REM sleep - dreams

[Tiki Tom]

I do marvel about dreams.
They are so detailed, and often in ways that have nothing to do with my waking life. My dreams often contain people and places that are very familiar to me in my dream, but are unknown to me when I wake. My dreams will often have a coherent “plot” that makes sense in the dream, but not so much when I wake up and try to explain it.
So… all this makes me wonder about the brains untapped creative potential. Also how much can you read into the meaning of dreams? (Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.) And again… where does consciousness come from? Where do dreams come from? Is it all really just an illusion that is a byproduct of our senses (sight, sound, etc) being fed into a physical circuit board made of meat and charged with electricity? I have a hard time imagining such a system generating a sense of self or rational speculative thinking, or agreement with another human being on what is the color red.
Roll dreaming into it and it’s even less explainable.
(shrugs) It is endlessly interesting.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I do marvel about dreams.
They are so detailed, and often in ways that have nothing to do with my waking life. My dreams often contain people and places that are very familiar to me in my dream, but are unknown to me when I wake. My dreams will often have a coherent “plot” that makes sense in the dream, but not so much when I wake up and try to explain it.
So… all this makes me wonder about the brains untapped creative potential. Also how much can you read into the meaning of dreams? (Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.) And again… where does consciousness come from? Where do dreams come from? Is it all really just an illusion that is a byproduct of our senses (sight, sound, etc) being fed into a physical circuit board made of meat and charged with electricity? I have a hard time imagining such a system generating a sense of self or rational speculative thinking, or agreement with another human being on what is the color red.
Roll dreaming into it and it’s even less explainable.
(shrugs) It is endlessly interesting.

Interesting thing is, when you dream about familiar people, but on totally exotic places. Like being at a carribean-like beach, having some fun in the water with some of your folks, but you and your folks have never been there. I mean, this happened seldom to me, but such curious dream combinations are surely common.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Last night I slept circa six hours through and I indeed dreamed about getting one of the classic benzine Zippo, although in reality I NEVER wanted to get one, haha!!

 

[Tiki Tom]

Lately I read an article stating that when they did brain scans of people on psychedelic drugs, they expected to see the brain lit up like a Christmas tree. In fact, however, they found the opposite; brain function was sharply reduced from the normal And yet still generated wild “trips”. So, they suggested meditation/mind-calming before sleep to enhance the dreaming experience. In my case, it seems to have an effect. I’ve been having pretty weird dreams lately, and I’ve noticed they seem to have plots and are almost like tv shows. And I’ll get up in the middle of the night and when I fall back asleep the same dream picks up again. it’s happened enough that I have taken note of it.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Lately ... And I’ll get up in the middle of the night and when I fall back asleep the same dream picks up again. it’s happened enough that I have taken note of it.

I recently had a surprise dream. A lady colleague and I were working late. We've been professional acquaints
for years, she's married and truth, never gave a farthing and consider her a sibling or cousin more less.
But, ahh. We were working late over a project and something happened. I woke quite shaken and fixed a drink.
Confess to being a tad ashamed of myself but not altogether and even wondered why I had been so chaste about
Elizabeth. Went back to sleep thinking about her hoping to continue our conversation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A dream that's recurred for me for many years has me about to go on the air. I look down at my script pages, and am horrified to discover that they're in Hebrew or Sanskrit or Chinese, or some other language I can't even begin to read. I look over at the clock and see the second hand sweeping up past 11. And then I wake up.

There are variations of this theme, but the gist is always the same -- I discover too late that I'm going to have to wing it. That never actually happened to me in all the years I was in radio, I never went on the air unprepared -- but even twenty-five years removed, I have yet to shake the fear.

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine
I can imagine the feeling at the moment of waking up! Seems, these fears are anyhow written into our DNA.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I have had several recurring dreams for many years. One is the old having an exam at school and not only being unprepared, but forgetting where to go to even take the exam because I didn't attend class all semester. I also have recurring dreams about finding hidden rooms in my house or attic. Those are actually pretty cool, and I wish I *did* find such rooms. I have both of those pretty regularly.

Also, I've started to have lucid dreams pretty often in the last few years. You know, the kind where you realize that you are dreaming and it's not real. I've read that most people experience lucid dreams a handful of times in their lives, but typically not past about the age of 30. I started having them regularly at about age 50. I don't know if that's me reducing anxiety or that I'm psychotic.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Last night, the dream brought me to an unknown city.
It was my birthday and I was there with some unkown young folks. We met another unknown girl with seemingly her friend or whatever.
Same day, back in our apartment, the black-haired girl suddenly came to visit und brought me a birthday present:
An extra wide XXL KitKat bar, circa four meters long, longer than our big living room table.

But the dream didn't make sense, because the girl couldn't know about my birthday.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Had an interesting, realistic feeling dream last night, which I can exactly remember!

I went to a bigger city by car in seemingly warmer springtime (while I'm not a car driver in reality, myself!). But when I was there, after while of walking, for whatever reason, I had lost my shoes and was barefoot (why I got no socks on??).

Now, the problem was, this inner city was a strange mix of usual modern city with small shopping centers, classic stores, green parks, BUT ALSO long time abandoned, totally wrecked mighty industrial complexes and infrastructure, which were seemingly relicts of the 50s/60s. Totally wrecked, partly destroyed. Broken highline-brigdes made of concrete crossing relatively high over the streets, between rows of houses. Bigger piles of debris and dirt in the industrial complexex, where small groups of construction workers are clearing up. Groups of teens urbexing, here and there and interfering the construction workers.

But the normal parts of the city were clean!

Now, that I was barefoot, I decided not to go back all the "critical" way to wherever I left my car. But at least I had money with me, so I tried to walk straight way down to the inner city to find a shoe store!
BUT, the wrecked industrial areas crossed right though the city and of course my way to.

When I came to a shorter industrial tunnel, I could see normal clean, green city area some distance behind it. But the sunlight lightened much of the tunnel and I saw, that the tunnel bottom was full of sharp metal debris, so I had to find another way. And I found it! After wandering through muddy tubes, smaller water channels, contorted tunnels, where urbexing teens were also playing, I came out of the industrial complex.

But the curious thing:
On my way, I encountered totally furnished/equipped office-like rooms with sleeping accommodation and quality bath installations at more hidden corners of the rotten complex, which were seemingly abandoned, but seem to have something to do with any secret organisation. When I browsed these two comfortable rooms, a guy came in, but he had no problem with me. Seemingly, he just wanted to look if anything is allright. And so he left without complains.

But the question is, why the doors were unlocked?

Soon after I found my way out of the complex and reached normal inner city. I soon found a classic shoe store, but the lady was actually ceasing her store and it was nearly empty and she had nothing suitable for me. Damn.
After a while, I reached a greener area and thankfully, there was a small shopping center! Before I entered, the dream was over...


And the question is, why this old rotten infrastructure right in the city still existed, while the other normal parts were clean??
I reality, such dangerous areas would be long gone.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I dreamed about fictive tobacco/pipe stores.

I'm doomed...

 

[Trenchfriend]

The night before last, I had a funny dream.
A female classmate, althought we were anywhere else and in adult age, made a delicious cherry cake, and I wished again, that she would make it and it was again delicious.

It was kind of an crumble cake with cherrys in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dreamed the other night that I was leading a Navy marching band thru the corridors of a hospital, and I had to open each room door to be sure someone was inside. I have never 1. Been in the Navy, 2. Led a marching band of any kind, or 3. enjoyed being around hospitals in any way. I do, however, think Navy uniforms are not unattractive. So there's that.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I dreamed the other night that I was leading a Navy marching band thru the corridors of a hospital, and I had to open each room door to be sure someone was inside. I have never 1. Been in the Navy, 2. Led a marching band of any kind, or 3. enjoyed being around hospitals in any way. I do, however, think Navy uniforms are not unattractive. So there's that.

Leading a marching band symbolizes your feelings of heavy responsibility in leading a chaotic enterprise. The hospital shines a light on health concerns that are always in the background. Looking in each room for a person means that, subconsciously, you crave acknowledgement of your efforts. And the navy uniforms mean you’ve got the hots for Tom Cruise… or possibly Tom Selleck of Magnum P.I. Days.

That’ll be $700, please.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's actually terrifying how accurate that is. And we just had a Navy movie with John (sigh) Garfield in it in the Day by Day thread.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

It's actually terrifying how accurate that is. And we just had a Navy movie with John (sigh) Garfield in it in the Day by Day thread.

This is interesting. Last night I came across a clip from Beloved Infidel with Deborah Kerr and Gregory Peck,
then later chanced finding Reunion at Fairborough, a Kerr with Robert Mitchum flick I'd never seen. Still later,
a Tea & Sympathy window, a film that packs a punch sexually speaking: sylvian setting, studious nerd. I was always the student nerd. Deborah Kerr initiates this kid at twilight inside the dark woods near campus.
She had it spades down over today's Hollywood femme fatales. I really looked for Licorice Pizza, but fell asleep
and dreamed about Miss Kerr.

 

[tonyb]

I’ve had lucid dreams for longer than I can remember. When it’s a troubling scenario, I tell myself it’s only a dream and either let it play out in a less troubling way or, as often as not, awaken for a brief period and then fall back asleep.

I used to fly in dreams. I haven’t in years and years, leastwise not that I remember on awakening.

And I find myself not remembering my dreams as often and as clearly as I once did. I don’t discount the possibility that might be in part because I don’t dream as much or as memorably as I once did.

Although …

Occasionally sights and sounds and other sensory inputs will trigger memories of dreams. And then I‘m left to ponder the reliability of memory in general.

 

[tonyb]

Leading a marching band symbolizes your feelings of heavy responsibility in leading a chaotic enterprise. The hospital shines a light on health concerns that are always in the background. Looking in each room for a person means that, subconsciously, you crave acknowledgement of your efforts. And the navy uniforms mean you’ve got the hots for Tom Cruise… or possibly Tom Selleck of Magnum P.I. Days.

That’ll be $700, please.

People have spent a lot more and gotten nothing better. It’s quite the hustle.

 

[Rmccamey]

I occasionally take a very mild sleep tablet. When I do, I most often dream I am traveling. I never know where to or why, just that I have to take the car or catch a plane or train or boat to get "somewhere".

 

[Trenchfriend]

Senseless dream. If I would loose my glasses on bicycle, I would promptly stop and pick it up.

But the vicinity was nice!