Understanding your Dreams

by Dr. Daniel Condron

Why remember dreams? Of what use are dreams? Dreams are valuable because they are communication --- messages from our subconscious mind. Dreams offer insight into who you are and what you can do to become a happier, more fulfilled, and productive human being.

Where do dreams come from? The answer is, they come from the depths of your subconscious being. What is the subconscious mind? The subconscious mind is one of three divisions of mind. The subconscious mind is the part of mind you use while sleeping and when dreaming. It is the division of mind having to do with the intuitive or perceptive abilities.

The conscious mind is the division of mind you use in conjunction with the five senses. It is the division of mind you use during your conscious, waking hours of the day. The power of the conscious mind is reasoning. The three faculties of reasoning are memory, attention, and imagination. The third division of mind is the superconscious. The superconscious mind contains the plan for creation. It is the plan for the individual, the Self, becoming a creator. It is this plan or blueprint that the subconscious mind or soul strives to fulfill. When you are living in accordance with this plan, there is a feeling of fulfillment and an inner knowing that you are living up to life’s plan and your soul’s assignment for this lifetime.

The first step of remembering your dreams is having a desire to remember your dreams. This is the reason this book started with questions and answers about dreams. By becoming educated concerning the value and importance of utilizing your dreams a desire to remember and use your dreams was stimulated. My desire is for everyone on the planet to learn to interpret the Universal Language of Mind. The more people understand the universal language the more there will be universal communication. The more we have universal communication the sooner we will have universal cooperation. As each person learns to listen to the messages from their own subconscious mind, his or her soul then learns to lead a more productive, growth filled, satisfying, and fulfilling life. The first step of having a goal is wanting to achieve that goal. You may think that having a desire to remember your dream is no big deal. Yet, 99% of the population doesn’t have a desire to remember their dreams. They don’t see the value of dreams. They just get up in the morning and they’re off to work. They may or may not like their job. Most continually look forward to Friday and the weekend so they can get away from work even though when they awake in the morning the first thing they start thinking of is work. One can be much more productive with each day’s experience by heeding the messages from one’s own inner Self at the beginning of the day.

Of course, the first step in interpreting your dreams is remembering your dreams. Some people say, “I don’t dream.” This is not true. Everyone dreams every night, if they go to sleep. Dreams occur when attention is removed from the conscious, waking mind thereby allowing it to move to the subconscious mind. The attention of the thinker must be somewhere either in one part of mind or another. When the attention moves to subconscious mind dreaming begins. It is possible to learn to cause your attention to move from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind at will. This requires some time and effort. However keep in mind that each time you remember a dream you need to write it down on paper in your dream record journal or notebook. Then interpret the dream using the guidelines given in this book and you will be gaining greater awareness and use of subconscious mind.

In order to remember your dreams, procure a pen and notepad or notebook where you can record your dreams over the days, weeks, and months ahead. Place your spiral notebook or journal and an ink pen next to your bed where you can reach it easily, first thing in the morning. Date the page in your dream notebook with tomorrow’s date as tomorrow is the day you will be recording tonight’s dream.

Now, get in bed and as you prepare for sleep say to your Self, out loud if possible, "I will remember my dream." Then go to sleep. Upon awakening the next morning, the first thing to do is write your dream in your dream notebook. Whatever you remember, small or large, write it down. Do not be dismayed if the dream is short. By writing your dream in your dream notebook, you will be learning how to remember more of your dream the next day and next week. Gradually, or quickly, you will come to remember more and all of your dream each morning. Write it in detail. It should require no more than ten minutes to write your dream. If you recognize someone in your dream, record their identity. Write where you are in the dream. Write what you are wearing. Make a record of any animals and also of any unusual happening.

Draw a line down the middle of the page in your dream book. On the left hand side record your dream. On the right hand side record the symbol's meaning and the interpretation of the dream. Over time your dream notebook will provide you with a record of your mental and spiritual growth, development, and evolution. It will show you your progress in life and you will come to know where you came from and who you are. You will also learn to identify dream symbols becoming familiar with the language your subconscious mind "speaks".

How do you begin the process of interpreting your dreams now that you have remembered and written them down? First, note whether you are using your free will, directing yourself and in control, in the dream. Is a wild dog chasing you and keeping you from where you want to go? This informs you that you are not in control in your waking life and that you are allowing a habit to control you.

Other dreams may reflect a great freedom. You may find yourself flying in a dream. You may find you have gained the ability in your dream to soar above the buildings and treetops with ease and to go to wherever you desire. This type of a dream indicates that you, the dreamer, are creating your life to be the way you want it to be. You have created very definite goals for yourself that you are moving toward. You know you have freedom to create in your day to day life and do so.

The next thing to look for in the dream is to determine what you are doing in the dream and where you are. Are you in a house or an open field, in a city or a car? If you are in a car then are you driving the car and is it going where you desire? Is someone else driving the car? Is the car in good condition or does it have a flat tire?

When things are going well for you in the dream then this indicates you are making your life what you want it to be during your waking hours and are learning and developing your Self awareness. By remaining focused on your ideals and moving toward your goals with consistent effort then learning, growth, and fulfillment will occur which is then reflected in your dreams. In your nightly dreams your subconscious mind always reports your thoughts and attitudes while in the activities of the previous day.

What is a Nightmare?

A nightmare is a dream where you, the dreamer, are not in control. In a nightmare, events occur to the dreamer instead of the dreamer causing the event. Life, whether in the dream state or in the waking state of mind, is unpleasant when you are not in control. Events seem to pass you by or happen to you and you can only re-act. This reaction usually takes the form of despair, anger, grief, fear, doubt, resentment, worry or a host of other types of limited and negative thinking.

Life is pleasant and joyful when we are causing the things we want in our life to occur. Sometimes people give up or surrender to effects or the world around them. Then they blame “life” for their troubles or station in life. These people have forgotten the Universal Truth that thought is cause. The decisions you make in life are based on the thoughts or attitudes you hold. Attitudes are thoughts or thought processes that have been practiced repetitively and habitually for an extended period of time usually many years. Many times the attitudes a person holds were first learned from his or her parents as a part of growing up. The difficulty arises when as an adult, the individual refuses to identify the limitations of the upbringing and go beyond them.

The less control you have in a dream the corresponding less control you exercise in your waking life. Put another way, your out-of-control dream reflects your out-of-control waking life which is caused by negative and limited thinking.

The ability to create and move at will in your dream state, shows the dreamer has, in the previous day’s experience, been decisive, goal-oriented and creative. Such a person never blames the environment or other people for their successes and failures but rather understands that they cause their success and fulfillment in life through their thoughts and action. Such people are usually very happy, fulfilled, and successful individuals!

When you remember and write down your dreams for awhile -- gaining greater awareness of yourself and your environment and learning to focus your mind -- you will find your dreams become stabilized, proceeding from one event to the next.

Some dreams are precognitive. A precognitive dream is a dream that you remember and a day, week, month or year later you experience a physical event that is similar to or exactly like the dream you recalled. Sometimes people ask, “How can a dream be symbolically informative and, at the same time, precognitive?” All dreams in your dream journal can be used and applied. Interpret the dream immediately so you can benefit instead of waiting for days, months, or years worrying about when or where or if an event will occur.

After you have been recording your dreams regularly for about six months it is useful to review all the dreams you have recorded beginning with the first dream and reading up to the present. You will find that some of your night dreams have come partially true. You may discover some dreams that have occurred physically in a very similar fashion to how you dreamed them.

In order to learn to have more precognitive dreams one needs to practice concentration exercises every day. This is the first step. As you command your concentration, you start becoming precognitive. Look for the cause, remember that thought is cause. Look for everything that you do in life and everything that comes your way. Identify what thoughts you’ve chosen that have put yourself in that position. Be aware of your thoughts during the day. Meditation also helps because you align more with subconscious mind and it’s through the use of subconscious mind that you’re going to develop that precognitive ability. Through dreams you have those messages from subconscious mind. To become precognitive, build abilities in concentration, meditation, and dream interpretation.