Here is some information about some common dream images to get you started:

Dreams with Animals:

Animals pop up everywhere in our lives and, in turn, in our dreams. The subject of what animals mean in our dreams is as large as the number of animals there are to dreams about. Wild animals usually symbolize a sense of power or perhaps even a feeling of being out of control and domestic animals can mean the opposite a feeling of being "trained" or out of control. I could probably write ten pages in the impact of animals on dream interpretation alone. However, for this post, I will try to stick to addressing only a few of the most common.

The appearance of a lion in your dream usually symbolizes a feeling of raw strength, pride, power, or kingship. If you are the lion or the lion is your ally these symbols are most likely referring to something within yourself. Do you feel powerful and strong? If the Lion is attacking you or someone you know takes on the appearance of a lion, the your subconscious might be trying to draw your attention to a danger that your conscious mind has yet to recognize. Look at what else is going on in your dream or at the person taking on the dream shape and then take a closer look at what aspect of your life you think they are pointing to.

A dog appearing in your dream usually signifies exactly what dogs stand for, devotion and faithfulness. Did you have a dream about your husband playing with a dog? If you did, you probably feel pretty secure in your relationship. Unless of course, you hate dogs... then you have a whole different issue!

Cats are know for their mysterious nature, their independence, and their leisurely comfortable life. Wouldn't it be great to live the life of a cat? Lying around on comfortable chairs, then eating food prepared for you by your man servant before sunning yourself at a window with a beautiful view while you enjoy a nap? If your dreaming about cats, the image of the cat in your dream could be referring to just that. You could either be seeking or relaxed cat-like life or you are enjoying the fact that you already have it.

Dreams about Falling:

Falling dreams are a very common occurrence in dreams and one of those most talked about. While these dreams are usually scary, they may not always mean something. The body goes through cycles all night long, cycling between several different phases. As the body transcends into a deeper state of sleep, the complete relaxation of the body can often feel like falling. Many of have even experienced this sensation as we first drift off to sleep at night and it's quite common for your body to respond to this feeling with a reflexive jump that wakes you from sleep. That jump was the body's effort to try to protect itself from the impact it was expecting to come at the end of the imaginary falling sensation.

However, falling in a dream can also reveal something significant about your life. This type of dream most commonly occurs when a person feels like they have failed at something or when they feel overwhelmed by the their current circumstances. If you are having trouble sleeping due to common dreams of falling try sleeping with a pillow or other cushion pressed against your feet at night. The sensory stimulation to the soles of your feet will give your body the sensation of security and stability and has been known to drastically reduce the occurrence of falling dreams.

Dreams about a House or Apartment:

Dreaming about a house or apartment is almost as big a subject as animals. But, dwellings of some sort show up in most dreams so it is definitely worth covering some of their possible meanings here.

* Dreams being at home - Home is where you go to feel safe and comfortable. If you are in your own house or apartment you may be going there unconsciously to give your mind the opportunity to work through some difficult or chaotic activities that are happening in the outside world.

* Dreams about an unfamiliar house - These houses usually represent some aspect of you and can often be looked at as a physical extension of yourself. As you look at this house consider how it might relate to where you are in life right now. A big house may be trying to telling that you should expand your horizons. If you have taken on a big project that you are worried about being able to keep up with, you may dream about living in a mansions but being stressed about the maintenance of it.

* Building a house - dreams about building a house could be you're looking for more security in your life or expand on the life's foundation which you have already laid. This is a great time to start thinking about your future, your subconscious is already trying to tell you what you want and it will be easier to get in touch with that and decide your next big move.

Dreams about Flying:

Flying Dreams are one of the most common dreams. Almost everyone experiences a dream that involves flying at least once in their life while some dream about flying nightly. There has been a lot of speculation over the years about why we experience flying dreams so commonly. Some cultures even believe that individuals who are highly attuned to their spiritual side can have out of body experiences during sleep, and these dreams are actually memories of your spirit projecting itself and exploring during the night.

Dreams tend to show us our fears and hopes. So it is first important to consider how you felt during your dream about flying. If you felt happy or joyful during this dream, it may be reflecting a recent transcendence in your life. You've recently overcome a difficult situation or successfully gotten past an event that was worrying you. In these cases, the dream is reminded you to rejoice and enjoy your moment of victory. Your dream may also be drawing from a general feeling of peace and happiness in your life that has been ongoing for a while. If this is the case, congratulations!

Relax and enjoy the sites as your dream takes you exploring. If you experience a feeling of fear during you flying dream your mind maybe attempting to give itself an inner exposure therapy treatment. This type of treatment, often used by psychiatrists to treat individuals with severe phobias focuses around confronting your fear. In this case you may likely have a fear of heights, falling (see more about falling above), or even vertigo (the sense of being dizzy). While these dreams can often be disturbing there is a way to overcome them. Dreams about fears will cease once you have faced the fear and successfully negotiated the dream. Find a mantra that's meaningful to you, such as "In my dreams I have wings, and can control my flight and go where I choose, no harm can come to me." and repeat this to yourself as you are falling asleep each night. In this was you can control the outcome of your dream and tur
n the feeling of fear to a feeling of joy as you embrace the experience and grow past it.

Dreams about Death:

The interpretation of dreams about death is highly subjective depending on the the dreamers personal feeling about death and their religious beliefs. Often time, people dream about death in the process of coming to terms with their own mortality. If the dream includes a feeling of fear or anxiety, your subconscious mind may be trying to tell you that you need to come to terms with your own mortality. Life is a gift, but it's only temporary and, as many people believe, only a stepping stone to the next life. Whether the next life for you is eternity in heaven or rebirth to live life again, your body knows that you need to be comfortable with the idea that you are not going to stay in this life forever.

Once you come to terms with this fact, your dreams may evolve into dreams, that still include death, but are now based around the celebration of a good life and happy memories. If you've reached this stage in your death dreams, congratulations! You're subconscious is recognizing you and celebrating your own spiritual growth.

If you dream about a loved one dying, you may literally be afraid of their inevitable death or you might be experiencing a feeling of insecurity. Perhaps you're afraid that you're spouse is going to leave you or you children are about to move out of the house or head off to college. On a happier note, if the person you are dreaming about has recently made a change and eliminated a particular personality trait that you disliked, you might be celebrating it's passing from your life.

And remember, no matter what the old wives tales might tell you. If you die in your dream you don't die in life. Don't let your fear of death wake up up and stop you from moving forward to fully see what your dream is trying to tell you.

Dreams about Water:

Water is frequently considered a symbol for your emotions when it is present in a dream. Most people can tell exactly your dream water is symbolizing simply by remember how you felt during the dream when you looked at the water in question. Here are some hints when considering your water dreams.

* Large Bodies of Water - Oceans and seas usually represent our vast and complex emotional mind. A stormy sea may represent a feeling of turmoil while a sunny sailboat trip can signify a feeling of freedom and the ability to explore your own feelings without restraint.

* Rivers - A river in your dream can represent your emotional journey either through life or through the current situation. The state of this river will also tell you have strong and out of control your emotions are or how restrained you might be in experiencing those emotions. If you are trying to cross the river in your dreams, your own emotions may be getting in the way of where you want to go with your life. Take some time to look at how you feel about a decision, are those feelings holding you back?

* Muddy Water - If water represents your emotions, muddy water represents your emotions when they aren't cleaned properly! Your emotions may be confused or unhealthy, you may even being having harmful thoughts and suffering from depression. Take a good look at yourself when you have this dream.

* Where are you and where is the water? - If you are in the water then you are at probably one with your emotions. Or are you attempting to avoid your feelings completely by skirting around the edge?

* Drowning - What would a water section be if I didn't mention drowning? You may be able to figure this one out for yourself by now but I'll sum it up for you anyway. Feeling overwhelmed by your emotions? I bet you are, a dream about drowning most often has absolutely nothing to do with drowning at all. Instead it tell of a struggle between you and your own subconscious mind as you try to take control of your emotions. Who's winning the battle? Do you make it out of the water or actually drown?

Dreams about being Chased:

Ah, the famous "I'm being chased" dream. These dreams are very powerful and are one of the most common causes of kicking your partner in your sleep. So what does it all mean? Usually in running dreams you are running from someone or something that you are extremely afraid of. You should stop, turn around and take a good look at what it is your running from because it's probably yourself or, more accurately, some part of yourself that you don't like.

The interpretation of dreams about being chased is a varied as there are possibilities in pursuers. If someone is trying to rape you, you might be afraid of or feel guilty about having sex. If you're being chased by an animal go back up and read about animals again. Do you have qualities of that animal in yourself that you don't like?

The good (sort of) news about dreams about being chased is that they are frequently recurring. This is a great opportunity to practice the ability to control your dreams. We all have this ability, and if you can harness it and turn around and face your attacker boldly, you will overcome this inner struggle quicker both in your dreams and in life.

Dreams with Cars:

The first step in deciphering a car dream is taking a good look at what kind of car it is. if you are driving a fancy sports car may indicate that you have a sense of success or power in your life or someone else you know may be telling you that you feel that person has power over you. Driving an off road vehicle may be your mind trying to tell you that you are long overdue for an adventure and a sedan or SUV may indicate the opposite, that you are ready to settle down and maybe even start a family.

If you dream of being in a car accident, it may be an indicator of very serious problems in your life. The size of the accident is normally proportionate to the size of the problem. Hopefully you have this dream early enough that you can use it as a warning for the impending problem in your life. Take a good look at who else was in the accident, especially who was in the other car.

Dreams about being Lost:

A lot of times, dreams about being lost are quite simply a representation of feeling lost in your waking life. A person can be lost in many ways including loneliness, confusion, loss, or even lost in a new town. Before you go to far into trying to understand what else this dream might mean, consider your life and see if there are any aspects of your life that are making you feel lost right now.

Dreams about mazes or labyrinths often indicate confusion over a choice or series of choices you have to make. As you travel down turn after turn the outcome of your choice of turns could indicate just how deep your level of confusion runs. Did you reach the end after only a few choices or are you still trying to find your way out?

Dreams about being Naked:

Although I've never personally had a dream about being naked unless it's as part of the subject coming after this one, my reading tell me almost everyone else has. This is a difficult theme to interpret because it is highly dependent on your culture and how you personally feel about nudity. For this short post we'll focus on the western society and the idea that public nudity is a bad thing and suddenly finding yourself out in public with no clothes on can be quite a shock to the system

If you find yourself in one of these embarrassing situations while you sleep you are most likely expressing a feeling of vulnerability or exposure. Students who dream or showing up at school naked are most like feeling vulnerable at school, perhaps they are the target of the class bully or maybe they uncomfortable with themselves and how they feel
they compare to their classmates. Businessmen who stand up in the board room to give a speech naked may be feeling the pressure of an upcoming project or delivery weighing heavily on the future of their job.

For those of you who embrace public nudity and have no feelings of anxiety during your dream. This is a very positive image dealing with openess and honesty. If your significant other is hanging around you with no clothes on throughout a dream, in a non-sexual nature, then you most likely enjoying your trust in them. On the other hand if it's you that is naked then you are likely to be rejoicing your openness with the people also involved in your dream or even the world.

Dreams about Sex:

And finally, dreams about sex. I saved this one for last because I knew it would be the most fun to write about, and think about... (ahem). Interpreting dreams about sex are yet another highly subjective topic that varies greatly based on the person. This dream can mean something different depending both on how you felt during the dream and how you feel about sex in general.

First of all, regardless of what your priest might say, the endorphins released when you achieve an orgasm are a great source of stress release and are also craved by your body. Your dream about sex may simply mean that it's just been to long and your body is tantalizing itself into relasing those endorphins without physical assistance. So before you try to analyze what your dream might mean, keep that in mind.

Fantasies - Many, many... way too many people have unfulfilled fantasies. If you dream about sex in a new and daring way, this could be your subconscious way of fulfilling your own fantasies especially if those fantasies are illegal or dangerous or simply against your moral fiber. Dreaming about them won't lead to the complications that actually performing them might.

Sexual Problems - You may be experiencing problems in your current sex life. Your mind may be trying to deal with going to long without a partner or work through some issues you are having in bed with your current partner. But sexual problems in dreams don't always translate directly into sexual problems in life. I always know when I'm ready to move on from a relationship because, every time, I dream of the man I'm seeing suddenly having a pencil thin penis. This isn't just because he's not satisfying me in bed, that may not even be the case. But he is always not satisfying my emotional needs.

Adolescence - This is probably the time in our live when dreams of a sexual nature are most prevalent. There really is no interpretation here other than the obvious one. You are discovering yourself sexually. Whether those dreams involve feelings of fear or anxiety about losing your virginity or endless nights of pleasure as your try new and different things in your sleep. Those dreams are most likely reflecting exactly how you feel in life.

To get your free dream interpretation, just visit http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Most-Common-Dream-Images-Interpreted and follow the instructions on that page.

Tell me your dreams: I love hearing about dreams and figuring out what they mean. If you want your dream interpreted, just let me know. I'll review your dream and write up an analysis of what I think it means.

Help the Masses: You and I aren't the only ones who will benefit from your free dream interpretation. If the images in your dream are likely to help other people and the subject matter is appropriate to write about here, I'll write a hub page all about you and your dream.

Yes I said Free: I'm not going to give you a half analysis and ask you to pay for more. Or try to ship you off to another website for your request. What you get is everything I've got. It's not a website that generates pre-typed answers based on the images that you type in, it's a real person reviewing, researching, and analyzing your dream so every response will be unique.

I hope you're not shy! Since I plan to use your dreams as the potential basis for future posts, let me know if you wish to remain anonymous or not. When you request a free dream analysis from me you are giving me permission to write publicly about your dream. However, I will happily respect your confidentiality or publicly declare you the owner of the amazing dream at your whim!

What to include in your request: The more information you give me, the more accurate your free dream interpretation will be. Give me as many details as possible about your dream, what was the main focus, what was in the background, where did it take place, did it have people you know or strangers? How did you feel during each part of the dream? No detail is too small!!! If this is a recurring dream, wait one night to send me your request and sleep with a paper and pencil next to your bed so you can write down every detail when you wake up.

And, equally important to all of your dream details, tell me about any significant events in your real life. You don't need to be specific here just let me know what happened. Have you recently started a new job or lost one? Has someone died? Are you planning a big trip or just returned from one? In addition to events, is there something that has been weighing heavily on your mind? A fear or fantasy, a plan for the future or even a regret. Dreams are your body's way of telling you how your subconscious feels about your life so it's vital to know what's happening in your world.

By Jackie Martens

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jackie_Martens
http://EzineArticles.com/?Looking-For-Free-Dream-Interpretation-Or-Analysis?&id=2555576

The legitimate science of interpreting what dreams mean to you and I has its roots in the birth of modern psychology.  The fathers of modern psychology are without dispute Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.  Both of these brilliant men redefined psychology, as we know it.  They were contemporaries and at different times good friends and bitter enemies.  But their philosophies of how the mind works are so different that to this day, if you pick a psychologist, you pick him based on whether he is a Freudian or a Jungian therapist.

One of the things that both psychologists agreed on although in different ways was that dreams are an important window into the inner working of the mind.  They also agreed that dreams carried meaning and by finding the proper interpretation of your dreams can open up new information about what is going on in your psyche and perhaps lead to better mental health.  This is all good news if you have suspected that your subconscious is sending you messages through your dream life.  So the key is to learn to use the psychology of dreams to learn what your dream life is trying to tell you.

If you set out to get all the books on dream interpretation, you could fill many bookshelves with your findings.  Of course, many of these sources are not trustworthy.  Dream analysis methods that are not grounded in psychology but that base their approach on psychic events, communication with spirits or on something someone who has a web site came up with are no more help than for us to just guess what our dreams mean ourselves. 

But if you did compile that library, some of those books would include dream dictionaries, which will give you a detailed guide to what the imagery in your dreams means based on cultural stereotypes.  Jung himself put together an extensive dictionary on this topic himself.  There is some validity to this approach because we all do learn common symbolic imagery.  For all of us, the symbol of the cross means one thing and the symbol of the flag of our country tends to be easy to understand.  So if we see those images in our dream life, a dream dictionary will probably interpret that correctly.

But we must not overlook that our dreams are all based on our own experiences and our own personal language of what things mean.  Any good guide to interpret dreams starts with what state of mind you are in as well as the state of your relationships and your stage in life.  Your psychology is all deeply rooted in who you are and your dreams will reflect that. 

By using that orientation, you can often find the meaning of your dreams because it is grounded in the meaning of who you are and what your subconscious wants to tell you about that identity.  If you start there many of your most profound dreams can carry very important messages to you that are worth understanding because they can change your life in profound ways.

In our waking life, we go to places for a reason. We go to the cinema to watch a film (and possibly to hold hands with our date), we go to the park to take the day off and play a ballgame with friends (or ogle good-looking people), we go to the beach to dig our toes in the sand and take a dip in the waters (or again, ogle good-looking people). There is always a reason, one way or another.

In these days of busy lifestyle, few of us waste time going to places where we have no business. Which is why we should be thankful that when we dream, we have the luxury of going to places we have never been before.

And, just as in our waking life, it follows then that the places we go to in our dreams have an underlying meaning as well. Below is part two of dream interpretations of venues you find yourself in during your sleep.

Desert

Ordinarily, deserts are barren and lonely places. In a dream, they imply a state of being lost and wanting to arrive home or be found. But the great spaciousness and emptiness of the desert landscape can also be beneficial; it signals a silence and meditation your life may be needing.

Airplane

Airplanes symbolize flight, freedom, and escape from the mundane. So if you dream of being in an airplane, whether or not you have a fear of heights, it just means you need to face those fears of the unknown and be thankful for their possibilities. If you dream of being the pilot, then this is a good sign: it is an undertaking and journey which you have taken complete control of.

Backyard

Backyards are fenced-in spaces outside our houses which we don't want neighbors to see, or intruders to trespass. Thus, to dream of sweeping in a backyard, for instance, means you want to cleanse that part of you which you fear is laid bare to the public.

Bridge

Crossing a bridge means an inevitable transition in your life, a shift in lifestyle, belief, location, relationship, etc. Observe the sturdiness of the bridge, or if it shakes under your weight. Also, look at the water below if it's calm or treacherous, or if it is an abyss instead. All these are signs of your readiness to cross over.

Church

Church are obviously holy places, which in a dream means you are reevaluating your life and want to lead a more spiritual one. Dreams of being inside a church always is a sign of good luck. An alternative interpretation is that you are questioning authority in your life, as churches and religion in general operate on authority.

Kitchen

Kitchens in dreams evoke either hunger, not just for physical nourishment, but spiritual as well. If you dream of yourself cooking in a kitchen, filling the room with a warm, inviting aroma, it just means you are taking an active role in your life.

Hell

We all have our personal versions of hell, and it does not necessarily have to be the commonly-thought of underground place with burning sulfur and demons with spears. If you dream of being in a hellish place, you could be feeling guilt from a sin you may have committed, or else, it is a premature punishment you are imposing on yourself, even if you haven't really done anything wrong in the first place. Hell is a place of self-censorship, so take it easy on yourself.

Hospital

It depends whether you are the one confined in a hospital, or you are only visiting a sick friend. Hospitals in dreams are signs that make us aware of our mortality, and of course, our health. Also, a sense of authority and properness operates inside a hospital (uniforms, schedules, SOP's, dosages, doctor's orders, etc), and your little visit there in your dream implies a confrontation with authority you might be avoiding or looking forward to.

Field

Is it a barren field, or a lush green one? To dream of spacious fields imply a whole world of possibilities and potential for you, as if the ground is all prepared for new plantings. Then again, the saying “the grass is always greener on the other side” can also come into play here.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/dream-interpretation-of-places-in-your-dreams-part-2-125254.html

Author: Neoli Marcos

About the Author:

Neoli Marcos writes for PsychicGuild

When we dream there are common types of dreams that we have. They include digestive dreams (food), psychological, from the spiritual side, future, precognitive, new Information, knowledge, the dead or spiritual guides and context of our thoughts. Our conscious mind has no control over what we dream, they are always free spirited and derive from our conscious thoughts.

Even though dreams are studied scientifically, we all have differences in our genetic make-up that result in other possibilities when we dig deep and try to see what dreams are made of. There are many other factors that should really be considered while conducting your own dream analysis...

Other Elements that Effect Why People Dream

• Your childhood
• What happened during your day that was troubling?
• What are you fearful of?
• What do you desire and hope for?

By considering these important dream influencing elements you will be able to quickly zoom in on why people dream the dreams they do.

Sometimes dreams pregnant woman require dream analyzing to satisfy the curiosity of your subconscious mind. For example here are 3 dreams a pregnant woman may think about in her conscious day. An incubator, giving baby a kiss and doing the washing.

But What Does Each Dream Denote?

Babies in Incubators
Baby incubators seen in a dream are portents of better health for you and your family. Chicken incubators are an omen of being able to meet your obligations.

Getting and Giving Kisses
The portent of a kiss in a dream depends on the circumstances surrounding it. Kisses between married people are an omen of content; between unmarried people they predict happiness. A woman who dreams of kissing an old man will suffer disappointment. To dream of kissing a baby indicating success in a difficult undertaking. Kisses given in hypocrisy or contrary to moral code are a sign of illness or disgrace.

Cleaning Your Body and Clothes
If you dream of washing clothes in a tub, it presages that you will be called upon to act as peacemaker between quarreling lovers. Washing clothes in a machine portends a vacation with pay. To dream of washing your body is a sign of success in a new venture. If you wash a baby in a dream, you will find happiness in your home.
Dreams have been studied for ages...ancient people thought a dream was when the soul left the body to send and receive messages to a spiritual entity.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/addictions-articles/dream-meanings-and-pregnancy-288381.html

Author: John

About the Author:

Need to know why people dream about water? Record your dream the minute you wake up and visit this site.

http://blog-health-talk.virtuowl.com/organic-beauty/dreams-of-water/

Intuition is a real cognitive process.

Although you don't always realize it, you spend a portion of each night letting your unconscious spirit dance through your dreams, weaving elaborate scenes with shreds of your past, present, and (imagined) future. When you remember these images, they may fascinate, confuse, or frighten you. "Where was I?" "Who was that person?" "What does it all mean?"

From the very first documented dream in 3500 B.C. to the present day, people have been intrigued, mystified, guided, even governed by their dreams. Dreams may be fragments of an unresolved event from the past or of subconscious desires for the present. Your spirit may be trying to rise above your current situation and move forward into the future. Dreams can wreak havoc with peaceful slumber-or bring harmony to your life.Throughout history, the fascination with dreams has been universal. Ancient Egyptians approached dreams with religious reverence.

Greek writers and philosophers including Plato and Aristotle believed that during sleep humans and divine beings communicated, and that dreams were the memories of those conversations. Traditional Hawaiian culture teaches that during dreams, the human soul travels on journeys, meeting others and having important experiences.

But it is important to remember that each dreamers journey is a personal one. Only you can decipher the meaning behind the images that appear during unconscious slumber. Your spirit speaks to you at night through your dreams. Listen to its messages. Use the guide to help interpret dream meanings. Unravel the mysteries of your mind and sail with your creative soul on a ever sweeter dream journey. When we are awake, we think in words. When we are asleep we think in images.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/understanding-dreams-330582.html

Author: Bryan Burbank

About the Author:

http://www.elovemagic.com

If you ever have met someone who maintains that their dreams predict the future, like most of us, you probably try to edge away from that person as politely as possible.  This is not to say that there is no such thing as psychic abilities.  But if you did have the ability to know the future because of your dreams, you would probably handle it differently than to just talk about it in a social setting.  That kind of person probably thinks they are psychic and can predict the future and they want you to think they can too. 

So when it comes to your own dreams, part of analyzing what you "learn" from your dreams is deciding how much you think your dreams are there to give you direction in life including warnings that your subconscious might see but you may not have realized yet consciously.  If you can get that good at dream interpretation that you can tell when you are getting "incoming" information through your dreams that has real value, that would be a huge breakthrough to be sure.

You would have to be careful if you decided that your dreams are given to you by your subconscious or by another power to guide your decisions each day.  If you took that to the extreme, you might confer truth to every dream you have.  Then if you dream something wild and imaginative because you spent too much time on the science fiction channel the night before, you would start drawing conclusions that were incorrect based on that input.

However, the subconscious does use the dream system to processes events, relationships and situations that you have experienced during the day and it can draw conclusions that you might have missed.  The subconscious is almost entirely intuitive.  That means that when you get that "gut feel" that something is wrong, that is your subconscious.  It draws conclusions based on intuition rather than logic.  That is why so many of your dreams are emotional and disjointed.  There is a logic there.  Just not one that makes sense to our logically oriented consciousness minds.

By judging the dreams you have, you can determine if the subject matter is meaningful or not.  If you know the content is about that movie you watched, you can disregard any "warnings" that is coming through the emotional communications systems of the subconscious.  But from time to time, the subconscious will notice that "something is not quite right".  That is intuitive talk for "danger, danger, danger.'  When you get dream warnings about a relationship, a job circumstance or some other important area of life that hits you in that "gut feel" place, it might be a good idea to pay attention.  Your subconscious may be on to something. 

The study of how to interpret the dreams we have can be come a real passion and hobby if you let it.  There are literally hundreds of books out and thousands of web sites that devote themselves to helping you put some meaning to the sometimes strange images and situations you find yourself in during your dream life.  Some of these dream image dictionaries and interpretive methods are based on studies done by credible scientists like Freud and Jung and some are not.

Knowing how the author or the web site or book came to this system of rules for dream analysis and how to interpret dreams will help you decide if his ideas are worth considering when you decide to interpret your own dreams to look for meaning beneath the surface.  You can actually find people who have written entire books giving detailed rules for dream analysis and how to interpret the images of dreams with no more knowledge of psychology or cultural imagery than you or I.  If the author of the book discusses his or her "method" for understanding dreams and it seems to involve revelation from some strange far away source or it is based on the author's personal genius alone, that may not be a guide to knowing what your dreams mean that you should follow.

Similarly be careful if the approach to understanding dreams that the book or web site you are looking at base their understanding on psychic readings, the occult or unusual religious texts.  Unless this is your orientation, those kinds of dream interpretation are as much fronts to "convert" you to their way of thinking of the world more than helping you understand what your dreams are telling you about your own mind.

The study of dreams and what they mean to you in terms of how your mind works and what your subconscious is trying to tell you is a legitimate field of study that is part of psychology and medical science and that has been subject to scholarly research for many decades.  This does not mean that your dreams do not have hidden meanings. 

In fact, the chances are they do.  But it does mean that there are reliable and legitimate sources of information out there to help you analyze your dreams correctly and then interpret what they mean.  You deserve that kind of high quality help with this important part of your life so make sure you insist any guide to your dream life lives up to that high standard.

Have you ever put up with a repeated dream?  Most of us have had them from time to time.  The very fact that it is a dream that you know repeats means it is a dream you remember.  We know that we all dream lots of dreams throughout a given night of sleep.  But only a few dreams poke through to our conscious mind so we are aware of them.  So if a dream can break through that barrier, that is a persistent dream that has more power than most dreams because it can blow down that wall between sleep and being awake and get your attention.

If a dream blows down that wall over and over again, that is the kind of dream that is really trying to get your attention.  So if you can find out what the meaning of that dream is, the first good of it is that it will help you resolve whatever your subconscious is trying to tell you to fix.  But maybe the best outcome is that when you resolve whatever is so important to your subconscious that it keeps barging into your conscious mind, that dream can finally go away.  And in most cases, we are darn glad to see those repeated dreams disappear.

To try to "decipher" what your subconscious is trying to say, first put the dream, whether it is a one time dream that was disturbing or a repeating dream, in the context of your life.  If you think about your dreams or you keep a dream journal (which is a very good idea), you will identify connections between events that happened the day before the dream or within a week that are directly connected to the dream.  Hence, if you are going to start a new job, move to a new town or start a new school, you will often have a dream where you are in a place you don’t understand and you are trying to figure it out.

There isn’t a lot of action you need to take about that kind of dream.  But it helps to understand that your subconscious mind is just coping with the same level of anxiety that your conscious mind is trying to get through.  By knowing the simple meaning of that dream, you can see what is going on in your subconscious and you can make the connection to your real life.

The subconscious "thinks" in ideas and emotions and reactions to events.  Fears, doubts, misgivings, hurt feelings, myths and paranoia will all live full lives in your subconscious mind.  By connecting those images to the real life events that caused those feelings and emotional thoughts, you can resolve the emotional difficulty in your subconscious simply by "having a good talk" with yourself.  And when you do that, you release your subconscious to tackle the next big problem in your life.  That is good management of your dream life by knowing the meaning of dreams and what to do about them.

There may be no stranger world than what we experience in our dreams.  It is not uncommon to wake up from a dream feeling that it was so real that it is hard to shake off the images from the dream as you move into your day.  If you start talking to people about dreams, some will think they are funny or somehow expressions of your romantic fantasies.  But not all of your dreams can be explained away so easily.

If you can understand what your dreams are telling you, that would help you cope with them particularly if the dreams you are having are disturbing and leave you feeling uneasy, anxious or full of questions when you wake up.  For many years, very educated psychologists have studied and continue to study what dreams mean to us.  Yes, some dreams don’t have meanings.  But very well regarded experts in how the mind work like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung had a lot of theories about what the subconscious was saying to us when we sleep.

What they suggest is that in a dream, we are seeing the merger of images from our memories, our imaginations, our fears and hopes as well as from input we have taken into our minds such as contents of movies or music.  But there are also common images that dominate society that almost always can be interpreted in a similar way.  These are cultural images that we just know about even if we don’t think about them.  Examples of shared cultural images and their meanings are…

.    A snake is almost always associated with fear and evil.  The cultural connection to Satan and damnation is very strong.
.    Santa Clause is an image that can represent happy childhood images, a positive adult role model or the anticipation of gifts. 
.    Clowns often can carry a good or a bad image.  If the associated emotion in the dream is happy, they can represent humor, imagination and fun.  But many fear clowns so if the associated feeling of the dream is unpleasant or fearful, the clown might represent a bad adult relationship from childhood, fear of authority or fear of what happens when the unknown merges with the commonplace.

These are just a few of the thousands of common cultural images that can appear in your dreams.  Knowing what cultural messages we may be projecting in that movie theater of the mind which is a dream can help you translate the images you see when you are asleep to understandable messages your subconscious is sending out.  That is why there are detailed dictionaries of dream images that have been compiled to help you understand your dream life. 

Many of the entries in these dictionaries come from famous psychologists like Jung and Freud.  If you have an image from your dreams that you suspect has meaning to you, consult these dictionaries to see what the cultural meaning might be.  It can be very helpful in understanding particularly bad dreams and by understanding them, resolve the fear or issue which can make the bad dreams go away.