What do you know about dreams?

[D'Snowth]

I used to think we had a thread about this subject...

I'm NOT talking about the "I Had the Strangest Dream Last Night and You Were in It Thread", where we discuss specific dreams we have where some of our MC buddies are in it. I'm talking about the subject of dreams, sleeping habits, etc.

I bring this up, because I've always been interesting in the subject of dreams; I remember during the four weeks of regular high school I attended before I dropped out (not really, lol), I read about dreams in my Psychology/Sociology course, and one of the things I remember from my text that has stuck with me all these years is that there are two things that make up our dreams the most: our biggest wishes, and our biggest fears. I can safely share I've had my share of dreams like that. I also bring this thread up because I was intriqued by heralde saying a great day usually ends with her having nightmares that night.

However, my dreams are always VERY peculiar: I have my dreams divided into three categories, and divided on least common, to most common...

Inspirational and creative. I don't have these dreams very often, but when I do, I cherish them, because it's dreams like these where I find that most of my best ideas for just about anything come from. Some of these dreams have given me ideas for fanfics, one of these dreams gave me an idea for one of my puppet sitcom developments, one dream I had gave me an entire song to write for one of my puppets (though it was actually Alan Alda who sang it in the dream for some reason, lol).

Crazy and trippy. These dreams... I don't even really know how to describe these, other than like being whisked away into the world of Sid & Marty Krofft... everything is bright, vivid, and colorful... but it's all unusual, warped, and just plain weird, like being in a Krofft show... I don't really know how these dreams come about, but some have pointed out that I seem to have these dreams whenever I've engrossed in a creative endevour I'm working, which kind of makes sense: I work with puppets, and the Kroffts were known for their weird puppety worlds, so yeah. One of my favorite dreams I had like this, however, was rather than being in a Krofft-like world, I was in Dinohattan (from the Super Mario Bros. movie)... that was so cool, lol.

Very disturbing/bordering on nightmare. I would clump my recurring "Hogan" nightmares in here... these dreams are the hardest to describe (and luckily, the hardest to remember the next morning), but they're the dreams I have the most, and they really have been taking their toll on me, simply because they are SOOO creepy and disturbing. I'm going to say I've had these kind of dreams on an almost every night basis for the past few months or so.

There are also dreams I have that are specific in parts of my daily life: back when I first became a puppeteer, I would have nightmares the night before I have to do a performance with Steve, usually either about being extremely late, or doing a lousy job, thus ruining shows and whatnot... but luckily, that's never been the case. I've also had specific dreams that involve my... unusual "love life", and they fall into both of those categories I mentioned reading in text: biggest wishes and biggest fears.

Now then, people always talk about taking certain measures to try to help you have pleasant dreams when you sleep at night, but a lot of them are easier said than done; one of which is simply "think happy thoughts"... well, it's not exactly easy to force yourself to think certain thoughts when your mind tends to wander. One thing that actually helps me, and I'm sure it would as well for fellow MCers is watching SST before bed, particularly Old School SST: this past summer was SO freakishly h e l lish hot that I was constantly watching CEOSST to muttle through, and that was pleasant before bedtime, and I've also mentioned that a guilty pleasure of mine is watching the "Bedtime Stories and Songs" VHS before bed some nights, and that helps as well. Perhaps, I should actually practice this more often to help, because quite often, I'm sick of having disturbing dreams every night.

What kind of dreams do you have, how often do you have them, what do you think triggers them, and what do you do to try and control your dreams?

 

[CensoredAlso]

I mentioned this briefly in another thread, I've always had a really odd pattern with dreams. If I have a really good day, like a birthday, where everything went really well, it's almost guaranteed I'll have a nightmare that night. And it's always a really brutal one too! Or like sometimes I'll wake up early, feeling really good, and then decide to go back to sleep. But then for some reason I'll immediately have a really awful dream! And I've never understood why!

 

[RedPiggy]

I have the 3 in the OP, plus precognitive dreams. I used to have them more often as a child, but as I got older, the subjects became such that I've stopped trying to see them. I've seen Girl Scout troop members that I didn't meet until years later. I saw the debris of Columbia cross the skies a week before it happened (though at the time of the dream I mistook the vagueness of the imagery for an attack). The scariest dream I EVER had, even out of the worst nightmares I could ever have, was the time I actually gained the ability for clairevoyance. See, the difference between precognition and clairevoyance is that the former is like getting tomorrow's newspaper today, while the latter is like getting a live feed. I had an animated dream, where the skies were red (like in the Batman The Animated Series) and black silhouettes of skyscrapers in a long skyline. Two buildings had curvy smoke coming from the top thirds of the two buildings. I woke up in a panic. It wasn't scary ... it was HORRIFYING. Remember the scene in A New Hope where Obi Wan sits down, looking completely deflated, telling Luke that Alderaan had been destroyed ... he had heard millions of voices screaming ... and then nothing. It was like that. I could FEEL massive amounts of death. I woke up, demanding to myself to believe it was only a dream. Then I made the mistake of turning on the TV that morning on September 11th ....

Occasionally, when I feel lost in life's goals ... Jim Henson will pop up to nag me, LOL.

I usually have lucid dreams. In other words, I am fully aware I am dreaming and can manipulate the scenario willfully. Usually, I take on a personality similar to X-Men's Phoenix. The role was helpful back when I was being dogged by evil monsters. Think Kingdom Hearts' Heartless monsters (though this was before that game was a glimmer in the creators' eyes) run by Freddy Kruger. I gained even more "dream power" when I tried to evade Kruger's attack by hiding inside HIS head, which afforded me his adaptability and invulnerability. I woke up feeling buzzed after that one, LOL.

 

[D'Snowth]

Occasionally, when I feel lost in life's goals ... Jim Henson will pop up to nag me, LOL.

I wish he could pop up to nag me sometime, lol. I'm still having trouble regaining my ambition and motivation, so... yeah, I could use some help in that department from the man whose influenced me the most, lol.

I usually have lucid dreams. In other words, I am fully aware I am dreaming and can manipulate the scenario willfully.

That's called "Twilight Sleep", and it is scary as Elmo! That's happened to me at least on a couple of occasions, and my mind is literally yelling at my eyes "OPEN UP! YOU'RE AWAKE! OPEN UP!", while my eyes refuse to open up, so I can "wake up".

 

[Sgt Floyd]

People say you cant feel things in your dreams, so why is it that i can feel pain, smell things, and taste things? Though, the taste is rarely good.

I have never been a lucid dreamer. I cant really control things in my dreams, though sometimes I am aware that it is a dream and want myself to wake up.

I remember I had a recouring nightmare about being in a junkyard chased by evil trees. To escape, I hide in a car until one of the trees finds me. Then I would wake up. Interestingly, the very last time I had that dream was one of those "Wake up! You are asleep!" moments. I dunno if that has any significance.

I also have these horrible dreams about drowning in which I know I am asleep, but I cant wake up, nor can I actually breath! Even when I dream i can feel myself breathing. These dreams start very suddenly while I am already underwater and when I try to surface, there is a clear "window" above me that stops me from surfacing. My friend says I might have sleep apnea because she has been diagnosed with it and when it happens she has similar dreams :/

I have always wondered why when there are spiders in my dreams, they all have nine legs, with the ninth being where its mouth should be

 

[Beakerfan]

When I was in junior high & highschool, I had this *slightly* recurring dream almost every night. I say slightly because it was different each night, yet in each dream I was being chased by something which at the time seemed terrifying (I remember one time I was chased by John Goodman...)

Nowadays, most of my dreams involve people I know dying. I hate falling asleep.

On a lighter note, one of my students recently told me he'd had a nightmare about a potato bug. I felt bad for the kid but I found it quite amusing... the things people find terrifying!

 

[D'Snowth]

Poor Beakie. I've been going through those spells myself where I just dread falling asleep, because I know that inevitable, I'll be waking up in the middle of the night feeling stunned from the disturbing dreams I'll be having.

But then again, I remember you telling me about the dark period you were going through, which I'm sure is the unfortunate source of your current nightmares.

It's times like these that makes me wish just talking to Sidney Freedman would cure you of your nightmares like that episode where Hawkeye kept having nightmares of kids he grew up with getting killed.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Unbelievable, it happened again! I had a really good time last night, hung out with friends, watch a couple of movies. And sure enough, I had one of the worst nightmares I've had in a long time! And it involved the Muppets too! Do I honestly have to have a lousy night in order to have good dreams?

 

[D'Snowth]

Okay, you know what? It just now occured to me that there's something else that's really unusual about my dreams anymore, and I honestly cannot fathom why this keeps happening...

Why in the world does Mr. Potato Head keep popping up in my dreams when I least expect it? Is it because he was one of my very favorite toys when I was a kid? Is it because in recent months I've been acting more grownup than ever before and not so much like a slacker teenager, and therefore am missing those carefree days of childhood? Or is it because I'm simply being haunted by very evil vegetables?

 

[CensoredAlso]

\Why in the world does Mr. Potato Head keep popping up in my dreams when I least expect it? Is it because he was one of my very favorite toys when I was a kid? Is it because in recent months I've been acting more grownup than ever before and not so much like a slacker teenager, and therefore am missing those carefree days of childhood? Or is it because I'm simply being haunted by very evil vegetables?

I'd personally go with the evil vegetables theory.