Do our dreams simply project innocuous movies in our heads, or do our dreams actually contain our highest aspirations and our greatest fears? The answer goes much deeper––understanding what our dreams are telling us unlocks the path to achieving our greatest goals.

We decode symbols constantly during our waking hours. The heart symbol doesn’t resemble a human heart at all but we recognize it instantly as the idea of ‘heart’. It isn’t conveying a literal message about the human organ but rather the emotion of love which we have associated with that symbol for centuries. A thousand years ago, literacy was a privilege of the upper class and royalty.  The common person could not read words but they did understand pictures which is why the creators of stained-glass windows in places like Chartres Cathedral depicted their grand stories with symbols. The cross is simply two intersecting straight lines, but the meaning of that symbol is so much more. Every person in the world, no matter what language they speak, consciously or not, understands what that symbol stands for.

Dreams are the great unifier of humanity. We all dream, and we all dream of the same symbols. Some very common examples are flying, falling, showing up for an exam we haven’t studied for, or seeing our teeth fall out. Why do we do this? Carl Jung said it’s our collective unconscious trying to help us understand and navigate our lives as we all ultimately ask the same big questions about why we’re here. The actions we take during the day mirror our dreams, and our dreams reflect what we’ve thought and acted upon during the day.  It’s an elegant cycle that, when correctly translated, will open the door to an abundant and spiritually fulfilling reality.

Don't take your dreams seriously? Well, you should. Here are the top five reasons why you should decode your dreams.

1. To discover what our subconscious is trying to tell us

Have you ever watched a foreign language film without English subtitles? You see the actors delivering lines and doing things but you don’t understand what’s going     on. Add the translation, and suddenly it all makes sense. The same principle applies to our dreams. When our conscious thoughts are at rest, our subconscious mind takes over. It’s the driver of our motivation and inspiration, whether we consciously realize it or not. And it also tells us through symbolic dream scenes what we need to know. It’s our best friend and our harshest critic who, like an MMA fighter, pulls no punches.

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2. To free ourselves of recurring dreams and nightmares

Have you ever had the  same dream over and over? You’re being chased by a shadowy, dark figure or repeatedly trying to dial a phone number but the call won’t go through. Why does this happen? Because our subconscious wants us to understand the  message it’s sending us, it repeats the same symbols in the same sequence     to get our attention over a course of weeks or months, even years. A recurring dream or nightmare will vanish once the conscious mind acknowledges that it understands the content.

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3. To conquer our greatest fears

Like the inky, cold depths of the ocean, the innermost realm of our psyches harbor the deepest aspects of ourselves. Our conscious mind may not be aware of the things that truly frighten us. Inside our deepest selves are fears lurking since childhood and memories that only our subconscious still recognizes. But those aspects dictate how we react in our waking lives. These fears are revealed to us in our dreams. Understanding the symbols allows you access to that sacred chamber within where all your secrets are unveiled.

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4. To achieve our highest goals

Whether it is love, career or our connection with spirit, living at our highest potential is what our soul strives for. It is our purpose for being here. Dreams reveal what our ultimate goals are and how to achieve them. By decoding our dreams, we come to understand not only what we are capable of accomplishing but how we can go about doing it.

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5. To tune into a healthy frequency in our daily lives

Once a dream message is clear to us, we can consciously put into action a plan to achieve a goal we have recognized or abolish a fear that has come to light. That dream will disappear from our nighttime panoply because it has been successfully transferred from our subconscious to conscious awareness and acted upon. But other dreams will replace them as we strive to eliminate more fears and achieve higher goals.

Dreams are like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; their symbols can’t be interpreted literally. To correctly understand a dream’s message, you must either research and study dream interpretation or seek the assistance of a dream interpreter. The personal rewards will change your life in incredible ways. It’s time to claim living at your highest potential.