Part I
Decode Your Dreams
In this part . . .
Part I gives you the basics for establishing a solid, reliable dream habit and finding the hidden meanings in your dreams. In Chapter 1, you find good reasons to dream and understand the basic dream process. You can even discover tips for enhancing your ability to dream. Chapter 2 helps you activate the key components of the dream process, prepare for sleep and wake up consciously, and keep a dream diary to track your personal dream process. Chapter 3 helps you know your dream territory and recognize and work with physical dreams, emotional dreams, and mental-spiritual dreams. In Chapter 4, you dive into decoding symbols and understanding the multiple levels of dream meaning. But you can go deeper into dreamwork in Chapter 5, decoding your dreams, helping you make sense of all types of dream experience, and finding a variety of methods for uncovering hidden messages.
Chapter 1
Opening Your Dream Door
Dreams really are, in the truest sense, a doorway: to greater self-awareness, knowledge, success, and the possibility of a rich, full life. Sounds great, but how do you open and walk through that door? This chapter is a great place to begin. Youâll see that there is an actual pathway, with clearly delineated steps, that can take you from wishful thinking about dreams to a reliable dream habit. Youâll find your previously mysterious, invisible inner life can be revealed on a regular basis to assist you in many useful ways.
In this chapter, youâll discover some specific benefits of an active dream life, familiarize yourself with the steps in the dream process, and fine tune your understanding of sleep and dream dynamics. This way, you can build motivation and enthusiasm, be aligned with the natural flow of dreams, and get out of your own way by becoming aware of what inhibits dreaming.
Dreaming Fully
You can engage with the dream process better after you have some ideas about what dreaming does. Scientists write dreams off as the haphazard firing of neurons in the brain, but when you work deeply with dreams over time, you begin to understand them quite differently, seeing their spiritual roots. The following sections will help stretch your context for dreaming and inspire you about their vital importance in maintaining a healthy and happy life.
The function of dreams
The best way to begin understanding more about your dream life is to first understand how dreams function:
Dreams are restorative. When you have uninterrupted sleep and go through a series of deepening dream cycles during the night, you touch into and revisit your spiritual core and life purpose. Dreaming helps you stay on track, remember who you really are, how you fit into the whole, and renew yourself with fresh life energy and motivation. Dreams are about creation; the ultimate Dreamer is your soul. Most cultures where mystical spiritual experience is valued believe that the soul projects (think âmovie projectorâ) or âdreamsâ the personality and entire physical life into being. âLife is but a dream,â we so often hear. When you remember that you are the soul, or the Dreamer, and not the dream itself, you have more power to change the âdreamâ and create a life where your destiny can unfold instead of suffering and pain. Youâre not stuck! Dreams show you whatâs possible. All you have to do is dream something different! You are only as limited as your imagination. Dreams are about learning to be superconscious â and youâre learning 24 hours a day. You are dreaming not only at night but during your daytime waking reality, too. Your nighttime dream world is as real to your soul as your daytime world. They feed into each other, inform each other, teach each other. You, the soul, are never unconscious! You are always focusing on themes and issues that further your growth, flowing through different realms of your awareness. By interpreting day and night dreams, you can discover whatâs going on in your innermost life. Whatâs in it for you?
A productive dream life begins with being fired up and motivated. You wonât get started or stick with it unless you understand the benefits that dreaming provides. So Iâve listed some important ways you can improve your life by working with dreams:
Entertain yourself and grow your imagination. Dreams give you many interesting, fun things to talk about with your spouse, friends, and family. If you do nothing more than fly without an airplane or interact with dragons in your dreams, youâll be far richer than if youâd lived by logic alone. Dreams keep you childlike and open, and help promote a free, joyful spirit. Since anything goes in dreams, itâs not much of a stretch to extend the same dynamic imagination to your waking reality. Imagination may be one of the most undervalued skills you have. It determines the quality of your life, since what you can imagine is truly as far as youâll let yourself go. Dreams show you itâs not so hard to move beyond your comfort zone. Discover whatâs what in your psyche. Dreams provide firsthand contact with the fascinating mystery: âWho am I?â They teach you about your psychological process and the subconscious beliefs and fears that interfere with growth and happiness. Your dreams can show you how to be more flexible, tolerant, loving, and lovable. Tap your inner wisdom. Dreams relay accurate, inspired advice from your higher mind, or soul, the part of you that always knows the truth. They may even warn of problems that are brewing, or help you prepare for an upcoming event. Dreams reveal your unlimited creativity and notify you when youâre off center and need to realign with your life purpose. Be all that you can be. Dreams expand your sense of personal identity because you realize youâre composed of energy, emotions, thoughts, and higher patterns of awareness. Youâll start thinking of yourself as more than a physical body and will have access to new realms of experience that empower you to be more, know more, and do more. Develop intuition and innovation. Recalling dreams, interpreting them, and intending them are all acts that require intuition and imagination. The more you work with dreams, the more youâll learn to trust yourself, and youâll realize how naturally intuitive and creative you are. Increase real life success. Dreams help you in real ways â with problem solving, decision making, improving communication, healing yourself and others, even manifesting the help and resources you need. The dream state is a fertile field awaiting the seeds you sow. Melt barriers of time and space. Dreams expand your capacity to know things that are in the past, the future, in other locations, and other dimensions of reality. Dreams that come tr... 
