Dream interpretation

[rorybbellows]

Do you think dream interpretation is a load of hog-wash or do you think there is somsthing in it ???

I had the scariest dream i,ve had for years the other night,it only lasted a few seconds but here it is

I was driving over a mountain road as I do living near the slieve mish mountains when a thick fog came down ,the next second I had driven off a cliff edge and was free falling ,still in my car holding on to the steering wheel I could feel my stomach lifting and was just sitting there waiting to hit the bottom.I then woke with a grunt!!
And it was all so vivid

Is the end in sight for Rory


RORY

[Joseph E. Smith]

They say, that if you experience "falling" in your dreams and you hit, you die.

[jkwest]

I've had that exact same dream!

It was off of this huge freestanding bridge near where we live. I had the whole stomach lifting feeling and everything! It was like 5 years ago and I still remember it vividly.

Nothing has happened to me yet, so, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Innocent Bystander]

Well, dear old Sigmund (Freud) used to do it. And that fellow Joseph, in Egypt.

But this "Falling" dream is not, in itself, a significant dream.

There is, or was, a tribe of Native South Americans whose world view was coloured by dreams. Decisions which would affect the entire tribe were dreamed upon. Everyone was encouraged to actively dream, in order to explore the world and to make their own decisions.
When a youngster told adults that he or she had had a "falling" dream, they would be told "That is a very useful dream, and means you are becoming active in dreamtime. Where did you fall to, and what did you do when you got there?"

If you choose to do so, you can awaken within your dream, and direct it, while asleep. The falling dream is a good way of learning to do this.

[Denny]

I'm having Carlos Castaneda flashbacks...

[Joseph E. Smith]

When I was a kid, I used to have the most fantastic dreams that involved my flying where ever I wished. Since the age of 40 I haven't had these kind of dreams... actually, I think that the majority of them stopped around 28.... with occaisional one here and there.

But as far as I can remember, I landed in each and every one of them; most times safely and but a few times painfully.

In any case, I remained coporeal afterwards... and for that I am ultimately pleased.

[emmline]

The only time I've had dreams which I could directly interpret as being relevant to life events occured during times of great stress. At such times I'd frequently dream that I was back in school and suddenly realized that there was a math exam for a class I'd completed forgotten to attend the entire semester. Or my high school would notify me that my diploma would only be valid if I came back and completed several courses which somehow had been overlooked the first time through.

[PhilO]

I find dreams fascinating but not necessarily meaningful. Wish fulfillment, sexual repression, guilt, etc...or just, as Scrooge put it, something you ate that didn't agree with you, or just a bunch of stuff slipping around in nonsensical ways when your computer is shut down, usually tied to some little thing or thought that happened to occur that day?

Falling? Some say youth and or not enough rolling in the hay; who knows. Ever have recurring dreams, dreams where you know you're dreaming (and the other person seems to as well in the dream), dreams in technicolor? Dreams where you think you're awake but you're still dreaming? All cool stuff. Lately though my dreams are so boring and seemingly inconsequential that sharing them with family invariably brings the huh look, like why did you bother remembering that and then repeating it aloud?

Philo

[jim stone]

Do you think dream interpretation is a load of hog-wash or do you think there is somsthing in it ???

I had the scariest dream i,ve had for years the other night,it only lasted a few seconds but here it is

I was driving over a mountain road as I do living near the slieve mish mountains when a thick fog came down ,the next second I had driven off a cliff edge and was free falling ,still in my car holding on to the steering wheel I could feel my stomach lifting and was just sitting there waiting to hit the bottom.I then woke with a grunt!!
And it was all so vivid

Is the end in sight for Rory


RORY

Something you et.

I used to work in a sleep research lab at the University of
Chicago. Some dreams are meaningful in a symbolic way, but most
aren't, IMO. Wouldn't make much of this one.

Nobody knows why we dream, but a leading theory (that I favor,
personally) is that dreams have no function. They are a
side effect of some physical process in the brain--we don't
know what it is, in fact--that happens regularly during sleep.
It starts briefly about one hour into sleep, then increases
in duration. We timed dreams lasting nearly an hour
before people woke up in the morning. Dreams appear
to happen in real time, in fact.

The same Rapid Eye Movements and similar brain waves
happen in cats and rabbits, and I doubt that there's a
deep psychological function involved.

Freud hypothesized that dreams are the guardian of sleep.
So if I'm sleeping and I'm thirsty I'll dream I'm drinking,
and so on. I hear the alarm and dream I'm hearing church
bells, etc. That's false, in fact. If you give people stimuli
during non-REM sleep, they just wake up. Encorporation
does happen during REM sleep, but there's no substantial
evidence that REM sleep does us any special good.

So, dreaming is perhaps an epiphenomenon. There is so far
no reason to think it has a function. Occasionally dreams are meaningful
but generally not or not particularly. Sometimes they are helpful to
think about, but probably they're not revealing most
of the time. The missing the class dream--widespread among
teachers, no question--signals at most anxiety and overwork.
Surprise, surprise!

[rh]

I'm having Carlos Castaneda flashbacks...

do not adjust your computer screen

[CountryKitty]

LOL, I've been having vivid dreams lately, too. Some have meaning, others are my brain reacting to something I feel or hear while asleep, others are just what-ifs or have no discernable meaning at all.

Took me years to figure out that one that everybody seems to have eventually...you know, the one where you're running around naked? It was happening when I felt overwhelmed -- I was worried about being exposed as incompetent...and in my dreams I was exposed, literally.

Had one where I was driving and rolled a vehicle over and over and over...woke up wondering why, then rolled over in bed and my head went to spinning. Apparently I'd rolled over in my sleep and the spinning sensation got worked into my dream.

Had a What-if after I started nursing school--was in a hospital and was handed a baby and told "take care of him". Carried him around all thru' the dream...then when I woke up I started feeling around in the bed, afraid I'd rolled over on him!


I have to wonder Rory, if your dream was similar to mine about rolling a vehicle--if you opened your eyes while asleep and dreaming of driving, it might be your mind then had to explain the inability to see anything in the dark room...then kicked in with a what-if (driving over the edge). (My hubby and brother sometimes open their eyes while dreaming)



You want to hear REALLY scary? My brother, who occasionally sleepwalks, went to bed dog-tired one night...and awoke to find that his pistol was on the pillow beside him. He put it up and returned to bed...awaking later to find it in his hand, resting on his chest! he then dropped it behind the bed, knowing that he probably couldn't crawl under the bed after it without waking. He woke up on the floor half under the bed reaching for the gun! Unable to sleep, he got up--and found that there were 3 mesages on his answering machine...some very angry person had called the wrong number, and had threatened to come over and kill him. He realized then that he'd heard the messages while sleeping too soundly to awaken, but his subconcious responded FOR him.

[cowtime]

I can only remember three dreams- ever.

One I had a lot when I was a young child, it was in brilliant colors, mostly purples and greens, a paisley design. For some reason it was a scary dream and I would wake myself when it occured.

Later, after I sold my mare, she came to me, laid her head over my shoulder.

A few days after my dad died, I dreamed of my daughter that has had some serious issues in her past, skipping ahead of my dad and I. He hugged me and told me she would be alright. That one was so real, the feel of my arms around his shoulders, that I can still feel it.

Those are my three dreams. The last two I can make an obvious guess about, the first one- I have no idea.

Actually, when I hear folks talking about their dreams, wondering what they were about, how scary they were, etc. I'm glad I don't remember more than these three.

[TheSpoonMan]

They say, that if you experience "falling" in your dreams and you hit, you die.

I dreamed I fell and didn't die. But that's cause I fell in a dumpster.

My dad dreamed he fell, hit the hard ground, and died. He dreamed being dead. It was pretty wierd. But he's still alive.

[djm]

I have read that there are several common types of upsetting dreams, such as screaming for help but no sound comes out, falling (as in RB's example), suffocating or being physically trapped somehow (claustrophobic), etc. The only pattern I have been able to discern is that, if a dream is upsetting enough to rouse me from a sound sleep, it inevitably means my body is telling me my bladder is full and and it is purposely waking me as its tender to get up and do my nightly duty.

djm

[BillChin]

Someone gave me an excellent suggestion as to what to do after a "bad" dream or a nightmare. Consciously think of a better outcome or finish to the dream and have that flow through. Doing so can wash away the energy that the bad dream may impart.

I've done this and had far fewer of the bad type of dreams.