Do You Dream?

I dream. I remember that some of the dreams are reruns, but I don't remember them once wide awake. Sometimes, I try to get back to sleep quickly enough to pick up where I left off. I don't remember whether this works or not.

Scientific sample of one.

For as long as I can remember, Mom has tried to decipher her dreams with the help of a dream book ~ more than a few times, her explanations (at least, according to her book) have been right on the mark. Spooky.

I used to have a recurring dream, from way back, of my Grampy tickling me to literal death. I never got over that dream until I got over my fear of the dark. Sad to say, that didn't happen until my son was born and I had to be strong for him (in the dark).

I dream, but I don't remember alot of it (mostly).

When I get a kind of nightmare -eg. some really bad story is developping - I normally wake up and "re-dream" this in the way that I "edit" the story new. (I've learnt this during my therapy some 20 years ago.)

I dream but I remember little of them. For some reason I usually end up with a "snapshot" as my only recall. It's like a true picuture. I can see every tiny detail frozen in time but all I get is a one millisecond image over the entire night.

I have very vivid dreams in color and lots of sound. Problem is I have a difficult time remembering them later.

I had a reoccuring dream that came about monthly for 20 years or so, it was the first 2 weeks of training camp for football. Think I told folks about that once before.

DREAMS. One of my favorite topics in all
the world.....dreams, dreams, studies in riddles
& symbols, it is, quite literally - "another language,"
if you will. I have spent about 14 years doing what is
called "dream work". I began this after I joined an
organization called the N E Florida Jungian Society. No,
not because I am a psychologist, psychiatrist, or clinical
social worker. It is a HOBBY of mine; and it's one that
endlessly fascinates me, tantalizes me, toys with me,
challenges me; I LOVE IT!
**For those of you who claim not to have dreams, or
not to remember dreams.....there are most likely
some physical causes for this.
1. A lack of B vitamins
2. Alcohol consumption
3. Certain drugs that interfere with REM sleep
4. Certain medical conditions which "kick" you
out of REM sleep as soon as your body begins
to relax more deeply (rare, though)
5. Always being awakened suddenly, by an alarm
for example & then jumping out of bed. The moment
you begin to do any large muscle movement, it is as if
the dream fades away-POOF! All memory of it is gone.
**Hence, it's vital to keep a pad of paper, and pen, on
your nightstand. When you do awaken right after or
during a dream - it is very fresh in your mind and will
stay that way for a while, as long as you don't get up &
start walking around, even to the bathroom.
**Men DO dream just as much as women do, yet seem
to be more likely to dismiss their dreams as
meaningless.
**Robert Johnson, quite a well known follower of Carl
Jung, wrote a handy little book entitled "Inner Work".
Half of the book is about dream work, other half is about
active imagination. I will stick to what I learned
from his work/tips/education about dreams, and
my own work with my dreams.
**Clarissa Estes (author of Women Who Run With
The Wolves) also has an interesting book, or book
on tape, called In The House Of The Riddle Mother,
where she focuses mainly on women's dreams, and
specifically the most common, most universal types
of dreams women experience. These are called
"archetypal"(sp?) dreams, and to be honest, some
of her examples DO fit into categories of types of
dreams which I had experienced during different
stages of my life, especially young womanhood.
**I'm sure many of you have seen those little books
that claim to tell you if you see a horse in your
dream, it means prosperity, or you will be moving
soon - or some such rubbish. A book like this is a
waste of your time.
**Because YOU are the dreamer, the dream is UNIQUE
to you, and ONLY YOU will be able to decipher its real
meaning & this takes some work.
**Johnson's book gives you 4 steps to guide you in
finding what your dream means to you & its significance
in your inner & outer life. First & most important is to
understand that EVERY person who appears in any of
your dreams, represents ONLY you - or some part of
you!
1. Making associations(with symbols in dream)
2. Connect dream images to inner dynamics
3. Interpreting the dream
4. Doing "rituals"(some action in our outer life)
that make the dream "concrete".
If anyone is interested, tomorrow I'll give you a short,
easy example of a recent dream I had, and how I came
to decipher its meaning for me.

Frequently I do not remember my dreams but when I do they are vivid. Often I write them down and then review them later in the day and there is usally a message there for me.

I am one of those who seldom remembers my dreams -- it is only when I am awakened in the midst of one that I remember anything and then it is usually forgotten till something I see, say or do reminds me. My son, at age 13, swore he never had a dream and made one up for an essay he had to write. His sister and his father frequently have very realistic dreams -- things that could easily happen in every day life -- and both remember them.

I would love for you to tell us more, babs, since this subject fascinates me. When I do remember them, they are pretty vivid such as the time I was dreaming about something burning in my house, woke up and spent a good 20 or 30 minutes checking the entire house out looking for the fire (I actually smelled the smoke as I woke up).

My dream last night was that I shot an intruder in my home.
yikes!!

My recurring 'nightmare' lasted about twenty-five years. And I've no idea why it stopped. Suddenly, too.

I've come to the conclusion (for myself) that my dreams/nightmares are what cause my deja vu.

Babs- I'd be very interested in hearing more about your studies on dreams. My mother feels that dreams mean something, but I'm a bit skeptical since my dreams are usually very much off the walls. Maybe I'm afraid to find out what my dreams mean because they are often very negative. I've even dreamed of killing someone and the reason I remember it is because it's so devistating. I'd love to tell you about some of the dreams I've had over the years and hear your input on them since you've studied dreams for so long. Once in a very blue moon a good dream will slip in there, but it's very rare.

Roger mentioned that he tries to continue some dreams. When I wake up from a good dream, I can actually continue that dream when I go back to sleep. I've done it many times.

Generally, I dream when there's something troubling on my mind, at least they're the dreams I remember.

Sometimes the dreams are wonderful, and I want to go back to them after waking, but at other times they're nowhere I want to be.

I have a friend a work whose dreams are so vivid, so terrifying at times, and also she dreams dreams that always come true, just give it a day or two. Scary!

I dream a lot and remember some but not others. My favorite of all time was dreaming I was flying... it was a recurring dream as a teenager. I was on my back, flying feet first the way I learned to swim in a synchronized swimming class.

I v. rarely have nightmares. Rae that must have been awful to have the same one for 25 years. My last nightmare was that my horse kicked me, but she didn't hurt me, it was a light tap.

It wasn't any fun, Piffka.

In a nutshell, I hate to be tickled. The incessant tickler in my nightmare was my Grampy ~ my favorite person in the whole world. The tickling wasn't nearly as bad as the evil look on Grampy's face.

But, I haven't had this nightmare in a few years now.....knocking on wood.

Dream continued
**I frequently fall back to sleep and continue
with the dream I was having when I awoke.
Especially if I spend 5 or 10 minutes writing
down every symbol, situation,detail, person,
colors, objects, shapes, feelings, smells, &
whether I am aware that I am dreaming
during the dream or not.
**To the dream. The most recent is one
from a few nights ago. Fortunately it is
very short. In the dream, my friend Patty's,
grandma (now deceased), is lying on top of
a giant egg. (3X her size) Criss crossing her
body as she lays face down on the egg are
ropes, they appeared to tie her down,
connecting her to egg. Egg is already loaded
on a truck, ropes were all in place, and just as
the truck is beginning to drive away, a person
standing off to the side, (an observer) says, "You
DO realize that this may hurt quite a bit don't you?"
**I lay in bed, after waking from the dream;
thinking about it in detail (I didn't follow
my own advice about having the paper and pen
handy) so for me, just lying there, giving the
dream some thought, helps me to be more
likely to remember its details in the morning.
**This was an easy one, but it would NOT
have been, when I began, years ago to do work
on my dream images. It works out much like
our word association game in A2K. You list all the
associations that pop into your mind, for each
person, symbol, color, etc. and then as you
progress further along in the dream, you will
KNOW which ones make sense, given the context
of the dream.
(1) IT makes no difference whose GRANDMA, she
represents me, grandma = me in this dream.
(2) The EGG: egg-ovaries-children-grandchildren,
3 of "my own" just flew the coop, split, left town.
Egg, is about 3X my size - makes sense. Three
of my blood offspring have just left me. They
(and hubby)have all moved to Florence,SC and
we can't see each other every week anymore.
Maybe not even every month.
(3) The TRUCK, could represent simple movement,
but it's more likely attitudes, ways of being toward
each other, of moving around each other, in the
oldest of all dances, the one between mother &
daughter as the younger grows & asserts her
independence. She is oldest daughter & we have
the most rocky of all daughter relationships. Yet
her son, my 1st grandson & I are extremely close,
like mother & son. So that, as push & pull progresses
with/in the truck, & my oldest daughter's changing, &
reading all these ancient(Wayne Dyer??) self help,
guru books, & becoming more her own person &
pushing me away. Exactly why, is an unknown...but
it is so natural, isn't it?
(4) PAINFUL? Yes! Very much so. Grandma &
grandson miss each other most painfully.
(5) ROPES - may be self explanatory, I am tied,
by blood, to my grown child, to my grand-children.
This MAY hurt, but perhaps "I" can DEAL WITH this
situation in a new & different way also, leading us
all to a better outcome.

I do dream but, hardly ever remember them. When I do, they are usually so very strange or dramatic that Id rather not.

My worst dream is one of my most memorable. Just about three months before my divorce I woke up crying, my dream was that the roof of the house was melting. Pretty obvious that that meant.