I hardly ever dream about a real-life, everyday situation. Occasionally I dream of Jenny, or a blogmate, or a Facebook friend, or a former workmate, but only once in a blue moon. Scary imaginings are the norm.
I don't have any of the classic dreams others mention - walking into a social event and realising I'm naked; shaking hands with the Queen; taking a test; floating or flying; searching for a toilet; or murdering someone.
My dreams have no relation to my daily life. I don't feel lost, I know I'm exactly where I should be. My belongings hardly ever get stolen. Nobody chases me (except when I've left something in a shop). I've never been trapped in a locked room. I've given the odd speech, my notes to hand.
If the dreams are trying to tell me something, I've no idea what. As I say, they're totally disconnected from real life. Maybe they're a hangover from my childhood fears, which my brain has never managed to erase. Or they're scenes from various books I've read, which have stuck in my mind.
But it would be lovely to have some normal, pleasant dreams. Like walking through a wood, listening to birdsong. Or eating a delicious three-course meal. Or being in a Venetian gondola. Or taking a train through the Alps.
Fat chance.
No news yet on the Tate Modern court case. I'll let you know the moment I hear anything.
Mine involve (1)revisits to non-existent rooms opening off previous houses I've lived in. Endlessly fascinating but distorted with sleeping bags everywhere or two kitchens or dusty furniture. Interestingly enough, Daughter has these types of dreams too and we often have a laugh over the east wings and west wings of the houses we dream of.
ReplyDelete(2) Urinating publicly in horrible bathrooms with no walls, there for all passersby to see and there are many walkbys.
(3)A winding road on a cliff, I know I've lost my way and in my head I see the proper map but can't access it on foot. The very odd time I wend my way home (to a quaint village in England)
(4)Flying over the ocean after a spectacular take off from a cliff. I keep going till I wake up.
As I type this I visualize clearly all of the above scenarios.
XO
WWW
(4)
I know I dream, but I no longer remember.
ReplyDeletewww: Some scary scenarios there! Funnily enough, I had an image (not a dream) the other night of a bathtub in the middle of a huge empty room. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of flying over the ocean. That's the sort of dream I'd rather have.
Joanne: Nothing to be scared of there, then!
Try again and correct the typos:
ReplyDeleteIn the past my dreams used to be scary, but now they're just weird! I can't remember the details, of course, just the feeling, "Where on earth did that come from!"
My most vivid dreams occurred when I was young and through upper teens. They were a mix reflecting some aspects of my real life but unreal extensions. Only when I was an adult and became interested in exploring the meaning of dreams did I realize the emotions they generated with the actual dream Itself had real connected meaning. For years now the dreams I have are fewer, I recall less about them but am having irregular sleep pattern, and I’m less able to discern any significance to them. Don’t know why this is so.
ReplyDeleteJean: Indeed, "where on earth did that come from?" Certainly not from real-life, which is quite different from my anguished dream scenarios.
ReplyDeleteJoared: The emotions in my dreams are generally the negative ones - anxiety, insecurity, fear etc. It would be nice to experience some more positive emotions occasionally!
I love the randomness of them...& marvel at the 'scripts' (I am much more creative asleep ,than awake....)
ReplyDeleteI dream but forget the dreams as soon as I wake up. There have however been instances when during my meditation sessions when visions have appeared which after the session stayed for some time and on a few occasions coincided with other real world developments.
ReplyDeleteTony: There's certainly a lot of creativity in these strange dreams. If only the creativity was put to better use!
ReplyDeleteRamana: I have a lot of visions as I'm drifting off to sleep. Often involving walls, hedges and fences. Something to do with boundaries perhaps?
I know I surely dream but unlike most people I never seem to be in that half awake half asleep stage enough to remember them.
ReplyDeleteI do however still remember a period of terrifying repeated dreams when I was about 7 and 8 years old. they would waken me in the night and were horribly real. walls were moving toward me and I just knew I was going to be crushed!
to this day I think those nightmare dreams were the cause of my claustrophobia.
the dreams eventually stopped that year and I haven't had them since. so odd.
and also so glad they did stop!
Tammy: Those dreams sound very frightening. I'm glad they finally stopped. Luckily I've never had any claustrophobic dreams.
ReplyDeleteoh dear dreams - I have very weird dreams, waking up thinking where did that come from? Most of them I remember very well. I used to write them down in a note book. There are two that reoccur, one where I'm climbing stairs which just disappear or they are on the other side of the wall so I have to jump to reach them. In the other I need to use a toilet but every one I find is either broken, open to public view or absolutely disgusting. With this one I usually wake up needing to go!!
ReplyDeletePolly: Climbing stairs that disappear, that's an unusual one. I never dream about stairs but I do sometimes get an image of stairs as I'm falling asleep.
ReplyDeleteMany times, I'm able yo discern why I've had a dream, based upon what happened to me the previous day, or an upcoming event. The difficult part is trying to attach meaning to the dream. Maybe there is no meaning! Then again, isn't it odd that so many of us have the exact same reoccurring dreams? I have had Polly's bathroom dream quite a few times.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I certainly can't find much meaning in my dreams, apart from the fact that I'm an anxious person, as if I didn't already know.
ReplyDeleteAs for toilet dreams, I do sometimes dream that I'm on the toilet but there's no cubicle and I'm in full public view.
Indeed, why is it we only have weird dreams? Or maybe only remember them. I'm usually in a normal abnormal situation. There's always something odd about it. Not usually scary but Husband has woken me occasionally when I've given little cries.
ReplyDeletePsychiatrists would have a field day with us all.
Liz: You give little cries? Very dramatic! I've never done that and neither has Jenny.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with all my peculiar dreams. She would no doubt trace them all back to my dysfunctional childhood.
I have vivid dreams, often nightmarish in nature.
ReplyDeleteBut I hate listening to people tell me their dreams. It feels too much like work.
Agent: I can understand that. It must be annoying when people tell you their dreams and then expect you to explain them "because you're a therapist".
ReplyDeleteI don't. And I don't offer psychological advice or diagnoses either. There's a huge liability issue if I act in a therapeutic capacity. Psychologists can actually be sued if they offer advice, even uncompensated and off-the-cuff, if things go badly. And my professional liability insurance wouldn't cover it since I wasn't doing so in an office setting. So if someone asks what I make of their dream, I just say that I don't like to analyze dreams. Or make a joke about being off the clock.
ReplyDeleteAgent: I hadn't thought of the liability angle. That's a good reason for not entering into any informal therapeutic advice-giving.
ReplyDeleteI also have the dream involving non-existent rooms - usually becrammed with someone else's possessions. It's a reoccurring dream. I also have a zombie apocalypse dream.... but never see a zombie [thank goodness], I am just cooped up and aware of an outside threat.
ReplyDeleteI think this says a lot about my own anxiety issues!
Sx
Ms Scarlet: I sometimes dream I'm in a big derelict empty room, wondering why I'm there and what I'm supposed to be doing. It's a shame my dreams never grant me a smartphone, so I could phone someone for advice.
ReplyDeleteA room crammed with someone else's possessions? That suggests to me a person who's being too demanding and loading things onto you.