Carl Gustav Jung was the most prominent student of Sigmund Freud and in his works, the student contributed to completing the discoveries teacher made about dreams, claiming that they show us how to overcome our problems and make our wishes come true.
According to Jung, the interpretation of dreams is highly important because the images and symbols in them are the most direct way for us to communicate with our subconscious.
The messages in our dreams broaden our perspective regarding that which is important to us. This means that if in reality we have a certain attitude toward a given event in our life, we actually see a different point of view in our dream, which can help us solve our problem or realize the wish.
By dreaming, we see that which interests us through a symbol that embodies the emotion, fear or attitude that we must change.
According to Jung, the symbols can be categorized in several general examples:
1. When a man dreams of a woman - the female image in the dream of a man is often the symbol of their anima or feminite side, expressing emotionality, intuition and caring.
The presence of a female image may be giving a hint to the man that he must exhibit some of these qualities, which are considered typically female, in order to succeed. The woman in the dream may also tell him what exactly he must do to resolve the issues.
2. When a woman dreams of a man - the man in a woman's dream is a symbol of her animus or typical male qualities - decisiveness, action, independence and strength. The image of a man may be a sign given by the subconscious that a woman needs attainment, recognition or realization in a given field.
3. Whenever we dream of a person of the same sex as us - this person is our shadow, i.e. they represent our hidden emotions, desires and qualities that we possess but do not wish to accept.
4. Whenever we dream of animals - they are a symbol of our instincts, which we must either express or subdue within us, depending on the situation.
5. Whenever we dream of a living space - it represents the state of our psychology and our emotional life at that moment.
