Back to basics

Are there days, weeks, months, when you wonder how you can possibly fit everything you need to do into so little available time? There are solutions, but you can never see them when you’re too busy running from one task to the next.

Your dreams may help you to discover those solutions, but taking the time to write your dreams down and analyse them can feel like just another task, and one way down the priority list at that.

I was reminded of this when I was interpreting a dream on Sunrise (breakfast television, Australia) yesterday morning, where the dreamer couldn’t fit everything into her case.

I’ll come to the dream shortly, but it gave me the idea to go back to basics in today’s blog, and give you dream interpretation tips for when you don’t have time to journal your dreams but would like to get a glimpse of what they mean, and some practical pointers to help you navigate life.

I apply these tips myself when I interpret dreams in the media, whether on television, radio, or during interviews with print journalists, where I’m given the briefest details of a dream and maybe less than a minute to shed some light on it. I hope, in demonstrating this ‘brief glimpse and dream tip’ approach, not only to give an idea of the meaning of a dream but, more importantly, to help viewers, listeners, and readers to learn dream interpretation tips that can help them gain some meaningful insight and practical application from their dreams when they don’t necessarily have the time to devote to writing down their dreams and delving deep.

Here are some of the dreams I was asked to interpret on Sunrise yesterday, each presented with a tip that you can use to begin to understand your own dreams:

 

Dream 1

This viewer said she always dreams she’s packing madly to catch a plane that she’s about to miss. The plane is usually leaving in an hour and a half, and there’s no way she can fit everything into her case and get to the airport.

Tip 1

Consider a dream as a metaphor or analogy of how you’ve been feeling.

Brief interpretation

She’s feeling that she’s packing so much into her day, trying to fit everything in to achieve a goal or get to where she wants to be, while feeling all along that she’s not going to make it. An hour and a half may refer to a period of time in her day, perhaps the time between dinner and bed, or between getting up in the morning and getting out the door, or the time she allows herself for study.

Is this brief glimpse helpful?

It’s a starting point. Our dreams can reflect what we don’t really acknowledge about our lives, or show us our unconscious issues, but in giving us a metaphor it can make it easier for us to relate and play with solutions: what if you catch a later plane (delay the goal, give yourself more time), what if you pack less into your day, do only what’s important to make that goal? What if you give yourself more time to do what needs to be done rather than to feel you’re rushing against the odds?

 

Dream 2

This viewer said he dreams of being at work, really snowed under and under a lot of pressure, and wonders if the dream means something.

Tip 2

Dreams reflect the last 1-2 days, and usually give the personal, inside angle on a situation.

Brief interpretation

If this dreamer does feel snowed under and under a lot of pressure at work, his dream may simply be reflecting that and trying to problem-solve the situation, but the dream is more likely to be about the pressures he puts on himself (rather than the pressures of work tasks), perhaps pressure to perform, to be perfect, or to meet other personal expectations, conscious or unconscious. It may also be about a different area of his life, what he’s feeling as being the hard work of pressures of relationship, parenting, or making ends meet.

Is this brief glimpse helpful?

Again it’s a starting point. He can ask himself questions about where he feels pressured in his life, and reflect on where he might add the pressure of his expectations, explore where these expectations come from and whether they’re worth holding onto.

 

Dream 3

This viewer has a recurring dream that comes up every month or so. She dreams that her teeth are loose and it really worries her, she spends a lot of time worrying about this in the dream.

Tip 3

Since dreams reflect the last 1-2 days, recurring dreams reflect a recurring issue or feeling in waking life. Each time you have a recurring dream, look back over the last 1-2 days to see if you can see a pattern.

Brief interpretation

The endless time spent worrying in the dream reflects the recurring issue she’s worrying about – and not resolving – in her waking life. It’s most likely to be worrying about potential loss, not a loss of teeth, but a different sense of loss. When you have a loose tooth, it’s wobbly, and the dream may be about loss of confidence (feeling wobbly), or worrying about how to confidently speak up without fear that something will come out wrong (like a loose tooth falling out). The dream may also reflect issues and feelings stretching back to childhood when her milk teeth got loose.

Is this brief glimpse helpful?

She might want to begin by asking herself what she worries about most in life, and how many of her worries are around potential or imagined loss, or loss of confidence. She might begin to think about what can be gained in any situation, rather than what might be lost.

 

Dream 4

This viewer simply said that sometimes she can fly, but it never ends well.

Tip 4

How did you feel in the dream? This is a key to interpretation.

Brief interpretation

Did you feel excited to take off? Did you feel you were doing something amazing that you’ve never done before? Did you feel calm, as if you were rising above an emotional situation? Did you feel you were flying to escape something? Were you nervous and doubtful, I can, I can’t, as you half flew, half plummeted? Did you feel powerful, thinking you can do anything and the sky’s not the limit? The feeling – as in any dream – is vital to the interpretation. For example, if you felt you were escaping, what have you been trying to escape, or what are you denying? This dreamer told us the dream never ends well, so that’s a clue. For example, he may doubt his ability to take off in some area of his life, and his doubt causes his crash.

Is this brief glimpse helpful?

We can be very out of touch with our feelings, or out of touch with our unconscious feelings and emotions, so it’s helpful to explore and discover these through a dream. Our feelings and beliefs – conscious or unconscious – can bring us down, as seems to be the case for this dreamer. Self-knowledge is power, power enough to fly high or to ground and face what needs to be faced.

There are other basic dream interpretation tips you can use to get a glimpse into the meaning of a dream, but applying the ones I’ve shared here will get you thinking and feeling your way towards fresh insight into your life.

When I work with someone on a dream, we take an hour to deeply analyse, explore, relate the dream in detail to waking life, and find practical application for the insights gained. In the busyness of your life, these tips might get you started until you’re ready to learn the art and science of interpreting your own dreams and  – who knows – you may discover how to reduce the sense of busyness and find time for more insightful calm and fresh, uplifting perspectives on your life.

Watch the Sunrise video clip where I’m interpreting these and other dreams.

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