Dream Journals
In order to truly understand your dreams it is not only necessary but absolutely vital to record them in a dream journal. Everything within a dream is important not just what happened. Who was there, what they did, what you did, what was said, what was worn, how you felt during the dream, how you felt upon waking, was it inside or outside, was it somewhere you knew, what else was in the dream, chairs, tables, windows, buildings, teeth etc. Just about anything and everything.
Your dream journal and a pen should always be kept by the side of your bed as it is easier to recall and record your dreams immediately upon waking. Although it is possible to record them later in the day if you are really pushed for time it is far better to record them when you wake (even in the middle of the night if you can do it) as that way you will record far more of the information available to you. Do it later and information will undoubtedly be lost.
Below you will find a sample page of a dream journal. You can download a blank MS Word or Notepad version for your own personal use by right-clicking on the link and selecting "Save Target As...".
Date: 7-7-2007.
Title: The Dark Room #3.
How Did You Feel In The Dream?: Disbelieving and upset.
How Did You Feel Upon Waking?: Upset.
Who Was In The Dream?: Me and my long term boyfriend.
What Did I Do Or say?: I did nothing except at the v ery end of the dream I closed a door. I was just watching the rest of the time.
What Did Anyone Else Do Or Say?: My boyfriend was watching TV and making phone calls which were obviously to other women judging by the way he was talking which was definitely dirty. He couldn't take his eyes off the TV even when on the phone. He obviously couldn't see me.
What Was I Wearing?: Track pants and sweatshirt. I was very casually dressed.
What Was Anyone Else Wearing?: My boyfriend was dressed smartly in a black suit with a red tie which was unusual for him as he usually dressed casual like me.
What Location Was The Dream In?: An indoor setting that I didn't recognize.
Indoor Description(s): There was a bed in the room, a phone and a TV. There were no windows and just one door which was closed at the start of the dream. It was dark in the room to start with.
Outdoor Description(s): N/A
What Objects Were In The Dream?: TV, phone, door, bed and a light.
What Role Did They Play?: The TV was on. The bed was being used by my boyfriend. The door was closed at first, then opened by my boyfriend and then closed by me.
What Happened?: The dream started with me in a pretty dark room watching my boyfriend who was lieing on the bed even though he was fully clothed. I was dressed casually as I usually am but he was dressed as if he was going out somewhere special. He is always casually dressed when he's with me. The TV was on and there was a beauty show on it. All the girls were wearing bikinis and they were red. My boyfriend was watching it the whole time whilst lieing on the bed. He started making number withheld phone calls and struck up a conversation with someone I felt was a womwn. He was talking pretty dirty to her. I couldn't believe what he was doing. It was dark for most of the dream except for the light given off by the TV which was bright enough to see around the main parts of the room but I couldn't see anything else apart from the stuff mentioned. I didn't know the light was there till he turned it on. After my boyfriend hung up the phone he turned on a bright light and apart from the objects mentioned there was nothing else in the room. He got up and then went out the door. For the first time in the dream I moved and what I did was to close the door.
Interpretation: This is an actual dream that was sent in to us for interpretation. Ordinarily this might be just a normal dream with no special import, but as this was the third time she had had the dream it was obviously more significant.
The setting was pretty simple as dreams go and the number of characters within the dream was small. Just the dreamer, her boyfriend and the women on TV. There are elements in the dream that are key to understanding what is going on.
There are several elements of darkness here. The room was dark but she could see a little. The boyfriend's suit was dark. Darkness is a symbol of the unknown and the unknown is often something that is feared. He was dressed in a suit, which was against what she knew of his character. Yet another incidence of the unknown. She didn't know he dressed that way. After all, he didn't with her.
He was watching other women on TV too. TV is very popular for its reality shows. Another important point. Although it is not unusual for men to look at other women he was watching very intently. The women were all wearing red bikinis. Now red is often a sign of love but as it wasn't the dreamer wearing red it has to be taken another way, which is as a sign of warning. As with traffic lights - red means stop.
With an element of warning already in place we have to look at the tie that the boyfriend was wearing. It was red too. Now as he didn't dress that way for her it obviously wasn't a love symbol. It was another warning symbol and this time directly tied to him.
He also phoned other women which the dreamer found upsetting. In addition he was withholding his number which points to him withholding stuff from her. He talked dirty to the last woman he called so there was obviously a sexual element there that did not include the dreamer. Another pointer.
When he turned the light on she could see there was nothing else in the room. In the context of what had happened so far this was interpreted as meaning there was nothing else for her here.
Probably one of the most telling elements to this dream was what happened after he went out. He left the door open and for the first time our dreamer moved. She closed the door. Very potent symbolism of closing the door on her boyfriend.
Overall the dream was a warning. Even though he was her long term boyfriend there was a side to him she didn't know. The dream was telling the dreamer that her boyfriend was fooling around without her knowledge and that he was no longer interested in her as he had once been. It was time to put an end to this relationship which was very thoroughly stressed by the fact that it was her who closed the door. Even though she felt disbelieving in the dream she still symbolically closed the door.
Note: The lady in question later contacted us to let us know that the interpretation was spot on. She had subsequently caught her boyfriend out. It turns out he had been "playing the field" because as he put it he was "bored" with her (with hindsight this could have been indicated by the fact that she was dressed very casually and he wasn't). Obviously he is no longer her boyfriend. She closed the door on him in reality too.