The Interpretation of Dreams Thread™!

[Jetfire]

^
The same thing happens to me...I can't scream & if I am fighting someone or something...my arms get like wet noodles or get heavy and I can't swing.

Strange.

 

[Jadzia]

^ I have another recurring one where i am being chased and i can't get a scream out. I often wonder that if (god forbid) it ever happened, would i be able to scream?

The same thing happens to me...I can't scream & if I am fighting someone or something...my arms get like wet noodles or get heavy and I can't swing.

I expect some of our dreams do hark back to prehistoric thinking. Being chased only has a vague significance in modern times, but it is such a common dream that I wonder if it relates to a time when we were hunted by predators?

I've had similar dreams to this myself from time to time, and it certainly had a predator-prey feeling to it.

It's a dream of panic and helplessness that in my case can sometimes occur if I'm being too adventurous or curious in my dream by going somewhere that nobody usually goes. It's a theme that feels like it discourages individualism and doing things alone, but I'm not sure what not being able to scream means.

Perhaps it's just because our real life bodies have been paralyzed during sleep, that the sensation is communicated to our dream if we try and exert ourselves, and we feel slow and sluggish.

 

[Jetfire]

I've had dreams that were also like alternate realities...like I am the same but everything is different...but familiar. Like people, places & things I have never seen before...but nothing feels strange it all seems normal. At first I am like whoa! what is going on here? who are these people what is this? then I just slip into the grove of things...often dreams like this are better than my real life...and I am sad to be torn away from it.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

That's the odd thing about the dream realm. Everything makes sense at the time, even though in hindsight it doesn't make sense at all.

 

[Jadzia]

I think that's because the part of our brain that passes judgements is usually dormant during sleep. So we just experience; we don't question.

 

[Jetfire]

This sounds crazy but is it possible to be linked to other people during sleep? And random people sharing the same dream interacting???

 

[think]

I had a dream last night involving an angelic figure who kept reappearing and telling me things that were going to happen in the future (this next decade). It was more unsettled sleep than I normally have as I kept half waking up, and the dream seemed to drag on in dribs and drabs all night long.

Interestingly, the gist of the events were spoken to me, but I had a strong feeling of the applicable year for each.

I usually just see angels and demons healing me all night if I look at them but then there is the dreams of playing musics sometimes ... like this that i posted at youtube...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsB_Qt48urw[/yt]

 

[Jadzia]

This sounds crazy but is it possible to be linked to other people during sleep? And random people sharing the same dream interacting???

It's a romantic idea. But I don't think we have any convincing evidence of it being true. I don't believe dreams are otherworldly, just our own imaginations... but I'm open minded.

And how would you distinguish between an imagined dream character and a real person who was also present in your dream? Two people reporting the same dream could just be a coincidence.

To convince me that dreams have some otherworldly component, I'd want to see privileged information being communicated through the supposedly shared dream.

 

[Dingle Fritz]

Alright... I often dream of trying to arrive somewhere on time but insane/improbable situations often arise that block my progress. In all the years that I've been required to keep a schedule I have never been late or missed an appointment.

Is this manifestation of some buried anxiety? That's all I think it is but... it happens 3-4 times a month, variations on the same theme.

 

[Jadzia]

In all the years that I've been required to keep a schedule I have never been late or missed an appointment

It sounds like being on time (being reliable) is very important to you, and that you like to plan ahead because you know that unforeseens do sometimes crop up that can delay you.

I expect your dream is a manifestation of anxiety, but it's unclear whether it's time related (a clock watcher) or stems from your impressions of what others expect of you, because you would hate to let them down.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

This sounds crazy but is it possible to be linked to other people during sleep? And random people sharing the same dream interacting???

Apparently it is!


http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/ever_dream_this_man/

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I wonder if it's possible to forcibly enter and hijack other people's dreams? (I mean, the visions-experienced-during-sleep type of dreams, as opposed to grand-ideas-and-schemes-in-the-real-world type of dreams which of course can be hijacked by others...)

 

[Nick086]

The last few dreams I've had were either I'm going to have a sexual ecounter, I'm in bed where I can't move or yell for help, or I'm getting chased by a man on the streets. I don't have nice dreams anymore.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

^ I have another recurring one where i am being chased and i can't get a scream out. I often wonder that if (god forbid) it ever happened, would i be able to scream?

I have a re-occuring dream where I am unable to talk. Mostly I seem to be physically unable to like my mouth is stuffed with something or I have a really bad stuttering problem. It probably relates to my having social anxiety and my general fear of not being able to talk smoothly in real life.

 

[Dingle Fritz]

In all the years that I've been required to keep a schedule I have never been late or missed an appointment

It sounds like being on time (being reliable) is very important to you, and that you like to plan ahead because you know that unforeseens do sometimes crop up that can delay you.

I expect your dream is a manifestation of anxiety, but it's unclear whether it's time related (a clock watcher) or stems from your impressions of what others expect of you, because you would hate to let them down.

Someone also suggested trying to remember the events that caused me to be late that maybe it's not the "being late" that is the "problem" but somehow its an anxiety that causes me to fear being late? Make sense? Given that this dream reoccurs frequently, I think I'm trying to tell myself something and damned if I know what it is.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

This sounds crazy but is it possible to be linked to other people during sleep? And random people sharing the same dream interacting???

I've had dreams there were so realistic, so thick with details that i would swear they were real. And it seems these dreams always have one of two specific people that i know, an old professor of mine and an old boss of mine. The day after i had one of these dreams i asked my boss if he dreamt about me the night before. I would have sworn we somehow got into each other's dream.

He said no and looked at me like i had two heads!

 

[Gryffindorian]

I enjoy interpreting dreams. I don't use any references, and I don't believe that dream elements having specific meanings. That sort of thing seems ridiculous to me.

I believe the elements of a dream are just props used to tell a story, and that dreams are really all about our emotions. We create these little scenarios in our heads to explore things in a controlled setting. Whether it's risk or fear or whatever, we learn something in a dream that we can carry into real life.

If your dream leaves you terrified for example, it can have two effects: you become emotionally hardened from the experience, so you're better able to handle terrors in real life. Or it can make you realise that you're not ready to confront terrors in real life, so teaches you to avoid them.

I interpret dreams through intuition. I imagine myself in the dream. I picture it and act it out. Then I pause and rewind and generally speculate what emotions the dream is stimulating, and gradually get a feel of what is really going on.

So, Jadzia, based on your response, is your method of interpretation more psychology-based or "New Age" speculative (even if you don't use references)? Or is it neither? I've read dream books before, but as I've said, I don't believe such interpretations are precise. The ones I consider non-surreal or "everyday" dreams have no significance to me, and I'm more interested in surreal ones with recurring themes like travel, house, workplace, etc.

I'm not sure I *can* control my dreams and the direction it's going, but at times I do realize I am dreaming, and at that moment I awaken myself.

 

[Jadzia]

So, Jadzia, based on your response, is your method of interpretation more psychology-based or "New Age" speculative (even if you don't use references)? Or is it neither?

I interpret based on my own self-understanding. I don't think people are that different at their cores -- we all have the same basic emotions.

And in the same way that a psychological theory can be applied to a majority of people; we're similar enough beings that a self understanding goes a long way towards an understanding others.

 

[Jadzia]

I had a dream about some people who came to replace one of my carpets. They weren't invited, they were just suddenly there doing their thing. It became more unsettling when I saw floorboards being removed, and then all these huge rolls of yellow loft insulation were carried in.

They weren't invited, they were inconveniencing me, and they were doing more than was welcome.


Then I had another dream about a tower block building that was being demolished by implosion, and a crowd had gathered to watch at a surprisingly close distance. There was a remark made that the dust cloud from the event would smother them, but they seemed undeterred by that.

However, a miscommunication meant that the people who worked in the building didn't know the event was going to happen, so I rushed through the building telling them all to leave because of what was imminent.

The last person strolled out of the main door blissfully unaware of what was happening just as the building came down. All us spectators were showered with small harmless bit of debris and tons of dust that carried a fusty old building smell to it.

No one was harmed.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I believe I had another travel-related dream last night. I remember being in a city somewhere. It was likely local because I recall there was some familiarity with it. At times, the place is just a mixture of the places I've been to, like Las Vegas and other cities. In the dream I was anxious to get home and was waiting for a bus, but in real life I don't take public transit. I was in a place somewhere in Oakland, CA, though I don't remember the specific location, how I got there, and why I was there in the first place, only that I was wondering which bus line I could take to get back home. Weird.

Then later I recall having some more surreal dreams, like being caught up in or watching a power struggle between two opposing forces. One side wore costumes similar to Roman centurions, but they were wearing garments made of polished wood. Sometimes the dream itself is not scary, but I find it a bit disturbing that I just don't go back to sleep anymore