Here's a new, much simpler and quicker translation format for your dreams!
Some time ago I posted a thread, either here or another dream forums, with an attachment to a dream translation template document. You know I was very proud of it, but the thing simply takes too long to use. If you have 1-3 dreams every night, and it takes you anywhere from 1-3 hours to translate each one, where will you find the time? But you have to work with your dreams, honor the dream source, as Robert Moss says, so what's the solution? Well try this, it's working for me, when I remember to spend an hour or two each day to work on my dreams, but it's a far cry from the process I went through before.
First off throw out the Dream Journal. Unless you have someone who can read your handwriting and put it into a text document so you can work with it, or unless you can easily read and understand your own writing and don't mind having to go through a few 3 ring binders every month or two, it's time to use a laptop. Save a tree. I am still adjusting to this, don't know how anyone us supposed to type on their side, but my handwriting is just awful, I don't have the time to improve it, don't have the money for lots of binders and paper, and don't want to spend an hour or two either dictating each dream into a text document or trying to read each one and put it in a text document, then spend more time correcting the spelling and grammar.
When I wake up I type out my dreams, spell and grammar check them, as more details come I add them, which is much easier to do with a word processor (I use Open Office, now Apache Open Office, a free suite.) Later I try to find the time outside my usual spiritual and singing practice to work on them. Failing unfortunately, but at least I am working with some dreams now, where before I didn't work on any.
This is the new, simpler format I use, drawn mostly from Robert Moss's, "Conscious Dreaming." If you don't own that book buy it immediately and keep it on your shelf at all times. Trust me on that!
So here we go, and you can use this to translate the abbreviations in my second opinion dream thread:
F.A.D. (Feelings After and During)
You can also record feelings from before you went to sleep, should you remember them. Then it would be, of course, F.B.A.D (Feelings Before, After and During.) Just write down the feeling, or describe it, and follow that with when you had it, (B), (D), or (A). Most of mine seem to be (D)uring with a few (A)fters. This may not seem like it does much, but it's working subtly, behind the scenes, as you address the next areas.
F.A. (First Associations)
Now you read through you dream, ideally immediately after you have written it down, so you can fill in any other details you remember. As you go through it you think of what each action, person, object, place, etc. means to you personally. Throw out your dream dictionaries. Create your own with your own unique associations for the symbols you encounter in your dreams. Keep detailing each thing, in a format similar to this (drawn directly from the dream I posted about):
The Unlocked Door: OK so I see this image of a small, yellow door, padlock hanging there unlocked. I think there may be something inside I'm after. Could this represent where I want to go? But what could the padlock hanging open and unlocked mean? To me a padlock represents security, a way of locking something up, protection. You would put one a door to a space where you have something you want to protect, or perhaps a place where you don't want others to go. This latter definition feels right to me. So the door is to a place others don't want me to go, or where I don't want others to go. The first seems right to me. This is a place others don't want me to go. It's not locked to me for some reason. Still not sure what the door represents, or why its so small. Have the feeling it may depict how the door is hard to get through. This feels very strongly correct. The peeling paint may represent age.
Notice how I wander around, listing what the object means to me, what it could mean, its possible meanings, but I home in on anything to which I get a strong feeling of, "Yeah, that's it!" for lack of a better way of phrasing it. Some things will feel more right than others. You have to approach this as if you were ghost hunting with your trusty EMF meter. You follow the strongest readings. You have to wander around a bit before you find those strong readings though. If you do this right, the next section is a breeze.
P.T. (Possible Translation)
This is my unique addition. The first time I tried this the meaning of the dream was very clear to me, just from looking at the symbols and figuring out what they represented to the best of my ability. I never make this section definite. I leave the option open to come back and work on the dream some more. I would only put down a (D)efinite (T)ranslation if I had absolutely no doubts whatsoever that it was right, and that it felt right. I would still probably hesitate until I did a dream re-entry and explored the dream again in greater detail. A wrong translation, one I was sure about, lead me to a Lucid Dream block some time ago. I learned my lesson. I think its safer to, now matter how strongly it seems right to you, leave it as a possible translation. Doesn't mean you can't treat it as if it is a correct translation. Just that you leave your mind open to the possibility that the translation you have come up with may not be the right or only one. That should keep you free of blocking yourself.
R.C. (Reality Check)
Debate all you want, some dreams are precognitive and they provide details about a possible future, and you can change that future. That's why you get a precog dream. Your higher self sees further ahead than you, is aware of more than you, and you would be wise to head his or her voice! So here you look at the dream objectively and ask yourself if it could happen, as it happened in the dream, in real life? If there is the remotest chance it would, do a dream re-entry to glean more details, but if you already have a lot of details act in whatever way you feel drawn and compelled to act. My advice is that you find a way to do so anonymously if it involves other people, even family members.
One more thing here... In the case of the dream I posted about and shared a bit of here, it was itself a symbol for my life, near as I could tell, so watch for that. Maybe the dream makes no sense if it were to play out in real life, but upon going over it you discover it's a symbol for someone's life, your own life, or some real life circumstance. If it is you may need to treat it as a precog dream.
So there you have it folks! Work through the feelings and symbols, see if a possible translation comes to you, and determine if the dream could really happen as it played out or not!
- DreamBliss
