Let Your Dreams Be Your Doctor

Doctors Who Don’t Speak Your Language

Have you ever gone to a doctor – perhaps a very good doctor – who was from another country and spoke another language? You probably found it difficult to understand what he/she was saying and were frustrated because you knew this doctor had some very good information, if only you could figure out what he was trying to say.
Possibly you have had the same problem with doctors who used confusing medical terms you didn’t understand and he/she didn’t have the time to explain them to you in English.
Dreams are a lot like that. When you use your dreams to guide you in diagnosing and treating your own physical and emotional problems, it’s like having a doctor who speaks a foreign language. Your dreams have valuable information, specifically about you, but you have to figure out what they’re trying to tell you. That takes time and patience and a willingness to figure out the symbolic language of your dreams. But as someone who has used dreams for years as a means of health advisory, I can tell you, it’s worth the effort.
At first “Dr. Dream” seems to be speaking in a foreign language, causing you to scratch your head and wonder what on earth dead plants, for example, have to do with that tired feeling you’ve been having, or what a dream about a filthy kitchen could possibly have to do with your health, especially since your own kitchen is neat and tidy and bears no resemblance to the mess in the dream. And what about that messy attic, when you live in an apartment and don’t even have an attic?
The key to understanding the information dreams provide through your higher self lies in symbology. Just as you sometimes need a medical dictionary to figure out what that report from your doctor means, a good book on dream symbols is a must if you want to decipher the symbols in your dreams.
There are plenty of good dream dictionaries on the market, which is why I’ve opted not to include one in this book, other than some basic symbols. Having spent hundreds of dollars on dream books and dream dictionaries, the three I would recommend most, in this order, are “The Dream Book – Symbols For Self Understanding” by Betty Bethards (ISBN 1-86204-098-2, Element Books, Inc. 1995), “The Mystical Magical Marvelous World of Dreams” by Wilda B. Tanner (ISBN 0-945027-02-8, Sparrow Hawk Press) and “The Bedside Dream Dictionary” by Silvana Amar (ISBN 978-1-60239-1-138-3. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.). All three are inexpensive; yet include a comprehensive list of dream symbols that will help you decipher the information your dreams reveal to you.
Sometimes your specific symbol may not be listed, but rest assured (no pun intended) that’s okay. As you progress with your study of dreams and their meanings, you will learn that meanings of symbols are specific to the individual. A snake, for example, may be terrifying to one person and a symbol of hope to another. If you have always been afraid of snakes and encounter one in your dreams, chances are there is something going on in your life you are afraid of. On the other hand, if you associate the snake with the shedding of its skin (shedding old, outdated concepts) and growing a fresh, new skin, then a dream of a snake would have an entirely different meaning.
Our subconscious has a way of figuring it all out, sending us symbols which are unique and meaningful to the individual. Two people can have basically the same dream but that dream will have different meanings, depending on the race, gender, religion, education and life experiences of the individual.
Dream dictionaries are good guides, especially when a person is just beginning to pay attention to dreams and trying to figure them out, but they aren’t the total answer, as you will discover as you delve into this magical and meaningful world of nocturnal entertainment and information.