Dream interpretation and analysis can be anything from a fun and interesting diversion to a serious, full time pursuit. Many people have been able to analyze their dreams and use the clues found there to address important issues in their waking lives, and dream analysis has been an important subject throughout the ages, from the earliest Greek and Roman philosophers to modern day society.

Before any dreamer can set about analyzing and interpreting his or her dreams, however, those dreams must first be remembered and recorded. Remembering your dreams is an often overlooked part of dream analysis, but it is the basis upon which all dream analysis stands or falls.

It is important to record dreams quickly, since dreams are one of the hardest things to capture. Half of a dream’s content can be lost in as little as five minutes, and up to 90% of the dream can slip away within less than ten minutes.

Therefore, it is vital that anyone seeking to interpret or analyze his or her dreams keep a dream journal as close to the bed as possible. Keeping a notepad on the night stand or under the clock radio is ideal.

It is important to get into the habit of playing your dream back in your mind before you even open your eyes. That is because the clock is ticking as soon as you wake up. Running the dream back through your mind will serve to strengthen and reinforce some of those little details that will soon be forgotten.

Write down as many of those details as you possibly can, even if it just means jotting down a quick word of phrase. You can always fill in the gaps later, the goal is to get as much recorded about your dream in as short a period of time as possible.

After you have written down as many details as possible of your dream, it is a good idea to read what you have written, fill in as many gaps and details as you can, and try to make sense of it. If there are meaningful symbols in your dream, or things you recognize from real life, you may want to circle them or otherwise point them out.

It is best to keep a dream journal over a period of a few nights, in order to look for patterns and similar elements. There are often recurring themes in dreams, and those recurring themes can provide valuable clues to the root causes of the dream elements.

When interesting and analyzing your dreams, it is best to keep it a fun and exciting exercise. While dream interpretation can be used by experts such as psychologists and therapists to treat and diagnose issues, that part of dream analysis is best left to the experts.

It is of course possible to use your dreams as healing tools, or as ways to examine underlying issues in your life. For instance, dreams about being naked are often metaphors for being exposed in a lie, or having a secret revealed. If you see such a pattern in your dreams, it may be worth examining what parts of yourself you have kept hidden, and for what reasons.

Likewise, dreams of falling are often indications of feeling out of control. If you see a pattern of falling dreams emerging, you may want to examine your life and try to take better control of your waking hours.

The exact meaning of dreams is up to each individual dreamer, since each dream is unique to the mind that created it.  There are many interpretations of virtually any object, place or person encountered in a dream, but each of those objects, people, and places are open to alternate explanations as well.

Those wishing to analyze their own dreams often do so out of a desire to use those dreams to make decisions or gain control over issues in their working life.  Whether you wish to analyze dreams simply for the fun of it or to gain access to your subconscious mind, it is important to capture your dreams properly in order to analyze them.

Keeping a dream journal is a great way to keep track of your dreams, and to look for patterns that may emerge after a few weeks.  Even those who do not have recurring dreams often notice the same themes popping up again and again, and a dream journal can help uncover these connections.

This article will provide you with some times for getting the most out of your dream world, and using that world to improve your waking life.

Ø Immediately upon awakening, play the dream back in your head several times.  Playing the dream back in your mind will help you remember those all important details that are so quickly forgotten.

Ø Be sure to move quickly when recording your dreams.  The dream world is one of the most ethereal, and one of the most easily forgotten.  It is estimated that as much as half of the dream can be forgotten in as little as five minutes, and after as little as ten minutes almost all of the dream can be lost.

Ø Write a quick description of the dream as quickly as possible, focusing on the key symbols and themes of the dream.  Write down any words or descriptions that jump out at you.  It is not necessary to write a full narrative of the dream at this point; simply record how the dream felt, some of the objects that were encountered, and similar details.

Ø After the initial impressions of the dream have been recorded, read over your notes and start filling in the gaps.  The dream narrative can be recorded at this point.

Ø Look for a quiet place in which to start interpreting and analyzing your dream.  It is important to choose an area free of distractions, and to concentrate on what the dream really means.  If no quiet room is available at the moment, take a last look at your notes and come back to them later when you can find a quiet place.

Ø Pay close attention to your feelings as you review your dream notes.  First impressions about the meaning of a dream are often quite accurate.  Also pay attention to the context of the dream, where it took place, and the feelings it engendered both while in the dream world and upon waking.

Ø If you meditate, that can be a big help in trying to capture the deeper meaning of the dream.  A few minutes of quiet meditation can reveal much of the nature of the dream.

Ø In reviewing your dream notes, examine the emotions they stir in you.  Pay attention to the emotional state that existed in the dream.

Ø Pay particular attention to any details that stand out.  Vivid parts of your dream, or those that can be remembered long after the dream, are often the most important.

Ø When examining you dream and looking for the meaning of symbols, it is important to not limit yourself to  the most common interpretations.  Remember that each dream is as unique as the person who dreamt it.

No one knows the true origins of dream analysis, or how long it has been going on.  Chances are, however, that the analysis and interpretation of dreams, in some fashion, has been taking place almost as long as people have been dreaming.

Dreams must have been both fascinating and terrifying to our ancient ancestors, and they were most likely very confused by this strange form of consciousness.  We do know that many ancient civilizations placed great importance on the situations encountered in their dreams, and used those situations to cast light on their waking lives.

As a matter of fact, many civilizations did not see a distinction between the waking world and the world of dreams, but instead saw one as merely an extension of the other.

Of course dream analysis and dream interpretation is still in use today, and it has been used successfully to deal with all manner of traumas and emotional issues.  For instance, it is known that those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), are often troubled by nightmares.

Dealing with the underlying cause of the PTSD, through a combination of therapies and psychological techniques, can banish those nightmares as well.

Some of the earliest references to dreams and their interpretation occurs in the Bible, and the Bible is full of references to the dreams of prophets and other notable people.

The ancient Greek and Roman world was also full of dream interpreters and analysis, and the Greek and Roman government and military alike used the services of professional dream interpreters to determine the best course of political action and even the best strategy for battle.

Dream interpreters were even taken along as troops prepared for battle, and their prognostications were taken very seriously, as were the dreams of the generals and the troops.

In the ancient world, the Greek philosopher Aristotle was a big propend of dream interpretation, and he spoke about the illusion of the senses that allowed dreams to occur.  He later came to be believe that disturbances of the body were the cause of dreams.

Many ancient peoples thought that dreams were a way for the soul to commune with the spirit world.  In many cultures, the soul was thought to leave the body at night, and dreams were thought of as a way of communicating with, and gaining information about, departed relatives and ancient ancestors alike.

Even today, many people place great significance on dreams and dreaming, and many people continue to see a spiritual element in the dream world.  Dreams still remain largely a mystery to science, and this mystery has helped to spur thoughts that dreams contain more than a mere physical meaning.

Dream interpretation continues to be used, both as a fun hobby and as a serious scientific pursuit.  Dream research is one of the most fascinating, and widely studied, elements of psychological research, and new dream studies continue to reveal hidden insights about the world of dreams.

New symbols, too, continue to emerge from the world of dream analysis and dream research.  From Carl Jung to Sigmund Freud to modern psychologists and psychiatrists, many people have strived, and continue to strive, to understand the hidden meanings, and hidden messages, of our dreams.