DECODE YOUR DREAMS

EARLIER IN THIS book we talked about hacks to help you sleep better, but what’s your dream life like? Tuning into what you dream about may unlock some useful information.

Dream analysis is a therapeutic technique that’s been around for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians, for example, believed that dreams contained important messages and prophecies.

Dream analysis gained more recognition during the nineteenth century when psychotherapists began to integrate it into their work and research. It became even more widely acknowledged with the publication of Dr. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900. It was believed that dreams provided clues about our subconscious thoughts.

Regardless of whether you believe in dream analysis or not, noticing patterns in what you dream about or how your dreams make you feel can provide helpful insight into what’s going on in your life.

Given that I’ve already blabbed about gratitude journaling, food-mood journaling, and writing down affirmations, it’ll probably come as no surprise that I’m a fan of journaling about your dreams.

How to Start a Dream Journal

A dream journal practice can be as simple or as elaborate as you like. For example, when I was a teenager and had lots of free time and was bored in class, writing down my dreams in a separate notebook and spending time looking up the different symbols and their meanings in a dream dictionary was totally doable. As an adult juggling many responsibilities, writing down my dreams has become part of my morning journaling ritual. As with many practices, consistency and convenience are key.

Read Up on Symbols

Especially when it’s a new practice, familiarizing yourself with common dream symbols can help you develop a basic understanding that can serve as a foundation. While it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole questioning the validity and science behind it, what’s really important is what certain symbols mean to you. As you get more comfortable with the different signs and symbols, you may find that you’re able to start forming your own meaningful associations. A good starting place is an online dream dictionary. I have always been partial to Dreammoods.com, but there are so many out there, it’s worth checking out a few and seeing what resonates with you.

Notice Patterns

You might think of dreaming as our mind’s way of processing stuff we maybe can’t or don’t want to focus on in our waking life. Sometimes it can be stuff we don’t even realize is taking up real estate in our brain.

Do you have the same anxiety dream all the time or notice similar themes cropping up? Do you dream about the same people or the same situations? Are your dreams stressful or do they give you valuable insight you can use? Have you noticed that you feel a certain emotion or see certain colors when you dream about a particular person? If the answer is “yes,” devoting some waking time to thinking about that pattern could be valuable, as this pattern could be your brain’s way of trying to focus your attention on something important to you.

Unpleasant dreams like anxiety dreams and nightmares can be especially telling. If you notice you tend to have a similar anxiety dream, that could be a sign to ask yourself what you’re feeling anxious or stressed about and whether there are steps you can take to do something about it.

It’s not uncommon to replay events—or variations on them—in our dreams. If those reruns are pleasant, you might tune into that happy feeling and try to come up with ways to manifest more of that in your life. However, if you’re having dreams that are distressing, maybe that’s pointing toward something you need to work on healing in your waking life.