Carl Jung, 20th century psycho analyst and dream researcher, said: "A dream is a theatre in which the dreamer is the scene, the player, the prompter, the producer, the author, the public and the critic."

Dreams are like a play with you taking the part of all the characters and the scenery. Usually every symbol in your dream represents some aspect of YOU. Your sub-conscious is telling you a story about what's really going on for you.

All you have to do is find the relation between the symbol and yourself and relate it to your waking life and you'll get the message.

"Huh?!" I hear you say. Here's an example ? albeit a dramatic one!

Say you dream about being in a large, extravagant house. You go down a staircase and find yourself in a dark basement. A hooded man appears, but you can't see his face. He's got a knife and is trying to stab you. You try to run away but he catches you and suddenly you see your blood all over the floor. Then you notice that the hooded man is your boss!

"So how does this relate to me?" you ask.

Here are 4 easy steps to find out.

Step One - Write down each key symbol

In this dream, they would be:

- Extravagant house

- Descending staircase

- Dark

- Basement

- Hooded man

- Knife stabbing you

- Running away

- Blood on the floor

- Your boss

Step Two - Work out the meaning of each symbol

Using your own intuition or a reputable dream symbol resource give each symbol a meaning:

Extravagant house ? a house signifies your self-esteem and how secure you feel about yourself. A large, extravagant house could indicate that you're feeling insecure and overwhelmed by something in your life ? that you've bitten off more than you can chew.

Descending staircase ?in this dream means going down into your sub-conscious [symbolized by the basement] usually to seek out your suppressed fears [the issues that you don't want to face in your waking thoughts].

Dark ? darkness almost always signifies something hidden from your waking mind. It's dark because you are not consciously aware of it.

Basement ? represents your sub-conscious

Hooded man ? any character or creature that is cloaked, hidden, hooded, unclear or shadowy usually represents your own hidden or suppressed fears.

Knife stabbing you ? obviously means something potentially very harmful

Running away ? obviously means trying to escape

Blood ? means your life force, your energy and vitality

Your boss ? well, is your boss!

Step Three - Apply the meaning of the symbol to YOU

Imagine that YOU are each of the symbols in your dream. You'll note [from the symbolism in Step Two] that most of the meanings already relate back to you.

Extravagant house ? YOU are feeling insecure and overwhelmed

Descending staircase ? YOU are sub-consciously trying to understand and face your fears

Dark basement, hooded man ? YOU recognize that you have hidden issues and fears

Knife stabbing you ? YOU are harming yourself

Running away ? YOU are trying to escape

Blood ? YOU are draining your energy

Your boss ? YOU are like your boss in some way

Step Four - Relate these meanings to aspects of YOUR waking life

Take each symbol and relate the meaning to real circumstances you are dealing with in your life RIGHT NOW. Remember, your dream messages offer you guidance that you can use right away.

You'll see why you are the best person to make sense of your own dreams. No one would know the answers to these questions except you! I've just given examples to complete the exercise:

Extravagant house ? in which area of your life do you feel overwhelmed and insecure? Work, competitive sport, finances, for example?

Knife stabbing you ? how are you harming yourself? Are you overdoing something ? exercise, work or have you over-extended yourself financially?

Dark basement, hooded man ? what are your fears? Performance anxiety at work or in your sport? Do you fear financial ruin? Running away ? your reaction is to try to escape, but ?

Blood ? you are draining your energy. You can't keep up this pretence for much longer. It will exhaust you.

Your boss ? what aspects of your boss do you feel you have? Are you bossy like him/her? Are you compassionate like him/her? Do you have his/her leadership qualities that could solve your problem?

So you see, every aspect of your dream represents something about YOU. All you have to do is learn to understand the language of your dreams and to translate the imagery you see with your "dream eyes" into useful information you can use in your waking life.

Your dreams show you your TRUE SELF. As Carl Jung says: "Our dreams are most peculiarly independent of our consciousness and exceedingly valuable because they cannot cheat."

Diane de Villiers is author of the Dream Journey Guide ? a step-by-step, teach-yourself dream interpretation e-course. You can learn to make sense of your dreams yourself in minutes with the Dream Journey Guide. For more information and a FREE Preview copy of the guide go to: http://www.secrets-of-dream-interpretation.com