Don't know about Mr Toad, Bill... We shall see I guess.
Originally Posted by
fairyeyes03 
I'm just curious to know if anyone else believes that their dreams have a real meaning to it???
I like to derive meaning from my dreams but don't do it all the time since I tend to recall way too many vivid, detailed and often bizarre dreams... if I wanted to "solve" all or even most of them, I would probably be sitting preoccupied with the analysis much more than what's healthy for me
But I do enjoy pondering the meaning of dreams that particularly stick with me after waking, seem to have interesting connections with something meaningful ongoing in my life, and/or affect me emotionally. I don't care much about looking for general dream symbols and meanings, I like to look at them in the context of my own reality.
The sea lion story I described in the first post, for example. I have loved them for years, but why is it such a preoccupation suddenly now that I invest time, money and energy to "meet" them? I am not going to talk about the symbolism and interpretation as it's far too personal, complex and detailed and does not really have connections to recovery that could be useful to many here, will just say that over the course of a few days I think I've figured out how the dream, my intense attraction to these animals, and some recent events in my life are intertwined... in some very interesting and meaningful, deep ways. It reveals important information about myself and intensifies a decision/dilemma that I am trying to push out of my consciousness in order to get away from it. It makes me question whether I willingly deprive myself of some important form of connection/nurture and seek out distractions once again... I think that my mind is giving these symbolic, seemingly obsessional, highly emotional messages to direct my attention to the real deal. I love sea lions for their own sake but there is more to them here as a personal symbol.
Another way I like to think about my dreams is to assume that all dream characters are projections of myself, they represent me, aspects of myself, in some ways. So what do they mean to me when looking at it from that point of view?