Dreams

[SDRSpark]

Does anyone else here just...not have good dreams? I wouldn't say I have nightmares every night. (Although, I suppose, many of my dreams would be considered nightmares by a lot of people! Just not me. I'm used to it I guess.) I just don't have dreams that I would consider pleasant, or enjoyable, or "good". Every once in a while I will, but 99 times out of 100 my dreams are weird, surreal, unnerving in some way, or just a dream that starts out good but then something goes wrong.

This isn't a new development, I'll be 33 years old in a few days and it's been this way for me as long as I can remember. I actually don't know what it's like to go to bed and dream of pleasant things - the best I get is neutral (where things don't go horribly wrong). Pop culture tells me I'm supposed to, at least some of the time, and I assumed that dreams of magic and wonder and candy and unicorns and tropical islands and other good things are common but I've never (or almost never, that I can remember anyway) experienced that.

 

[Mia]

Did have dreams as a child that were pleasant or interesting, possibly based in books that had been read or movies or cartoons. Yet there were other darker dreams that frightened me a great deal as well.

Now, I rarely remember dreams and the ones I do remember are usually puzzling in some way. The last one I recall I was looking out from a balcony and down below were hundreds of black and white St. Bernard puppies sitting there and people walking by as if it were a normal occurrence. So it was neither pleasant or unpleasant.

I've read that dreams can be extraneous stuff from everyday life, that our unconscious attempts to figure out and eventually shunt. Or that everything we dream is our unconscious/objective psyche communicating with us, but I've never been able to figure out what it's communicating to me in it's esoteric way.

 

[Booknerd515]

Yeah. I've had nightmares that from a young age were so bad that I had to go to therapy for them (they're considered a trauma now for me). It especially doesn't help that I have extremely vivid dreams, so my dreaming state will be like a really weird horror movie I'm in for nightmares that belongs straight out of a comic book.

Now they don't affect me as much because whenever I'm in a nightmare I just think I have to keep doing these 'x' things to get out of a nightmare so I can wake up from it. I feel more dissociated when I am in nightmares to try to not be overloaded because if I don't do anything in them then they just get worse.

Most of my non-vivid nightmares are typical nightmares. However my family and my psychologist have been extremely baffled when I predict bad events because I had a nightmare about it the night before. I always write those ones down. Before Covid hit I had the worst batch of nightmares ever, luckily that's gone now and mine are mostly back to typical ones. Me I'm skeptical about those ones myself as I'm pretty sure my nightmares are just from me being anxious and depressed-anything else is an extremely odd coincidence.

9.99 out of 10 times all my recent dreams will be nightmares. I just hardly get good dreams anymore. Going to bed and waking up having a pleasant dream? Seems awfully confusing to me.

 

[OkRad]

Some are ok but I do get nightmares. But not night terrors. I am reading Dante right now, so the nightmares are increased a lot, but that is to be expected. Like @Bibliophile715 , I have vivid dreams so I can't watch horror flicks and stuff. I even have to leave the room if people are talking disturbing things.

 

[Thinx]

My dreams are mostly either immediately forgotten or lack clarity. There'll be something I m trying to do, usually at a workplace and usually it just meanders on aimlessly. I do have a scary dream occasionally. It's often just atmospheric somehow, and often seems important yet contentwise it isn't.

I wrote them down for a while, it seems you recall them better if you do that, and I did improve on recalling them, you need to do it right away on waking.

I think some dreams are a way of processing stuff, and sometimes they can be hitherto unprocessed trauma rising to be processed, that's usually a good sign, but might also be good to do some therapy too.

 

[John M]

All my dreams were nightmares when I was very young. A lot of those dreams weren't even scary. I was just in an unfamiliar place. My unconscious likes to tag memories that it thinks are important so the conscious mind doesn't forget. I was three years old when it tagged its first dream. I finally understood the dream meant and why it tagged it when I turned forty-six. The dream translated to - 'I'm not getting any useful memories from the television. Experience other things.' While I don't recall much from when I was three specifically, I find it highly likely television was used as a baby-sitter in my case.

Anymore, its incredibly rare that I have nightmares. However, I've had a lot of dream and grown accustomed to them after a fashion.

 

[unperson]

Can't find my keys, cant find my bag, can't find my way out or way back, just stressful annoying ones. I often wake up from them.

 

[Wolfsage]

All over the place. Though sickness usually brings nightmares.

 

[Fino]

I believe that's normal.

 

[SusanLR]

I have vivid dreams, but, I don't have nightmares.
I watch horror or sci-fi mostly when I watch tv. It never creates bad dreams.

Mine are mundane. Just going about doing everyday stuff, but, never in the places I actually live
or go to in waking. It's almost always someplace I don't know.
And I don't dream of people I know. Occasionally I have a dream that involves talking with some
celebrity. Very seldom though.
Mom is in a lot of them now since she died. Wasn't before.
But, I know that's because my mind won't let go of her.

My dreams are so vivid I can tell you what direction I'm going or the colour of anything in it.
It's the same as being awake except for the occasional I'm flying dream. Have had a few of those.

 

[John M]

Did have dreams as a child that were pleasant or interesting, possibly based in books that had been read or movies or cartoons. Yet there were other darker dreams that frightened me a great deal as well.

Now, I rarely remember dreams and the ones I do remember are usually puzzling in some way. The last one I recall I was looking out from a balcony and down below were hundreds of black and white St. Bernard puppies sitting there and people walking by as if it were a normal occurrence. So it was neither pleasant or unpleasant.

I've read that dreams can be extraneous stuff from everyday life, that our unconscious attempts to figure out and eventually shunt. Or that everything we dream is our unconscious/objective psyche communicating with us, but I've never been able to figure out what it's communicating to me in it's esoteric way.

If I had that dream the first thing I'd key into is that my unconscious sometimes refers to its mind as a dog, social but not that smart. The black and white imply both the conscious and unconscious however. The mind is generally the language center of the brain so I'd assume in this case the unconscious is referring to the minds its viewing as attempting to represent both themselves and their unconscious through written or spoken language. Since this is viewed from the balcony (from a distance) that narrows it down to the written word. These are puppies so minds that haven't matured in the way the unconscious wants them to. Consequently, it perceives these minds as being no help in accomplishing whatever task it wants done.

If it was my dream I'd classify it as a status report. I would translate it as saying, “these internet people aren't capable of helping me with the task I want completed.” Give you're unconscious a message for me would you? *Woof* *Woof*

 

[SimonSays]

I went through a period of having lucid dreams a few years ago. They would all start the same way. I’d wake up during the night, connect my iPod to my bedside radio and turn it on. At some point I’d feel like I was falling asleep and reach across to turn it off, only to find when I hit ‘pause’ nothing happened. I could still hear it as if I hadn't touched it. Sometimes I’d do it again, even again, and each time I did, nothing changed. I might even disconnect the cable leading to the radio, and when I could still hear it playing after that, the realisation of it being a dream finally took place.

At first it wouldn’t last long, and while I knew I was in a dream state, while many would be happy at the realism were this a computer simulation, there was usually something about it that was slightly off, which meant it couldn’t really be mistaken for waking reality. Not this time though. The clarity of reality was every bit the same as waking life.

Having now realised I was dreaming, and being so clearly ‘there’, losing lucidity somehow seemed less likely. I remember thinking certain thoughts about my situation, as I might do were I awake, which also indicated a difference, because usually the moment I'd start to think or question it, I'd wake up.

I got up and for some reason felt I ought to grab the iPod and take it with me. I felt that as long as I had it I’d be able to hear it and remain lucid (the sound was always coming out of the speaker of course so there's no logic behind this). Anyway, after taking it I slowly walked away. Everything was exactly as it should be, but in walking away, I behaved as if all the rules still applied. It’s a process to let go of the idea of what is or isn't possible. The physical rules we take for granted in waking life don’t apply - merely intending something makes it so.

I found myself at the door without having walked the whole distance to it, and the noticing of this triggered the knowing that in this realm I was free to do far more. I say far more, rather than whatever I want, because even though the latter is technically true, and many lucid dreamers will attest to this, I am having my own experience which for me does not allow me to just do anything.

As I reached for the door, instead of grabbing the handle, I decided to push my arm into it wondering if it would meet any resistance. It didn’t, and it slowly passed through. I then pushed my face into the door, but instead of noticing anything; the inner structure or what was on the other side, all I saw was white. This made me feel like I needed to physically open the door if I wanted to leave.

I did and walked out into the semi-darkness of the night. I realised I was naked at this point, but didn’t seem to care, and I was aware of having a bigger penis than I do as I could feel it swinging as I walked. Perhaps this version of me reflected all those times as a kid, when I was naked around others after P.E. and felt an inadequate feeling having a smaller penis when some of the others had a bigger one. It’s a guy thing!

There were several people outside, and even though I was aware of my nakedness, being well-hung meant I didn’t mind being seen, and as if to prove it, I stepped up onto the wall to look around. The others noticed, but didn’t react or seem surprised at a naked man standing on a wall as they might have had this been waking life. This is when I found myself staring at my iPod again, which was sitting next to the radio. I pressed the pause button and this time it stopped. I was back.

 

[Lemon Zing]

The title of this topic, is also the name of a fantastic #1 song by Fleetwood Mac. You may know the version by the Corrs better, though.

 

[John M]

I went through a period of having lucid dreams a few years ago. They would all start the same way. I’d wake up during the night, connect my iPod to my bedside radio and turn it on. At some point I’d feel like I was falling asleep and reach across to turn it off, only to find when I hit ‘pause’ nothing happened. I could still hear it as if I hadn't touched it. Sometimes I’d do it again, even again, and each time I did, nothing changed. I might even disconnect the cable leading to the radio, and when I could still hear it playing after that, the realisation of it being a dream finally took place.

At first it wouldn’t last long, and while I knew I was in a dream state, while many would be happy at the realism were this a computer simulation, there was usually something about it that was slightly off, which meant it couldn’t really be mistaken for waking reality. Not this time though. The clarity of reality was every bit the same as waking life.

Having now realised I was dreaming, and being so clearly ‘there’, losing lucidity somehow seemed less likely. I remember thinking certain thoughts about my situation, as I might do were I awake, which also indicated a difference, because usually the moment I'd start to think or question it, I'd wake up.

I got up and for some reason felt I ought to grab the iPod and take it with me. I felt that as long as I had it I’d be able to hear it and remain lucid (the sound was always coming out of the speaker of course so there's no logic behind this). Anyway, after taking it I slowly walked away. Everything was exactly as it should be, but in walking away, I behaved as if all the rules still applied. It’s a process to let go of the idea of what is or isn't possible. The physical rules we take for granted in waking life don’t apply - merely intending something makes it so.

I found myself at the door without having walked the whole distance to it, and the noticing of this triggered the knowing that in this realm I was free to do far more. I say far more, rather than whatever I want, because even though the latter is technically true, and many lucid dreamers will attest to this, I am having my own experience which for me does not allow me to just do anything.

As I reached for the door, instead of grabbing the handle, I decided to push my arm into it wondering if it would meet any resistance. It didn’t, and it slowly passed through. I then pushed my face into the door, but instead of noticing anything; the inner structure or what was on the other side, all I saw was white. This made me feel like I needed to physically open the door if I wanted to leave.

I did and walked out into the semi-darkness of the night. I realised I was naked at this point, but didn’t seem to care, and I was aware of having a bigger penis than I do as I could feel it swinging as I walked. Perhaps this version of me reflected all those times as a kid, when I was naked around others after P.E. and felt an inadequate feeling having a smaller penis when some of the others had a bigger one. It’s a guy thing!

There were several people outside, and even though I was aware of my nakedness, being well-hung meant I didn’t mind being seen, and as if to prove it, I stepped up onto the wall to look around. The others noticed, but didn’t react or seem surprised at a naked man standing on a wall as they might have had this been waking life. This is when I found myself staring at my iPod again, which was sitting next to the radio. I pressed the pause button and this time it stopped. I was back.

My perception is that a recurring dream is the unconscious minds ways of saying, "I can't dumb down what I'm trying to communicate anymore than I already have. You'll just have to figure this out." My experience is that the unconscious likes music and if it has the chance will try to communicate via music, not always and it's not precise but it's used as a general means of communication if nothing else works. Attempting to turn off the music but failing is it's way of saying, "you can't turn me off."

When a person gets good at lucid dreaming they'll realize that there are no physical barriers in a dream as one doesn't occupy space. There are however some barriers that the mind puts in place and also some barriers the unconscious may put in place. There's also a kind of hardwired barrier due to dreams taking up a kind of basic memory slot. A dream is 'loaded'. If you try to move outside the boundaries of what predefined in the dream you'll either hit a barrier of some kind or get caught in a recurring loop, like a video game that has a map that is circular. This doesn't necessarily mean you can't visit a place you've dreamed about before but if you try to travel there in a dream where the site wasn't loaded you'll never reach it. You have to wake up and have a new dream to travel there again.

Sex related imagery in a dream can occasionally be hard to interpret in my opinion because sex is used to mean so many different things by the unconscious. Context is the key.

 

[watersprite]

My dreams are often intense & interesring. I used to have nightmares but they’ve resolved themselves for some reason.

Last night the key chain I was holding erupted in a tiny fireworks display.