One of the most frequently asked questions about dreams is “Why did I dream about So and So? I haven’t seen or thought about him/her in years.” People are used in dreams both as literal images of themselves or as representations for something we associate with them.

To begin to figure out the people in your dreams, you must first understand how the dream-mind makes associations. Associative thinking is associating/connecting one thing with another on the basis of some feature of similarity. Think of a tree. The roots are your memory bank – everything you have ever experienced. The trunk is the associative thinking process – the way your mind makes connections between your memories and dream images. Each limb of the tree is a different type of association. In this case, we’re talking about the people limb.

On the people limb, the branches are the different associations we make with people. A person may be in a dream to represent their name and its meaning as a word, their job and its connotations, an era or time period shared with the dreamer, their relationship to the dreamer, a character trait, a physical trait, a psychological trait or a belief. We also dream composite figures, combinations of two individuals. Sometimes a person is represented by an object associated with them.

The leaves of the tree are the dream images. When you remember the dream image (in this case, the person), the association that triggered that image choice is in your subconscious mind. When you understand the kinds of associations your dream mind is making, you can figure out what from your memory bank triggered that particular image and then what it means.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how the dream-mind works, let’s talk about some specific examples that show different kinds of associations with people that you might find. These are all from real dreams of real people who interpreted the messages and used the information to understand and improve their lives.

Name- The person’s name itself or how it sounds may be the message. A woman was considering starting her own company and a person named “President Fitzhugh” showed up in her dream. The message was to go ahead; because being president of the company suited her (Fitzhugh sounds like “fits you.”).

Era- The person may represent a specific time period in your life. A man who had recently been told by his doctor that he needed to walk daily to regain his health dreamed of hiking in his youth with a scouting friend. At the end of the dream, they walked out of the woods together. The message was that his daily walks would get him “out of the woods;” out of danger health-wise.

Character Trait- The person may represent the character trait you associate with him/her. A couple’s marriage was in trouble. The wife dreamed John Wayne (a hero character) was waiting for her. As she got closer she saw that the man was also her husband (her hero). They were going to go upstairs and have sex.

She had two quarters (change) in her hand. She started to give them to her husband. Then she said, “Oh, this one’s a bicentennial. I save those.” She held that one back. Her hero, husband said, “You shouldn’t save coins (change). It makes a shortage.” He walked away, leaving her to go to work.

The message was that a half the change wouldn’t do: a half-hearted change on her part wouldn’t be enough to mend their marriage.

Physical Trait- The person’s physical characteristics may reveal the meaning. A woman dreamed she went to the hospital to visit her sister. The sister had surgery earlier in the year but was now home. On her way to sign in at the desk, she walked by Wilt Chamberlain and Sammy Davis, Jr. Here, Chamberlain represented “long” and Davis represented “short.” The “long and the short” of the message was that she would have to sign into the hospital, same as her sister had.

These are just a few examples of dream interpretations and ways the dream-mind works. With a little more information and practice, you can begin to not only interpret what the people in your dreams mean, but learn to understand the valuable guidance and warnings that dreams provide.

Janice Baylis, Ph.D., studied the dream mind for 50 years. Her books include explanations, examples and easy-to-follow exercises to teach you to interpret dreams. Look for them, including Dream Dynamics and Decoding and Sleep on It: The Practical Side of Dreaming at
Amazon.com

Janice Baylis, Ph.D., studied the dream mind for 50 years. Her books include explanations, examples and easy-to-follow exercises to teach you to interpret dreams. Look for them, including Dream Dynamics and Decoding and Sleep on It: The Practical Side of Dreaming at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1466219246

Author Bio: Janice Baylis, Ph.D., studied the dream mind for 50 years. Her books include explanations, examples and easy-to-follow exercises to teach you to interpret dreams. Look for them, including Dream Dynamics and Decoding and Sleep on It: The Practical Side of Dreaming at
Amazon.com

Category: Self Help
Keywords: dream, interpretation, understanding, people, Janice Baylis, dream research, what do my dreams mean