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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 26 2012, 7:05am
Post #1 of 29
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How would you describe your dreams?
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I thought of this because last week I had a cold and took cold medication which made me sleep so deeply that I either didn't dream or just don't remember. Now that I'm off the cold medication, I'm back to my regular convoluted, crazy, but often movie-like, vivid dreams. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but never boring,
So what are your dreams usually like? Choose however many answers apply.
(This post was edited by zarabia on Feb 26 2012, 7:09am)
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Gwytha
Rohan
Feb 26 2012, 7:52pm
Post #2 of 29
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Either seven people voted at once or all of my choices got accepted as votes
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Sometimes they're intense and vivid with lots of detail, sometimes there's a storyline but more often it's mixed up if not outright chaotic; occasionally epic. Usually pleasant, sometimes I don't want to wake up, and once in awhile its a big relief to realize I'm awake and the dream didn't really happen.
I usually have extremely vivid dreams that I rapidly forget. I attend a monthly dream group with some friends where we each share a dream. Sometimes I don't have a dream to share because I didn't write any down--when I wake up in the middle of the night with a fascinating dream I usually don't write it down for fear it will interfere with my getting back to my (extremely precious)sleep.
As far as we know, virtually everyone dreams every night even if we don't remember it. REM sleep seems to be critical to the formation of long term memory and therefore new learning. Trick to remembering seems to be to write the dream down before you get up and move around--the movement tends to wipe out the memory of most dreams.
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Faenoriel
Tol Eressea
Feb 26 2012, 8:46pm
Post #3 of 29
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When I was younger, my dreams were always bad, i.e. nightmares. Some elements of them were:
1. Being left behind while the rest of the group doesn't notice I can't follow and keeps on going. This was very frequent when I was small. Later I learned the reason for these dreams.
2. Somehow dissappearing or vanishing without the direct element of dying. For example in one dream there were human shaped metal shells, which could be opened and shut like seashells. Every time you opened such human shaped shell there was a new one inside it (think of the Russian matuska dolls.) I went inside the metal shells, but when someone else opened the shell again I was no longer there, only more and more smaller and smaller shells. In another dream my little brother somehow liquidated into a bond on the path we were walking on, even though it was barely ankle deep. I've never found any explanation for these dreams.
3. Being in a place or a building I don't recognize, but which I know holds some importance: something vital happened there a long time ago. I'd so much want to know what happened and who lived there, but I never find out.
4. Being hunted down by some human eating carnivore or creature which doesn't give up. This used to be very common. Most imprtant part of the dream is at the very end: when I turn around and look it into the eyes, hear it/them speak etc I realize it's not an animal following it's instincts or natural hunger, but a sentinent being which kills other sentinent beings out of sadism. These dreams are filled with strong sense of evil: that those creatures, may they be dinosaurs or werewolves or what ever, are indeed evil in the sense our modern society doesn't admit such thing to exist. They may also invoke a strong feeling of anger and a need for punishment.
Nowadays the dreams I see at night are usually pretty neutral, and I've forgotten them by the morning. But in the morning things change: The amount of erotism in my dreams rises in the morning. So if I wake up at 7 o clock I'm pretty safe from anything disturbing, but if it's a holiday and I keep sleeping till midday, the dreams are often of upleasant, overly erotic and violent kind. I'm afraid to say rape and humiliation are occuring elements. Later I need to use lots of brain bleach to get rid of those unpleasant images.
My dreams also almost always have some kind of storyline, but the plot changes gradually as the dream proceeds: for example I may be journeying through some barren landscape searching for something and arrive into a house; when I'm in the house suddenly I'm an old ihabitant of it and there's a party going on. (This example was completly made up.) This goes so far I sometimes see "sequels" to my dreams even a long time later: either the old plot is seen again (perhaps somewhat changed) or it's continued.
Lastly, I'm usually very self-aware while dreaming: I know I'm seeing a dream. If it's a nightmare I know I can make it end if I really wish, or if the plot changes I may start to wonder what happened to the previous plot. I may even be frustrated that the previous, much more interesting plot was abandoned. Equally, if I recognice I'm about to see an old dream again I may be happy, if it was an interesting dream or if it's plot was cut and I never got to see its ending.
(This post was edited by Faenoriel on Feb 26 2012, 8:52pm)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 27 2012, 5:15am
Post #4 of 29
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I've kept a dream diary for about 45 years now.
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A few years ago I collated as many LotR dreams as I could find and posted them here.
My dreams are usually interesting and pretty neutral, sometimes lucid, and with lots of amazing detail. Sometimes I have horrific nightmares, about prison camps and torture and cannibalism. Occasionally I have ecstatic dreams or really funny ones that wake me up laughing (once I dreamed about two guys in a bar and one said, "Would you like some duck dip?" and the other said, "Duck dip?" and the first said, "Yeah, duck, dip!" and threw the bowl of dip at him.) But usually they're just interesting. My favorite recent one was about being a Disney princess on a platform with a king and queen. The king was reading from an ornate Disney book when a griffin flew past and snatched it. The queen said, "Well! I didn't expect that!" I replied, with the air of a world traveler, "It happens in Oz all the time."
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KAOS82
Rohan
Feb 28 2012, 12:48am
Post #5 of 29
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sometimes I dream to be in the Fellowship as the 10th member but I never saw Sauron
other times my dreams are strictly closed to reality but there's always an X-factor that makes them ridicolous 
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 28 2012, 8:17am
Post #6 of 29
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To write it down or not to write it down: that is the question. Sorry, that Bard thread is on my mind:)
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I didn't realize that movement wipes away the memory. But, yes, that's when the dream seems to dissipate. I've tried keeping a notepad next to my bed and writing down dreams, but even just reaching for the pad and propping up on an elbow is enough to wipe away the details that made the dream interesting in the first place. But I guess it's one of those things that requires a bit of practice.
The last documentary that I saw about dreams on "Nova" confirmed what I had always thought. For a long time, researchers thought that dreams only occurred during REM sleep, but they have figured out that there is non-REM dreaming as well. I often have dreams during short naps, something that earlier dream theory said was impossible. They claimed that you had to be asleep for an hour or so in order to reach REM, and only in REM do we dream. Anyway, the dreaming during REM, like you said, helps form long term memory, but there were several ideas as to the purpose of non-REM dreaming. I agree with the idea that non-REM dreaming has to do with working through thoughts and emotions. That's often when people come up with creative solutions that they are "sleeping on." I know there is a big emotional component to my dreams. Not transient, day-to-day emotion, but long term issues. Sometimes I don't even realize I've been worrying about one of these issues until I have one of my recurring dreams. Then, on reflection, I realize I had been stewing on something without consciously thinking about it. The mind is an amazing thing!
BTW, a dream group sounds really interesting.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 28 2012, 9:02am
Post #7 of 29
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Similar nightmares when I was younger
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I used to have similar nightmares when I was younger, but your second example is very unusual, at least to me. It must have been very disturbing, and I'm glad you don't have those dreams anymore. Your fourth example is similar to dreams I've had though I never remember much about what is after me, I remember more about my feeling of helplessness. I would have someone (it was usually someone, not an animal) after me, and I would try to fight back, but wasn't able to move. Tried to run away, but it was like running in chest deep water. I remember the first time I dreamed that I was able to successfully fight back; it was so empowering!
But like you, I find that my dreams are different now. I think some dreams reflect where you are in your life. When I got to about 35 years old, I started having "life is passing me by" dreams - dreams where I found myself in, for example, New York City (never been there) or London (been several times, but usually just passing though) and I realize I had been there for days and didn't know, and now I only have a day left. Okay, that doesn't sound too bad, but I always feel so angry at myself for wasting valuable time, and frustrated that there is so much I want to do that I don't have time to do. I always get lost and can never get where I'm trying to go. I think this symbolizes the frustration I often feel with my life which seems off track and not what I had hoped it would be when I was younger. When, for a couple of glorious years, I was doing what I wanted to do with my life and felt fulfilled, I didn't ever have these dreams. Now that there are some circumstances beyond my control that limit what I can do, I have those dreams again.
I have several recurring dreams like that where I have identified the underlying feelings. But I also have crazy, silly dreams that don't seem to have any rhyme or reason. Some not so good, some make me actually laugh in my sleep.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 28 2012, 9:12am
Post #8 of 29
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You seem to have the knack for getting details down before they disappear
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Wow! Your dreams are really detailed! (I haven't been all through your LOTR diary, but I will) But to remember jokes and their punch lines is impressive! I've had jokes in my dreams before, but they evaporate as soon as I wake up :(
I want to be a Disney princess in my dreams
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 28 2012, 9:16am
Post #9 of 29
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I've daydreamed about being a member of the Fellowship
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But I've never had a real dream about being in LOTR; that would be so fun! Unless I was being chased by orcs or wargs or a balrog or...
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silneldor
Half-elven
Feb 28 2012, 2:57pm
Post #10 of 29
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Either the 'film projector' is broken or the bulb is burnt out.\\
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Gwytha
Rohan
Feb 28 2012, 5:26pm
Post #11 of 29
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That's very interesting about dreaming during non REM sleep
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I didn't know about that research, but it makes sense to me--I have recalled dreams from time to time when being awakened from less than an hour of sleep.
My info on the effect of movement on dream recall comes from a book called "A Little Course In Dreams" by Robert Bosnak, which has been quoted from time to time by some of my fellow dream group members. I don't know if there's research supporting it, but it seems to match our experience, with some exceptions--I've had dreams two nights in a row this past week that I could remember without writing them down immediately, but that's unusual. I believe the Bosnak book has some good suggestions on how to increase dream recall, but they were a bit too much trouble for me to attempt. Another one of those things I'm delaying until retirement.
It does seem that somewhere in our sleep a lot of things get settled by the brain without our being conscious of it. That's why I've always felt Frodo's suggestion that the company sleep before making a decision about going to Moria was a good one,--always best to sleep before making a big decision, as long as you don't have wild wargs on your trail!
I will have to catch that Nova episode.
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Alassëa Eruvande
Valinor
Feb 28 2012, 5:47pm
Post #12 of 29
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Well, after ticking the "I don't usually remember my dreams" button, I have four this week that I remember.
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Wanna hear about them? Too, bad, because here they are! 
In no particular order, because I actually don't remember which day I had them on.
1. Teaching the guy from Transformers (Shia Lebeouf) how to do tequila body shots. I'm old enough to be his, um, er...Baby sitter!
2. Being Michael Douglas's girlfriend as we live out the storyline of that movie where he's the Wall Street wizard. I've never even seen that movie, and I can't even tell you the name of it. Go figure.
3. Working at the vet hospital I used to work at, and having to fish out small puppies and a chihuahua from down the drain behind the kennel runs. There really was a drain like that behind the kennel runs, and I really did have to fish out a puppy one time after he squirmed under the bars of the kennel. (He was fine, BTW.) So this is probably some sort of coping mechanism my brain is doing. I've been solving a lot of problems lately, and keeping a few metaphorical puppies from going down the metaphorical drain. 
4. Shopping in San Antonio with my mother, who is recently deceased. We run into my college friend and her daughter, and meet an Obama impersonator in a fancy clothing store whom my mom thinks is the real president, and asks to have a picture with him.
Okay, all you arm-chair dream analyzers, have at it!
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Gwytha
Rohan
Feb 28 2012, 8:31pm
Post #13 of 29
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I would love to dream of being in Middle-earth
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but can't recall that I ever have. I have dreamed about PJ several times in the past year--very recently dreamed that Guillermo took his place again as director of TH.
I enjoy thinking, when I'm in some lovely wild place, "this could be somewhere in Middle-earth." I fancy my signature photo could be somewhere between Bree and Rivendell, maybe in the vicinity of the Chetwood.
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Feb 29 2012, 5:44am
Post #14 of 29
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The night ones tend to be surrealist, the day ones
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are the stuff I should be turning into novels. Actually, I'm slowly starting to, which is good, since I seem to be especially susceptible to daytime dreams & visions, and it's time they started paying their share of the rent, so to speak.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 29 2012, 8:07am
Post #15 of 29
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LOTR dreams? Cool! I wished that I could plug into your brain and share these LOTR dreams. But, yikes! some of these are pretty scary! And yet I'm still a bit jealous; I've never had any kind of Middle Earth themed dream even when I watched at least some part of one of the films almost every day.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 29 2012, 8:23am
Post #16 of 29
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All interesting, and interesting that you remembered four dreams when you don't usually remember any. Hmmm. I've never been able to make anything out of other people's dreams. I don't feel that A always symbolizes B for everyone. I always feel that dreams are personal and the symbolism is different for everyone...usually. There are some things that seem fairly universal, but for the most part what might be distressing to one person might be funny to someone else. Though I'd hate to think that puppies down a drain would be funny to anyone. But being Michael Douglas's girlfriend might be a real treat for some and a nightmare to others. Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone, not bad; MD in Wall Street, meh... Tequila body shots, probably pretty fun whether your old enough to be the "baby sitter" or not
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Feb 29 2012, 8:30am
Post #17 of 29
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I sometimes wish I could paint my dreams.
Anyway, good luck turning your day dreams into novels, sounds really interesting My day dreams are usually a bit corny for public consumption
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 1 2012, 2:25am
Post #18 of 29
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I've always envied my youngest
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because she would fly in her dreams! Not surprising, as she has an artistic creative mind.
She's in college now, and just posted on Facebook: "Today I finished my final project for my analog recording class. When I got home I took a nap and dreamed that I was living in a kids TV show with a couple of giant, walking, talking reel-to-reel machines."
She's awesome.
I don't like taking cold medications: they give me unrememberable but very disturbing dreams that wake me up in the middle of the night! 
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Mar 1 2012, 3:06am
Post #19 of 29
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After reacting to a common drug
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and trying to sleep it off, I dreamed of fat purple elephants.
I've avoided that drug ever since.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 1 2012, 4:20pm
Post #20 of 29
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the kind of thing you'd see after a night at the pubs!
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Mar 1 2012, 8:44pm
Post #21 of 29
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starts humming "Pink Elephants on Parade"
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I think the folks at Disney nailed the whole "altered dreams" thing in Dumbo. Best to just not go there!
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Mar 1 2012, 8:45pm
Post #22 of 29
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Thanks! I have very little idea of what I'm doing, which
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may or may not be for the best. Who knows? If I can figure out how to write this stuff, I'm sure you could learn to paint your dreams!
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Patty
Immortal
Mar 1 2012, 8:47pm
Post #23 of 29
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I'd describe them as almost non-existant...
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but that's now--it wasn't always that way. I remember dreaming one night in what I would say was technicolor. A dream that was very detailed and kind of like a movie. Gig Young was in it, I seem to recall. I wonder what I ate before I had that dream.
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RosieLass
Valinor
Mar 1 2012, 9:09pm
Post #24 of 29
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I don't generally remember them.
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Sometimes, if I have something on my mind, I'll have a related dream.
When I first started playing LOTRO, I dreamed a few times that I was living the game - people with names floating over their heads, or finding random game creatures wandering around, and that sort of thing.
I don't have a lot of nightmares. There have been some uncomfortable dreams over the years, usually involving some unpleasant event that I couldn't stop or avoid, or just something icky. (Dreams involving sky phenomena terrify me for some reason. But then, sky phenomena terrify me when I'm awake, too.)
For the most part, however, my dreams are pretty dull and unremarkable. Certainly nothing to suggest that they "mean" anything or that someone is trying to tell me something.
(This post was edited by RosieLass on Mar 1 2012, 9:11pm)
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Mar 2 2012, 6:03pm
Post #25 of 29
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I used to have recurring dreams when I was a child
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which I still remember, but haven't had the actual dreams for many decades. I will also sometimes wake up thinking I have hardly slept at all, but since I know I have been dreaming, I must have. I used to have a lot of dreams where I was in a hurry to get somewhere, but things kept cropping up to prevent me and I would wake up exhausted. I think that meant I was overwhelmed with life at the time, and I don't seem to have them much any more.
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