How to Decode Your Dreams: Understanding the Messages from Your Subconscious mind, Body & Soul
Have you ever woken from a dream that stayed with you long after your eyes opened?
Not just a fleeting image, story, or memory, but a feeling.
Dreams are one of the most profound ways our subconscious, body and soul communicate with us. And yet, many people dismiss them, fear them, or try to analyse them purely through the logical mind, where the deeper meaning can easily be lost.
If you’re someone who feels, senses, or knows there’s more to your dreams, you’re not imagining it. There is wisdom there.
Why Dreams Can Feel Confusing or Emotional
I often have friends and clients come to me when they’re experiencing:
Reoccurring dreams that the logical meaning is fear-inducing
Dreams that feel emotionally intense but make no sense
Dreams involving loved ones, loss, fear, or strong symbolism
And here’s something important to understand, when we wake up, the emotion of the dream can override the message of the dream.
For example, if a dream includes someone we love getting hurt or passing away, it’s natural to wake up feeling sad, shaken, or fearful. Those emotions are real, but if we stay there, we miss what the dream could actually be showing us.
Dreams don’t speak in literal language. They speak in symbols, sensations, emotions, and body awareness.
How I Work With Dreams (And How You Can Too)
When someone shares a meaningful dream with me, the first thing I do is explore different layers to understand what the dream could mean for them:
1. The Feeling in the Body
Often the most important part of a dream isn’t the storyline, it’s the sensation.
Tight chest or heaviness in the body
Fear, grief, relief, calm
A recurring emotional tone
When the feeling is reoccurring, even if the dream changes, that tells us the body is processing something deeper.
2. The Symbolism (Without Fear-Based Interpretation)
Looking at a dream through the logical mind can sometimes create fear or confusion. That’s why I love using a variety of different tools and possible interpretations such as emotional healing frameworks and body-based symbolism as well as your interpretation & intuitive insights.
Many healing traditions, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, recognise that emotions are stored in specific organs. When there is imbalance in the body, the emotional and energetic layer is often involved too.
Dreams can highlight where energy is asking to be felt, acknowledged, or transformed.
3. Your Own Inner Knowing
This part matters most. Before you look anything up, ask yourself:
What does this symbol mean to me?
How did I feel during the dream?
What’s happening in my waking life right now?
Your body-mind-soul holds wisdom far beyond any book.
Water Dreams, the Feminine & Emotional Healing
One of the most reoccurring themes in my own dreams over the years has been water. Different dreams, but often water… the ocean, rivers, being submerged, cars going into water, drowning etc.
As a double water sign, these dreams always felt deeply significant for me.
When I explored their meaning, I learned that water often symbolises:
The divine feminine
Emotional flow
Grief and healing
Creation, loss, and rebirth
I vividly remember having many water-based dreams after my miscarriages. At the time, I was moving though layers of grief. But understanding the symbolism of water helped me find peace, meaning, and a sense of hope within that experience.
The dreams weren’t there to scare me, they were there to help me process, feel, and heal.
Dreams as a Tool for Conscious Growth
Dreams arise from the subconscious mind, the place where our early conditioning, beliefs, patterns, and emotional memories live.
When we begin to decode our dreams, we can:
Become aware of repeating emotional or physical symptom patterns in the body
Bring unconscious beliefs into conscious awareness
Support emotional, energetic, and physical healing
Expand our self-awareness and spiritual growth
For me, the human journey is a journey of growth. We never stop growing, and dreams are one of the ways our inner wisdom supports us through the growth process.
How You Can Start Decoding Your Dreams
Here’s a simple way to begin:
As soon as you wake up- but before you open your eyes, review the dream and any key points that you want to remember and record. Then have a pen & paper beside the bed to write down before you even sit up (this helps me to get it all down before I forget!)
Note the location or people in the dream, the strongest emotions you remember and any specific body sensations.
Any other notable themes, animals, objects, or storylines
Then once its all recorded, ask yourself what’s happening in your life right now. Self-Reflect before analysing or looking up meanings
Trust your intuition first, then explore symbolism. I have some reference books that I use, or you can search meaning of ______ in a dream or spiritual meaning of ______ and see what comes up. Does it resonate with you?
There is no “right” interpretation so be open to consider whatever you uncover!
Final Reflection
Dreams are not random. They are invitations to understand yourself on a deeper level.
If you’ve been having meaningful, reoccurring, or emotionally charged dreams, I invite you to get curious rather than fearful.
Your subconscious isn’t working against you, it’s working for you.
Have you had any powerful or memorable dreams lately?
I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to share!
Sweet dreams, Sheryl