Do you believe dreams actually mean someting? Please explain why you think that. Include a dream if you'd like.

A friend shared this method of dream interpretation with me.
I found it so effective I was then able to make an excellent life choice;
it told me I was ready to marry, and who to choose, now many years ago.
Subsequently it has helped me recognise my fears, and given me clues how to deal with them.

Write down your dream.
Include the emotions felt at each moment.
Highlight each of the key words, including the feelings.
Imagine a alien from another world who knows nothing about Earth.
The alien asks you the meaning of each word.
Write the replies you would give him.
What comes out will reveal the meaning of your dream.

Yes, sometimes. I believe recurring dreams mean something. I've had multiple dreams that I've been shot, or chased down. And about once a month I have a nightmare that my teeth fall out one by one before some big event. Recently I had a dream that I was a child abuse detective (the career I aspire to) and I rescued a little boy who was being badly abused, the father pulled a gun on me and tried to shoot but it jammed, so I pulled mine on him but didn't shoot. Right before my dream ended I was talking to my colleagues and I said, "I don't have a problem with guns but I don't think I can pull my gun on a human being again, let alone shoot him." I'm trying to decipher the dream because I know it was my subconscious mind telling me something. There's nothing I want to be more than a child abuse detective but I don't want to be a cop to play wild wild west. I want to help people, not harm them and I think subconsciously I am afraid that if I had to defend my life, I won't be able to.

They always mean something but most of the times we don't understand them
Here is my dream: I had a dream that I was in an underground cave. There was a 9 year old boy whose name was Collin, he invited me in his cave and told me he was the 'anointed one' ; which till now I cannot explain. He said that I should join him and after a week from that I shall kill him using my own way. I don't know about you but that is fishy...

Hi,
I'm still in training as a psychotherapist, but in the last 3 years, understanding and working through my dreams has helped not only to know where I am, but to help resolve past issues. CG Jung is a great writer on dream analysis, but I believe that most of the symbols and characters in dreams either have personal meaning or represent facets of your own psyche. I can't deny that some symbols appear to be cultural rather than purely personal. Here's a dream that I had, if you don't like it .. I have many more ;)

The Purple People 5/7/11

There was a crowd, maybe forty people or so. Some of us were middle aged, the others younger adults. Everyone wore a shade of purple. There was a tension in the group. We stood in a large open square, a wide set of steps on the side of the square leading up to a grand classical building like a Greek or Roman forum. Our young stood on the steps, spread out in front and above us as the rest of us congregated together on the floor of the square. There was music playing, I remember some of the words, ‘we can dance, we can dance, everyone join the dance’. The lyrics may be wrong but the song is a well-known piece of 80’s Electro-pop.

The young stood on the steps. ‘Bow to the new God’ they called. ‘Bow to the new God’ and they bowed. We followed them but did not believe. We knew they were rebuilding their society and we had to be removed, but we wanted to integrate, we were attached to our children. As an aging mother, I tried to unbutton my daughter’s thick cardigan. It was of heavy, purple wool, with horn buttons. Opening her cardigan was opening her to me, removing her emotional block. She did it back up and I undid it again. She did it up and we elders knew we were rejected.

Then we scattered and they pursued us through the streets, I ran quickly, turning sharply and hid amongst some small buildings.

I believe there is a conflict in my psyche as I take a step further into the transcendental mind. Perhaps the Buddhist fears the Jungian, though integration should be possible. Perhaps the rational fears the phenomenological or experiential, as I slowly accept the valid reality of my mental continuum.

The daughter may represent the loss of my elder daughter as she closed the doors on her family and sought her own path. It may also be my own internal resistance to opening up. If I want to join the purple order, maybe I have to stay closed. I will not, cannot do that. But I do not need to reject them. I can accept them, work with them and still be myself. My utilitarian structures provide shelter from the storm of new ideas and worldviews, but they are a temporary hiding place only.

I found the song – Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance. I remember that in my mid-twenties I cut off my long hair for a job. From that day on I never danced again. That was the day I stopped being myself. Listening to the song makes me very emotional for what I have lost.

Yes I KNOW some of them do- I have dreampt of plane crashes that ended up happening the next day- exactly the same plane and way etc. At the time in my dream it feels like I'm there "seeing" it happening and in horror that I can only watch. I dreampt of that ferry that capsized years ago- the night before it happened. I wish I could dream of a winning lottery number....

Dreams are the subconscious way of reminding you to go to school naked, and have all your teeth fall out