I became interested in dreams when I was five years old. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, my dad asked me what I dreamed. He left for work at six thirty in the morning, too early for me to be out of bed, so weekends were the only time he asked about my dreams.

Dad would go out into the kitchen, pull open the drawer of the china cupboard, and take out a tablet, pencil and a bright orange book. He wrote down my dream, not the entire contents just key words he wanted to look up the meaning of. Then he would open the book; flip through the pages until he found the one he wanted.

After jotting down a list of numbers he folded the paper, tucked it into his shirt pocket, scoop up his things, and carefully place them in his special spot in the drawer. Then he would go for his morning walk to the friendly neighborhood barber who was also the neighborhood bookie.

One day out of curiosity, I took out the book. That was my first encounter with a dream book, which was really a lucky numbers dream book. It had alphabetically words that gave a brief meaning of what an object meant to the dreamer followed by a number.

When my dreams become more detailed and somewhat too complicated Dad stopped asking me about my dreams. I was dreaming about things that seemed to my dad far-fetched fantasies. I did my best to clarify what I was seeing in my dreams but my limited knowledge and vocabulary was not’t adequate.

I missed the weekend brief discussions. I could not’t find anyone to share my dream interest. Listening to a ten years old talk about dreams was boring especially when what I had to say seemed to them like utter nonsense. I was labeled "having a great imagination". I began to wonder if most people never dreamed. Why was I so different? If no one else seemed to think dreams matter, then why should I? It did matter to me. What was it about dreams that fascinated me?

I knew even at that early age dreams were special. They seemed so real to me especially when I would be dreaming of a beautiful indescribable place, filled with people of light that left me warm and tingly all over when I would awake. I desperately wanted to find someone who thought like me.

I was disappointed my parents and others viewed dreams only as a source of a hot tip for the numbers game. Even my friends had no interest in dreams. Therefore, I was alone in this wonderland of nightly adventures without anyone to share them. When mom called me for school, I started lingering in bed a few minutes to recall my dreams. On weekends instead of being in a hurry to wake and go out to play, I would lay for an hour sometimes to think about my dreams. I guess you would say this is when I started dream study.

Seventy-five year later, I am still learning from my nightly self-education classes. Dreams are a source of inner help and guidance that relate to the dreamer physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Learning the language of my dreams changed my life for the better.

In 2007, I got the idea for a dream book and began reading through my many dream journals with excitement. Several months later, doubt began to rear its ugly head and creep into my consciousness. Then, I remember an experience I had fifty years ago that eliminated my doubts at that time as well the present.

In the late fifties, a friend gave me book written by a well-known dream authority. I eagerly read a few pages then decided to flip ahead to the chapter on symbols listed in alphabetical order. With my index finger, I ran down the list to see if the interpretations matched mine.

Very few of my personal word descriptions matched her definitions. In fact, a lot of the terminology seemed ridiculous. Disappointed, I put down the book. My strong self-confidence turned into self-doubt. How could I be so wrong in my thinking? After all, the author was the authority and I was not! That night I had a turning point dream.

I had a dream that gave me back my self-confidence. I was in a college teaching a class about dreams. I was the professor sharing my dream knowledge. Therefore, the dream said to me, "I’m an authority on dreams, and I am teaching myself". It was a school of higher learning where I was teaching, which told me I am certainly qualified to teach myself!

That quick trip down memory lane boosted my self-confidence. In 2009, my book, Dreams Designed by God for You, was published. Dreams have been and continue to be an unlimited supply of creative ideas that inspire and guide my writing as well as help in all areas of my life.

Take another look at the jumbled images that come to you at night, they could carry an important message to benefit you. It is my hope this article has inspired you begin studying your dreams. When I think of studying dreams, the following acronym for studying comes to mind.

Spending Time Understanding Dreams Yields Invaluable Needed Guidance.