What would you think is the symbolism of the following things all in the same dream:

Working in a mall as a conceirge who announces interesting observed people and things over an intercom. (such as a cute outfit or someone who looks like a celebrity...random things)

A brightly colored Spaghetti restaurant where Burt Bacharach is playing the piano.

Refering to your friends by their birthdates instead of their names.

Being accosted by a skater punk kid with one eye that everyone keeps calling Panda.

**and yes, I actually had this dream last night!****

When my friends tell me that I am weird I tell them:

No, I'm not, my dreams are.

LOL

Then we all have a good laugh, because I always tell them that they're not real, that they're just in my dreams.

LOL

Truly, some dreams are very weird!0!

I believe surrealists. Can you give me an example or two of how any type of writer transofrmed dream logic into a piece of rich, intelligible writing ?

Please read the below reviews for a better glimpse

Priti Nair in Gypsy Masala http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-garden/reviews/2008/preethi-nair-gypsy-masala-110608.html

Gita Hariharan In Art Of Dying

http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-garden/reviews/2008/gita-hariharan-the-art-of-dying-130508.html

Gita Hariharan In Thousand Faces Of Night

http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-garden/reviews/2008/gita-hariharan-thousand-faces-of-night-300408.html

Sunny Singh In Nani's Book Of Suicides

http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-garden/reviews/2008/nani-s-book-of-suicides-review-290408.html

Siddharth Katragaddiga In The Dark Rooms

http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-garden/reviews/2008/the-dark-rooms-review-220408.html

I was just curious how many people believe dream symbolism is accurate. Thanks for answering.

I do(: i believe your dreams reflect what you are going through in present life but more complex. and you dream about things you noticed sub consciously through the day. dreams are complex things really xD

Dream Symbols are highly individualistic though there are archetypes of symbols common to most of the people, it's customarily better to go inside yourself to discover the meaning of symbols in your dreams than to consult a dream compendium. Translating your dreams needs a knowledge of yourself. As an example, ask 3 people what the color'red' designates to them and you can get 3 different answers : Blood Stop Love Those answers could not be more different! Most pictures in dreams are like this, explaining why you're the best person to translate your own dreams. In a support session, a specialist will often ask you about your dreams.

But barely will they tell you what they mean. It could be a long process, but a really rewarding one that leads to life-enhancing revelations! Remember - Dreams are designed to reinforce your life while you are awake. They are critical messages from the depths of your soul, and all dreams are designed to come true! Learning from your dreams is forceful, but also fun! While dreams are intended to augment our lives and not just entertain us, there's definitely no problem with enjoying their entertainment worth along the way! As you begin to remember more of your dreams, you will be dazzled, and even blinded, at the latent creativeness in your mind's eye. And they are all produced personally for you and customised for your wishes.

You know how some flowers grow to resemble birds in order to attract more birds? How about a dream with trees that grew, in bark form, multiple animal replicas on its branches, namely raccoons and parrots, and a pack of friendly, intelligent dogs in the same dream. Grey skies.

To dream about trees symbolizes new hopes, growth, desires, knowledge, and life. It also implies strength, protection and stability. It means that you are concentrating on your own self-development and individuation.

In your dream, the trees grew animals shapes. To see animals in your dream represents your own physical characteristic, primitive desires, and sexual nature, depending on the qualities of the particular animal. Animals symbolizes the untamed and uncivilized aspects of yourself.

You said the tree mainly grew raccoons, dogs, and parrots on its branches. Branches are another symbol for good luck, growth, and new life. A raccoon is a symbol for deceit and thievery. A parrot symbolizes gossip, repetitiveness, or a person in your waking life who is eccentric or obnoxious. Dogs represent intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity and in your dream they were also "friendly and intelligent".

If the sky in your dream is cloudy and overcast, then it foretells of sadness and trouble. Gray indicates fear, fright, depression, ill health, ambivalence and confusion.

I have no idea what this dream is about, but it seems to deal with a new phase in your waking life that is making you feel both hopeful and uneasy at the same time.

Is Success Killing Your Dreams?
“A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men”
Proverbs 18:16 (www.christianwalktoday.com)

How do you differentiate between your gift and your talents or skills?
Gift - 1) something you have a true passion for and could do 24/7 with or without reward or recognition. 2) the thought of never doing “this” makes you sad/depressed and you can’t imagine “this” not being a part of your life.

Talent - 1) you do this because you can 2) you have to be rewarded/compensated/recognized for it 3) if you do it, cool. If you don’t, you wouldn’t miss it.

Your talents are an illusion and can create a perception of truth. Also, your talents can be “dated”. You may possess a skill set that is in demand today and you can not give it away tomorrow. But your gift flows from you and through you effortlessly and never dries up, fade away, runs out, or ends. (”For the gifts and the calling of GOD are irrevocable“) Romans 11:29 (NKJV)

It’s time for all of us to LIVE and not just exist. Everything you need is already in you. (”You are already full! You are already rich!…“) 1 Corinthians 4:8 (NKJV)

To be in a position to “receive” what your gift is you must have the faith to believe GOD has a plan for your life. Then take the time to identify what would you do for free, would never get tired of doing, and it brings you joy, even when it comes with struggles and challenges.

To live in your gift, you must trust and believe that GOD will provide. You have to know that you will receive the provisions you need and the wisdom to make adjustments in your life to accommodate the changes in your career, your time, your friends, and/or your location to put you in a position to DO what you love and enjoy your life to the fullest. (”You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you“) Job 22:28 (New Living Translation).  Visit www.christianwalktoday.com to view part 1 of this message. 

If not now, WHEN…

Christian Walk Today, Sheri Riley

Visit www.christianwalktoday.com for more

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/is-success-killing-your-dreams-1061810.html

We all dream. I believe that dreams can contain valid messages from God. In order for us to understand these messages, we must interpret our dreams. Below are seven foundational principles for interpreting dreams:

1. Most dreams are symbolic (including biblical dreams), so view them the same way you would view a political cartoon. Throw the switch in your brain that says, “Look at this symbolically.”

You can learn the art of communicating symbolically by playing the game “Pictionary” or “Bible Pictionary.”

2. The symbols will come from the dreamer’s life, so ask, “What does this symbol mean to me?” or, if working on another’s dream, ask, “What does this symbol mean to you?”

For example, Joseph was a shepherd, and he dreamed of sheaves and sun, moon and stars bowing down (Gen. 37:1-11). These images surround a shepherd boy who lives in the fields. Nebuchadnezzar, a king, dreamed of statues of gold (Dan 2:31ff), which surround kings who live in palaces.

3. The dream generally speaks of the concerns which your heart is currently facing. So ask, “What issues was I processing the day before I had the dream?”

For example, Paul was wondering where to go next on his missionary journey and had a dream of a Macedonian man motioning for him to come on over (Acts 16:6-11). Nebuchadnezzar was thinking his kingdom would go on forever (Dan. 4:28-33) and he had a dream of a tree being chopped off at the roots (Dan. 4:9-27). Once you know the thoughts that were on the dreamer’s heart when he fell asleep, it is much easier to draw out the meaning of the dream.

4. The meaning of the dream must be drawn from the dreamer. Realize you know nothing about the dream, but through dependence upon the Holy Spirit and the skillful use of questions, you can draw the meaning of the dream out from the heart of the dreamer.

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams (Dan. 1:17).

Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out (Prov. 20:5).

5. The dreamer’s heart will leap and “witness” and say, “Aha!” when it hears the right interpretation, so never accept an interpretation that does not bear witness in the dreamer’s heart.

6. Dreams reveal but do not condemn. Their goal is to preserve life, not to destroy it (Job 33:13-18).

7. Never make a major decision in your life based only on a dream without receiving additional confirmation from the other ways that God speaks to us and guides us (peace in our hearts, the counsel of others, illumined Scriptures, God’s still small voice, prophecy, anointed reasoning, etc.).

As I discuss in the classes of the Christian University and Online Bible College where I teach, dreams can help us to understand certain aspects of our lives, gain direction and guidance for decisions, and contain messages from God. So, it is good to take the time to recall and interpret our dreams.

Mark Virkler is with Christian Leadership University. CLU is a Christian University and Online Bible College offering Christian education including Christian counseling and Christian theology seminaries and offers certificates, undergrad, Masters, and Doctorates in the various Christian colleges of CLU.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/seven-foundational-principles-for-interpreting-dreams-1062469.html

Psalm 126 reads as follows from the New Oxford Annotated Bible:

When the Lord rescued the fortunes of Zion, we were like those that dream,

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

And our tongue with shouts of joy,

Then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them"

The Lord has done great things for us,

And we rejoiced,

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

Like the watercourses in the Negeb,

May those who sow in tears,

Reap with shouts of joy,

Those who go weeping,

Bearing the seed for sowing,

Shall come home with shouts of joy,

Carrying their sheaves.

Restoration is a matter of seeking in prayer and this psalm contains that specific request, for the restoration of fortunes.

Here the Lord has done great things isolated to where it could be seen that they were done for specific people. Granted it could have been all the earth and this is very possible, but in this case, it was great things that came upon specific individuals to where it could be seen by those outside of a circle individuals who nevertheless were observers who were able to see what had happened.

We don’t know what is going on with people for sure, but it can be seen that some people seem to at least on the surface and at least for now really do have good fortune that can be seen and observed by others. These great things, or good fortunes were both visible to those who received them and also to those who were onlookers.  To both the ones under the blessings and the onlookers, the actions of the Lord were visible. Neither group was in the dark as to what happened both as those within the underlay of what had happened and the outside observers looking on could also keenly surmise what had happened.

The fortunes of these individuals came under the purview of the Lord. In those times ,when this psalm was written, things like harvests were very dependent on what happened in nature and that was considered well beyond the control of the farmers expertise. All he could do would be to sow, and whatever happened from there, depended on fortune. The farmer did have his part, he did sow, but the reaping if it was to happen, was not under his control enough to where he could say yes, this is what can and will happen.

Today, with scientific advancements, there is a lot more that can interject into a crop and what happens to a seeded field than what would be involved back then. But even with current advancements, there are still lots of deference to fortune even into today's advanced environment as weather patterns are still beyond the control of the modern farmer. Symbolically then, you could personally advance your education, your position in your field, your expertise and way of doing things, and still you would be at a point of depending on fortune and whether the hand of the Lord is having favor upon you and new science has not been able to factor out fortune or the lack thereof. Those mentioned here in this psalm, were able to discern great things and discern that these great things were of the Lord’s doing. Today, with lot’s of overlays, possibly obscuring just what is great things from the Lord and what is just part of a seeming common advancement in science and the accumlated common knowledge makes this discernment process perhaps more difficult but the information explosion can indeed camouflage that a situation may and does break down as to the whether the Lord will restore fortunes.

Here in this psalm, those who were weeping, went out with basically nothing, except for having a plan to sow something new. They did go out there, despite their troubles and their distresses. They did not have what they needed or wanted when they went out on a seeming search. They had their dreams, but little more than a sowers chance against large and looming uncertainties.

The first verse of this psalm is important. It says,

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream." Basically, what this verse is saying, as the Lord’s restoration took place, their personal dreams came true. This verse is important as often in literature and the arts there is the idea of the dream come true, and it says it right here in the very first verse of this psalm.

It had been seen that some people did live with hopes of their dream being realized but it might have be so far reaching to them and their personal circumstances that it was not practical to dream or it was best to let their dreams submerge and be hidden from view.

This verse shows that deep down people do have dreams, even if they don’t admit of them, even to themselves.  Their dreams could be buried under the surface of resentments on and over what has gone wrong and what has seemingly been lost.

Verse 2 says, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy."

These dreams, which have now resurfaced as a reality, did in fact have a lot to do with happiness, joyfulness and outright laughter or being on the light side of things as when the dreams did come true, the result was a state of joy and happiness.

.

People do become so guarded, that they might lose sight of what they really do dream of and for. In any event, these verses show that the Lord is cognizant of our dreams and restoration itself is on the side of dreams coming true on an individual basis. As the shadows of troubles have come by, one thing to ask the Lord for in prayer is to help you to revisit what your dreams really are and how to fill into their invitation. The ultimate turnaround was accomplished by the Lord and this turnaround involved fulfillment and realization of dreams.

Verse 4 is very interesting as it says,
" Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb."

Here the Negeb, which was considered the south from Judah, was an area that had great abundance of land and crops, a period of difficulties and was promised restoration in the prophetic book of Jeremiah. These waterways must have dried up to an extent and then were restored by the Lord.

Whatever the Lord did for the waterways of Negeb, was the example in this psalm of great things the Lord has done, that were widely seen and observed by the outer world.

It is interesting that this example of a “great thing" done by the Lord and involving restoration deals with flow and restoration of flow of the waterways.

Symbolically, a lot of what we might ask for in prayer could constitute flow. I could for example ask for wealth, or rephrase and ask for a steady flow of wealth or a great and consistently great flow of wealth. I could ask for healing or rephrase and ask for healing to flow.  Anything I could possibly ask for could be put into the context of having it restored into a flow.

Here in Negeb, which according to historians at one point contained 29 cities, the Lord restored the watercourses. It wasn’t just one stream or river, but a series of streams that were involved. Within restoration, we are relying on the Lord to overlook any number of channels or rivulets and flows that are needed. Indeed, we might lack visibility as to what these channels and flows even are as we can't necessarily see all that might be involved in an issue. Even for example, if you were to swim in the ocean, there might be several undercurrents right below the surface all of which can not necessarily be seen.  It is true that we have low visibility when it comes to a lot of things and to obtain views we need to be graced towards these views and part of the grace of an answered prayer might be a view we could obtain.  But indeed any number of things may need to be flowing properly for us. The Lord’s restorative actions were parceled to Negeb. The restoration was specific in nature, kind and locale. The Lord's answer for wanted restoration was focused and contained flow in this psalm.

The individuals at the end of this psalm went out weeping. They were on the other side of their dreams, and before this reality had taken hold the possibilities of their dreams ever coming true was way in the distance and truly out of reach. Not only did their dreams come true, they were able to come home with their dream, meaning they could settle into their dream and live it out on the home front. The stepped into their drive and lived it. It wasn’t just illusory or fleeting, as the dream took hold and the reality of it could be called home.  The Lord came to an in between place for them and took them to the side of their dreams and we can see how great Biblical figures were often in that place where things were in between. They were in between in that they had their hopes and dreams and that place was only seeable and visible in their imaginings. The Lord came into that in between place and got them through to the wanted place with his restorative powers to the fruition of their dreams.  The Lord came into whatever was between them and their dreams and got them past the obstacles that might have otherwise been insurmountable to the place of their dreams.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/restoring-dreams-and-psalm-126-922209.html

"What was it like to learn to parachute out of a plane?"

A statement like this one is very common in our normal conversation.  I brought it to our attention not because we are going to talk about parachuting out o f planes.  But we often ask each other "what was it like?"  The way the question is phrased is important.  We are saying, "Compare your experience so something I know.  Don't tell me exactly about the experience.  Instead create a parable of what it was like."  We all think in these terms even if we don’t know we do.  We all think in symbolism.

When a public speaker wants to really connect to his or her audience, symbolism is used quickly.  He might compare someone who is confused as "a deer in the headlights".  Right away, that image is easy to understand and we understand what is being said about the subject of the story.  For someone who is awkward in a new job or social situation, we say he was "a fish out of water".  The image of that fish on the bank flopping around and desperately wanting to be back in familiar circumstances is a perfect analogy that we understand perfectly. 

It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that we understand symbolic language even better than we do plain talk.  That is because an image takes an idea and makes it visible.  It takes an idea and brings it down what they call "the scale of abstraction" to something very real and something we can grasp.  We learned our lessons this way as youth so we never stop communicating in symbols and images.

If our conscious mind is heavily symbol oriented, you could go to the next level to say that symbolism is the ONLY language of your subconscious mind.  In order to try to process complex feelings, ideas and concepts, the subconscious constantly generates symbolism and images to represent the deeper things that it is "thinking about".  The time when the subconscious "thinks" is when you are asleep and the outcome of all that thinking is a long string of images, scenes and "stories" which make up the bulk of those thing we call dreams.

Just as you can easily communicate with someone if you understand his or her imagery, which fills up our language, the better you understand the imagery of the subconscious, the more your dreams will make sense.  If you know that your subconscious is going to represent anxiety about your new job with a dream of you lost in a big building with lots of rooms, dreams suddenly become easier to interpret.  The symbolism of the mind is personal as well as cultural.  It is based on common experiences that you and your subconscious have that it can use to talk to you.