Quote Originally Posted by JoannaB View Post
A couple of examples of how dream interpreters use tools to find meaning in dreams might illustrate how dream interpretation may actually not be only about meaning that is already there: other dream characters are often interpreted as the dreamer or an aspect of the dreamer's personality; houses in dreams are often interpreted as the dreamer's mind. Now do all dreamers know that and form their dreams accordingly, or does this work in dream interpretation because one is much more likely to gain meaningful insight about oneself and not other people, and about one's own mind and not actual places and thus the dream interpreter steers the interpretation in the direction in which meaningful insight is most likely to be gained. It is safer to interpret a dream to be about the dreamer than about other people because the dreamer is more likely to know things about him- or herself, and benefit from learning more about him- or herself from a dream; whereas, if one interpreted the dream as being about the dreamer's mother if she is a dream character in the dream, one is more likely to reach incorrect insights and runs the danger of steering the dreamer toward potentially wrong conclusions about his or her mother.
Recently I had a lucid which started in my grand parents house where I grew, I decided to follow the plot paying attention to the meanings which popped up here and there, then I was running (actually floating/flying) in the streets together with the dog who was my best friend ever (I was full of joy and it was clear to me what I didn't do with him), then he stopped running with me (I felt sorrow because of he passed away long time ago), the city in the direction we were running was dark while the other side was full of light when I turned to see him, he started to run the other way so I decided to follow him this time (to the lights), then he turned into my old daughter and I saw her playing alone with a lot of kids playing around (here I understood what was my problem). The dream ended when I had to tell her to be careful when playing near a street because of she was following a bouncing ball.

Once I woke up, it was clear to me what I was doing wrong with her and it helped us a lot to get her unstuck from a bad behavior. I think that's the way it could be working: "Once you understand yourself, you might help others."

I don't know if there was really a pre-minded relation or I made it "on the run" when I decided to passively follow the dream plot and be aware of the different meanings which popped out here and there. But the consequences of this thoughts in my waking life, helped me a lot with my daughter. And I think that's the most important part here, because of I was able to solve a long time problem which I didn't know what else to do.