Your dream characters are great sources for insights about you and your life and it can be lots of fun meeting and getting to know them. By the end of this article, you will have a better idea of why we dream about particular people, even those we never give any thought to, such as your Aunt Betty, or that seldom seen neighbor down the street. Dream characters in general, are like actors in a play, each one portraying a different part of yourself. They are performing roles to share information about you and the current events going on in your life. These characters will include animals as well. The first step in meeting your dream characters is to get your dream down on paper. It is very important that you do this on your own. There really isn?t any other person or dream dictionary around that is going to be able to relate to them as well as you can. Once you?ve written down your dream, list any characters that appeared whether you knew them by name or not. Think about what the character was doing and what the aspect being portrayed might be. If you do know the character personally, then chances are they represent something you equate them with in waking life. Here?s an example: I dream about my Dad every now and then, and in the dream he is usually talking or making gestures to a group of people. In life, my Dad was a minister and I?ve heard him give hundreds of sermons. He was an excellent public speaker and I was always impressed with his ability to convey ideas with simple clarity. So as a dream character, he represents the aspect of ?clarity? or ?becoming clear about something?. What about someone that you know, but don?t really associate with, or even think about? This could be your seldom seen neighbor, or that Aunt Betty I mentioned earlier. Write down what your impression is of this person. This will give you a clue as to what you were probably connecting with in your dream. Now, what about the characters that you don?t know? Pay close attention to their appearance and what their actions are. Here?s one example for you: I dreamed I was sitting and chatting with an older woman dressed in matronly-looking clothes. She was speaking gibberish, but somehow I understood what she was saying. When the dream was over and I was writing it down (I won?t bore you with the details), it came to me that she was simply a translator aspect between my subconscious and my conscious self. This character was my way of getting some particular information across. Of course, there will be dreams where the person you are dreaming about is really about that person. Chances are you have a concern, or a desire about your relationship with this person and your dream is giving you information about it. The dream content should give you a clue as to whether the character is really an aspect of you or not. What about animals? For me, animals tend to portray feelings or a quality equated with a particular animal. For instance, I view cats as being curious, playful, independent and graceful. When a cat appears in my dream, it?s generally depicting one of those characteristics. A cat for you might mean something else entirely! If you get stuck and can?t come up with a good purpose for your characters, go back into your dream through meditation and simply ask them! ~Sweet Dreams ~