How to Interpret Your Dreams

Interpreting Dreams

The I AM and I NEED Formula

The difficulty most people have with interpreting their own dreams is that they aren't objective enough. Their familiarity with the people and places in their dreams obscures the dreams meaning. This formula, I AM and I NEED, was devised to overcome this. Here's how it works.

Write out your dream as fully as possible. Be sure to have two different colored pens. Using one color, underline every negative word or phrase in the dream which indicates limitation, disrespect, containment, avoidance or damage. There is a sample list of keywords and phrases of limitation at the end of this column.

Now using the other color underline every positive word or phrase. You now make two lists. List the negative words and phrases under a column titled I AM. List the positive words and phrases under a column titled I NEED. You are almost ready to interpret your dream.

First determine the subject matter of the dream. The location where the dream takes place is one of the best methods for doing this. Refer to the dictionary at here for a list of locations and their meaning. When you have determined the subject matter take each of the phrases or words in the 'I AM' column and fit them into the following sentence.

When it comes to my subject matter I AM phrase or keyword

Change the phrase or keyword slightly to force the sentence to make sense. If you cannot determine the subject matter apply the keywords to yourself in general. This exercise tells you how you feel or react to the subject matter of the dream. When you have done this read through the 'I NEED' column to learn what you must do to correct the problem. To get the meaning put each of the phrases or keywords into the sentence,

When it comes to my subject matter I NEED phrase or keyword

Let's take an example. Using the sentence 'The dead woman lay on the cold hard slab'. The negative keywords are; dead, cold and hard. Women in dreams can represent emotions so in this case the sentences constructed would be

When it comes to my emotions I am dead.

When it comes to my emotions I am cold.

When it comes to my emotions I am hard.

The meaning is obvious. With analyzing just one sentence from a dream we have learned a lot about the dreamer. Using this technique you now have all of the information you need to start interpreting your dreams. However it takes practice to be able to apply what you have learned. Be patient with your efforts.

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Michael Sheridan is the author of many published works about dreams and their interpretation.