Interpreting your dreams intuitively By Jimmy Henderson Intuition can also be used as a method for interpreting dreams. This requires that we keep a dream journal in which as much information about the dream is written down and recorded. Usually we only have a few moments after waking to recall and write down the content of any dream before it fades, but with practice, this can be extended to about ten or twenty seconds. You can simplify your own dream journal by drawing in columns beforehand and labelling them as the ‘theme’ of the dream, the background, colours, persons, objects and ‘activities’ (actions) taking place. When you awaken it will then be easier to just make a few notes in each column. The characteristics of our dreams will always be symbolic and built up from our past experiences and our own unique frameworks or paradigms of thinking. In other words, a religious person will have probably have a religious paradigm and everything will be seen, and probably need to be interpreted, in terms of spiritual or religious ideas. Likewise, a person who is trained in (or at least very interested ) in science, will probably see everything in the dream in more scientific terms, a nature lover in concepts involving nature, and so on. Once you have practiced and have recorded the details of a few dreams, you can begin to apply your intuition to interpreting them. The first step is to prepare your mind for intuition by setting an ‘intent’, that is, asking or telling your subconscious mind to allow you to intuitively interpret this dream. In this regard, see my previous article on this blog titled ‘intuition and our subconscious mind’. What you are looking for is an immediate understanding of the dream without any actual thinking taking place. Quieten your mind as if you were going into meditation, start visualising and try to recall as much of the dream as you can, including the background scene, characters, objects or activities. See it playing out in your mind again. When you are ready, pose the following question to yourself ‘What does this mean?’ Now relax your mind and keep it clear, waiting for an ‘intuition’ to present itself. Be patient and ideas will soon begin to ‘pop into your head’. At first you may think some of the spontaneous thoughts are only your imagination, and sometimes the messages may be confused with normal thinking. However, you must acknowledge all spontaneous thoughts, feelings and impressions received after posing the question, as intuitions. Acknowledge and accept these intuitive thoughts with a sense of gratitude, and you will soon begin to cement the relationship of trust with your subconscious mind. This acknowledgement will also indicate that you are ready and willing to receive intuitive ideas. Record any thoughts and ideas you receive in your journal and compare them to the images you have recorded there as associated with the dream. You may need to think a little initially on the associations between the words and ideas that have presented themselves to you intuitively and the dream images and the information you have recorded in your journal, but once you have perfected the technique, intuitive ideas relating to dreams will flow more easily and freely. This skill can take many months to perfect. Do not be disillusioned if you are not successful at first. Jimmy Henderson is a metaphysical teacher and the author of a number of books and articles on self-development. His books ‘Multi-Dimensional Thinking’ (2007) and ‘Multi-dimensional Perception’ (2010) are available on Amazon.com and can also be ordered via his website www.jimmyhendersonbooks.com He is currently completing his Masters degree in Cognitive Psychology.