Customer Reviews

Dreams Uncovered: A Workbook And Guide to Understanding Your Dreams

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I felt disappointed when I discovered how tiny this "workbook" is; it maxes out at under 70 pages and is the size of a journal one might pick up at a bookstore. However, I haven't had many memorable dreams of late and so easily recorded a short but perplexing dream. Each book chapter highlights one of seven steps outlined here to get a handle on dreams. There is a short exercise at the end of each chapter and a lot of blank pages with lines to write out the exercise.

In chapter 1, we 'stimulate dream recall' by writing out some life issues or specific questions we want to address. In ch. 2 we find out what parts of our dream are relevant (mostly all) and record the dream in the space provided. In ch. 3 we discuss different types of dreams and how to interpret symbols. The book suggests checking out some dream dictionaries to find one with affiliations that resonate. I generally have avoided dream encyclopedias because their meanings tend to be fixed and if you have spent any time anyalyzing dreams you find out that one person's meaning may not be yours. However, this book suggests we look both at our feelings about the symbols in the dream as well as what a dream dictionary can offer.

In chapter 4, we look up our dream symbols and add this insight to the chapter 3 exercise. There is also information about dream elements to work with in this chapter as well as what we intuit and glean from the dictionary. I found this information useful and interesting. The short dream that I had thought would lead to nothing began to take shape. In ch. 5 we review our dream symbols and go back to our list and highlight the interpretations that are most true to heart. In ch. 6, dreams symbols are analyzed in the context of the dream--how they related to one another. This book implies we are more willing to submit to helpful criticism or suggestions when presented by our own subconscious minds and I definitely agree.

In ch. 7 we expand our dream interpretation to our personal lives and see where similarities exist. I was pretty happy to find obvious connections and also came up with a new question to help clarify my issue. When I had a second dream and followed the seven steps again, I was able to get further insight. I spent half a day musing until I came up with a solution. Two hours later I was amazed to find that the elements of the dream did in fact reveal a short story about a simple but bothersome problem, as I worked through it and found I was coming out of a dark place and began to feel a lot better.

There is a little mind-bending needed to get to the 'hidden message' of the dream, but it is worth the work. I can see now why the book is designed so simply: because dream interpretation is tricky and the more simple the process can be, the easier it is to get to the bottom of it. There is also a short Glossary of Dream Symbols in the back of the book and a place to record further "contemplations."