I'm not a big dreamer and if I do dream I rarely recall them.
Last night was a complete departure.
I woke in the early hours because the preparations for a huge family party were not going to plan. Given that in my lifetime I have never been to a 'huge' family party this seemed rather strange. I woke up. Then returned Lethewards once more.
The next thing I knew was that the huge family party had been planned and was in full swing. I was a bystander.
This repeated itself with different details and subplots several more times.
Eventually everything got too much for me and a row ensued over someone trying to tell me that a huge rice dish had been prepared two weeks ago to let the flavours meld. As everyone knows rice can be one of the least safe dishes to keep hanging around for two days never mind two weeks.
I lost the plot and woke up for the umpteenth, and final, time and despite not yet being 0630 I got up and made coffee and started this whilst I could still recall any of it.
Does anyone have frequent or remembered dreams?
I dream quite regularly and occasionally I can remember the details. Mostly, however they fade away upon awakening. The thing that does amaze me about dreams is that people from different stages of my life can all appear together, never having known each other, yet it all makes perfect sense in the dream. Potentially toxic rice dishes have never been part of them, however!
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated, David, by other people's dreams. Your mixining of people from different life stages is not one I can recall experiencing. Interesting though.
DeleteI think David said it all for me too. I frequently have people in my dreams who are my friends but not connected and don't overlap with each other in real life and yet they happily appear together. I dream a lot and some I remember and some I don't although I mostly enjoy them at the time. Your dream was one of those many and varied anxiety dreams that we seem to have.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I do dream quite a bit and very occasionally have horrible nightmares. Trying to recall last night's dream (it's a good job I wrote this post) has made me wonder what on earth triggered it. It was certainly one of my most persistent and vividly real dreams to have persisted after I woke the final time.
DeleteYours is the second blog about dreams that I've read this morning. My dreams are normally happy ones, though I do have recurrent worry dreams about being late for work.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I was once told that happy dreams means a clear conscience.
DeleteWell, that's encouraging, Graham. Would it were so ;-)
DeleteDreams unlock the dustiest filing cabinets in the darkest corners of our minds. Perhaps your repetitive dream is simply urging you to organise a huge party complete with pineapple chunks and cubes of cheese on cocktail sticks. No rice for me please!
ReplyDeleteThey do indeed, YP. I just wish that I knew what last night's was all about. But then again perhaps I'm better not knowing.
DeleteFor many years I often experienced very vivid, quite disturbing dreams. Thankfully these are much less frequent now. I think they may have been linked to my anxious nature. Perhaps I am calming down!
ReplyDeleteJayCee I can certainly understand why anxiety might lead to disturbing dreams.
DeleteMaybe the recent wedding was sitting in your mind and came to the fore as a large family gathering. It sounds like a very vivid dream. I generally don't remember dreams. There were a couple maybe two decades that hung around for a while in my mind, but the memory of them has gone now.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, it was a dream that appeared to continue whilst I was awake. It was weird and I rather hope I don't have a similar experience again.
DeleteIt is unusual to slip back into a dream for its continuation, and even more unusual to experience this several times. I can remember only one dream where I dreamt part of a story (which did not involve me directly, or anyone else I knew) one night and picked up the story the next night. I was in my early teens then, but can not even remember what the story was about. It felt more like watching a film in two parts than dreaming.
ReplyDeleteMeike, your down to earth nature and dreams don't somehow go together in my mind.
DeleteSometimes I will wake from a dream and then minutes later, it has disappeared from my mind and I can't remember what it was about. Sometimes I can remember, like this morning when I dreamed that my Dad was asking me for medical advice and I said that he should see his doctor. My Dad's been gone for almost 12 years now...
ReplyDeleteI think Andrew might be right that your recent wedding events might have triggered your dream. I'm surprised you could fall back to sleep and continue it!
Ellen, it could be the case but the wedding was a lovely, happy and joyous occasion and the dream certainly wasn't. Your dream of your long-departed Dad is understandable to me. I often 'meet' departed family and friends when I'm dreaming.
DeleteThis is the second blog this morning that recounts very vivid dreams?
ReplyDeleteRed, I think they must be very common. I'd rather not have them though.
DeleteGood gracious, you were dream busy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about rice. Thank you
The majority of my dreams fade soon after i wake up. Those that don't usually have purpose that I have to figure out.
Maywyn, I don't recall many of my dreams either.
DeleteIt changes constantly. I have had dreams so vivid that I have never, ever forgotten them, and can recount them right now. I have had extremely vivid dreams that I only remembered for a few minutes, and once I was out of bed and dressed, they'd vanished like smoke. I have had nights of no dreams that I could recall. Science tells us that we dream every time we are asleep if we reach that certain "rhythm" or phase of sleep, so even if we don't remember them, it doesn't mean we're not dreaming.
ReplyDeleteDreams have always fascinated me. I wish that someone would discover a way to "set up" our dreams ahead of time. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, before going to bed, we could say "I'd like to dream about flying tonight" or "I'd like to dream about seeing my dad again" - or "I would like a peaceful dream with beautiful music playing".... and then go to sleep and it would happen?
Marcheline, I understand that we do dream most nights (if we have the 'right sort of sleep') but I'd rather not dream at all. That's especially so for me because the ones I tend to recall or which wake me are not usually ones one would want to recall. Last night's dream from which I woke earlier was singularly unpleasant and has given me another subject for a blog post.
DeletePeriodically in my life I've dreamed a lot and also found it helpful to try and analyse some of those dreams. That's primarily when I've had "things on my mind" in my waking hours as well - relationships, problems, decisions, worries etc (whether for myself or for others)... Sometimes dreams have helped me realise how I really feel about something. Lately, though, I can't recall any that have kept lingering or returning like that. (Whether that's because I dream less or just remember less is of course hard to tell!) As for yours I'm thinking Andrew might have a point in that the recent wedding etc is likely to have stirred up thoughts about family in general. (Just in the sense that the brain does tend to use imagery from what's been on our mind lately - even if in our dreams, it might then make a very strange mix of it all...)
ReplyDeleteMonica, your comment gave me a lot to think about and I was thinking about it before I went to bed last night. So you might be partly a catalyst for today's post.
DeleteI usually dream of familiar people , that are no longer with us, and when I wake up I always light a candle and say a short prayer in his/her memory.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting, Duta, You've made me think if I can usually identify people in my dreams. I've had no success because despite the last two nights I rarely recall my dreams ones I have woken.
DeleteIve had some really trippy dreams over the years, I could write a book about them but it's funny what our brains do when we are asleep.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Aimz, you have certainly been one for having many different places to give you lots of experiences for dreams.
DeleteI don't think I've ever had a dream as persistent as the one you describe, Graham. There have been periods, years apart, when I've had repetitive or disturbing dreams but they always pass. A few years ago I found myself sleep walking several times. Luckily the ranch slider through which I come and go was noisy and woke me up as I was going outside. I was very worried about myself, even to the point of making sure my nightwear was in good condition in case I left the house. I tried in vain to analyse why it was happening. The only thing I could make a connection with was one of my brothers used to sleep walk when he was a child. Just another of life's mysteries.
ReplyDeleteThat's fascinating, Pauline. I'm not sure that I've ever sleepwalked. You have reminded me that a lad from my youth used to do it a lot though. He lived with us for a short while.
DeleteMy remembered dreams always seem to happen when I fall back asleep after a middle of the night visit to the bathroom. I think that I must not be in deep REM. Last night I dreamed that we had two apartments that Tim had forgotten about, and they were just sitting empty. I couldn't understand how he could forget to tell me something like that.
ReplyDeleteSadly not. I hardly sleep, let alone dream!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, Cro. As a young man I slept little but very deeply. I never recalled dreaming at the time and recall people finding that odd.
DeleteIt seems that dreams are such strange things and open to so many different interpretations. Getting up (whatever the time of night!) is usually what I find will extinguish an annoying recurrant dream/nightmare. A cup of tea helps too, before I head back to bed :) xx
ReplyDeleteMargaret, it's not really been a problem for me until fairly recently and I usually forget the dream immediately. However the last few nights have been very different.
DeleteYes I have had recurring dreams but as I get older I don't remember dreams as much as I used to.I had weird dreams when I was sick.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I'm finding the different experiences people have quite fascinating.
DeleteI rarely remember my dreams which is a bit disappointing when i am aware that I've had a dream but dont know more than that.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I had a recurrent dream about being inside my parents house and lions in their yard.
I always look up dream meanings if I do happen to remember something. I've mostly found it helpful for reassurance if the dream was scary
I'm not sure, Kylie, whether scary dreams ie nightmares, have ever formed part of my sleeping. I don't think so in recent years anyway. I did as a child.
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