What does it mean when you dream about bears, snakes, your teeth falling out, falling, or having sex with your grandparents?

One way to think of this is that symbols pop up while you are unconscious and have meaning to be interpreted and dissected to understand the deeper meaning behind them. Lots of people think this way and do just that.

Another way of thinking of this is to say that things are brought to your awareness (even your unconscious awareness such as when you’re sleeping) because you saw or heard something that reminded you of that symbol in some small associated way. So if you passed a Toys’R’Us yesterday, it made you think of Geoffrey Giraffe, their mascot, and that’s why a giraffe may have been in your dream. Or maybe it made you think of bicycles because you once got a bike from the store next to a Toys’R’Us and that’s why you dreamed of a giraffe riding a bike, or of flying bicycles.

I don’t know if either of those ways is “right”, but I believe that I get an allotted amount of energy at any given moment and I choose not to attach or search for meaning in things that happened during my unconscious state. If your mind has been attaching meaning to some thought you had randomly and it’s been disturbing to you, make an appointment to get that cleared up and reclaim your energy for all the fun stuff you’d rather be doing than ruminating on that bothersome thing.

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Weston, Florida. Call 954-612-9553 for a consultation. Follow Autumn on Twitter & Facebook.