dreams

[Dan]

When you dream, do you normally dream about people and/or places that you know and are familiar with? Because I very rarely do. I'd say 90% of the time that I dream, my dreams take place in places that I've never been to. And, it's not just unfamiliar rooms or whatever, I've had a lot of dreams that take place in an entire city that looks like no city I've ever seen. Not that it's strange looking or anything, it's just not a city I've ever been to or seen on TV or anything.

Example: last night, I had a dream about going to a concert at what turned out to be a huge church-looking place. In the dream, I knew the perfect parking spot, and we got inside and although it had to be at least a four story building, brilliantly designed (by me, I guess?), I knew right where everything was. Later, I was living in an apartment with one of my old roommates and one of my current ones. The apartment looked like no apartment I'd ever been to, though it did look like a well-designed apartment. Finally, we visited some strip mall, the parking lot of which led into a large body of water. Again, never been anywhere like it.

I just find it fascinating how in reality I probably couldn't even furnish a room properly, and yet in my dreams I can instantly assemble an entire city absolutely perfectly. I also find it odd that I keep returning to that same city, even though each dream that takes place there is different.

In the same weird vein, when I'm awake, I often have daydreams about this desolate house out in the midwest somewhere, and for some reason these daydreams sort of make me have.... not memories, but just visions (for lack of a better word) of being a soldier in WWII and getting killed. Like, the way watching a Road Runner cartoon reminds me of being a little kid watching those at 7:30 with my mom, whenever I think about that house (which usually happens involuntarily), my mind goes to a battlefield and me getting killed. Pretty freaky stuff, huh?

 

[Semper Fi]

Yeah, that is wierd. I wish I could say my dreams made sense. Most of the time, things seem perfectly normal whilst dreaming, but I find to be completely ridiculous once I'm awake.

For instance, I might be talking with my brother and someone else in my dream, and my brother is suddenly a stuffed animal that I've had forever. He doesnt just change, like POOF!, nor does it startle me or seem out of place, he's my brother, just in the form of a stuffed dog. Then I pick him up and carry him around awhile, my brother JJ and my stuffed animal at the same time. Same thing happens with buildings. They seem to shift around or become smaller or larger as the dream goes on, which is hardly noticed.

Then there's the dreams I've had whilst being sick. Me and my brother have deemed those "cannonball dreams" after I shared with him a dream I had once; I was a cannonball in an oppressed society of cannonballs, oppressed by a larger cannonball, about 3 times the size of a normal one. I was the hero of the cannonballs, or at least I was supposed to me. We [the oppressor and I] squared off in a fight, I hit it a few times (by slamming into it) and it effortlessly hit me, and I flew out of existence. I actually had that dream.

There are plenty of others, too. I'd rather not mention those though (PM me if you want to hear about them).

What's always struck me as odd, is how I can synchronize my dreams with whatever is going on in real life. For instance, in my dream, I'll be reaching for a fire alarm, and when I pull it, at that exact time my alarm clock goes off. How wierd is that?

Anyway, Dan, to answer your original question, the people involved in my dreams usually are people I know. There are other people that have no real human counterpart, but I know in my dreams, perhaps representations of someone I know in real life. The places are usually places I know, or at least think I know, though, like I said, they fluctuate.

There are two dreams that I find common in all males with whom I've discussed this. One is the ever-popular public nudity dream, most often set in a mall, a school, a store, or some place where being nude can be most uncomforting. The other is where you're running, perhaps playing baseball, and you just cant move. You're moving, of course, but ever so slowly, depsite how much you try and run faster.

I've had dreams where people that are very near and dear to me have anatomical characteristics of both man and woman, where I'm shooting the same people repeatedly and ruthlessly with a BB gun, where I am sexually intimate with the same people, a lot of things what make me unable to look them in the eyes for a few days.

Also, like Dan was saying, about daydreams. I always daydream about horrible, horrible stuff going on, mainly the aftermath. Or I daydream about the actual ongoings of the terrible events, in brutal detail. Eventually I snap myself out of it and think about how wierd it was. I've never had much of a connection with a mid-western house and WWII like Dan did. I'm trying to think about anything like that, though nothing comes to mind.

I do, however, envision projections of the future, like when I'm 24 or 25 and in the Marines, or married, or a grandfather. The world is the same, same culture, same mentality, I'm just a decade or more older. I did the same thing when I was younger, only the projections were at the stage of life I am at now, though these were largely influenced by stories my parents told me of high school and mid-teenagerhood. So far, being 16 is nothing like my 8 year old mind made it out to be.

That's got me thinking, especially recently. The events that I look forward to (be them a week or 20 years away) never amount to what I make them up to be in my head. It's almost as if I foresee myself as a different person, but by the time it rolls around, I'm the same person that I always am (obviously). But when I look back now, any time in the past I seem disproportionately young and naive, even just a few weeks ago, like I know something huge now that I was oblivious to then (even though I dont). It makes me think about the future alot. The expectations and foresights of the future seem atlantean to the life I lead now (though my life now isnt bad at all, in fact I'm very thankful)...but I'll be the same person then, so who's to say that I'm not setting myself up for nothing? The future is the one thing that none of us can speak for, perhaps that's why I dwell on it so much.

Wow, I really took off there didnt I. Sorry, Dan, for semi-hijacking your thread.

 

[Stephanie]

OK Semper Fi and Dan...
I deem you two totally nuts.....

Just kidding guys..
I'm amazed at how you both remember your dreams so vividly..

I've had some weird dreams myself, to the point when I wake up I think, WTF!
But it seems I don't remember most of my dreams...

 

[Dan]

Just kidding guys..
I'm amazed at how you both remember your dreams so vividly..

I've had some weird dreams myself, to the point when I wake up I think, WTF!
But it seems I don't remember most of my dreams...

Write them down as soon as you wake up. Sometime you won't be able to read what you wrote since you just woke up , but that's a good way to keep them fresh in your mind.

 

[Dan]

Then there's the dreams I've had whilst being sick.

U know, I was in NJ for Christmas one year, and the night before we left to drive home, I got the flu. On the way home, we stopped at a Wal-Mart I think and got some weird medicines. Anyway, between the sickness and the apparently really strong medicine, I was actually close to what I guess would be considered "tripping". And my dreams were absolutely out of control. I guess being sick brings that out of you.

What's always struck me as odd, is how I can synchronize my dreams with whatever is going on in real life. For instance, in my dream, I'll be reaching for a fire alarm, and when I pull it, at that exact time my alarm clock goes off. How wierd is that?

That happens to me, too, sometimes. A few times, I've predicted things in my dreams that have then happened in real life. One time, I was asleep and dreamed that my brother's dog had run away, and when I woke up, guess what the first thing my mother told me was? "Jeff's dog ran away." That kind of stuff really spooks me out.

There are two dreams that I find common in all males with whom I've discussed this. One is the ever-popular public nudity dream, most often set in a mall, a school, a store, or some place where being nude can be most uncomforting. The other is where you're running, perhaps playing baseball, and you just cant move. You're moving, of course, but ever so slowly, depsite how much you try and run faster.

I think the naked thing is mostly stress-related because I haven't had one of those in a long time, and I haven't had anything extremely stressful to deal with in a while.

I've never really had the second one, though I do have 2 recurring dreams, one where I'm underwater and no matter how hard I try to swim to the surface, I can't do it. The other is where I'm in a convertible going over a bridge and we're going so fast that as we go over the middle of the bridge, the car drops from under me and I'm just floating in the air. Then I fall and wake up.

I've never had much of a connection with a mid-western house and WWII like Dan did. I'm trying to think about anything like that, though nothing comes to mind.

I can't explain that at all. And it's not something that I have to think about, it just sort of pops in there every so often.

Wow, I really took off there didnt I. Sorry, Dan, for semi-hijacking your thread

I didn't see any hijacking there, it's just a general thread about dreams. Take off all ya want!

Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming? It's a technique in which you train yourself to know that you're dreaming while you dream. Supposedly, once you know that you're in a dream, you can control it. I don't have a clue how to actually do this, but I wish I did, cause I bet it's pretty cool.

 

[roomy]

Repeat after me, dreams are not real, dreams are not real.:teeth:

 

[Semper Fi]

Dan,
My english teacher in tenth grade was really into wierd stuff, so once she taught us how to lucid dream. There are two methods she layed out for us, though I might not remember them too well because it was like a year ago.

The first one is, you think of something all day. Say it's a stop sign, think of a stop sign all day, then that night in you're dream you'll see a stop-sign and know that you are dreaming, and there you go. I'm not sure how well that one works.

The second one is that, while you lay in your bed, you count, "one, I'm dreaming...two, I'm dreaming...three, I'm dreaming" over and over (progressing in counting), eventually, you wont have to think about it anymore and you'll just do it by nature, and once you get to about 80 you'll snap and realize you're asleep, and dreaming.

She told us about her experience in high school when she did it, and she wanted to fly, and something happened, I dont know. There was about 3 minutes left in class and I wasnt paying attention anymore .

She told us about a student she previously had who did it and dreamt that a monster came out of her closet. Then she woke up, kinda scared, and a monster came out of her closet. Then she was sure she was awake, and a monster came out of her closet. This continued for quite a while, with no way to know if she was dreaming or awake. Because of this, my teacher didnt reccomend it.

If you do this, any of you, please post it. I'd be extremely interested to read about it.

My psychology teacher told us about her brother, who, while in college, read about dreaming and figured out how to infiltrate other people's dreams. No joke, the next day he told his friend about their dream. The book he was reading was something of a college-level text book, so I'm sure its no cake-walk. I would love to do that though.

 

[Laurie]

I don't know if this is lucid dreaming but I would dream all the time that I was flying (just me). I would be running or surfing and all of a sudden I would put my arms out and I would lift off and fly. Well, I dreamt it so often that I finally taught myself how to land. Originally I would fall and roll on the ground but over time I taught myself in the dream to land smoothly on my feet. I knew I was dreaming and yet I taught myself how to land safely.

 

[Dan]

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I wish I could do, just sort of realize "hey, I'm flying, I'm in a dream", then be able to control it.