The Dream Dictionary - What do you dream about?

Hi Bloggers!

Tonight I thought I would write about one of my most favorite and used books of all time... "The Dream Dictionary". You will always find it next to my bed and it is worn, tattered and falling apart. (the sign of a very loved book) This book was published in 1990 (when I bought it) and I believe has since been revised and renamed "The New Dream Dictionary". I can't say enough about this book. If you can remember your dreams when you wake up and if you have any interest in finding their meaning, buy this book.

Several years back I began having a very traumatic recurring nightmare about a monstrous tornado coming for me. In my dream I can always see this horrible thing coming and I can't get away... or get the phone to work to call for help... etc. It's really scary and I would always wake up or the dream would change to something else just before the tornado hit. I was having the dream several times a week which inspired me to research dreams.

I went to the bookstore (I didn't have the Internet then) and bought a book called the "Dream Dictionary". I looked through many, many books before choosing this one, because most of the dream books out there say your dreams are predictions... they are kind of like the psychic shows on late at night, cheesy. Finally, I happened across "The Dream Dictionary" and it was the only one at that time that actually defined and explained what your dreams meant or represented.

The book is actually set up like a dictionary and although mostly I use it for entertainment and to satisfy my curiosity, it has also been very helpful to me at times regarding insight into myself and my concerns and thoughts, and what I need to work on or deal with.

Lately I have been having a recurring dream where I am lost in a bad area of town and being chased by bad people I don't know, and I can't find my way out.

With this book I can look up the key words of my dream (town, lost, chased, bad people) First the book defines the main meaning of each word and then each word's definition is broken down into different ways that I might of dreamed (dreamt?) about them. That way you can take what applies to your specific dream, since all of it may not. (I will highlight in red what parts I believe apply to me)

For instance the main meaning of Town is One's relationship with society; one's sense of community; the mental and emotional environment in which one lives. Then there is a breakdown of keywords for how you dreamed about "town" such as home town, strange town, alone in a town, deserted town, lost in a town. I would refer to strange town which the book says represents a new or different attitude or way of life, and lost in a town which represents feeling uncertain regarding your place or direction.

(I guess not to keep you in suspense I will define my whole dream instead of just giving one example of town... ha ha)

Lost: lost in an unknown place; represents in a new area of experience, a new situation or period in your life.

Chased: We are pursued by what we have created with our thoughts, emotions, actions, or inaction. Something we are avoiding or feelings we are avoiding, such as fear of death, emotional pain, grief, etc.

and very interestingly my last key word was bad people so I went to people, which led me to roles where they list separately each kind or type of person, where I chose convict, since the people chasing me are thugs from a bad part of town so convict was the most fitting. Convict referred me to Captive or Prisoner and this definition was; represents emotions, anxieties and moods or ideas that "captivate" us, or act as a means of denying free expression to our own talents or well being. Something that is restraining us, fear of illness.

SO... VOILA! From these "clues" into my unconscious mind I can deduce that this dream would represent breast cancer and the way in which I am dealing (or actually not dealing) with it. It's kind of like solving your own mystery! I find this very interesting and also very helpful. I now know that I need to work more on facing and accepting this part of my life, which deep down I know I really totally haven't done. Which would also explain why this dream reoccurs continuously! ha. Maybe I can "get rid" of this bad dream by facing my fear.

I found the book to order online at: http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Dictionary-Guide-Dreams-Experiences/dp/0440208610/ref=ed_oe_p/102-8638577-5110544

I went online and read about the author, click here for his biography http://www.dreamhawk.com/tony-bio.htm

I also found this great site that discusses what dreams are and theories about dreams, click here http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream.htm and especially liked these pages from that site http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream6.htm which talks about what our dreams mean and http://science.howstuffworks.com/dream7.htm which talks about recurring dreams.


What kind of things do you dream about? Do you remember your dreams? Do you have a certain dream that stands out? Good night and sweet dreams!

Love, Diane