the Living Dead zombies. I get out of the boat and start running. They chase me. The zombies transform into really fast little goblins when I start running. I use a maneuver I know – stop real quickly, then use my shoulder to fling them over me onto the ground using their own momentum. Stop, grab, and drop. I wake with my arm and shoulder killing me from flinging the goblin. I am the actor in the dream, performing the action.

Now chart the dream, as I did below, by separating it into the following categories.

Dream Chart – 1

When charting a dream, just as in writing your dream, an important thing to keep in mind is that every single thing in your dream means something. It’s in your dream for a reason. The more you work with your dreams and add to your personal dream dictionary, the more these symbols will make sense.

Examine the items from your chart. Write anything you know about each item. Use a dictionary when necessary.

1. What is a zombie? Basically, a dead thing that has life.
2. What is a swamp? A stagnant body of water.
3. A Boat? A means to travel through the swamp.
4. The woman could be personal or universal; universal meaning the other 1/2 of the self. The union of male/female representing wholeness.
5. Blockade of sticks and branches? A barrier. This actually reminds me of a dam, the kind that beavers make. A dam blocks the flow of water and could create a stagnant swamp. Water, universally, is life energy.
6. Stopping is the key to defeating the goblins — interesting clue. Is there something the dreamer needs to stop in order to create positive life-giving energy flow back in their life? The zombies have created a barrier to this positive energy flow.
7. Instead of cool, clear, running water, they have a stagnant swamp.

The key here is to figure out what the zombie represents in their awake-life.

The dream points in the right direction and further dream analysis may reveal how to “bring back clear, flowing water.”

Next, examine any current, past or future life situations to determine if the dream is about them. If anything leaps out at you, it could be the key you’re looking for.

The main life event that leaped out at me concerning the zombie dream was:

The dream was told to me during the dreamer’s 50th birthday party. Could it be about the thought of growing old?

Imagine that time, as in “aging over time”, is the zombie/goblin.

Using the chart above, I’ll analyze the dream picking out the most noticeable things first.

• The dreamer is performing the action. He is the actor. This is a clue that the dream is about him. See post Identity: Are you the actor or the watcher?
• The boat represents floating along.
• The swamp represents stagnation.
• The blockade represents the 50th birthday.
• The zombies represent how time slowly lumbers along.
• The goblins represent how time suddenly speeds up.
• The dreamer is feeling scared as he runs; it is scary how fast time moves.
• Running represents using a more personal energy, using his own legs, in running from the issue. (As opposed to floating along.)
• Flinging the goblin represents using personal energy to work on the issue.
• Stop, grab and drop; lay it out cold!

The message is, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could stop time?”

My Interpretation:

• The dreamer is running away from turning 50.
• Those time goblins are way too fast, he’s not going to get far!
• His answer, time’s not going to get the best of him.
• He has a few tricks from his youth up his sleeve.
• He’s going to stop, grab, and drop time in its tracks!

That’s not to say that there aren’t other interpretations for this dream.

The dream interpretation changes based upon what you determine the zombie/goblins to represent. In the above example I determined that the zombies represented time. They could represent a different worry that the dreamer was running from. Ultimately, the decision belongs to the dreamer, which is why I enjoy teaching how to interpret your own dreams using a dream dictionary that you personally create. I will be showing you how to write your own dream dictionary in a future post.

Analyzing A Dream – In Short

1. Begin with a completely written dream.

2. Give your dream a title if you haven’t already done so.

3. Chart the dream by separating it into the following categories:

• symbols
• actions
• thoughts
• feelings
• misc. (I use miscellaneous for those things I think are important yet don’t seem to fit into any of the categories.)
  

4. Examine the items you have listed on your chart and write anything you know about each item. Use a dictionary when necessary.

5. Examine any current life situations that may be relevant to the dream.

6. Interpret the dream, if possible, by fitting the dream clues in with a current, past, or future life situation.

Conclusion

When I first began studying my dreams, I read a lot of books trying to understand how the interpreter came to the conclusions they did concerning the meaning of a dream. I needed to know how they were analyzing the dream and coming up with their interpretation in order to understand the meaning of my own dreams. These journal posts, in fact this whole blog, is my way of trying to make available to you what wasn’t there for me. One of the most important tools for dream interpretation is the ability to understand your own personal symbols. My next post, creating your personal dream dictionary, should be very helpful with that.

Is there anything you’d like to see in future posts? Leave me a comment here or send me an e-mail at Dreamer@words2words.com.

As always, thanks for reading,

Michelle