In this age of hundreds of different types of counseling, therapies, alternative methods, and medications to treat all manner of psychological ailments, it is very easy to overlook a very simple and sometimes vital aid, your dreams. Dreams have been used to gain a greater understanding of our emotions and thoughts for a very long time.

Dream therapy was popularized by Dr. Sigmund Freud, but the practice goes back much further than that. While dream therapy is by no means a way to diagnose or treat a mental illness, it can; however, help attune you to your mind and subconscious, assist in working out problems in your waking life, and discover the root of issues in your life.

Before we can truly discuss dream therapy we need to understand that this is a very personal endeavor and does not need to include having another person interpret your dreams for you. This is very simply a method for you to analyze your own dreams and discover the meaning therein that apply to your unique situation. In order to begin all you need is a free online dream dictionary and some free time.

While dream dictionaries offer a good resource of some common dream meanings, it is important to remember that dreams and their elements vary from person to person and something in your dream may mean something entirely different to another person. For this reason it is important that you take the time to reflect on the emotions and thoughts that you associate with the imagery from your dream, as well as the common meanings.

The first step to beginning Dream Therapy is being able to remember your dreams. This may sound like a daunting, or even impossible, task but I assure you it is not. One good trick is to tell yourself several times before you fall asleep "I will remember my dreams." Do this every night for a week or two and you will most likely find yourself recalling even the small details of your dreams.

Now that you can remember your dreams upon waking it is imperative that you somehow record your dreams for analyzing when you are more fully awake and have time to devote to it. You can choose to do this by using a dream journal or notebook, or even by a voice recording. For the most accurate dream journal this should be done immediately after your dream, even if it's 3am. Whatever method you choose, make sure that it's easily accessible.

The final step is to really look at your dreams and delve into them. Be sure that you look into the small strange details and not just the main theme of the dreams. Note if you see any recurring symbols, people, places, ideas, or feelings associated with your dreams. Open yourself up and really think about how these different things made you feel. For the most part you will probably be able to see where this fits in somehow with your life.

Once you get used to looking at your dreams and dissecting them to find the hidden messages contained in them, you can then start to train yourself to dream about the things or problems in your life that you are struggling with solving. A very quick example of this happened to me just this week. I was having trouble rearranging my office to flow well for me and meet the needs of my consumers. For 2 nights I went to bed and repeated to myself, "I want to dream of how to arrange my office in the best way." Sure enough I did and now my office is exactly how I needed it to be. This technique can work for things both small, like my office situation, and large, like deciding on a new direction in your life.

Dream Therapy can be a powerful tool and help you tap into a wealth of knowledge that you already own but may not be using efficiently. Remember that dreams are produced by you based on your experiences, feelings, ideas, fears, and wishes. Expand your mind with these techniques and put this very good resource to use in your life.