The practicality of dreams

When I’m asked about my ability to get to the heart of a dream’s message, I say that my secret is to look at every dream as advice that always has practical application in the dreamer’s life. Looking at a dream from this practical perspective is like a compass, or a shortcut, if you will, to find the right meaning from a variety of possible interpretations.

For example, someone dreams of a global catastrophe that later happens in real life. What is the meaning of this message? Well, that depends entirely on the dreamer and what’s going on in his or her life. Is the dreamer a proven clairvoyant whose visions are always meant for others, for the “hungry world”, so to speak? If so, then the true prophet doesn’t need any help with interpretation. Or there could be a case where the dreamer (or their loved ones) are in the place of the predicted disaster, and this dream is a warning to take shelter, move away, etc. These dream warnings shouldn’t be ignored, especially if they feel very realistic and/or the dreamer has proven psychic abilities.

But what if the dream of a future disaster has nothing to do with the dreamer’s life from a practical point of view: there is no need to run away and there is no way to warn others? What is the practical significance of such dreams (which are actually quite common)? There are many options to consider. For example, the dream of an approaching tsunami (even though it may become a real event on this planet) could be a symbolic representation for a dreamer of an upcoming emotional or mental state of being overwhelmed by something. Or, in some cases, prophetic visions may be an attempt to draw the dreamer’s attention to the precognitive nature of dreams, or to the significance of dreams in general. Dreams do have a precognitive nature, and they do save lives, but in the vast majority of cases these warnings come as a metaphor that needs to be decoded.

It takes time to learn the metaphorical language of dreams, but there are helpful strategies and even shortcuts. One of them, as mentioned above, is to find an applicable message that is useful in the dreamer’s present life: something that can be acted upon, even if it’s just exploration, discovery, and observation at first.

For example, seeing recurring nightmares of being abused, for someone who has been abused in real life, may indicate that this past trauma needs to be looked at and eventually healed. This kind of interpretation would be valid for someone who was not ready to look at these painful memories, but the time for healing has come, and as a first step it is necessary to bring these memories up from the depths of the unconscious where they have been buried but not resolved.

But if the initial work of discovery and observation has been done, the process of healing/forgiving has begun, but the dreams of abuse have not stopped, what is the practical message of these dreams? Would the dreams continue to point to a truth that the dreamer already knows, or to something that’s beyond the dreamer’s power to change? What would be the point or purpose of such an unnecessary repetition of disturbing dreams?

With my practical approach to dreams, I would always look at the angle where the dream is suggesting to the dreamer to change something in themselves and/or their life. I believe that if we do have “just dreams” (i.e. “useless dreams”), then why would we remember them out of the many dreams we have every night? Our bodies and minds are very intelligently designed, so the resource of dreaming wouldn’t be used so aimlessly (unless aimlessness is the message of such seemingly aimless dreams). And, as a matter of fact, it is the quality of practicality that makes dreams so difficult for others to decipher for us, because no one knows our situation better than we do and what should or can’t be changed.

So, back to the example of nightmares of being abused, but not understanding the purpose of these repetitive dreams and seeing them as just a painful reminder of the past trauma. If we turn inwards and view the characters of these dreams as aspects of ourselves, we’ll be able to discover a perhaps unpleasant but important truth about ourselves. That while the abusers from our past may be gone from our lives, they still exist in our psyche, becoming a part of us and abusing us on many different levels: mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical (for example, when we destroy our bodies with harmful foods, substances, unresolved anger, etc.).

Dream messages may not be very pleasant, but they are definitely very useful. And if we develop the habit of viewing every dream we’ve managed to remember as a practically applicable message, we will speed up the process of our healing, searching and growth considerably.