1. Why do I want to talk about “how students interpret dreams”?
A few days ago, I received several messages from students asking the same question: “Teacher, we read Hughes’ dream theory, but we don’t understand it at all, and we don’t know how to do our homework. What should we do?”
I understood immediately. Hughes’s (Ernest Hartmann, often mistakenly referred to as a dream theorist) book is full of terms like “subconscious,” “archetypes,” and “symbolic systems,” which sound very profound but are like alien language to someone just starting out.
In fact, dreams aren’t that complicated. Especially the dreams you students have, most of which are related to stress, exams, and interpersonal relationships.
I just want to use the simplest language possible to explain how to use Hartmann’s basic ideas to understand your own dreams.
2. I tried it on one of my own dreams
Last week, I had a particularly bizarre dream:
I was in the library, driving an overturned car—the roof was facing down and the wheels were spinning in the air. I was driving while singing opera at the top of my lungs, in a very exaggerated voice.
When I woke up, I laughed at myself: what a ridiculous dream.
But since I’m teaching others, I took it seriously and wrote it down, analyzing it step by step, just like you would do your homework.
3. Don’t read academic books, find “simple explanations” first
I know that when you look up information, you’ll find a bunch of papers and terms like “dreams are a dynamic process of self-integration”…
Who can understand that?
So I changed my approach: just like when you look up information, open your browser and search for simple questions like “Hughes dream interpretation for beginners” or “how students analyze dreams.”
I found a simple comparison table with only three rows:
- Water → represents your emotional state
- Means of transportation (such as cars, boats, airplanes) → represents the direction of your life or your sense of control
- Buildings (such as houses, schools, libraries) → represent your current psychological state or mental space
These are not standard answers, but they are sufficient.
It’s like learning English by first memorizing “hello” and “thank you” instead of trying to memorize long sentences right away.
4. My dream: What does the overturned car mean?
Let’s look at “car” first.
Hughes says that a car represents your sense of control over your life.
If you drive well, it means you feel that everything is under control; if you drive poorly, it may mean that you feel “out of control.”
My car is upside down—the wheels are facing the sky, and it can’t move at all.
Isn’t that just like my life right now?
I’ve been changing the direction of my writing recently, and I don’t know which way to go. I’m hesitating every day.
The “upside-down car” in my dream is actually the “I don’t know what to do next” in my heart.
Now let’s look at the “library.”
This is a place of learning, where books and knowledge are stored.
I dreamed of driving in a library, which may represent: I am making decisions based on my existing knowledge, but I feel that it is not working.
Putting these two together, it becomes very clear:
I’m not really driving a car in reverse, but expressing my confusion about the future.
5. What does the part about singing opera represent?
This part is the most difficult to understand. Hughes’ book doesn’t mention “singing” or ‘performing’ much.
But I remember him saying, “The voice in your dreams is often what you want to say but can’t.”
I thought about it and realized, yes!
I recently wrote an article, and readers had different opinions. When I replied, I wrote very forcefully, as if I were “explaining myself loudly.”
It felt like singing high notes on stage, afraid that others couldn’t hear me.
So the “opera” in my dream wasn’t that I really wanted to be a singer, but that:
I wanted to be understood so badly, but my approach was a bit exaggerated.
This discovery made me a little embarrassed—it turns out my dreams were telling me I was “too serious.”
6. I tried this method on others, and it really worked
To verify whether this method only worked for me, I called my niece’s classmate and asked, “Tell me about a dream you had recently.”
He said, “I dreamed I was on a sinking ship. There were many ships, and I was jumping between them, afraid of falling into the water.”
I immediately analyzed it using the three keywords from earlier:
- Water → Emotions, pressure
- Ship → Life choices or sense of security
- Jumping around → Hesitating between different options
I asked him, “Are you thinking about changing majors? Or are you unsure which path to take?”
He paused for a few seconds and said, “How did you know? I’m struggling with whether to switch from economics to psychology.”
You see, you don’t need to understand all the theories, just grasp a few key points and you’ll be able to understand what the dream is saying.
7. Three practical suggestions for students
If you are also struggling with “dream analysis assignments,” don’t worry. You don’t need to memorize a hundred symbols, nor do you need to become a psychology expert.
You just need to remember these three things:
1. First, write down your real-life pressures
Ask yourself:
- What has been keeping you awake lately?
- Is it exams? A fight with a friend? Not knowing what to do after graduation?
Write it down, even if it’s just three words: “afraid of failing,” “missing home,” “no money.”
2. Find the strangest or scariest images in your dream
For example:
- Not being able to run
- Losing teeth
- Forgetting the exam time
- Being naked in a crowd
These images are usually “amplified versions” of your stress.
8. Dreams are not exams, there are no standard answers
Many students ask me, “Teacher, what is the standard interpretation of this dream?”
I want to say: There are no standard answers to dreams.
It’s like when you write an essay with the theme “My worries,” everyone’s worries are different.
Dreams are the same.
Hughes’ theory sounds mysterious, but the core idea is simple: dreams are emotions you didn’t process during the day, replayed in images at night.
So don’t rush to look for answers in books.
First ask yourself, “What have I been afraid of lately? What have I been thinking about? What have I been avoiding?”
The answer is often in your heart.
9. Finally: Trust your own feelings
I used to think that interpreting dreams was something only experts could do.
But now I realize that the person who understands your dreams best is actually yourself.
You don’t need to be a scholar or remember all the terminology.
All you need to do is:
- Write down your dreams
- Look at your recent life
- Find that moment when you say, “Ah, so that’s what it was”
This process itself is a form of self-discovery.
If you are a student doing homework, treat it as an opportunity to have a conversation with yourself.
It’s not about getting a high score, but about seeing clearly:
What am I really worried about? What do I truly want?
Dreams won’t give you answers, but they will help you ask questions.
And questions are often the beginning of change.
