Do dreams have meaning? It's up to you.

It always surprises me when people question whether or not dreams have meaning. I want to respond, Does your life have meaning? Are the thoughts that pass through your consciousness during your waking hours just random firings of neurons, or do they mean something about who you are and what you want? Can you learn anything from the pattern of events in your day, both those that seem to be under your control and those that seem not to be? It's up to you whether you want to see your life as a series of random events or a mythical story that holds truth -- or perhaps something in between. And dreams during sleep are no different. Do you really believe that once you turn off the restraining influence of your conscious mind, once you are no longer "in control" of your thoughts, what remains in the dark of night is completely meaningless? If so, you must live in a rather lonely, boring universe: one in which everything is under your control, and everything is already known. If you do decide to look deeper into the meaning of your dreams, there is far more than one way to interpret each one. Each dream has multiple layers of meaning, and multiple possibilities for interpretation on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels -- just as you can look at any aspect of your life, or any single moment of your day, from so many different attitudes. Maybe the next day, the words someone says to you, or the shape those two people make as they lean toward each other, reminds you of what you dreamed, which you hadn't remembered until now. Why? It's because once you start seeing meaning in life, everything is connected. A pattern of interaction that happened in your dream is mirrored in the expression of someone's face, or the movement of the water in a fountain, or the way in which you recognize beauty in a piece of art. Once you start listening to your dreams, life starts whispering back to you, not only when you are sleeping but when you are awake. Have you ever had a day that was like a dream? Perhaps it seemed dream-like because the emotions were so intense it felt unreal, or something terrible or wonderful or somehow shocking happened that threw you out of ordinary reality, or for some reason the images and sounds of that day just stood out to you in a larger-than-life way, as if they were tugging at you, as if they had something to say. What if you interpreted a day in your life as if it were a dream? Pick some important moment. Say it's your anniversary, and you're having dinner with your partner at a restaurant. What if this were a dream? What objects or events in this moment appear most brightly to you? Do you find yourself gazing at the candle or the flowers; was the waitress pretty; did something go wrong with your order or your partner's; what did you talk about? What if everything that happened within this one hour was a symbolic portrayal of your relationship? Not everything about your relationship, but something you need to know right now. A dream, a gift of insight that could help you. Sometimes I "dream" a waking dream on purpose. In some belief systems, this might be called a medicine walk. I take some question that is gnawing at me, like "What is my purpose right now in life?" and I go for a walk in nature, and I pay attention. I don't look for an "answer," but I notice what I'm aware of, what moves me. Maybe I find myself lost in my head: what does that tell me about my disconnection from life? Maybe I notice an old, gnarled tree standing out on its own on a bank, and think about how important it is for me to be an individual, to stand on my own, and also to respect the wisdom of the ancients. Maybe I find myself standing on the edge of a creek for a long time, and then ask myself why I am drawn to this liminal space, this line between worlds, and how my purpose in life as a writer and dream-interpreter might have something to do with connecting worlds. Once when I was in the woods asking a question much like this, a bee flew around my body, brushing my skin with its legs, for several minutes. It never stung me, only flew away, and I was left laughing at this simple message: "Don't be afraid. You don't have to 'do' anything. Just be(e)." I know, it would be exhausting -- not to mention perhaps insane -- to interpret every single moment in life as symbolic. But if you have some great question about life, try holding it in your mind for a while, both waking and sleeping, not grabbing for answers but just waiting to see what emerges. Imagine you are living a dream that has special meaning just for you. Be aware of life as meaningful, and you will find that it becomes every day more beautiful and more magical. And you will feel less alone, because you will learn to see life as a conversation between you and a sacred world. What if everything is alive; what if nothing is random; what if every moment is the answer?