Eyes are one of the most important distinguishing characteristics of any person, so it is no surprise that eyes often play such a prominent role in our dream lives as well.

One of the most intriguing dreams about eyes is the one in which the dreamer sees his or her own eyes in the dream.  Seeing your own eyes in a dream, in a mirror for instance, or even symbolically, is often a representation of knowledge, enlightenment, intellectual awareness, understanding or sudden comprehension.

Dreaming about one's own eyes can often mean that unconscious or repressed thoughts and images are breaking through to the surface.  The eyes are often seen as the window to the soul, so dreams about eyes can often be seen as meaning that hidden desires of the soul are coming through to the surface.

Dreaming of only one eye, or seeing only one eye in a dream, is very significant.  The left eye is often seen as a symbol of the moon, while the right eye is seen instead as a symbol of the sun.  

Some people have reported dreams in which their eyes turned around in their heads.  This kind of dream can symbolize insight and spiritual awareness.  Dreaming about inwardly turned eyes can indicate a desire on  the part of the dreamer to examine themselves and their psyche.  These kinds of dreams often accompany psychological turning points in the life of the dreamer.  This type of dream about eyes can also mean that your subconscious is trying to warn you to be aware of something, or that you need to look within yourself for answers.  This kind of dream can be a warning to the dreamer to trust his or her instincts and intuitions.

On the other hand, dreaming that you have something in your eye can mean that there are obstacles in your path.  Dreams in which the dreamer has something in his or her eye can be the subconscious way of telling the dreamer that they need to overcome the barriers in their path.  These kinds of dreams can also be representations of the dreamer's tendency to take a critical view of the actions of others.

Dreams in which the dreamer has only one eye can  symbolize the dreamer's refusal to accept or see other points of view.  It can mean that the dreamer suffers from a jaded and stubborn way of thinking.

Dreaming that you have a third eye can mean that you should pay attention to your insight and inner vision.  Dreams about a third eye are often warnings for the dreamer to look within themselves.

Dreams of injured or closed eyes can symbolize a refusal to confront the truth about something you have been hiding from.  This kind of dream is often about avoiding intimacy, or avoiding looking at something you should.  Dreams about closed or injured eyes can also be expressions of pain or hurt feelings.

Dreaming about crossed eyes can mean that you are not seeing things properly.  Dreams about crossed eyes can indicate that you may be getting mixed up.

Understanding how we dream and why we dream is vital to proper dream interpretation and analysis, and one of the most fascinating areas of dreaming involves the study of babies and young children.  Scientists have known for some time now that babies, and all other human beings, dream every night.  Many studies have even suggested that babies begin dreaming before they are born.

What these babies dream about, of course, is still a mystery, but a recent study has shown that babies spent considerably more of their sleep time engaged in dream sleep.  In the study, babies were found to spend approximately two thirds of their sleep time in the REM state, compared to an average of 15% to 20% for most adults.

In trying to understand the importance of dream sleep to young babies, scientists have theorized that REM sleep plays an important role in the development of the baby's brain.  One reason for this theory is that babies born prematurely have been seen to spend an even greater percentage of their sleep in the REM state than full term babies.  Premature babies can spend up to 80% of their sleep time in the REM state.

As babies become older, and the brain matures, the amount of time spent in dream sleep begins to decrease.  By the time the average baby is one year old, the percentage of sleep time spent in the REM sleep has dropped to 35%.  This finding is thought to suggest that REM sleep is important to the baby's mental development.  It is known that adults deprived of REM sleep suffer from a variety of psychological problems, so it makes sense that REM sleep and mental development are connected.

As a matter of fact, many scientists and dream researchers believe that dreaming is a way that the mind is exercised and provided with much needed stimulation.  Therefore, babies, who do not get as much stimulation as older people, need more stimulation thorugh the dream state.  As babies get older and begin to experience more stimulation from the real world, they need less stimulation and mental exercise from the dream world.

Knowing that babies dream is certainly important to parents, just as understanding that young children often suffer from nightmares is important for parents to be able to soothe and comfort the fears experienced by their sons and daughters.

Dream research has revealed that babies can have bad dreams and nightmares as well as positive dreams.  Therefore, when the baby wakes up crying in the middle of the night, it may be the result of a bad dream and not gas, hunger of the need for a diaper change.  In most cases, comforting the child will help he or she to fall asleep.

As children get older, it is easier for parents to at least understand the nightmares they may suffer from.  Nightmares usually begin to occur by the time the child is three years old, and they most often continue until the child reaches the age of six or seven.  These types of nightmares often take the form of a fear of monsters in the closet, under the bed or in other hidden places.  

No one knows for sure why we dream, but the fact that young children, and even babies, spend much of their lives in dream sleep is proof of the universal nature of dreaming and the importance of dream interpretation.

Interpreting the sometimes confusing, disjointed items found in dreams can be difficult.  Only in the dream world can you encounter a dragon, a wine glass and a giant comb in the same night.  Making sense of all these strange items can be difficult.  Knowing what your dreams mean can be the first step toward using your dreams to work out issues with your waking life, but it is important to know what some of these symbols really mean.

As with any dream interpretation, what a particular symbol really means depends on its context within the dream, as well as the particular experiences of the dreamer.  The list provided below is intended only as a guide, not as an all encompassing guide to dream symbology.

Building
A building is usually a symbol for the dreamer's physical body.

Cave
A cave is a representation of a hiding place, and it may indicate that you are hiding from certain things in your life.  Dreaming of emerging from a cave can be a symbol for the emergence of a new life, or a symbol of creativity.

Driver
Dreaming that you are a driver can indicate that you are in control of your life and your future.

Falling
Dreams of falling can be manifestations of feelings of failure or of low self esteem.  Falling can also indicate the dreamer is overwhelmed or feels out of control.

Gold
Dreaming of gold can indicate a desire for wealth, or a desire to be the best.

Head
The head is often used in dreams as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge.

Interview
If you dream you are being interviewed, it may mean that you feel you are being judged, by either yourself or by other people.  If you dream you are the interviewer, you may be the one doing the judging.  It can indicate that you feel you need to reconsider a judgment you made of someone else.  The feelings encountered during the dream are the best indication of whether you passed or failed the interview.

Knot
Dreaming about a knot could indicate a restraint on your freedom, actions or feelings.  In other situations, a knot could indicate a feeling of being in control.

Lightning
Seeing lightning in a dream can be symbolic of a sudden awareness or spiritual breakthrough.

Missing articles
Missing articles in a dream can be manifestations of feeling out of control, or of lacking an important piece of information.  Dreams about missing a train, bus or plane can be symbols of missing an important opportunity in your life.  Missed reservations or missing items can also indicate a need to be more organized in your waking life.

Naked
Dreams about being naked can indicate fear of being exposed, or fears that others will find about things you have been hiding.

Paralysis
Dreams of being paralyzed can symbolize feelings of helplessness on the part of the dreamer, or difficulty controlling certain situations in his or her life.  Sometimes dreamers may confuse the normal muscle relaxation that occurs during dream sleep for paralysis.

Quarrel
Dreams of a quarrel or argument can be manifestations of an inner conflict, or of feelings of being burdened by authority figures.  

Rooms
In dreams, the subconscious mind is often divided into different rooms, and each room represents a different part of the psyche.  Opening or walking through a door in your dream can be a symbol of a willingness to face things you have kept hidden away.

Tree
Often, a dreamed of tree is a symbol of spirit, of knowledge or of power.  The size of the tree, and its health and condition, can be indications of the perceived strength of the dreamer's spiritual life or knowledge.

Umbrella
Dreaming of an open umbrella can symbolize a desire to be protected from emotional turmoil, while a closed umbrella can mean you are not afraid of such strong emotions.

Vegetables
Dreaming of vegetables can indicate a subconscious desire to feed the spirit or the soul.

War
Dreams of war can indicate that a more aggressive approach to certain aspects of your life is needed.

Weather
The state of weather in the dream can be an indication of the emotional health of the dreamer.  Rain in a dream can indicate sadness or depression, while sunshine in a dream can mean you are happy and content.

X-Ray
Dreaming about having an x-ray can symbolize an unconscious desire on the part of the dreamer to show his or her true self.

Dream interpretation and analysis can be anything from a fun and interesting diversion to a serious, full time pursuit.  Many people have been able to analyze their dreams and use the clues found there to address important issues in their waking lives, and dream analysis has been an important subject throughout the ages, from the earliest Greek and Roman philosophers to modern day society.

Before any dreamer can set about analyzing and interpreting his or her dreams, however, those dreams must first be remembered and recorded.  Remembering your dreams is an often overlooked part of dream analysis, but it is the basis upon which all dream analysis stands or falls.

It is important to record dreams quickly, since dreams are one of the hardest things to capture.  Half of a dream's content can be lost in as little as five minutes, and up to 90% of the dream can slip away within less than ten minutes.

Therefore, it is vital that anyone seeking to interpret or analyze his or her dreams keep a dream journal as close to the bed as possible.  Keeping a notepad on the night stand or under the clock radio is ideal.

It is important to get into the habit of playing your dream back in your mind before you even open your eyes.  That is because the clock is ticking as soon as you wake up.  Running the dream back through your mind will serve to strengthen and reinforce some of those little details that will soon be forgotten.

Write down as many of those details as you possibly can, even if it just means jotting down a quick word of phrase.  You can always fill in the gaps later, the goal is to get as much recorded about your dream in as short a period of time as possible.

After you have written down as many details as possible of your dream, it is a good idea to read what you have written, fill in as many gaps and details as you can, and try to make sense of it.  If there are meaningful symbols in your dream, or things you recognize from real life, you may want to circle them or otherwise point them out.

It is best to keep a dream journal over a period of a few nights, in order to look for patterns and similar elements.  There are often recurring themes in dreams, and those recurring themes can provide valuable clues to the root causes of the dream elements.

When interesting and analyzing your dreams, it is best to keep it a fun and exciting exercise.  While dream interpretation can be used by experts such as psychologists and therapists to treat and diagnose issues, that part of dream analysis is best left to the experts.

It is of course possible to use your dreams as healing tools, or as ways to examine underlying issues in your life.  For instance, dreams about being naked are often metaphors for being exposed in a lie, or having a secret revealed.  If you see such a pattern in your dreams, it may be worth examining what parts of yourself you have kept hidden, and for what reasons.

Likewise, dreams of falling are often indications of feeling out of control.  If you see a pattern of falling dreams emerging, you may want to examine your life and try to take better control of your waking hours.