I know for certain, about my dreams 60 years ago. Those early sci-fy movies seen around age 10 frightened the wits out of me. I got horribly fearful nightmares from them, sometimes so bad, I invaded my Folks' sleep in their bedroom. My Dad was adamant; my Mom, always soothing, led me back to bed with soft explanations. Mid-way in my life, I had dreams of highly wonderful content. Things happening which were very positive in nature. Drag races won. Folks embraced in friendly ways who were despised in earlier life. Sexy dreams of things only "dreamed-about" while awake. Now, in my "old-age", I've realized my dreams are maybe the worst ever, psychologically. Recent ones involve a recurring scenario in which I must traverse, on foot, some previous route, usually within a large city having familiar landmarks and street names, trying to get to a destination not defined in the dream. Most disconcerting. Not frightening, but seemingly hinging around the concept that inability to find the way, means the end. Anyone else? Or, perhaps I'm the only "nutso" here"? M y wife thinks so. Frank
I have always dreamed a lot but not had nightmares since childhood. I generally see them as divided into two types, the ordinary day to day stuff rehashed in a weird way, while the brain defrags itself so to speak. Then the others which can give us a connection with our unconscious mind, and may be giving us guidance. I had many helpful ones during several mid-life crises all about burning roofs and moving on....but nowadays they are all pretty benign as I approach the terminus of my life, gently guiding and comforting me as I slip into oblivion.... Your recent ones @Frank Sanoica sound as though you are trying to reassess your life, and come to terms with where you are on life's journey, maybe suggesting letting go and accepting the flow of life which in reality has no destination...? .................unless of course you believe otherwise...
I think you're spot on Terry When I was going through very bad emotional stress, I kept dreaming I was trying to get to a place and kept getting lost, these dreams left me feeling terribly upset as I knew I 'felt' lost and had to find a way out of the emotional distress I was feeling. Because of those dreams, I made a decision which put me on the right path
I don't have the kind of traveling dreams that you have described, but I have frequent dreams of being lost, although in another way. In real life, I was a bag machine adjuster-supervisor for quite some time, and was actually well respected within the two companies that I worked for. Rarely, did anyone feel the need to tell me what to do. In my dreams though, I am often in a factory, most frequently a paper bag plant, although sometimes it's not clear from the dream what kind of factory it is. I know that I am supposed to be working there, people treat me as if I am a valuable part of the team but, in my dreams, I don't know what I am supposed to be doing or, in some cases, even which part of the plant I am supposed to be working in. Not wanting to admit my confusion, I wander around trying to figure it out. Sometimes I have the same kind of dream, only I am in college and I don't know which classes I am supposed to be taking, where they might be, or when they might be meeting. It's the same kind of dream, only the setting is different.
I can't write as a dream specialist of any kind but my studies involving thought processes does give me a small insight as to what many dreams consist of. Our brains have no concept of time. We may "think" in reference to time but the reality is that while the actual memory is concrete, the time portion is only a reference point that we use. The only actual time keeping element that our brains contain is thought to be located in the pineal portion which governs the circadian rhythm. A good example might be that if we were to draw Donald Duck on a transparency today and then draw Mickey Mouse on another transparency tomorrow and then place one on top of the other on the very next day we would have a single picture of two incidents that occurred on different days. Many times when we dream, it's actually two, three or more memories (however vague or stark) stacked one upon another. They could be a memory that happened years ago stacked upon a memory that occurred yesterday and it comes up as a singular event. This might bring up such dreams as of one of your children as a very young child interacting with another of your children who is totally grown in a house that you grew up in but neither of the children had ever seen. Three distinct memories from different times stacked one upon the other. Now, regarding the *stress* or *anxiety* dreams, I have taken those as a reality check because of my own ego. When I am working around other people and I find myself confused or lacking in some way I always try to stiff it out. A friend of mine was saying the othe day to me that his new position at work is stressful because there are some things that he has experience with but hasn't done in years. He is having problems going to other guys doing the same job and asking questions because "they look too busy" which to me is a rationalization but something I would probably do as well. It's wrong not to ask for help but the ego is a strong side of being what is assumed a man should be like: All knowing, all seeing and invulnerable to pain and femine emotions. Consequently, somewhere down the line, all of those pent up anxieties that could have been prevented if I layed my ego aside would come back to haunt me later in a dream. Generally speaking, it's not just one event but several of them which again, are stacked one upon the other and come out as one gobblygooped dream.
Does anyone else dream in colour as I do? I think that the more stressed we are the more vivid are dreams are and we have a tendency to remember the nightmares more when we awake. Seems that way for me anyway.
I always dream in color, don't think I've ever had a black and white dream. Don't have nightmares too often but my dreams tend to be similar with a few variations.
I always dream in color, and sometimes even smell things in my dream, although not always. My dreams are usually one of those collaborations that Bobby mentioned, with time jumps all mixed up together. I have places that show up in my dreams that only exist in my dream world. There is a beautiful stream next to a large lake and sometimes I fish there, and sometimes I am just walking along the pathway by the shore. it doesn't even remotely look like anyplace I have ever been in my life, or even seen in a movie; but I go there fairly often in my dreams. There are also houses that I remember from other dreams, and they seem familiar to me, and I will actually say to myself that this is that house from some other dream; so even in my dreams I do know that the house does not exist in reality. One house that I dreamed of for years was a beautiful old Victorian style of house, at least 3 stories tall. The first floor was beautifully decorated with antique furnishings and plush carpeting; but anytime I went up the stairs to one of the other floors, it became a creepy old abandoned house, with spiders and creaky stairs. It was really strange; but still my favorite house because the main floor was so awesomely beautiful and huge.
Ha ha @Yvonne Smith - my Fabs is always dreaming of houses, can't settle can he @Missy Lee - they say we don't dream in colour, it seems the majority of us do though
I once read in some article that individuals who consistently perceive colors while dreaming have higher than average I.Q.s. I know I often perceive colors in my dreams, not always, and suspect that, given my own shortcomings, perhaps the author of that article was dreaming..... Frank
What Patsy Faye said....ditto Does anyone ever have those dreams where you feel like you are floating and then you suddenly drop down?
Not that I recall, Missy but I did have dreams where I could fly. Not fly for a long time all over but I did have the ability to lift off the ground.
@Missy Lee Similar. For many years, though it was long ago, I often dreamed I was up high, sometimes on a ladder, as I had been when painting eaves and such on our old bungalow. Something went wrong, and I suddenly began falling, seeing the ground rushing up at me. Instantly felt I would die, the impact, though, never happened in the dream. It was very frightening. Even worse, were the dreams of water encroaching upon where I was standing, seemingly like along the bank of some flooding river, and there was nowhere I could go. Must have stemmed from my fear of water, having been pulled gasping for breath out of the high school pool as a Freshman. Frightening thoughts, all. Frank