...but I'm not the only one. Some people say they never dream when they sleep, and I've read that isn't true: Everyone dreams many times every night (the average dream lasting only 3-5 seconds) but we remember so few (or none) of our dreams because they're sent straight to our short-term memories. Unless you do something like write the dream down or share it with a friend to transfer the information to your long-term memory, that dream is gone and you may never remember having it at all.
I've done a lot of thinking and even a little writing about dreams over the years--what dreams mean, why I always have the same ones, how to avoid really scary ones...I wonder if this is a topic that is interesting to you? I've heard that it's really fun for us to talk about our own dreams but it isn't all that fun for everyone else listening? I'm not sure anyone really wants to know about my recent dream regarding my neighbor in the buff drinking coffee in his backyard or the one where I'm sorting through tornado rubble in only a towel. :)
I have a couple of recurring dreams, meaning dreams I have had several times throughout my lifetime, and I have to say they are mostly bad, or at least very uncomfortable. I often dream that I am still in high school and I have a volleyball game or track meet to go to and I'm not ready. I've either forgotten my uniform or shoes or I can't remember going to any practices beforehand to train. I haven't played high school sports for 20 years...why would this keep showing up in my subconscious? Another dream I've had a lot (although not in quite a while, now that I think of it) is that my teeth are really chalky and they're crumbling out of my mouth, or they're all loose and if you tapped one they'd all fall out in a sort of domino effect.
I've read that you're likely to have nightmares if the room you are sleeping in is very warm and if you sleep with your arms above your head...I wonder what conditions make for more pleasant dreams? Do you think that what you have in your head right before you fall asleep will come out in your dreams, or do the littlest things from earlier in the day somehow pop up? Do you think you can control your dreams? I have a friend who is into "astratravel," which is, very simply, being able to will yourself to go places in your dreams. She said she could think about checking in on her cousin before she fell asleep and then she'd dream something about her cousin that would let her know how she was doing. She also told me that if you ever see yourself in your dreams, like you're looking down at yourself from above (in video games isn't that the third-person view?) instead of seeing the dream through your own eyes (like first-person in video games?) that you have astratraveled without even trying. Interesting...
There are various books and websites that offer interpretations of dreams and the elements involved. You may or may not find these valid, but you considering dreams and what they might be saying could probably spark numerous writing ideas. Take a look at some of these and see what you think: Dream Dictionary Dream Bible Psychologists World
I hope you've also done some thinking about how dreaming can play into the writing process. Please post a thoughtful comment on this post answering one or more of the following:
...a recurring dream you have
...the worst dream you've ever had
...the best dream you've ever had (PG-13 or tamer :) )
...what you think causes dreams
...books you've read about dreams or dreaming
...if you think dreams are symbolic or have deeper meaning
...what you found in the dream interpretation books
...if you think astratravel or lucid dreaming is possible
...your daydreams or your dream day chart
...your dreams for your future
...if you think dreams could inspire writing for you
...something else connected to dreams?
One recurring dream I usually have is that I am being chased by some figure, either its Scream or Micheal Myers, or some killer. I would end up being chased as my family and friends would watch without being alarmed, and my brother and sister would be the only one that recognizes the problem. In fear of running away, I accidentally close a door on one of my siblings, but its too late to open the door, so I end up feeling guilty and like a horrible person for abandoning my younger sibling when its my job to protect them.
ReplyDeleteBeing chased sounds scary. I cant imagine how terrifying it wouldve been.
DeleteThere is a book, I mention and love to talk about a lot, named Strange The Dreamer. I read it over the summer and adored it, still do. Of course there's a lot of use of the word 'dream' in the novel, from describing the dreams of the main character, both in sleep and aspirations. I can't really talk about it anymore without spoiling it and I wouldn't dare spoil this precious jewel of a story.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a very interesting book that I, myself, would probably read. I haven't really ever read a book centered around dreams, as this one seems to be, so it would be a new and hopefully eye-opening experience.
DeleteA recurring dream I have is where something bad is happening and I am unable to speak or scream. The worst dream I have ever had is when I dreamed that my house caught on fire but I was unable to get my pets out and had to watch the house burn with them in it. The best dreams I have are the ones where my parents are still married.
ReplyDeleteBad dreams are never fun, but its a nice thought that the best dream you could have is where your parents are still together
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DeleteFor about a month I had the same dream every night. In this dream I would be in a large mansion, sometimes by myself and sometimes with others, but the dream would always contain the same events in the same order. The house slowly filled with water, I wouldn´t be able to get out so I would run to the top floor, and then a shark would swim into the house and start hunting me. This dream wouldn´t end until I either managed to get onto the roof or the shark found and ate me.
ReplyDeleteDaydreaming is something I often partake in. It's fun to go off on my own in my head and imagine something that either probably wouldn't happen in this reality, could happen here, or couldn't exist at all. This is why I love writing so much, because I can come up with these brilliant ideas in my head, but I often lose track of them. Writing helps me elaborate on these small stories and keep them going.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to this because I love just letting my mind run wild and seeing what it can make up in a short amount of time.
DeleteOne of the recurring dreams I have is falling from high places. It always wakes me up right before I hit the ground. I always through my arms out and try to catch myself. That never works because I always end up trying to figure out what is going on and what had happened before I woke up. It takes me a little bit to fall back asleep because I do not want to have it happen again.
ReplyDeleteOne very weird dream I've had is me pulling my teeth out and placing the teeth into a small brown bowl as I sit at the dinner table, looking out over my backyard through the dining room window. I remember the clinking sound of the teeth falling into the ceramic bowl very vividly.
ReplyDeleteI've had a dream similar to this. I was in the car once, traveling somewhere with my family, and my teeth began to feel loose. I begged and begged for my dad to pull over and help me figure out what was going on, but he didn't want to for some reason. Then, suddenly, my teeth began to fall out.
DeleteI do believe that lucid dreaming is possible but I don't think that astratravel is possible because it's impossible for you to take your mind out of your body. The mind is connected to the brain and that is stuck inside your head(for the most part). But lucid dreaming is possible because the mind is smart enough to become self aware while dreaming and has the ability to control what goes on inside the dream.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your reasoning for astratravel not being possible.
DeleteMy favorite dreams are when Im doing something military related. Its kind of cool to see what my brain thinks of, usually Im not shooting anything, mostly just goofing off with friends or walking around in the desert. I can never remember what exactly happened in the dream, i just remember the very basics
ReplyDeleteI can relate with the just remembering the very basics and never really remembering what exactly happened in the dream
DeleteWhen I was younger, I used to have a lot of recurring nightmares. I have had a hard time remembering dreams as I've gotten older, but if there are some that I can remember and are peculiar enough, I like to look them up to find their meaning. I'm a little skeptical about some of the interpretations that I've read as they seem totally far-fetched (or maybe I'm just blind to my reality), but I feel as that others have been spot on. I used to have a lot of nightmares when I was younger, possibly because I was really into books like Goosebumps, but now I rarely have nightmares. I typically have more realistic dreams now.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a lot of nightmares as well and I was in to the goosebumps books as well
DeleteA recurring dream that I have had is getting a puppy for my birthday when my mom surprised me with a puppy.
ReplyDeleteI rarely remember my dreams, but when I do its usually about me getting old or having grey hair. My dreams never seem to last very long considering I have insomnia.
ReplyDeleteI often have day dreams involving alternate history, where I got lost living in an era of the past with something changed or different. I like getting lost in my imagination, very cozy and creative in there. Occasionally I´ll write to express my imagination but that doesn't keep me from the day dream. I wish it were like lucid dreaming where you can control what you see and hear, but sadly you got to be tethered to reality while you´re awake.
ReplyDeleteThe only dream I can remember is getting acid from my cousin in an indoor tennis court near the living memorial park. I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteThe best dream i have ever had was when I was in the 8th grade and it was a weird dream about how I had to escape my house from the deck because the stairs were gone I went to school then next thing you know i am doing coke with Ms.Doyle in the school hallway and the funniest part about it is when the principle walked up I felt like I had just got caught and I was in trouble and he took me home himself in his car to personally tell my mom and when we got there he was like how do we get in and i was like we have to climb up the balcony and this is funny because at the time i lived at the top of an apartment complex. I would say this is the best dream because it was a self lucid dream where I didn't have control of the dream but I had control of myself and that why I started doing crazy stuff. But also cuz most my dreams are horror or scifi fantasy or just cringey
ReplyDeleteThe biggest dream I have for my future at the moment is to graduate medical school. After I graduate from medical school I want to be successful in my field which is Radiology. I have always dreamed about working in the medical field and helping others but recently, I have finally decided on what I wanted to do and became more passionate about it.
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ReplyDeleteI can safely disprove, scientifically (even though I'm a Christian and don't heavily rely on science as it in itself has been disproved, by itself) that the whole theory of "Astro Traveling" is nothing more than a myth. Have you ever thought about something, whether it be a certain girl/guy (depending on who you are, not judging, just saying.) or a certain game, movie, play, sport, or argument that it starts to plague your thoughts the next day? Well that's called a (i didn't call it this, look it up this is real) "Mind-Pop". It's when out of nowhere you remember some random thought, as mentioned before. Well, that can also carry into dreams, where, if thinking hard enough about something, it will reappear. Like when your watching your football/basketball/soccer/baseball/hockey game, and you think a different play could have worked better and you start to think on it, working out the kinks, so to speak, and then you head to bed since those games play late at night. I wouldn't be surprised if you started dreaming of THAT play you thought, in THAT game you just watched. Same with a video game, or book. This is mentioned in older TV shows, such as Emergency, where Chet Kelly wanted to dream about a boat that Station 51 had rented, but had to return. In that episode, Chet hops into the boat and sits behind the controls and closes his eyes, stating "If we have to return it, then I want to at least ride it in my dreams.", he is then covered by a tarp that Roy Desoto and John Gage throw over the boat to protect it.
ReplyDeleteThe worst dream I ever had was when I was very little and I remember it Because it scared me so much. I was at this park in town with these two caves one bigger and one smaller and I was with my mom and dad. I went into the big cave first and hear weird noises from it so I walked out then followed my parent into the smaller cave. After going into the smaller cave we finally hit a point where it ended but there was a black hole in the wall. Now my dad paints these things in his painting that look like grey demons and they started crawling out of the hole and we ran and they followed us and when we got out I saw really tall versions of them coming out of the big cave. We all ran as fast as we could but one grabbed my mom and started tearing her body to shred and eating her insides. I watched it hiding behind a gate with my dad at the park and thats when I woke myself up.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest life dream I have had is to back pack through Europe one day in my future and make good memories and meet new people. I think that lucid dreaming is possible because sometimes you dream of the weirdest things and sometimes you awake not being able to move frozen stuck not feeling a thing but I think it just depends on the person cause others may not ever experience that type of dreaming.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember my dreams, almost ever. So, these are my dreams for the future. First, I am going to graduate high school. I will go to OTC for my associates degree, and then MSU to double major in business and political science. After, I will go to Wash. U. in St. Louis to get my law degree. I will have gotten married in this time and we will move to a small town in Kansas near Kansas City where my husband will have begun a culinary apprenticeship. I will open a law firm here and begin my political career. I will become mayor of this town and slowly work my way up the political chain until I reach the US HoR and run for president the year I turn 36.
ReplyDeleteWhat i think causes dreams is that when we start thinking those thoughts get stored in the back. and when we sleep those thoughts will start wondering changing and making forms of something that we either remember for thought of.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, I used to have nightmares about the dark, the unknown, monsters, etc. Now that I'm older, I tend to have dreams relating towards school, including being trapped in a classroom, taking a big test, etc. These dreams make sense to my life, especially that I enjoy learning new concepts and someday want to pursue a career in the educational field.
ReplyDeleteAs I reach the rail of the balcony, I could feel the cold, thin air reaching my lungs. My last starry night was peaceful and beautiful, my eyes reflecting the stars that glowed so brightly besides the full green moon. So I took my last breath, I leaped over the rail and fell towards the bottom of the cliff. The ground seemed to grow closer to me until I had landed, except, I hadn't. What I thought to be the ground had shattered and revealed a sky that seemed to never end, and I continued falling.
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that Lucid dreaming and astro-projecting are things, because I've experienced both. I astro-project in most dreams I have, and I Lucid dream more than not. I didn't even know that astro-projecting was an abnormal thing until you mentioned it in class as a mystical power. With Lucid dreaming, find it easy because I have been doing it since I was small. It wasn't a super power I had to harness through training my brain, it was just something I could do.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember a lot of my dreams, but either they're almost always in a warped reality similar to this reality. Like, my house is actually part of an art museum, and there's a mountain range right next to it with forests and temples. Most of my dreams occur within this same dream universe, and the ones I remember are really interesting. I wish I could actually stay in them fully and remember everything that happens, because I'm certain that it would make for an absolutely fantastic story. Last night's dream was a little fuzzy, but I definitely remember that I was spiderman and that I was protecting two school buses full of students from this school. It was weird, but also pretty fun. I've been watching a lot of that new Spiderman PS4 game, so I suppose that it makes sense that I'd eventually start having more effects from that in my life lol.
ReplyDeleteA recurring theme in my dreams is that I'm running away from someone or something that intends to harm me. I feel like some of the scarier ones could serve as great inspiration for a short horror piece, partly because of how illogical they are. I never know why I have to run or why whatever or whomever is after me, my subconscious just accepts it as a fact of life.
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