The dream with which I used the Dream Dictionary involved the one I saw myself besides a calm river. I was sitting besides the river relaxing and later decided to cross the river in order to get to a city across the river, which I never did. This was because as I tried crossing the river, the bridge all over sudden disappeared, and it was in that shock that I woke up.
Dream Dictionary indicated that seeing such a dream is an indication that one is going with the flow. It means that one is allowing life to flow away, and it is time that one takes a decisive role that will help in directing his or her life. Alternatively, the calm river may be a symbol of joyful pleasure, fertility, peace and prosperity. Crossing the river is an indication of an issue or obstacle, which one need to tackle in order to move nearer to the goals that he/she has set in life (Dream Moods, 2013).
The explanation given by the Dream Dictionary may fit well into what I learned about dreaming in the readings as the interpretation that was done on the dream used symbols in the dream to get a meaning. The interpretation used metaphors and symbols that are in a dream not to disguise the true meaning of the dream by to convey the meaning. The dream that I had may be fall in the theory that dreams to be efforts to deal with problems. The theory indicates that dreams are a reflection of the conscious preoccupations that are going on in real life. These include issues that are happening in relationships, at work or health. The problem-focused dreaming explanation is mainly supported by the findings that indicate that dreams in most cases have materials that are related to the current concerns of an individual such as exams or breakups, which are do not require a chance to predict (Wade & Tavris, 2012).
I believe that some dreams have real meaning. However, there are some of the dreams that do not have a meaning. Most of them have significant information that can either put some light on the things that have happened in our lives, the things that are happening or the things that are to happen in the future. This usually occurs as dreams act as fulfillment to the wishes that we have in real life. These wishes are the ones that are responsible in making us see ourselves driving the best cars that we wish to have, see ourselves in a date with someone we wish to relate with, and go to places that we wish to visit. On the other hand, anxiety that surrounds such desires may be responsible in turning out some of the dreams into nightmares.
The Dream Dictionary as well as the other websites that offer interpretation of the dreams may be missing on some aspects of the dream that may help in interpreting the dream more accurately. This is the circumstances through which an individual may be going through in their life. Some of these issues may have a contribution on the nature of the dream that one ends up having. As indicated by Fraud, interpreting a dream requires both the content that the dream manifests as well as aspects of the dream that are experienced consciously. Freud also warned against simple-minded translations that are made from symbols that are seen in a dream something that most of these websites do.
Reference List
Dream Moods. (2013). Dream Mood Dream Dictionary. Retrieved August 20, 2013, from http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/r3.htm
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2012). Invitation to Psychology (5th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.
