How do you dream?

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How do you dream?

#1 :: August 20th, 2012 @ 11:39 PM

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I've been interested in dreams since I was a little kid. It's only within the past couple years that I have realized just how differently each person experiences dreams. Until you start talking to other people--you assume that everyone is the same as you.

A professor of psychology (not a dream specialist!) gave a seminar in my town, saying to the audience that "...it is so interesting that, while we see color every day, we only dream in black and white!" Before hearing that, I would never have imagined dreaming in anything but color.

Everyone reading this thread is an expert on how they experience dreams, and I'd like to hear about it. How often do you dream? Are there any recurring themes?

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Last Edit by: grouse 8/20/12 - 11:51:14 pm

#2 :: August 20th, 2012 @ 11:44 PM

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@ Dreams are something that have always interested me too. I've even considered keeping a private journal and writing down my dreams, because some of them are just so... fascinating that I wish I could relive them. Also I read somewhere, I don't remember where/when, that a person dreams multiple times every night, but sometimes they just don't remember all of them. Correct me if I'm wrong though. I'd say that the majority of nights, I do remember my dreams. Some in more vivid detail than others, and some I only remember tiny snippets of. Something that happens to me that I've always found weird has to do with my nightmares. If I wake up from a nightmare and instantly go back to sleep, my nightmare will continue. What I have to do is turn on some music, then go back to sleep. I also use music when I go to sleep feeling particularly anxious, because sometimes that spawns nightmares and I wake up having a panic attack. I had a particularly bad experience along those lines a couple years back and I've had to use that method since then for fear of it happening again. And I'm also curious to hear how you dream.
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Last Edit by: Flamingo 8/20/12 - 11:45:07 pm

#3 :: August 20th, 2012 @ 11:46 PM

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Only some people dream in black and white, actually. I dream in color c:

I used to not dream that often, and now I do dream more. I blame that on my rocky sleep patterns now though. Most of my dreams have a plot to them.

I've died a few times in my dreams, but they were usually adventure dreams where I got brought back to life, or it wasn't a big deal anyways. I often have dreams where I'm interacting with my favorite fictional characters. Now, those are really fun!
I've had a few where family members died or had some horrible illness, and those were more realistic, and very scary. Those are the ones where I sort of take a while to recollect myself when I wake up, assuring myself that it wasn't real.

Incredibly vague post. Feel free to question me on things! I remember my dreams well, they're very detail packed, so I'm good to recite something if needed. I love talking about dreams too!

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#4 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 12:20 AM

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@Flamingo - There are a few studies out there about the number of times people dream each night. It is definitely more than one, but it depends on the person, their sleep cycle, and a number of other factors. Regardless of the number, it seems you only remember the interesting ones!

I haven't had any nightmares in a very long time. There are some dreams I've wanted to continue, but no matter what I try, I can never get them to start up again. Of course, continuing a good dream is very different than continuing a nightmare! I'm glad you found out a way to deal with them. The dreams I remember best are often intricate stories where I am someone other than myself. I have a different past--complete with memories. I've been male, female, older, younger, various ethnicities, and from variously wealthy and variously functional families. I haven't run into anyone who dreams as someone else yet! I wonder how common it is.

@Lucifer - Bad sleep patterns led to me dreaming more, too! I sleep better now, but I still dream more often and more vividly than I used to. Vivid dreams can also be brought on if I don't write or draw in too long. I think your description of death is interesting. I've died in dreams, too, but it is always a 'forever' kind of thing. The dream doesn't end and my consciousness will hang around and observe other things happening. Sometimes my spirit/ghost then can interact with other characters. Does this happen to you, or are you 'resurrected'?

Since you said that your dreams were detail-packed: which senses do you experience in dreams? Also, two obligatory questions for the purposes of possible myth-debunking. Do clocks tell time? Can you read?

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#5 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 12:32 AM

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I don't think I've had a vivid dream before, unless the ones where family members are in trouble, since those I wake up and have to sit up for a while sorting out that it isn't true/real life. When I die, it's usually in some dream in a fictional universe where the characters are often brought back or go to heaven for the continuation of the adventure, so that's what happens to me. The last one I clearly remember dying (I was overtaken by a shadow that if you touched it, you died, and I knew exactly what was happening, but then I woke up in heaven) Sometimes I'm present but then I just disappear and I take the perspective of a character that's there. Lots of fictional dreams here, lol.

Sight, sound, touch to a certain degree (I can't recall any pain, but I remember one where it was humid out, I think, so I could feel that), no report on taste (I don't usually eat in dreams) and I can't remember and specific incidents of smell. I guess they aren't that detail packed, oops. Strong emotions though. No notice of clocks, and if I do read something, I don't recall words but I get a strong impression on what the text says? I know I do have some sense of time though, if it relates to the clocks at all. I clearly remember late afternoon/very early morning, etc. and being able to tell by the sunlight and temperature. By detail packed I guess I mean I remember settings very well for the most part and plot.

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#6 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 12:34 AM

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@ I don't think I've heard of someone dreaming their someone else either. Although I have sometimes felt that I don't know who I am in a dream, if that makes any sense. And occasionally I'll be myself but with a different appearance. Like blonde hair, skinnier, wearing something I would never wear/have never worn, etc. I don't know if it's that I only remember my interesting dreams, but man they are all interesting. For example I remember one that I had ages ago, where I was standing in a kitchen in front of the oven, there were people at either side of me, and I go to open the oven, and the inside you see what appears to be an endless cave of purple lava. And as I'm about to go INSIDE the oven/purple lava portal, I wake up. And it's my strange dreams like that that interest me so much. By the way, I also do dream in color, I forgot to mention that in my first post. And sometimes I also feel like I can smell/taste/feel in my dreams too. Sometimes my dreams are so vivid that I don't realize they're a dream until I wake up.
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#7 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 1:17 AM

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@Lucifer - Hehe. But aren't all dreams 'fictional' when it comes down to it? I really like the fantastic/mythic dreams best, though--ones that aren't just a rehash of everyday events.

On the senses: most people I've talked to seem to have dreams that only contain sight and sound. This used to be true for me as well, but ever since an episode of extreme sleep deprivation (2-4 hrs per night for 3+ months), I have had touch and smell in my dreams. A couple nights ago, I dreamed that I drank honeyed rosewater; I think I need to try some in real life because, in my dream, it was heavenly.

When you are talking about plot, do you mean only that the dream proceeds from one thing to another (without being disjointed), or that it has a story arc?

Quote By Flamingo:

Sometimes my dreams are so vivid that I don't realize they're a dream until I wake up.

@ - You mean you sometimes/often know you're dreaming during the dream? I have only realized it once! That's a very strange dream. Do you think it's symbolic/meaningful, or just interesting?
I think most people dream in color (I know I do!) The quote was just bringing to light how different everyone is, and how we assume everyone is like us. =)
When you appearance is different, do you know it's different? Or do you think 'this is just how I look'?

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#8 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 1:20 AM

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I mean with a lot of fictional influences. I've been having a lot of dreams lately with the characters from Supernatural, that's why I kept coming back to life, because the angel Castiel would just fix me up XD

The dreams sometimes have a story arc to each one of them. I'm not just doing random activities, it'll be like a whimsical little adventure that seems to last quite a while.

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#9 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 1:31 AM

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@ No, I mean that while I'm in the dream, I think it's actually reality. And then I wake up and realize that it wasn't reality. And sometimes I'm left disappointed, other times I'm left relieved. But now that you mention it, I have also had dreams where I'm aware that I'm dreaming. And I also notice that if I'm having a nightmare and I realize I'm dreaming while it's happening, I'll actually scream at myself in the dream, to wake up. I hope that made sense. I don't know if it was meaningful exactly, I do know that lava/volcanoes tend to be a recurring thing in my nightmares though because of how much I irrationally fear them. When my appearance is different in a dream, I always just think it's my normal look. That that's how I've always looked. There's also been situations where I'll see a person who can either look like someone I don't recognize, or even a famous person, but in my dream, I'll think that person is, say, my father. Or I've noticed that the house I live in in a dream is almost NEVER the house I actually live in in real life. Or if I do dream my actual house, then the people living in it aren't who actually live here.
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#10 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 1:42 AM

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I dream in color; in fact, I don't think I ever have black and white dreams. Sometimes it's kinda of blurred, but sometimes it's very vivid. Sometimes it feels like I know what's happening while I'm dreaming, like I'm technically asleep, but part of me is not. I know sometimes I can say things in my dreams and sometimes I'll get my way. My awake self KNOWS that I can't die in my sleep no matter how many times I've been shot, stabbed, whatever, and that thought gets transferred in my dreams and no longer panic when I'm about to "die". I learned that somethings refuse to work sometimes when I dream, and my dreaming self would realize that as well. When I have "powers" or control, and suddenly I can't do those things, I know I'm about to wake up, and I say so in my dream sometimes.

Some recurring themes seem to be my having powers such magic, levitation, and sensing spirits, being wanted by authorities (don't know why but I love those XD), and bring late for something (most of the summer it's been non stop dreaming about being late for a class. o-O

. Also, sometimes I'll dream something one day, and then, maybe a few days or months later, I'll have a seemingly unrelated dream where something happens, or I have something, and I would say "that happened then," or "I got that item then," which is referring to a dream that I dreamt a few days or months ago,

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#11 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 2:47 AM

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@Lucifer - Oh! I completely misunderstood. Whoops.
In any case, I like to hear interesting dreams. If you ever want to write up a dream, feel free to drop me an sMail. Maybe if enough people are interested, there could be a dream sharing thread, like a public dream diary.

@Flamingo - I've had dreams where there are funny discrepancies between houses/relationships/people in the dream and in real life, too. In my first vivid dream, I was a little boy with poor parents. My real life dad was their boss, somehow. Really weird.

Of all things to fear, I would say that lava is a good choice. That stuff is really dangerous. When I was a kid, my one irrational fear was land mines; I thought they'd be out on the school yard, waiting to maim me. I used to have nightmares about them, too. Not to say that land mines aren't dangerous, they just aren't anywhere in my area. Volcanoes are, though!

@Shur - That's interesting. You seem to have a lot more 'say' in what's going on in your dreams than I do. I usually am completely immersed in whatever is going on in the dream, unaware of my waking life. Do you like knowing that it's not possible for you to die (and other perks), or do you prefer dreams where you don't know/can't get your way?

I haven't ever really had continuity between dreams. I have definitely had ones where I'm being chased by authority figures; those dreams are always very stressful and don't usually resolve very satisfactorily. I never get to find out anything about the villains or what's going on, I just wake up. Do you have a different experience?

I'm going to head out for now, but thank you all for your insights! Feel free to keep posting here--I will routinely check this board.

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Last Edit by: grouse 8/21/12 - 3:05:48 am

#12 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 4:21 AM

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I've heard of those dreaming in black and white. But those who dream in black and white are usually elderly.

I dream in color, and my dreams are 1 out of 3 times lucid. Lucid dreaming just means that you realize you're dreaming while you're dreaming, and sometimes you can control you dream as a result of knowing you're dreaming. I can control my dreams sometimes, but it's very tricky. I usually have success in controlling something in my dream if I close my eyes in the dream and focus on making something disappear/appear/happen. It's quite useful in nightmares.

I dream about two nights out of a week, and at least one of those dreams is either a nightmare or disturbing dream. In my nightmares, I've noticed that I'm ALWAYS extremely weak and I can't run fast, I can only walk slowly. The bad thing is that 99% of the time, something is chasing me and I have to run away. Thankfully though, I usually remember that I'm dreaming before whatever is chasing me can get to me, and when I realize I'm dreaming I close my eyes in the dream and wake myself up. Sometimes I'll have one of those nightmares that continues after you wake up then fall back to sleep, but I've noticed that only happens when I'm having a daytime nap. A few months ago, most of my nightmares consisted of tornado's, and having to run away from them before they got to my house. Kinda scary, considering tornado's are a possibility in my location. Though, for some reason my tornado nightmares suddenly stopped and I haven't had one since. Most of my nightmares consist of running from a murderer, a demon, or some other form of evil. I've had nightmares so often that in one of my nightmares, when this demon was chasing me, another demon appeared beside me and I stopped, looked and pointed at him and said "THIS IS NOT YOUR DREAM." and then continued to run away. Seemed to work, the guy went away. My good dreams differ, and don't seem to have a general theme. I've had everything from flying dreams to ninja dreams. I've even had a good dream that had a horror character in it.

#13 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 5:23 AM

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If I dream while awake, that same dream seems to continue even as I nod off.
I've had some recurring dreams, but usually my dreams are bizarre and have no meaning.

#14 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 12:06 PM

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@Perpetual - It's funny that you mentioned waking dreams because I just had one. It was about something completely different than the sleeping dream, though. In the waking dream, I was thumbing through a book called "Philosophy and Spirituality in the Modern Internet" (wtf?)--which was divided into chapters for different social websites (google, facebook, tumblr, 4chan, etc). My sleeping dream involved lots of people and travel and had very little to do with books.

Are the recurring dreams something that makes sense? Or are they recurring bizarre series of events?

@Silverwolf - Maybe black and white dreaming has to do with black and white television, then?
That's a lot of lucid dreams. I've only ever had one; I found it quite underwhelming because, once I realized I was dreaming, the plot of the dream just stopped, and everyone else in it was gone. I got to fly and stuff, but it seemed pretty empty to me. It doesn't sound like this is what happens to you when you're lucidly dreaming, though. Can you only control small aspects of the dream? Can you even control anything most of the time?

Nightmares are interesting to me. I haven't had what I would consider a nightmare in a long, long time. I don't know if it's because I don't have them per se, or because I don't consider dark dreams to be nightmares anymore. If I don't wake up screaming and/or in a cold sweat, I don't think it's a nightmare. What has to happen for it to be a nightmare for you rather than just 'disturbing'?

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#15 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 12:14 PM

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I definitely dream in colour and I always remember at least 2-3 dreams every night. I always know that I'm dreaming and if I get bored or if it goes in a direction that I don't like, I can pretty much just change the channel. I don't really choose what I want to dream - that's what daydreaming is for, I just decide when I want it to change.

#16 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 1:21 PM

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I always dream in color. I think it would be strange to dream in black and white. Sometimes I have these incredibly epic dreams, but they're almost never recurring. The only dream I can think of that I've had more than once is where I'm flying in this weird lego town. I can actually feel the elation and joy when I get off the ground. But I'm never able to fly for more than a few seconds. And there's always bad guys chasing me. lmao wtf.

I've had the usual naked or losing teeth dreams. Recently I dreamed a childhood friend was Batman. I've been meaning to tell his wife (she's also a childhood friend) but I'm afraid she'd think I was weird for having a random dream about her husband LOLOL. Most likely she'd laugh though.

I've had dreams where I'm a Power Ranger, I've dreamed my husband was cheating on me, I've dreamed I was cheating on my husband, I've dreamed I was the human friend of Transformers...all sorts of crazy stuff. I've seen my grandpa a few times ever since he died.

I don't believe dreams are a portal to some alternate world or anything, I just think they're simply dreams. I don't think they have any prophetic meaning or anything.

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#17 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 4:00 PM

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@ On the contrary, there are no volcanoes in my area. The closest one is over a thousand miles away. So yes. I do feel that my fear of volcanoes is a little irrational. Earthquakes also scare me pretty bad and that one isn't totally irrational, that fear didn't come about until I actually felt one. Granted it was barely big enough to actually be felt, but it still scared me really bad.

And here's an example of what I was mentioning before: Last night I had a dream where I was in the house that I lived in as a child with my mother, but it was my dad and one of my brothers living there instead. And something that I also remembered based on this dream is in the last year or so,I've had a LOT of dreams where I'm still in school. For example in this dream, I was looking out my window waiting for the bus to go by. I saw it drive by so I sprinted outside to get to the bus. Once I reach it, the busdriver looks at me, closes the door, and drives away. So I proceed to walk to school. And supposedly in the dream, it was my first day of ninth grade. And I think there's a psychological meaning behind me having so many dreams of being in school. Either I want to be a kid again, or my immaturity is coming through in my dreams, haha.
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#18 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 6:28 PM

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Oh, wow. That is very interesting.
Now that you mention it, sometimes my awake dream is different than my sleeping dream.
Though not usually.

Bizarre for the most part.
I had a dream about being in a tunnel where a large killer rabbit lived. To reach the abode of the rabbit, you had to cross the fence which was covered in horse feces and excretion. After climbing down, you'd be face to face with the rabbit. Since the rabbit would most likely kill you, you would start running frantically back up (and did I mention you're half blind and can't seem to see everything around you).

As a child, I had a recurring dream for many years. The dreams started due to the fact that my mother bought me a black barbie doll. I didn't like it, so I decided to cut off all its hair and stuff it into my toy chest. But behold, that incident left me having nightmares. That doll would haunt my dreams. The dreams usually consist of that doll being the leader, and all the other dolls/toys being its followers. The dream would be at a normal place (your house, a bookstore, etc.) where everything seems normal. The only thing that's different is that all the dolls/toys in the area are alive and waiting to kill everyone, especially me.They had a theme song, so you'd know when a doll was coming down the stairs or coming towards you. Everyone around you was pretty oblivious to what was going on, except for yourself. You could try to get away before they got you, but that was practically useless (I would save everyone, except for myself). And did I mention, you were also half blind in this dream as well? I hated that doll, and I still do. It caused me to have all those nightmares (and then I decided to go ahead and watch Child's Play, which freaked the hell out of me). Though I'm no longer afraid of dolls or toys. It was one of those things that scared me as a child. Like some kids were afraid of what's under their bed, in their closed, or what not, I was afraid of dolls/toys. Haha, looking back, it's quite hilarious.

I haven't had a nightmare in a long while, and I don't hope to.
My dreams usually consist of me being a professor, an immortal, and what not.
I also sometimes dream up my schedule for the week.

#19 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 7:51 PM

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I dream in color.

Every time I eat something in my dreams it taste like nothing. ;_;
Sometimes I feel like I've been pre-programmed with certain information about people or things that have "happened" in my dreams. Whenever I'm speaking with someone I feel like I'm not making any sounds nor is the other person, but instead we're telepathically talking to one another with our lips moving.

I feel like a creeper when I have lucid dreams because I tend to walk around and ask people if they have seen _________ and where they might be. Though from all the attempts I can remember, they all failed! If I can't meet them in real life, I must try in my dreams.

Most nights I remember a little chunk of my dreams.
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#20 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 7:58 PM

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According to a study that somebody had done, that's the main reason why people dream in black and white, because they're use to black and white television. That's never happened to me when I have a lucid dream. Usually nothing will really change after I realize I'm dreaming. So far I've only attempted to control small things in my dream, but it's kind of like learning how to walk. You have to start small and slow first, then work your way up. In every dream that I've tried to control something, it worked. But when I have a lucid dream, I don't always want to change my dream, so I don't try to change it. It's certainly not easy to change something in a lucid dream, it takes a lot of focus, which can be difficult to do when you're dreaming. I don't know if it's easier for others, but it's not that easy for me.

I've been plagued by nightmares for several years, if not all my life. My mom says that she too had many nightmares when she was young, but they eventually stopped for some reason. For me to consider it a nightmare, I have to be genuinely scared that I will die when I'm dreaming. Every day I wake up I start sweating more than normal, regardless of a nightmare or not, so I don't go by whether I sweat in the morning or not. The sweating stops after about 30 minutes to a hour. A disturbing dream is just a dream that upsets me, but doesn't necessarily scare me. I have different levels of what my nightmares are, which just means that one nightmare can be scary while another will make me terrified for my life, even after I wake up. The worst kind of nightmare I can have is a nightmare that scares me so badly, that I will wake up, and when I wake up, I'm still frozen in fear as if the nightmare is still continuing, and I'll feel that if I move at all then whatever was after me will get me. After about 5 minutes I'll work up the nerve to slowly move a part of my body, like my hand or my feet, then I'll slowly progress to being back to normal and not afraid to move.

#21 :: August 21st, 2012 @ 8:57 PM

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@grouse
It seems a lot of times when I dream it's in little snippets. By that I mean, a series of things will be happening and then it will switch to something else. A lot of times, I'll dream that I'm talking to people. Sometimes it's people I know and others it's not. I can never remember what was said though. For some reason I used to dream that I would get shot. It was always in fatal areas (chest/head etc) but I would never die. If it I got shot in the chest, I would always look down and stare at the wound. Or touch my head if it was there. Another series of dreams was shortly after my dad died. It would always be things we did together. So I guess kind of going through memories while asleep lol. I think I only dream in black and white.

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#22 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 12:35 AM

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HAHA WHATS SLEEP.

Lawl jk but anyways when I was younger I used to have a lot of nightmares. As I grew older, they became less and less but sometimes they come back. I usually have dreams that involve me living somewhere else, in one of my old houses. I've only had one dream about the home I'm living in.

I've always wanted to control my dreams, but have never been able to do it. I usually have some pretty random ass dreams, but there is one I will always remember.

In the dream there was a rather large field, and it was split into fourths, like a crossroads pattern. Around the field there where tons of Pinetrees and dark clouds. This dream was all black and white, except for me and a boy around my age. I didn't get a very good look at him, and suspected he was just a random friend I had in the dream. Anyways, we walked and walked down one of the ruts that lead to the center of the field, the dead grass was so tall that we could barely walk next to each other. When we reached the middle of the crossroads, a huge volcano exploded in the distance, it didn't appear until that moment. Suddenly, lava flew out and was traveling toward us. Suddenly everything came to color and tiny spotted black and white bunnies came from out of the grass and where leaping everywhere. Me and this guy tried to catch all of them, picking bunches of them up and running out of the field.
Then I woke up.

I do think know why I remember that dream so vividly, but I know I won't forget it.

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#23 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 1:00 AM

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My dreams are.. weird, to say the least.
I dream in both color and black and white, and there seems to be no method to the madness as it's totally random which one it is. Sometimes, if I happen to remember more than one dream from the same night, one will be in color and the other in black and white or something like that. Sometimes both at the same time, too, where parts will be in black and white and others in very vivid color.
I've actually managed to dream with all my senses, although not always at the same time. Gotta say it's pretty darn cool when it is though.
Sometimes I'm just watching, too, like a background character in my own dream.
A lot of my dreams have to do with my school in some way. One time I was at some ridiculous school dance that I remember hating the color scheme of (although I can't remember what the color scheme was) and then suddenly oh look there's a giraffe. That's totally not weird.
My synesthesia also sometimes carries into my dreams. Sometimes I'll be able to see the sheet music in black and white and other times I'll be looking at street signs and a marquee that's probably bright red is in four different shades of blue and orange depending upon the letter.
I don't ever remember many of my dreams, though, and when I do, they're usually in fragments.
Every time something really crazy happens, I'll always have this one nightmare seven times in the following three days, too. I find it odd that it's always the same pattern, and that's been happening since.. January? (You'd be surprised how many times it's ended up happening.)
Never have I been able to control my dreams, which could explain why some of them are so freaking random.

#24 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 2:17 AM

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I dream in colour, and it's from my point of view like in real life, I cant see myself. Really epic dreams are never reoccuring. I used to have reoccuring dreams a lot when I was a child but now not so much...and like pretty much everyone I can remember everything while dreaming although I can't see every little detail, and once I wake up I only remember parts/nothing. I've never tried lucid dreaming before...if I have a nightmare or a disturbing dream and I'm about to die, eg be stabbed I feel this extreme uncomfortableness then I wake up...Yeah. (:

#25 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 11:25 AM

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I know I dream, but I don't ever remember them. I wake up with emotions based off of them, mostly happy.

I remember my dreams only if I wake up, then fall back asleep at night. That's barely happens though.

#26 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 1:31 PM

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@ I dream in color... mostly. Everything is in color like it would be in real life except the sky. Only once have I ever remembered dreaming and the sky was blue. Otherwise every dream I have the sky is pitch black. No stars, nothing.

I often also dream where I'm watching it as a movie more than actually being in it. My boyfriend thinks this is weird. I remember a dream a few nights ago were for a while I was watching Lisa Simpson, for whatever reason, but then at a certain point I just like.. "became" her or at least I was seeing everything happen from her point of view. It was weird.

Some common themes for me are graveyards, I love them so much, and finding Mew items in some store or second-hand place and wanting to buy EVERYTHING. Always sad after those.

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would be wonderful.

#27 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 1:40 PM

Blabbermouth

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@grouse I dream only in color. It's usually in first person perspective (like I'm looking through my own eyes). A few times I've had dreams in third person. There are usually people I know in real life but they don't have the same faces. I know who they are in my dream, they just don't look the same. It's weird. Events in my dreams coincide with events going on in my personal life.

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#28 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 2:17 PM

Blabbermouth

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I dream in color, I can taste, smell, feel, and even control/change things.
It's hard to describe how real my dreams feel, so I can't really come up with a better description than: "I have vivid dreams."

I don't change much in my dreams however, it's usually only when I really can't stand the way the dream is going. Also I never completely wipe the dream when I take control. I only change small things since I enjoy having the dream be surprising and like a movie. As someone else said when they control their dreams, I need to focus a bit on the change I want to make.

I have had dreams where I am not present. When I dream about someone/something else it's like I'm watching a movie. I'm not hovering or anything like that. I just watch this character/person/story. I've never changed one of those dreams.

I can have multiple dreams in a night. I wouldn't say it's a harsh switch. It's like how a TV show flips to a different area.
That's not to say I don't only have just a singular dream some nights.
I have gone back to the same place/area in dreams before. Sometimes it's not always completely the same. And I've started where a dream left off a couple times, but I've never had the same dream twice as far as I can recall.
I've never had a 'flying dream' either.
Just recently though I had a dream where I was dreaming in the dream.
That's one of the odder dreams I've had.

My dreams last a long time. That's why I never really tell people my full dreams, just snip-its. Plus some things are just hard to describe.

TL;DR:

I DREAM A LOT OF CRAP

#29 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 4:24 PM

First Mate

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@
My dreams vary from color to black and white. You know how most people talk about having vivid dreams? Well, mine are straight up blurry every single time. I've had terrible eyesight since I was 6, but of course glasses and contacts throughout the years have come in handy. When I dream it's like I don't have that correction anymore and everything is completely fuzzy, but yet while in the dreams, I'll still think it's really happening. It's all so real, but I can always distinctly aware I can't "see". I've never met anyone else who has "eye-sight impaired" dreams, maybe like once in a while they have one, so maybe that's just me. With all the people on this planet there's bound to be someone else though.

I also have lucid dreams 65% of the time. I can change, rewind, repeat, etc., so when I have the dreams I can't really control, I freak out since they're usually bad dreams.

Last Edit by: Scraaww 8/22/12 - 4:27:54 pm

#30 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 6:40 PM

is a mall rat.

667 Posts
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@
Actually I had wondered about this, and put it in a post on facebook last year, alot of people were curious. half of them said that they don't dream in color, only black and white or shades of gray while the others said that they don't remember what they dream in and a couple, like me, dream in color. I have maybe only dreamed in black and white once or twice. my dreams are so vivid, like, I quit smoking cigs, but once in awhile in my dream, I'll smoke and when I wake up i literally have to smell my breath to see if I really took a hit of a cig. Then other times I'll wake up and see whats going on and go back to sleep and think someone is talking to me and my fiance will say i'm mumbling or saying something in my sleep so he'll think I'm awake lol. I don't usually have bad dreams, mostly just weird dreams that creep me out after I wake up like, where does my mind come up with this stuff? I could write books x3

I think i've grown out of most recurring dreams, except for two or three that I've had since I was a kid. Which is weird and I don't understand why only a couple dreams stay with you your whole life while others are only once. Dreams and the mind are so interesting to me!

Also, when I have to pee, I'll look around in my dreams for a bathroom, but I end up not being able to pee, and it wakes me up, I think if i ever ended up peeing in my dream i'd pee in real life which i haven't had a problem with since I was 4 or 5.

Last Edit by: Stoney 8/22/12 - 6:41:31 pm

#31 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 7:01 PM

is a tourist.

806 Posts
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I always dream in color, and my dreams are usually very vivid and strange. I dream a lot (technically we dream every night, but just remembering having a dream) but not as often as I used to, as I went off a couple of medications that really enhanced my dreaming. They usually take place in a foreign setting, some of the locations I remember being Russia, Pakistan, and The Netherlands. I don't remember dreaming about my home or neighborhood. I can often control them for a little while, or I realize I'm in a dream, but eventually it turns into a movie-like thing again. I'm almost always present in my dreams; I can't recall a dream where I've just been "watching".

When I was younger, my dreams would almost always include a tornado, which I fear terribly. Eventually though, I got so used to having tornado dreams that they no longer became scary. I'm still terrified of tornadoes, but they don't appear in my dreams now. I've found if I'm stressed out or extremely anxious, I dream about buses. I always was nervous about riding the bus when I was in school.

___________

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see it fall, child of wolf
lend a mending hand

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#32 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 10:30 PM

is a Billionaire

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@

I definitely like knowing that I can't die in my dreams, less panic when I wake. Usually when I'm being chased by authority figures, I'm actually dreaming that I'm my OC who happens to be the villain. XD I don't why I enjoy those dream, but I do. I guess the action and the suspense is what makes it so intriguing for me.

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#33 :: August 22nd, 2012 @ 10:55 PM

Donated to the Cash Shop

1,215 Posts
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Focus, focus

@
I remember my dreams fairly often, unless you count the reoccurring ones, which then I dream only rarely.
My dreams are fantastically vivid and strange and so surreal that they're sometimes freaky. They're always in color and my dreams always tend to be away from home, whether in a camp, at school, at an amusement park, or even in some far off land. Usually my dreams end up being in first person, but every so often, they're in third, but those are usually the less creepy dreams.

it'll be worth it in the end

Feed Me!

#34 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 1:48 AM

Only has Room for One

985 Posts
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Wow! I was not expecting to see so many new posts. Thank you all for commenting!

@Norther - You always lucid dream? That's really interesting. I haven't met very many people who dream lucidly with high frequency.

@caitastrophe - That sounds like a prety awesome (if random) recurring dream. Did you/do you play with legos often, or is it just a random happenstance?

@Flamingo - Sorting out what dreams mean has always been beyond me. Some of my dreams seem special and somehow symbolic, but a lot of them just seem like random happenstance. Things seem to mean something (eg. school could be unresolved issues or nostalgia, or either of the things you mentioned, etc), but sometimes they don't make any sense. A friend of mine had recurring nightmares about giant spiders; she found out that it meant that she was anxious about social situations. Once she figured it out, the spiders were gone! For a while now, I have had the occasional dream about witches; I am not really sure what that's about.

@Perpetual - Oh man. Watching that movie with an existing fear of dolls sounds like a recipe for bad news. Glad you don't have that kind of nightmare anymore. And you dream of being a professor? Are you planning to teach? Are you teaching subjects you know in your dream?

@ELRIC - I'm not quite sure I understand. Do you try to contact specific people through dreams? Do you know them in real life?

@Silverwolf - Those sound like some very serious nightmares. I hope that they eventually go away for you like they did for your mother!

@Disturbance - Could you feel that you were bleeding, or did the bullet have no tangible effect? When I've been shot in dreams, it has really, really hurt, followed by nausea, lightheadedness, chill and death. If I die, my 'ghost' will often stay in the area and observe later events.

@Chupacabra - Have you moved a lot? Also, that dream sounds like it could be an animation in Fantasia--I like it, and I can understand why you remember it.

@Tori - Which combinations of senses do you dream with? Have you ever tried to record your dreams, or otherwise remember them better?

@NOVOCAINE - I've had the same sensation of knowing everything that's going on in the dream world, and then waking up to forget most of it. I don't know why it's so easy to forget.

@Hylian - I think there are conditions which make it harder and easier to remember dreams. I can't remember dreams at all if I use a buzzer-type alarm clock. If you want to remember dreams, maybe you could try different ways of waking up?

@LadyMissie - The black sky thing seems kind of ominous. I'm curious, though, do you live in a big city?

@nuit-starry - That weird face thing happens to me, too. In my dream, I am fully convinced that they are so-and-so, but when I wake up I realize it's absurd.

@UMIX - Third person dreams are pretty strange. I had one that started with me running away from a town, but my focus stayed on the town during some kind of inquisition/witch hunt. The weird thing about the third-person part was I had no emotions (and there were some pretty evocative scenes).

Oho. Nested dreams. I only have one very rarely, and it's always either bizzare, disturbing or frightening. Nothing, of course, like Inception. I was really dissapointed with their unimaginative portrayal of dreams (no dragons? No turning enemies into sheep? What gives?).

@Scraaww - I haven't met anyone who routinely has visually impaired dreams, either. Although Perpetual mentioned being half-blind. Maybe you could compare notes?

I don't lucid dream, and, even when I have bad dreams, I kind of like them. They are all stories for me to collect.

@Stoney - I've had conversations while asleep, too. Trying to continue them when I wake up usually results in a confused spouse. Maybe you should write books! Vivid dreams are good material.

Wow. You have had recurring dreams since you were tiny? Might I ask what they are about?

@JaiHo - Have you ever been to those foreign places, or were you dreaming based on other knowledge or no knowledge at all?

I was really nervous about riding the bus, too! Although, it was because the first time I did, I got lost. I was so short, the bus driver couldn't see me, and so I ended up at the bus parking field, far away from my home. Busses were never the same after that.

@Shur - When you are being chased as a villian, do you know what you've done wrong, or is it just a chase?

@cnccvincc - What do you mean by surreal/creepy?

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#35 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 1:50 AM

is a Billionaire

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@ - Usually it's just a chase.

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#36 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 1:57 AM

Le Extreme Spammer

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show me the color of your credits ♥
@
Um...I've only lived in 5 houses growing up

And thanks c:

I did have a weird dream last night that I had a baby that was very tiny, like Thumbellina tiny 8( didn't know who the dad was enough though I've been dating the same guy for a year and a half.

#37 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 1:57 AM

is a Mirage

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@ Oh bugs is another thing that occurs in my dreams quite a bit too. And one of my most popular recurring dreams is being chased. I really hate those ones. And sometimes when I'm being chased in a dream, I can't move as fast. Like it feel like my legs way 200lbs each or if I'm driving, that I have to push extremely hard on the gas to make it move at a reasonable speed.

And one of my favorite recurring dreams is flying. I remember one I had where it was nighttime, and sprinkling and the whole dream I was just flying. Through trees, past buildings, skimming lake waters with my fingers as I flew over it. It was wonderful really.
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#38 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 3:04 AM

Is a Survivor

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I dream the most weird crap when I wake up and fall asleep again.

But usually, I don't remember my dreams when I wake up °_°

#39 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 3:21 AM

is Shady

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i think because your dreams arent important to your brain, so it just trashes them once you wake up.

#40 :: August 23rd, 2012 @ 9:55 AM

is a Skilled Hooker

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It can actually be quite annoying because the dream isn't as "fun" because once I realise it is a dream, I'm just so not impressed. I pretty much turn into McKayla Maroney on the silver medal podium. But it is handy when I'm starting a nightmare and I can just change the channel or wake myself up.