…our dreams help us think through the different issues and conflicts we face as we move through life. As I have passed through the different phases of my own life, I've perceived new attitudes, feelings, and strengths as they appear in my dreams. Viewed as a whole, dreams have enhanced my personal growth. I believe that although personal growth comes to most of us anyway, working with and understanding our dreams can propel us there that much faster.

How exactly can dreams help us achieve a better existence? One way is by creating scenarios that mirror the feelings and events we are experiencing in our current lives. When this happens, our dreams present solutions to our problems or reveal strengths we can draw on. For example, when you have a nightmare, it is your subconscious letting you know that you are more preoccupied with a given issue than your conscious mind is letting you believe. The nightmare may be scary, but it also shows you how to deal with your problem. Often the solution comes in the form of a picture or situation you have created in the dream. You can see things more clearly in your sleep….

… Our dreams are important because they show us how to live and respond more flexibly to the situations that come up. Dreams allow us to pinpoint what is missing in our response to a given situation, so we can learn new ways of behaving. Our dreams shine a spotlight on those parts of ourselves that we aren't using to their fullest extent. Sometimes dreams reveal aspects of ourselves we are not using at all.

In our dreams, we try out these new reactions to current or impending issues. Our dream provides a safe place to practice, until we feel ready to take our new behaviors or emotions out into the conscious world. Like muscles that are being exercised for the first time in a gym, underinvested character traits must be developed. At first, each time you go to work out you are sore for days. You are putting unfamiliar muscles to work and it feels strange. After a time though, the movement comes easily and feels natural. The same thing happens with our behavior. We begin by practicing new behavior in dream stories. After a while, we bring the new behavior out of the dream scenes and exercise it in real life. Before long, it becomes comfortable. And with this new-found comfort, we gain flexibility and adaptability to the different situations we face. We become less predictable in our approach to solving life's problems. We increase our potential…

… Interpreting your dreams not only helps you solve your immediate problems-whether creative, work-related, or personal-but can lead you to a richer, happier life. If you choose to look more deeply into a dream, you will learn that we gather material from our past, present and sometimes even the future to solve all kinds of issues. In reading this book, you will discover that we tend to repeat the same self-defeating behaviors over and over. This probably comes as no surprise, but what most people don't realize is dreams hold the key to escaping from the harmful patterns that hold us back. From our dreams we can obtain release to a freer, fuller existence.