Some people would surely jump at any conclusion upon waking up with the ideas formed through what they have dreamed of. However, there are some dream symbols that seem to be irrational or incomplete due to the possibility of these being forgotten when one has already awakened. To avoid these concerns, people should be able to follow some very easy techniques in order to analyze their dreams even as beginners in the field of dream psychology. In the studies of Freud and Jung, the dream meanings have been found to come from the unconscious mind telling the person of certain warnings and fulfillment of goals. These can be done through these simple steps upon waking up, either in the morning or in the middle of the night.

1. Before going to sleep, keep a notepad and pen ready at the bedside. This will keep the person ready to write down thoughts as soon as possible at any time. It would also be helpful to put a date on top of the sheet to ensure that all details are available, in case there is a chronological or repetitive dream.

2. Upon awaking, recall or replay the events in the dream. Jot down the dream symbols and events that hold most of one’s interest or those that created emotions. Determining these feelings may also be relayed by matching the emotion with the event or dream symbol.

3. During a quiet time, it would be good to go through the notes that were made on the dream notebook to recall the events and feelings. Add some thoughts and additional information that might have been forgotten.

4. Clear the mind of any concerns and worries by doing some stretching, relaxation, and breathing exercises.

5. With this collection, the person can now try to relate these thoughts to the events encountered in reality. Most of these would surely relate to daily responsibilities such as family concerns, work, or school. There are also instances when the strongest feelings and concerns that a person experiences, especially those that are repressed or kept in much secrecy, arises in relation to the dream.

6. If there is a feeling of uncertainty, it would be best to revisit the dream collection later on after a few days. The time for this will allow a person to reflect more on the experience and clarify one’s mind.

In having an understanding of one’s dream, a person is able to have a clear picture of how the mind works. It is also a way that the mind and body relay the information and its beliefs to the person which is through dream symbols. There is no harm in finding out about one’s dreams because it is usually something that would aid the decision making responsibilities of a person like that of what Jungian dream psychology has been explaining for several years now.

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Dream meanings have been continuously interpreted through the years. Many have developed false beliefs and distorted the truth behind our dream interpretations. You might even think dream meanings are complete hoax, but dream psychology proposes the most accurately way to explain how and why dreams occur.

Since dream symbols are difficult to dissect because of the hidden dream meanings, some people might think that there would be no way we can finally interpret our dreams. In contrary to this, dream psychology reveals ways to discover the true meanings of dream symbols. Carl Jung’s study of dream psychology reveals that the unconscious messages hidden in our dreams are protective of our well-being.

A simpler method of dream interpretations is by putting it into our own words. Sigmund Freud used a similar method of free association in dream interpretations of his patients. Jotting down specific entities in a dream will help a person discover the dream meanings and signals. There are dreams that might show repetitiveness, consistency, and sometimes, continuity. All of these pieces work together in defining our life choices and experiences.

Let us try to look into common dream symbols and possible dream interpretations that can possibly apply to it.

• People: As Carl Jung explained the Anima or Animus, our unconscious portrays people who we characterize ourselves with. We project our character using other people to represent our weaknesses or strengths. People in our dreams may mean specific traits that we have or want to have that other people have attained.

• Animals: In reality, we describe animal to have instinctive nature. Similar to this, animals used as dream symbols uncover our instinctual emotions and actions. The characteristics of animals represented in dreams are interpreted as repressed emotions we encounter in reality.

• Falling: Dream psychology has observed that falling had been a usual theme of nightmares. Falling is often described as a dream symbol that poses warnings that people or events may deceive us.

• Blood: Other common symbols seen in dreams are blood and accidents. These represent pain, whether emotional, physical, or psychological.

• Train: Vehicles, such as trains and buses are defined by Sigmund Freud as a phallic symbol, implying a sexual desire. Missing a ride may also mean an opportunity a person has overlooked or neglected.

• Work or School: Since a person has to spend most of his or her waking hours at work or in school, the unconscious mind continues to remind us of the responsibilities we have at work.

Some people may wish to keep track of the dream symbols they experience and be intrigued with the themes that recur or continue. Dream interpretations differ from person to person. Each dream allocates to specific life experiences that a person can apply to his or her life experiences. Being aware of our dream meanings will help develop a person’s maturity and decision-making skills.

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Whenever complicated problems arise, we try to decide by choosing the best and the more important choice. In considering all necessary options, some people even experience difficulty in sleep and rest. During these times, the conscious mind has been working double time to address the problem, but we would later on discover that the unconscious could also help solve the problem for us.

Let us give more meaning to our Conscious and Unconscious mind.

Conscious mind is responsible to rationality of human. It is responsible for our abilities to think, speak, and reason out. The conscious mind aims to understand our thoughts, problems, and concerns. It also holds the responsibility of keeping our unconscious needs and desires repressed as what dream psychology supposes.

The unconscious mind, on the other hand, is the area of our deepest desires, urges, and feelings. Sigmund Freud suggests that the dream symbols we have are created by the unconscious mind. The dream meanings suggest the things that our conscious mind refuses to manifest because it is inappropriate. The unconscious is also responsible for the involuntary movement of our body. It also manifests literal dream interpretations and associates information with more concrete or tangible means to represent our dreams and aspirations.

Dream Psychology defined dreams as a camouflage that conceals the desires and feelings that we repress. The dream interpretations execute the abstraction of the thoughts of a person. The dream meanings show the continuation of the repressed feelings that one has encountered during the day, sometimes even extending the activities experienced during the day. If a person has a clinging desire to succeed or change a reality, yet unable to speak about it or perform the action, dream symbols take its place to fulfill the person’s wish.
There are occasions when we ponder on the peculiarity of certain dream meanings due to the translation of thoughts into abstract means. This is the work of the conscious mind struggling to hide the repressed feelings in abstract dream symbols. As we delve deeply of the dream interpretations, we discover that the expression of one’s feelings takes the form of objects that indirectly refer to the more specific insights. This is called symbolism.

Upon waking up, the conscious mind aims to determine and understand the themes of our dream meanings. It would either rationalize and give it a reason or push the ideas and dream interpretations away, especially if it opens up the dark secrets that a person keeps from reality.
In the evaluation in dream psychology, the unconscious mind, although responsible for the formulation of dream meanings, would distort and break the connections of the dream symbols with a person’s life and feelings. This is together with the influence of the conscious mind over the unconscious.

Both areas of the human mind work together in keeping a balance between a person’s needs, wants, and desires, with the capacity in which a person should perform in reality.

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The Freudian dream psychology searched the unconscious of a person where fears and desires dwell. These emotions were camouflaged in the form of dream symbols. Dream meanings communicate to our conscious mind the desires that it tries to suppress.

Freud developed several themes on dream psychology. He proposed the structure of the Human Psyche – the id, ego, and superego. Id characterizes our reflexes, urges, and primal functions, while Ego is the rational part of the psyche. Finally, the Superego represses the Id by enforcing one’s moral responsibilities. When one is asleep, the superego and ego takes a break, allowing the Id to present itself in dream symbols. Upon waking up, we sometimes forget what we dreamt about because the Superego resumes work to suppress the evaluation of the dream meanings that represent desires of the unconscious mind.

Dream meanings could also be discovered in the Five Psychosexual Stages of Development of Freud. These personality foundations also take part in dream interpretations:
1. Oral Stage takes place during birth to infancy where in the fixations focus on the mouth. Recurring dream symbols of being incomplete refer to themes based on this stage.
2. Anal Stage refers to the potty training stage wherein a person learns about controlling one’s body functions. Being unable to meet the challenges on this stage would be seen in people with obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Dream symbols that show one’s inability to put things in order are dream meanings with difficulty in this stage.
3. Phallic Stage is during the preschool years where Oedipus and Electra complexes may arise. Boy’s anger and jealousy towards the father are dream interpretations of the battle for the mother’s love. This also happens in girls, which is represented in her love for her father.
4. The Latency Period is the time when the child begins to learn about his/her sexuality. Dream psychology proposes that sexual tendencies begin to arise during this phase, because the child begins to learn about gender roles.
5. Genital stage starts from 12 years of age. This is where the sexual and erotic interests appear. The dream meanings of erotic dreams imply difficulty in this stage of development.

The studies of Freud on Dream Psychology also focused on wish-fulfillment, where dream symbols present thoughts of one’s dreams and aspirations. Thoughts on issues that a person lacks like love, encouragement, and other means of satisfaction can be seen hidden in the dream meanings seen during sleep. The dream interpretations would show the repressed thoughts and feeling resurface as dreams are discussed and identified.

In closing, Freud’s theories of dream psychology main focus and revolve around the unconscious mind of a person. The unconscious satisfies the desires of the person while one enjoys the time of hi or her deep sleep.

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During the ancient times, people perceive dreams as portals for receiving wisdom from the gods. Shamans depend on dreams to diagnose illness. In 1900’s, western people rely on dreams to forecast weather and predict the future. But a brand new idea of dream interpretation has come out when Sigmund Freud created his theory about dreams as a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations.

Sigmund Freud is recognized for his theories of the unconscious mind. According to his book, The Interpretation of Dreams, dreams are disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes. However, his limited research about REM and NREM sleep cycles makes his research unable to support the real psychological significance of a dream. Carl Jung, Freud’s great follower also has his own interpretation of dreams. According to him, dreams fill up for the personalities that are not properly developed in real life. His theory however disagrees with the reality that our wake times and our dreams explain consistent thoughts and behaviors.

Some researchers suggest that dreams don’t have actual purpose, while others see that dreams are important to mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Dreaming is highly involved in learning and memory. More often than not, they relate to events and thoughts when we are awake. The structure of the brain is shaped by the stimuli it takes in while we are awake and conscious. For instance, thoughts and experiences are known to strengthen the connections between certain neurons. With these, dreams can be possibly be resonance of the changes during the times when we are awake.

There are different modern theories that may explain why we dream. One of them tells that we dream to practice responses to threatening situations. In REM sleep, the brain functions similarly when it is threatened for survival. In this dream, we may be dreaming of being chased, fighting an enemy, or falling from a cliff. The brain also exercises our motor activity even though our limbs are not moving. In this theory, we dream to rehearse behaviors of self-defense in sleep in order to get better and be prepared in the real world.

Another theory is that dreams create wisdom. Remembering every image of our waking lives would clog our brains. This is where dreams come in to sort through our brains to determine which ones should retain and which ones should lose. Sleep is concluded as a process which separates the long term memories to short term ones.

It has also been said that dreaming organizes our brains, like a hard drive being defragmented. The brain works like a computer that connects its data in some ways. Dreams shuffle the old connections that allow us to keep important connections and delete inefficient links. This suggests that dreams are reordering connections to streamline the system.

Dreams can be like psychotherapy. When we dream, we are dealing with emotions which we put into pictures. This is where we think less rationally and less defensive where we are able to accept truths we might otherwise repress.

Others say that dreams don’t mean anything at all. They are just random functions of a brain that is not conscious at that time. It may be just consciousness that finds deep meaning in our brains.

Dream research may have been found to have many theories but still there is no answer to the question: why do we dream? Dream has always been a mysterious topic to the human mind, and with that, researchers will go on exploring and new theories may be possible to emerge.

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Modern science believes that there is something behind dreaming and that it will greatly benefit mankind if it can be figured. Freud, Jung and Adler, due to the extensiveness of their research, studies and tests made in the name of dream psychology stay, up to this day, as champions in the field. Their influence can still be felt and their studies are most sought after. Freud and Jung both believed that dreams have meaning. Freud strongly stood behind his findings that dreams are the road to one’s unconscious mind while Jung used symbols and archetypes which he later termed as collective unconscious. On the other hand, Adler raised the greatest contradiction for both Freud and Jung’s theories. Adler stated that dreams are generated by both the conscious and unconscious mind. Adler’s theory concluded that dreams are mere manifestations of our waking lives and can be used as a tool to detect problems, existing and potential ones, and ultimately arrive to a beneficial solution.

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The process of assigning meanings to dreams has been around even during Ancient times.  During the Greek and Roman civilizations, dreams of the senators were often discussed during sessions as these could have meanings and consequences on society.   The Egyptians on the other hand believed that dreams are ways of communication between the gods and men.  In modern times, dreams are usually the subject of dram analysis and various schools of psychology are studying the underlying meaning behind dreams.

Freud claims that dreams are forms of wish fulfillment.  Adults tend to have more complicated dreams than children because of external factors which vary greatly between the age group.  Adult dreams are more complicated to decipher but he proposes that the dreamer himself can know or knows subconsciously his wishes and wants.   Because of this complication, dreams of adults tend to be hidden and are often distorted with the dreamer’s hidden wishes concealed.

Dream manifestation and interpretation are some of the most popular topics in Psychology.  Professionals in the field believe that dreams are in fact subconscious reactions of our minds to our everyday life and situation.  Individuals searching the mysteries of the subconscious continues to grow as people who undergo dream analysis, psychoanalysis for interpretation and help as well as those who consult dream dictionaries for meanings and dream interpretations search their dreams for their hidden meanings.

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Critics believed that Shakespeare had unwittingly introduced the concept of dream theories most psychoanalysts use today and eventually, changed the way we see dreams in general. Shakespeare had been vocal eversince about his belief that dreams are portent of the future as evident in his dream quotes as well. Some of his most popular pieces are marked by dreams prior to major turn of events but what really embodied his belief are the dream-like settings he so fondly used for most of his masterpieces, one of which being the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” where the absurd, magical world of faeries was brought to life. Moreover, dreams and visions played a big part in the play Macbeth as almost every action made by its characters was based on their perception while asleep.

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The conscious deals with everyday functions like our feelings, memories or fantasies at any particular moment.  The conscious is what we use when we are fully alert and aware of everything that is around us.

The pre-conscious exists as a middle ground between the unconscious and the conscious.  We have here our stored knowledge, past memories and other data that we can readily access and brought to our consciousness.

The unconscious is a place in our mind that we store shameful experiences, sexual desires, fears, violent motives, repressed memories and other dark thoughts.  According to Freud, access to the unconscious can be manifested through our dreams or slip of the tongue and other unintended impulsive behavior.

Sigmund Freud states that only 10% of our psyche is visible, that being the conscious, while the remaining 90%, the pre-conscious and unconscious hidden or submerged.  This is why, according to him, the mind disguises our hidden wants and desires as dreams because we are not fully aware of the levels of our consciousness.

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