Freud said, "A dream is never fully interpreted."
Indeed, a dream contains all the information from the past, just like how you don't know why you do a certain behavior. We call these things "habits," which contain a lot of information. This is reflected in dreams, forming intentions, behaviors, and even the atmosphere of the entire dream. It encompasses everything, becoming a universe within a nutshell.
The best interpreter of dreams is oneself. Interpreting one's own dreams is easy but contains a lot of information.
- So how can someone who hasn't studied dream interpretation understand their own dreams?
This is for those who are still persevering.
Firstly, don't let your dreams slip away.
Understanding your dreams first requires recording them, which is very, very difficult (laughs). Speaking for myself, I am inherently lazy. If I can ride a bike, I will never walk. If I can sit, I will never stand. If I can avoid doing something, I will (laughs). I have tried: voice recording, notebook recording, constantly recalling dreams until they are flushed away by the first morning urine.
I once tried a sleep app that could record audio, so you would often hear someone just waking up mumbling and occasionally pondering for a long time. This would make you fall asleep again... The most unbearable thing is listening to your own recording after waking up, feeling like a mentally challenged child. Voice recording ended in failure.
I once tried putting a notebook by the bedside. Every morning, the terrible sleeping position would mess up the blanket, and the dreams would be forgotten in the time spent searching for a pen. Before long, the notebook would escape into the depths of the bed, never to be seen again. The notebook plan ended in failure.
I once had a very important dream, although I don't know why it was important because I forgot it. I kept recalling this dream in my mind, back and forth three times, until it was completely forgotten on my way to work, leaving only a trace of "I think I had a very important dream today." The plan to repeatedly recall the dream failed.
Dreams always come and go without a trace, but they can give you a big surprise one morning. A dream that you can't forget no matter how hard you try appears, and because it is so important, you think about it when you wake up, when you wash up, and even when you're lost in thought during meals. It seems like you can never shake it off. At this point, I would pick up my phone, unlock it, open an article, and finally open a document to calmly and faithfully record it. I think it should be done this way.
Do you think I will give you advice on how to remember dreams? No, don't force it. Dreams that are recorded will always be remembered, and those that aren't can be left alone. When you feel that a dream should be remembered, pick up a piece of paper or your phone and calmly record it.
Analyze your dreams.
Great, you have a complete dream. If you can (using my method) record this dream, it means that it has the complete meaning for analysis. So let's take a look at your dream.
Those who have studied dream interpretation can analyze intentions and analyze themes. Because it is your own dream, you can control intentions very well and even do in-depth analysis.
I'm sorry if you haven't studied dream interpretation, you might be confused. Here's another method for you (since I am a dream interpreter, shrugs) "Use feelings to connect with reality."
Using feelings to connect with reality can only be easily done by yourself with your own dreams. Beginners are not recommended to use feelings to interpret other people's dreams because it is difficult and easy to impose their own thoughts on the dreamer.
Since only you can do it, it's easy. Experience the emotions in the dream, not too many, just the most profound one. Then connect it with the recent events in reality (within a week, usually one to two days). Put the same feelings together, ah, there you have it! This dream means this (covers face and laughs). Some people say this method is unreliable. There's nothing I can do, it's because you don't know dream interpretation. But I heard that this method has an 80-90% success rate.
Don't believe it? Give it a try.
(This dream interpretation method is based on "free association," one of the main methods of psychoanalysis used by Freud to interpret dreams. By freely associating based on the feelings in the dream, it is easy to associate with certain things in reality.)
However, there are some people who resist. I once had a visitor who would tremble and have a blank mind whenever she talked about her dreams. This is a manifestation of high resistance, indicating that she is unwilling to face herself and resist her true thoughts.
But most people have some resistance, to varying degrees, to thinking about their own dreams. This is normal because if it's a nightmare, thinking about it will make you scared. However, dreams that you don't want to think about often have obvious emotions. You can try to record the emotions, such as fear, anxiety, tension, etc. When you look back at the dream after a few days, you may be able to make connections.
If you can't connect it to reality, it's also normal because besides resistance, there are some deep thoughts in your heart. It could be something from childhood or something that has been hidden for a long time. These are not easy to comprehend.