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Dreams

As someone who dreams constantly I am curious to know everyones opinions on them.

I have always dreamt while sleeping. It doesn't matter if I only sleep for 10 minutes or hours, I Will dream. My dreams are always very real in the sense that I will still feel it even after waking. If I was cut in my dream I will wake up with a slight pain in that area and have the feeling one gets when remembering a memory. Its as if it really happend. If its a nightmare, which is almost all of them, I will have to get up and stay awake for at least 10 minutes to get myself fully awake or I will go right back into the same nightmare continuing from where I left off.

So I'm curious, what are your opinions on why we dream, where they come from, is there a meaning behind them, ect.

Comments

  • woods93woods93 Explorer
    I also have frequent dreams and mostly nightmares. I have read that depression can cause more dreams than usual but I'm not sure if that is true or not. I feel like dreams are something that is caused by what is happening in our lives at the present time. most of my dreams and nightmares have been about a recent event or something in the future i am worrying about, so I tend to think it is our subconscious replaying our memories or worries.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    This is not a recommendation, just the sharing of my practise with dreams.

    I either remain semi conscious in sleeping mode (dream free) or slip into sleep, unconscious to dreams or existence. Once in a blue moon I'll awake where the inertia of a dream will cross over to consciousness bringing a feeling of embarrassment
    (Yeah, a Canadians worst fear is embarrassment) so I am not saying that I don't dream.

    I think that my relationship with dreams may be from maintaining a higher priority on staying in meditation than anything else. Where others feel that dreams have either been of help or hinderence to them, I seem to have evolved my practise towards not energizing or contributing to their formation.

    Cheers
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    I like to analyze my dreams. To me they are our subconscious mind working out the issues of our life.

    I recommend getting a dream dictionary and maybe writing down your dreams if that helps you remember the details. Then you can look up what different dream images represent. Doing this has helped me gain a lot of insight on the issues I face in my own life.
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    I have found, when I reflect on my dreams, they are are either entirely to do with events of the previous days and/or thoughts I've had, or a combination of that and things that are easily identifiable as symbolic of other things I am going through. I'm not talking about this like "oh, I dreamed of a pink feather and this means X and Y because I looked it up" or anything. But for example I had a dreams when I was young that my parents were trying to kill each other, when they were getting divorced. It became obvious that I was unhappy and uncomfortable with the way they were treating each other.
    I don't dream as often now, but when I do, I often have lucid dreams, which are very strange. I love dreams and analyzing, lol. Just as an interest. I write them down pretty often and notice patterns in doing so.

    The parts that get tricky for me, are when I have a dream that is just so different, and so strange, that I am certain it means something. Not as far as telling my future or anything like that. But I've had dreams about things I have no knowledge of and I probably spend more time trying to figure them out than I should. Dreams where I hear languages I cannot even identify but I understand it in my dreams, things like that. I've likewise had some very bizarre dreams about people in my life who has passed away and I'm not entirely sure whether it was just me resolving feelings about those people in a way that helps me, or if there is more to it or not. I have some really bizarre ones in that realm.

    My favorites are the "WTF" dreams that make no sense. I dreamed a while back that a man crashed his Fiero (car) into a tree in our yard, and when he got out of the car, he was in his underwear and chased us with a machete. Go figure, lol.

    Sorry to ramble, it's just a topic I enjoy.
    riverflow
  • From a scientific perspective (speaking a graduate student in clinical psychology), I see dreams as nothing more than just "random" neuronal activity. There is no real inherent meaning to them, in my opinion.

    It's just your mind "randomly doing it's thing" without any real direction.
    riverflow
  • I've had lucid dreams and also dream paralysis a few times, which is awful (and the worst kind of nightmare you can have I think). I have had a lot of US presidents in my dreams, various apocalyptic dreams (usually large aircraft or spacecraft falling from the sky sending shrapnel everywhere, and I used to have dreams of having to go back to high school which were later replaced by dreams of having to go back to boot cmp (I was in the US navy very briefly).

    Another common one (which I haven't had in years) is being at home at night and every single light I turn on immediately goes out. Oh, and, when I was even younger, being in the back seat of the car with my parents in the front, and all of a sudden they would vanish and I had to climb up in the front and try to steer the car-- but my feet couldn't reach the brakes! (obvious insecurities there) But I don't think dreams "mean" anything-- though the subconscious may be working through things sometimes in a less rational fashion.

    Here's an absolutely meaningless dream (which I will remember to my dying day haha). This was in 1999... I dreamt I met Abraham Lincoln wearing American Indian facepaint and feather headdress. He was sitting a very large horse in the middle of a vast muddy field with chicken wire in the distance. I was looking up at him trying to tell him something, but he would just look at me and wouldn't respond. Then I was in the kitchen of this small house I used to live in when I was younger and there were ostrich eggs all over the place (its a long story, but my dad was given an emptied ostrich egg which my parents kept on display in the living room). And there was a metal "incubator"-like box in the kitchen, and under the glass lid was Abraham Lincoln's head (alive) laying these eggs! And I walked through the house and the eggs were hatching and Ewoks (from Star Wars) were hatching out of them and they were all hyperactive and running all over the place. I walked out the front door of the house and there were even more Ewoks jumping around mindlessly. And I went to the back of the house and there was a woman giving one of the Ewoks a haircut (the Ewok was on a stool). There were several Ewoks that gathered around the woman all hushed and attentive to what she was doing. And then I woke up.

    And no, I have never done drugs hahaha
    personJeffreykarasti
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    The other night I had a dream that Jaime Murray invited me back to her hotel room to... erm... talk, I'm sure... :orange: But lo and behold, I could not find her door! I kept wandering the halls in a maze of numbers that made no sense. So unfair...

    What do you think it was about? I think I had just watched a really sexy movie before bed and that feeling infiltrated my dreams... because that's what happened, lol. Just the brain trying to make sense of random feelings and emotions.
    riverflow
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    Also... I would bet anything you're a Buffy fan! :D
    riverflow
  • JohnGJohnG Veteran
    One of the problems with finding a dream dictionary, is that it's just that - a dictionary. It doesn't necessarily render a true meaning, but a generalized version of popular and common belief. The dream is unique to the individual and only that individual. I suggest as above write it down, then when you are calm, read and analyze it in the events of what's happening in your life.

    Sometimes, it's a portent; sometimes it's a choice that's going to have to be made. And, sometimes it can be a lesson from the past that must be applied to today. :coffee:
    Jeffrey
  • Also... I would bet anything you're a Buffy fan! :D

    haha Actually I had to Google that to see what you are referring to (I haven't actually watched TV since 1993, so I'm pretty clueless about a lot of things!)

  • karasti said:

    The parts that get tricky for me, are when I have a dream that is just so different, and so strange, that I am certain it means something.

    This. I'm convinced that there are different levels of dreams. Some I can tell have to do with problems I am going through or things I have watched on TV earlier in the evening. Some are rather strange and seem to have symbolic meaning, and others are very strange and seem to definitely have deep meaning.

    I often remember my dreams, and they are always very pleasant and usually quite intense. I've found that certain things can enhance dreaming such as certain medications and supplements, practices such as meditation or tai chi, as well as keeping a dream journal. I have noticed definite patterns and recurring dreams over the years.

    I believe there is a form of dream yoga that highly advanced yogis practice, where one can learn to meditate while in the dream state or communicate with a guru. I don't see why this shouldn't be possible.

    I agree with modern psychologists when they say that most dreams are just the result of our subconscious mind dealing with things or the product of random neurons firing, but in my opinion some dreams are clearly different and I do believe in (and have even experienced) precognitive dreams.

    I many cultures, such as Native American and aboriginal culture, dreams were considered very important and I think there is a lot we can still learn from these traditions.


    DrusillaFaithpersonkarasti
  • Also... I would bet anything you're a Buffy fan! :D

    To be honest...yes, at least I was when it was new on t.v. watched the new episodes every week. But haven't seen it in ages. I always loved the vampire chick Drusilla.
    I pretended I was her since we shared the same name. Drusilla is actually my real name hehehe

    zombiegirl
  • SephSeph Veteran

    what are your opinions on why we dream, where they come from, is there a meaning behind them, ect.

    Good God!
    I have had dreams and nightmares and even dreams that have seen and predicted (correctly) the future.

    I think often times it's our mind's way of 'cleaning' the bulk of useless info. it picks up during the day.
    But at other times I also believe that - somehow - it can be so much more.
    DrusillaFaith
  • @rivercane I am very interested in what u said about dream yoga. I am definitely going to look into that.
    Thanks :orange:
    rivercane
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I often have a dream that I am driving in my neighborhood but for some reason I am in the back seat and reaching the steering wheel with my arms. It doesn't occur to me that I wouldn't be able to reach the gas or brake. The dream I am often worried about the ability to turn the car.

    Another weird dream is I am non-corporal just viewing a huge field of lights like the 'simon says' toy and my mental process is in control of what light lights up.

    I also have dreams where I realize I am naked I think a lot of people have that.

    And I dream I can fly like a hot air balloon flies I sort of will myself to rise and I can kind of float around but not control much.

    Sports dreams I can dunk a basketball, but when I play soccer my favorite youth sport it is like a paralysis dream in that I cannot move.

    I also often dream that I am back in highschool literally going through a 5th adult year just as a credential or something, but the thing is I am no longer smart enough to understand tricky concepts and test questions.
  • @jeffrey. Oh!!! Ive had the flying dream too. Where u can kinda glide or float or whatever. Though for me I can normally control the flying. Love it

    Also...I remember hearing as a kid the thing of if ur falling in ur dream and hit the ground udie. For the record I have hit the ground. Only once, maybe twice, and I'm still alive. So thatsfalse lol :clap:
  • Jeffrey said:

    I often have a dream that I am driving in my neighborhood but for some reason I am in the back seat and reaching the steering wheel with my arms. It doesn't occur to me that I wouldn't be able to reach the gas or brake. The dream I am often worried about the ability to turn the car.

    ...

    I also have dreams where I realize I am naked I think a lot of people have that.

    ...

    I also often dream that I am back in highschool literally going through a 5th adult year just as a credential or something, but the thing is I am no longer smart enough to understand tricky concepts and test questions.

    I've had dreams along these lines too, more than once. Except with the going back to school dreams (which later turned into going back to boot camp dreams) it was more about me trying to explain to people that I didn't belong there and I needed to get out.

    Oh, and once I dreamt I was God's dog (a poodle, if you need to know ha). I never saw God in the dream, but I he lives in a pleasant little suburb with lots of trees. He wasn't at home that day! But the strangest thing was that I was so unimaginably happy that I was God's dog!
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    Wow, God's dog! That's an interesting one!
    I dream about flying too, except I kind of run, flap my arms and fly up (usually to get away from something) and then glide down. One I dreamed I accidentely flew into Canada (I'm only about 15 miles from the border) that way and landed in a lake with people who were living on the type of inflatable mattress you use in a pool. Then I realized I couldn't fly anymore and didn't know how I'd get home without a passport.

    I dreamed about my grandma (who died 10 years ago) not long ago. I was in an airport and saw her sitting in a chair with a big floppy hat. She smiled at me and I ran over and said "grandma! What are you doing here??" She smiled and started to answer, then she pulled the hat over her face and said "I'm not your grandma anymore, I can't talk about where I'm going."

    Then, a few months after my ex died, I dreamed I was driving in my car, and my cell phone rang. I remembered the entire # entirely and I wrote it down in my dream journal after I woke up. Anyhow, I looked at it and thought "how strange, I don't know that area code" but I answered it anyhow, and it was Eric. He sounded very echoey and very far away. I was almost to our house, and I knew I couldn't pull into the driveway and just say I was talking to a dead person. So I interrupted what he was saying and I said "Eric, stop talking, I only have a minute. I just wanted to tell you that we miss you and we talk about you every day." And he said "I miss you guys too, I haven't found my way out yet, so I'm sad, but it'll be ok. I just wanted you to know I was ok, so you can tell the boys. Oh, I have to go now." and he hung up on me. So strange. Still gives me the chills. Perhaps there is more to it. But even if it was simply my subconscious wanting me to give up the guilt I felt over his death, it worked. But it didn't feel like a dream.

    riverflowDrusillaFaithperson
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Dream yoga
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_yoga
    uses similar techniques to Lucid dreaming advocates.

    The Sufis 'drift' (fall into Lucid Dreaming) sometimes when meditating
    http://www.goldensufi.org/a_sufi_dreamwork.html
  • ^^^ I misread "Lucid dreaming" ...

    "Lurid dreaming" hahaha
    lobsterDrusillaFaith
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    In your dreams . . .
    riverflow
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