Decoding Your Dreams - Book Review

As someone who used to spend a lot of time in the horoscopes/New Age section of the bookstore (remember those?), the idea of dream interpretation is intriguing to me. I used to have a dream dictionary in an attempt to give myself insight into what was going on in my head while I slept.

So when I saw that Booklook Bloggers had Jennifer LeClaire's Decoding Your Dreams: What the Lord May Be Saying to You While You Sleep, I got excited. I've been dreaming a lot about my mom still being alive, and I wondered if there could be an underlying message there.

Well, there's a reason the title of the book uses the word "may". Sometimes God isn't saying anything to you in your sleep. Or at least I wasn't experiencing anything like the examples LeClaire provided.

Much of the book talks about the different types of dreams you can have, and different symbolism that you might experience in your dreams. LeClaire gives brief possible interpretations of what those symbols mean, but there are apparently multiple ways to interpret one thing, so the big takeaway that I had from this book is that it's really hard to decipher the messages within your dreams, provided that a) you can remember your dreams and b) your dream is actually a message from God.

I've had many dreams about losing my teeth. They seem so real! I know from my previous experience with dream dictionaries that dreaming about losing your teeth has to do with anxiety, and LeClaire writes it's also about "stress, loss, or confusion in your life" (117). According to her, "God may be speaking to you about a loss of something important or a lack of wisdom... or discernment..." (117).

I was a little concerned at LeClaire's interpretation of seeing dead friends or relatives in dreams. Her explanation: "God may be showing you there are generational curses in your blood line... A familiar spirit appears friendly, maybe even as a friend or a family member, but it's a demon in disguise" (118).

Uhm, what? My mom is a demon?

Going back to how difficult it is to decipher a dream, LeClaire also writes that you might not find out what your dream means until a later time. So if you're picking up this book thinking that it's going to give you the answers you seek about your dreams, well, it's really not. It might help you figure out a few thing along the way, but this book is not the answer. As LeClaire writes throughout the book, dream interpretations belong to God.

So if you really want to know what a dream means, then you'll need to 1. write down your dreams and 2. pray to God about them. And then, I guess, hope that he reveals the answer to you in another dream?

Still, this book does make me want to pay more attention to my dreams and write them down in a journal just in case. Sometimes I've had dreams that I think I could turn into a story for a novel or something, but then I forget all the details by the time I get around to really thinking about it. At the very least, getting into a habit of writing down my dreams should at least provide some entertaining reading. I have some VERY strange dreams sometimes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”