Dreams have long intrigued and mystified us. Every culture has its stories of magical happenings in the dream time and many believe that prophetic knowledge can be obtained during dreams. It is even said that loved ones who have passed before us have the power to communicate with us in our dreams.

But did you know that our dreams also have the power to inspire and motivate? Dreams are a very fertile playground for our subconscious minds. Frequently our dreams tap into a part of us that we have previously been unaware of. Through a symbolic language, dreams teach us about ourselves; our strengths and our weaknesses.

So how do we decipher our dreamtime messages? Well, it’s actually fairly easy to begin tapping into the hidden power in our dreams. I would first recommend keeping a dream journal. Any sort of journal will do ---- I prefer to use one of the fancy journals you can buy, but a spiral notebook will work just as well. First thing in the morning (you may have to set your alarm clock 20 minutes early or so to accomplish this if you are on a schedule) write anything that you can remember in your dream journal. I generally write in my journal while enjoying my first cup of coffee.

”What if I don’t dream?” Oh, you are dreaming, you are probably just not remembering. If you have trouble remembering your dreams try waking up a little early, and write down any images in your journal before you get out of bed. Sometimes it helps to lay in the position you were in when you woke up. So if you woke up on your left side, and rolled to your right to shut off the alarm, roll back to your left side.

And just keep writing. Even if you only remember a few fragments, write them down. And do this every day. You will find that every day you start remembering more and more. (I got to the point where I was remembering four or five dreams a night.)

Once you are established in remembering and writing down your dreams, it’s time to start interpreting them. There are several really great dream interpretation books available (see my recommendations at the bottom of this page) but one of my favorites is just a plain old dictionary. Also remember that some symbols are highly personal. For instance, a dog in a dream dictionary may represent friendship and loyalty. However, if the dreamer was attacked by a pack of dogs, the symbol of the dog could represent healing fear. I generally use dream dictionaries as a starting point, and then I work at interpreting the personal symbols.

A great tool for explaining symbols in your dream is to describe them out loud. So for instances, if you dreamt you were driving in a blue car, you might say “I was driving in a blue car ---- a car is something that takes us where we want to go. And blue is a peaceful color, the color of the throat chakra, which is communication.” From this explanation you can already see that the dream of driving in a blue car may have something to do with how you communicate to get somewhere (perhaps you need to speak up at work to get a promotion you want!).

Working with our dreams can be very exciting and inspiring! They provide us with nightly visits into our subconscious mind and have much to offer us. When we pay attention and learn to look deeper, we can discover who we truly are and how to get where we want to be.