Dreams usually are working out events/problems in your mind, so any interpretation must be strictly personal. On the other hand, they can be bringing up bits from 20 years ago, lijje if you heard a snippet of music from then, or smelled an odor that triggered memories. So, IMO, spending a bunch of time on dreams is just not very helpful!

Dreams bring bits of our unconscious into conscious. There is no straight forward way to interpret a dream. A therapist who has worked with a patient over time may be able to act as a guide, but the unconscious is not organized rationally. It may be straight forward or not. Meaning in dreams are more like rebus connections.

The subconscious deals mostly in symbols and dreams reveal those symbols. I agree one should not run to a Jungian dream dictionary for every little dream fragment and then give it some outsize significance. However, I think the symbolism in dreams should not be entirely discounted and can be instructive. Not of some higher self giving you insight, but just understanding how you are processing things going on in your life.

After my wife died I had this weird dream where I woke up in a bed and there was a tree stump at the foot of the bed and ... well frankly I've forgotten most of it now but everything that happened in that dream, I looked up at the time, and it made perfect sense considering what I was going through. And I think it was more than confirmation bias. It just reflected what I was dealing with. Withered or dead trees are symbolic of dashed hopes and dreams. An actual stump is "being stumped", blocked or prevented from moving forward. A bed represents one's intimate self.

At that point a very intimate part of my hopes and dreams were dashed and I saw no immediate way forward.

The problem of course is this wasn't really a great or actionable revelation, it was just insight about something I already pretty much knew. If one is less than completely self-aware on a topic, sometimes a dream can help you see what you're feeling and why. In this case it really wasn't useful because I already knew that.

Dreams are a subconscience way of preparing you to face your fears. You’d already have run them through your mind, thus would not be traumatized with fear in the moment.

It’s easy to differentiate between dreams of desire, and fear. You obviously don’t desire to kill, so it’s the fear of having to do so that you’re subconsciously working through. And, dreams are a sign you’ve had enough sleep

Now that you've mentioned it, I can't think of any dream I've had where I did something that I wouldn't do. But I'm sure I have. I love dreams, especially vivid or lucid dreams but I try not to read into them too much as I feel they are a purge of random thoughts in order for our brain to declutter, so to speak.