I have been a believer in dream symbols since my mid-thirties. I was in the throes of adverse circumstances in my life then and couldn't see my way out, neither was I able to find solutions that would change those adversities. One night, after a particularly disturbing altercation with my then wife, I had a particularly disturbing dream. I dreamt that glass buildings were shattering all around me, falling into the streets, but avoiding hurting me. Shaking at the sight of seeing myself walking on the shattered glass that didn't cut up my feet, I awoke in a sweat.

The next day I told a close friend of mine of my weird dream. To my surprise, he smiled knowingly at me. He told me that he had long studied dreams and what they mean. "Shattering glass is your subconscious's way of telling you that you are soon going to make a major change in your life," he said. "But, you not getting hurt by it falling around you perhaps means that the change you make in your real life won't hurt you."

Since then, we've had many conversations about symbolic dreams. He passed on some of his interpretations to me.

• Airplanes
  Because of their associations with "big trips," traveling on airplanes frequently symbolizes change, transitions, and attempts to "reach new destinations" in our lives. Destinations commonly include a desired career status, such as higher salary, responsibility, or recognition or social status. Plane "crashes," loss of power, and trouble in flight are common dreams that typically reflect uncertainty about reaching one or more of these destinations. If a dreamer possesses a fear of flying, their dreams may reflect literal anxieties prior to a trip, or when a loved one is traveling.
• Attacked
  When we dream of attacks by entities describable or indescribable, they typically represent feelings of being emotionally attacked in our waking lives. If we are able to identify the attacker in our dreams, we will learn who, or what, the attacker is causing us the distress. Is the attacker someone or something we know? If so, an alarm within us goes off, alerting our feelings of being threatened (emotionally) by this person. Other common attack dreams that may reflect literal fears of violence or vulnerability could be what is called, "Chase Dreams; a man or woman being chased by males at night, someone shooting us or attacking us with a knife, something or animal forms chasing us into exhaustion. The list goes on. If we resist and stand up to our attackers it is a positive sign of self-confidence and assertion. If we are attacked and are unable to defend ourselves, this reflects a feeling of powerless against whomever or whatever our attacker represents. Attackers may also represent internal struggles-"battles" with drug, alcohol, or food addictions, for example, that a person "just can't beat." Attackers may also represent social pressures to conform.
• Baby
  Babies in dreams often reflect literal concerns about the birth cycle and the responsibilities of parenthood. If these conditions are not present or relevant to the dreamer's life responsibilities (a parent whose children already are grown, for example) the appearance of babies or dreams of giving birth may function as a metaphor for a project in one's life, or for a developing aspect of the personality.

And the list goes on and on. If you have had particular dreams that you would like to know the meanings of, you can drop me an e-mail and I will pick my friend's brain to them some meaning. Perhaps we can form a "Dreamers Forum."

EDITOR'S NOTE:
A great Idea! One of "Cliffs" favorite subjects is talking about symbolic dreams and what they mean. He would love hearing about yours. Contact him on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.