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We often talk about dreams as goals but today we wanted to share some thoughts on the kind of dreams that take place when you sleep. If sleeping serves the purpose of cellular regeneration, dreaming serves the purpose of thought reorganization. On average, we sleep eight hours a night – spend a third of our lives sleeping – and of those eight hours, it is said that we only need three to six in order to restore our physical health. So, why eight? Eight hours is what we’re told we need for our minds to do their job of “filing” all the information that was received throughout the day, past thoughts that were reactivated, future ideas that were generated. Eight hours is what it takes to maintain mental health through the process of dreaming, and depriving us of our daily dose of this necessary process has resulted in hallucinations, nervous disorders, neurosis, and even death.

Symbolism is the language of dreams. Dreams use graphics to add meaning and feeling to what you are “seeing” in an almost film-like rendition of a part of your life. Dream interpretation is a very useful tool for accessing the elusive unconscious and subconscious states of mind, and a key to self-understanding. Interpreting dreams is something that can come naturally or it can be learned and improved upon. Either way, it is through this tool that we open the door to 90% of ourselves, as most of our behavior is guided by both our unconscious and subconscious mind, the part of us that is not aware (not conscious) of why we do the things we do. Psychologist Carl Jung used to say that it was through our dreams that we connected to the collective unconscious, the “planetary records”, the vault of shared experiences we had as a human race. From his research he developed archetypes, symbolic figures that were a part of everyone’s experience and that could be given a common interpretation. Beyond his work, psychologists have come up with some general interpretations for some very common dream symbols and some of their general meanings are:

• - Bed – This is literally where we go to sleep, and most commonly seen in dreams in a state of decay. If the bed you see is broken, the meaning couldn’t be more clear: You need rest.

• – Car/vehicle – If you’re driving, the car (its color, state) will tell you how you’re “conducting” an area of your life. The vehicle is a representation of you, your body, your path, your life and how you are leading or “driving” it. Reckless driving, a lack of brakes – you can interpret these literally. If someone else is driving your car and you’re sitting in the back, well, someone else may be in charge of conducting your life with you as mere spectator (it’s interesting to note who or what the driver is). If the vehicle is a bicycle instead, you’re not just driving, this is a very personal dream in which you and not outside circumstances or transitory situations are powering the vehicle (the car has a motor that runs it, the bike is run by your feet or your strength). This refers to an independent or autonomous phase of your life and how you’re conducting it.

• – Water – Symbolically, water represents life. In astrology (another ancient practice for self-knowledge) it represents emotions. In a dream, the type of water and what you do with it will tell you how you’re dealing with life. Do you see the ocean (limitless and vast) or a pool (limited space)? Is the water clean or dirty and difficult to see through (pure feelings versus negative emotions)? Do you run and jump in the ocean or do you stand at the shore afraid and uncertain (participate or afraid of living)? How you approach the water is how you approach or feel about life and your involvement in it.

• – House – What is the house of all of your thoughts? Your mind. Visiting a house or other type of home in a dream is going into the mind – yours or that of another. The state of the house will tell you about the state of that person’s mind and thoughts. Is the house in order or disorder? Is it clean or dusty and abandoned? Is it warm and welcoming or cold and barely inhabited? Is there furniture, and what state is the furniture in?

• – Food – Literally, food is what you use to nourish your physical body. Symbolically, “food” is what you use to nourish your soul. Food in a dream stands for knowledge, whether it is simple information you lack or wisdom you want to acquire. Dreaming with a readily available banquet means that knowledge is at our disposal; being unable to eat it (because there are no plates, perhaps), is a sign or fear that we may not attain it.

• – Pregnancy – If you’re pregnant in real life, this is a literal dream representative of your actual state (or premonitory if you don’t yet know). If you’re not, this is symbolic of being “pregnant” with an idea, a project, any kind of new beginning. Following this symbol is that of seeing children in a dream, which speaks of recent or novel projects, jobs or even relationships. The state, age, and situation of the child (is it happy? is it a real child or a plastic doll when you look closer, and therefore not real? Do you seem to be taking good care of this child or is it being neglected?) will tell you about the project.

Colors we see, feelings we experience, and any words we say are all things that must be interpreted along with the graphic symbols in our dreams. A good practice is to wake up and write out what you remember of the dream while you still have access to it, or tell it to someone and hear the words you use to describe what you saw. Your words – on paper or being told to another – will help you decipher the symbols, as you put labels on the things you saw and these labels tell you what these symbols mean to you particularly, in your own language.

The next step after dream interpretation is dream creation. Can you control your dreams? I know someone who does so regularly. I tried it once, and ended up solving a personal problem that I didn’t feel equipped to handle in real life. Dreams are a great opportunity for emotional release and problem solving, and posing a question to our subconscious mind as we are falling asleep can render great results when we wake up. It is said Albert Einstein dreamed the theory of relativity. Maybe you can dream your own brilliant contribution to the world too, or, at the very least, deal with some important things that you didn’t think you could in the context of the perceived societal, physical and emotional limitations of the real world.