In addition, as a dream analyst you are just that, a DREAM analyst. You are not a psychoanalyst, and therefore are not interested in the circumstances surrounding the dream. You are helping to interpret the dream itself; and your focus should remain on that. If you take a person's circumstances with you into the dream interpretation, you will have preconceived ideas of what the dream means. This is never a good way to start.

Images: Mental representations of objects or persons not physically present. We create them in our unconscious so that we have an inner mental picture of those things that evoke an emotional response. Our images are internalized in infancy, when we experience the world through our five senses, and attach meaning to things that satisfy our senses.

Symbols:               An object that stands for something else. Not only dreams, but everyday life is rife with symbols (traffic signs, wedding rings, etc.)

Universal Symbols:  Symbols that are rooted to the experiences of all humankind, and therefore are common to everyone, regardless of sex, age, nationality, etc. Listed below of some of the most common universal symbols:

House:                   Self

Weather:              Condition of one's life.

Water:                   The emotions/unconscious

Time of Day:       The time of one's life or one's frame of mind (morning = youth = optimism)

What if none of the universal meanings seem to click for a symbol, and it has you stumped on a personal level as well? There is an easy and enlightening way to discover a dream symbol's meaning. Have a conversation with it, in your dream journal. The symbol may hold meaning not only for that particular dream, but for your whole life as well. Allow yourself to feel the personality of the symbol. Write in an uninhibited fashion. Let the symbol communicate with you as you imagine it would. Do not let yourself form opinions about what you are saying as you are writing it.

No complicated equipment is needed. An ordinary notebook and pen will do. A pen that writes with a minimum of pressure, such as a fine-tip marker, is ideal. You may find a pen with a tiny flashlight attachment helpful, but it’s not essential. With a little practice, you should have no trouble writing fairly legibly in the dark. Some prefer to tape record their dream recollections. This is an option that has one major drawback - it will have to be transcribed later, a time-consuming task that is easy to procrastinate over. The best solution is to write your dreams when you awaken on a blank sheet and then rewrite onto the dream journal sheets. This will take less time than transcribing from tape. If you cannot motivate only yourself to do even that much, it is still better to have your cryptic notes scrawled in your journal at 3:00 am than no journal at all.

You can use any notebook, or you can download and print out our Dream Journal Sheets to create a professional notebook. Even if you use a blank sheet of paper, you may want to view ours to get an idea of the various sections needed.

Dream Journal Instructions

1. Prior to going to bed, fill in the Day/Date field with the day/date of the night you are going to sleep, not the morning you wake up.
2. Write the consecutive number of the dream about to happen in the Number field.
3. Fill in the Day Notes field with a short description of your day, including your mood and feelings about the day’s events.
4. Fill in the Incubation Discussion field with what you would like answered in your dreams and why.
5. Fill in the Question field with your incubation question (as discussed later.)
6. Incubate your dream and go to sleep.
7. Immediately upon awaking, fill in the remaining fields even flit is the middle of the night. If you remember no dream, it can wait until morning. In the morning, fill in the remaining fields whether you remember a dream or not.
8. What was the mood and atmosphere of the dream, or of your feelings upon awakening if you don’t remember the dream?
9. What title would you give the dream?
10. Describe the dream in as much detail as you can remember without getting too crazy about using just the right wording. Small details may count, however, so write what you can.
11. What objects and symbols were in your dream?
12. When you can, using one of the methods you will learn, interpret your dream and fill in the Interpretation field.
13. If a dream is associated to another dream, put its number in the Previous Assoc. field.
14. Start of fill in your symbol dictionary.