The meaning of dreams and sleep has been studied for many years, with opinions shifting from time to time. Our Dream Theory section and the many scientific research papers listed as our References.) The concept of gaining a deeper understanding of yourself through dreaming may sound similar to regular interpretation; actually, it can be a whole new way of examining your sleeping thoughts.
You can begin by utilizing standard dream interpretation techniques. Say, for example, you were dreaming that you were on top of a very tall building, standing at the edge and looking down at the street below, knowing if you leaped off you’d be able to fly but are afraid to take that leap – you may surmise, using standard interpretation, that you are at the edge of something, that you’re preparing to make a leap into the unknown and fearful. The dream may be to do with your higher self, as buildings often represents parts of yourself and you were right at the top.
A deeper perception can be sometimes reached when the sleeper adds conscious thoughts and waking life rationality to their dreaming experience. Thinking about your dreaming helps you bring order to the seemingly random imagery. You can apply what you know from the interpretation of dreams to what you know of your current situations, bringing the two together.
In this example you may have come to a point in your life that requires a paradigm shift in your thinking, a shift larger than you’d at first realized that is evidenced by the height of the building and the distance you would fall if you could not fly.
You have learned two things: 1. You have interpreted the dream, and 2. Your current need to change your way of thinking is a much bigger a deal than you’d allowed yourself to believe. In other words, you have gained a greater perception of your own personality and, because knowledge is power, you can use this insight into the meaning of dreams as a tool throughout your life.