Memorable Dreams, Had Any?

My recent post about the science of dreaming, got me thinking about my most memorable dreams.

Here is one I’ve had several times, the first time when I was young, probably about 9-10 years old.

I’m in the woods with some friends and we are playing on a rope swing, that swings out over a gully. It is a swing where you hold on to the rope to swing, no seat. It’s my turn and as I get ready to swing, a girl grabs the rope and tries to swing with me. I lose my grip and fall into the gully and land unhurt. At the bottom of the gully is the dark entrance of a cave. I’m frightened about what is going to come out of it, and I can’t climb up the side of the gully because there is a thick layer of leaves, so I can’t get a grip and keep sliding back down into the gully, as I keep an eye on the cave, then I wake myself up. I’d call it a nightmare, and although having it several time, it has not reoccured that I know of for at least 2 decades (if not longer), but I still remember it.

Many of the dreams where I wake myself up I would not categorize as nightmares, but they are very uncomfortable, in social or work related situations. And as I said in the other thread, normally I have to immediately concentrate on what happened in the dream, or it fades away seemingly in an instant.

Mandatory quote #1: "We are like the spider. We weave our life and then move along in it. We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream. This is true for the entire universe.” (The Upanishads)

Mandatory quote #2: "We’re like the dreamer who dreams and then lives inside the dream. But who is the dreamer?"

Mandatory quote 3: “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”

Optional Quote 1 :
Dreams are excursions into the limbo of things, a semi-deliverance from the human prison.
Henri Amiel

keysofanxiety said:

Mandatory quote 3: “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”

After finding a link: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Darth_Plagueis_the_Wise, Is that told as a dream?

Huntn said:

After finding a link: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Darth_Plagueis_the_Wise, Is that told as a dream?

Nope. It's just a mandatory quote.

"Not all quotes in dream threads on the Internet are actually about dreams" - Mahatma Gandhi

keysofanxiety said:

Nope. It's just a mandatory quote.

"Not all quotes in dream threads on the Internet are actually about dreams" - Mahatma Gandhi

As the former President said:

yaxomoxay said:

As the former President said:

"Where's my modular Mac Pro?" - Alaric The Visigoth

This maybe worth a chuckle. Last night in the early morning I had a dream that my wife told someone had come to our front door to commiserate about a post I put on MacRumors. When I came down the steps from the bedroom, this person was standing in my living room as if he had let himself in! Then there were many people who had come as a group and we’re having an impromptu garden party. And besides them not getting the point that you don’t let yourselves into stranger’s houses, I could not get them to leave. But they were were happy and wanted to talk about MacRumors. 😏

1. When I was a kid, I had some dream where skull kept multiplying in my room. Woke up and ran to my parents' room
2. Had a dream where all it was was me sailing down some river. Swore it seemed like I was dreaming for days until I went over a waterfall and work up
3. Had a dream where I was in some pizza place playing an arcade game. Some guy chopped off my arm with a chain saw, but it didn't even phase me.
4. Had a dream where I was Tarzan, swinging from tree to tree. I swung to a platform with a toilet, and woke up having to go to the bathroom

In addition, some general themes without remembering exact details:

1. Sometimes I will realize it is a dream, and one of two things will happen
a. I can suddenly do anything I want since I know it's just a dream.
b. I wake up
2. I will have a really bad or good dream, and not realize it until like an hour after I wake up, and suddenly be relieved or disappointed

Yes, just yesterday.

I was working in Apple’s marketing department and learned I will receive a huge financial payout next year.

🙂

This was not a lucid dream. A few days I dreamed of living in a house, with palm trees out back, and I become aware of the 3 large bags of snakes up in one of the trees as if they are being stored or incubated. One has burst and there is a ball of large snakes wreathing over it and slowly the snakes extend closer to the ground. Note, this is not a nightmare, no anxiety. My desire is to capture these snakes, as I don’t want them to escape, there is no threat, I want to keep them, but I tell our small dogs to go into the house so they don’t get eaten. My focus is on capturing the prettiest snakes first, yes they are in color, but I don’t actually take any action, spending my time on a lounger in the back yard watching them.

The most interesting aspect of this dream is that it switches and I’m now at work on a base (I frequently dream about my Navy days) talking to a colleague about my dream with bags of snakes up in a tree and he seems interested.

Note, I’ve had several pet snakes during my life, one a boa and one a ball python.

I try not to dream. No idea if that works or not, but any sleep state I wake from that I cannot remember I'm okay. When I dream (and remember) I wake up exhausted.

Frequently my dreams are the stuff of tension, frustration and failure. Most of my dreams are set at night or in dark places. I do not care to recall them. However, I know of several dreams/dream elements that I do not touch in dreams. The consequences can be extremely bad nightmares or night terrors. I leave that stuff alone.

There has been some good, but mostly outweighed by 'other'. My wife tells me that we all dream - every time we sleep. If that is the case, I am glad I never remember.

I had one dream once after being sick for about a month. I dreamt I was accelerating quickly into a wall of ants. And doing my damndest to avoid them.

In real life, I had lept out of bed and ran full tilt into the wall - resulting in a cut and bruised forehead that required an ER visit. Whereupon the ER staff was looking suspiciously at my wife. That's the night I learned I had high blood pressure.

There are other dreams (nightmares) that I will NOT relate here.

Conversely, I know I've had some good dreams but I do not recall. That's okay because I don't care to also recall any bad ones either.

eyoungren said:

I try not to dream. No idea if that works or not, but any sleep state I wake from that I cannot remember I'm okay. When I dream (and remember) I wake up exhausted.

Frequently my dreams are the stuff of tension, frustration and failure. Most of my dreams are set at night or in dark places. I do not care to recall them. However, I know of several dreams/dream elements that I do not touch in dreams. The consequences can be extremely bad nightmares or night terrors. I leave that stuff alone.

There has been some good, but mostly outweighed by 'other'. My wife tells me that we all dream - every time we sleep. If that is the case, I am glad I never remember.

I had one dream once after being sick for about a month. I dreamt I was accelerating quickly into a wall of ants. And doing my damndest to avoid them.

In real life, I had lept out of bed and ran full tilt into the wall - resulting in a cut and bruised forehead that required an ER visit. Whereupon the ER staff was looking suspiciously at my wife. That's the night I learned I had high blood pressure.

There are other dreams (nightmares) that I will NOT relate here.

Conversely, I know I've had some good dreams but I do not recall. That's okay because I don't care to also recall any bad ones either.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear of your not-enjoyable dreams as a rule. I have no clue how you could ever go about not trying to dream without somehow interrupting your sleep cycle, which is not good for you either.

Last night in, what I’d categorize as an adventure dream was at a (my?) cabin (I don’t own a cabin) up on a ridge, with friends or family, not quite sure, but the damn had broke and we were wondering if the rising water was going to reach us. Soon after the water was here, it wrenched the cabin off it’s foundation, over the top of the ridge, and we were floating down a new river. It ended soon after. I don’t know what triggered the end of the dream but there was no anxiety associated with this dream. I don’t recall ever dreaming this before.

Huntn said:

Sorry to hear of your not-enjoyable dreams as a rule. I have no clue how you could ever go about not trying to dream without somehow interrupting your sleep cycle, which is not good for you either.

Last night in, what I’d categorize as an adventure dream was at a (my?) cabin (I don’t own a cabin) up on a ridge, with friends or family, not quite sure, but the damn had broke and we were wondering if the rising water was going to reach us. Soon after the water was here, it wrenched the cabin off it’s foundation, over the top of the ridge, and we were floating down a new river. It ended soon after. I don’t know what triggered the end of the dream but there was no anxiety associated with this dream. I don’t recall ever dreaming this before.

Click to expand...

I was dreaming last night, and I know I was because I recall a struggle to get something accomplished. But I woke up on time this morning and that is all I remember so I consider that a good night.

I did learn a certain form of control at one point. I can recognize that I am dreaming and if I decide I don't like where the dream is headed I can forcibly change it. But again, for the most part, I do not remember my dreams and I want to keep it that way.

eyoungren said:

I was dreaming last night, and I know I was because I recall a struggle to get something accomplished. But I woke up on time this morning and that is all I remember so I consider that a good night.

I did learn a certain form of control at one point. I can recognize that I am dreaming and if I decide I don't like where the dream is headed I can forcibly change it. But again, for the most part, I do not remember my dreams and I want to keep it that way.

In an average dream, when it becomes to much bother, I just wake myself up, but it’s not like I’m completely awake, and can’t sleep, just enough to end the dream. However, not often, but I admit of infrequent dreams bad enough I was not eager to return to sleep for fear of returning to that dream, and they are not necessarily tradional nightmares. So I think of something else while falling asleep.

The most interesting thing is that although dreams can be crystal clear, they are so perishable after you awaken as they mostly slip out of your memory. An absence of memory-consolidating chatter.

So, last night was another reason I hate dreaming.

For whatever reason my body decided that it needed 15 hours of sleep, so I slept. But the final few hours of that sleep was dreaming about nothing but climbing stairs (up and down) and making left hand turns in city traffic - with urgency!

And around and around we go. Yeah, real exciting. I love getting nowhere in my sleep! 😡

Well, during my puberty years I had a few memorable dreams

Then much later a had some unforgettable dreams, specially one in the '80's: I was walking on this long trail, picking small gold coins that had been left in the middle of the trail by someone far ahead of me. I was happy because I was the only person pocketing the coins on the trail, and the person ahead was nowhere to be seen. I was into metal detecting (coin-shooting) in those years, so maybe...

Philosophy class topics I remember: How do you know you're not now asleep and dreaming? While dreaming, is it possible to realize you're dreaming?

Richard8655 said:

While dreaming, is it possible to realize you're dreaming?

Yes…part of my defensive mechanisms. Usually that's when I force my brain to dream about something else or change some aspect I do not wish to be dreaming about. Other times it's just irritating to be watching the same stupid repetitive dream unfold over and over.

I had dream whenever I was under stress I always had the same dream of giant statue of Godzilla that came to life, roared and pick up my should and my dream ends! I guess having there older brother always watching old Godzilla movies on Independent TV of Saturday at 12 for Godzilla time every Saturday at 12, just after the cartoons in morning!

Richard8655 said:

Philosophy class topics I remember: How do you know you're not now asleep and dreaming? While dreaming, is it possible to realize you're dreaming?

When a dream becomes bothersome enough, most people can wake themselves up. I can remember thinking I’ve had enough of this before awakening.

Also there is lucid dreaming which I have experience on occasion, which I find to be intriguing Where it’s not so much like watching a movie, but you have awareness and some control, without waking up. Regarding a philosophical exercise, I think most people have a good understanding of dreaming unless, the premise is there is a type of long term dream that functions more like a hallucination where you exist in a reality, have control over your decisions, physics rules seem consistent, just like your life, except you don’t know it is a dream, until you awaken. That could be the equivalent of what we know as dying and experiencing an afterlife. I often reference the Earth Simulator in spiritual discussions for this reason.

Huntn said:

When a dream becomes bothersome enough, most people can wake themselves up. I can remember thinking I’ve had enough of this before awakening.

Also there is lucid dreaming which I have experience on occasion, which I find to be intriguing Where it’s not so much like watching a movie, but you have awareness and some control, without waking up.

Lucid Dreams: Definition, Techniques, and Benefits | Sleep Foundation

In lucid dreams, we're aware of the fact that we're dreaming. Some people can even control their dreams. Here's what we know about how and why this happens.

www.sleepfoundation.org

Regarding a philosophical exercise, I think most people have a good understanding of dreaming unless, the premise is there is a type of long term dream that functions more like a hallucination where you exist in a reality, have control over your decisions, physics rules seem consistent, just like your life, except you don’t know it is a dream, until you awaken. That could be the equivalent of what we know as dying and experiencing an afterlife. I often reference the Earth Simulator in spiritual discussions for this reason.

Click to expand...

The only thought I'd add is that while dreaming, I don't think I was ever able to say to myself "Hey, this is a dream. Do you want to continue or do you want to wake yourself up?" I'm not sure that level of dream self-awareness exists while dreaming.

I'd say waking up from a bothersome dream is likely more a physical reaction (rolling over, rapid breathing, etc.) than a conscious decision in the dream.