An Extension on Dreaming

[Universe]

Our dream journal thread is cool but I wanna ask a few specifics about your dreams after an interesting conversation with friends. Everyone dreams several times during the night, but it takes a sharper conscious to remember them. This is sort of a social "survey", so for those who do remember answer the following if you could:

How often do you dream, and when was the last time?

Ever had a lucid dream? What was it like?

Nightmares. Do you have those? How often?

What perspective do you usually see your dreams from? (First, second, third, that one viewpoint where you're a spectator, etc.)

What do you normally dream about? Any repeating themes, objects, locations, people?

Have you ever had a dream so bizarre you looked it up afterward to see if it meant something? What was that dream for you, if any?

 

[maccrash]

I remember my dreams probably close to every other night. last night was the last time -- it was incredibly mundane but my dreams have always more been about feelings than actions. nothing much happens usually but when placed into these situations my dream self just seems to know that it's a situation different from real life. that's hard to explain. for example last night I literally dreamed I was hanging out with this girl I have a crush on, but in my brain I knew we were dating and that if I kissed her right then it wouldn't have been an issue because it's commonplace. that sounds really stupid, but like, everything in said dream was completely normal except for that one thing.

I've never had a lucid dream but I'm insanely interested in pursuing it. that & astral projection are two really Titillating concepts to me, especially as of late, now that I'm getting into the music of maudlin of the Well, who claim to have heard a lot of the **** they've translated into their records as a result of lucid dreaming or astral projection. it's fascinating.

I don't have nightmares very often but they're usually steeped in mundanity, much like my normal dreams. things that could happen in real life do happen without much element of supernatural, but usually there's one or two little points that completely throw me for a loop -- I had a dream I crashed my car recently but when the car hit the wall, it flew like, 100 yards. (the car, I mean.) so idk what was up with that but I had trouble falling asleep afterwards even though it wasn't particularly scary. also, I experienced a really weird audiovisual hallucination once whilst drifting in and out of consciousness after not being able to sleep much the night before. it felt like there was some being on my ceiling, some Demon of sorts, and then the ceiling starting caving in on the sides leaving the ""demon"" still where it was but the rest of the ceiling was caving in towards me. that was really freaky and ****ed with my head the whole day and for some time after.

I usually see my dreams in the first person.

there's one repeating image in most of my dreams -- all the trees are dead. always. it's very strange, and I don't know what it means.

 

[Necrum]

Dreams that I can remember are a rare thing, and most often happen when I dream in the morning while only mostly asleep. The ones I do remember however are quite interesting, some of them have even given me ideas for scripts (I haven't written them yet but I have plots tucked away). I see in 3rd person or observer perspective in most of my dreams, kinda makes some of my dreams feel like trailers for movies that don't exist. But sometimes I see from first person. I generally have more control in first person but I never quite become lucid. The dream still persists the weirdness.

The only dream effect I've looked up from my dreams is the falling to near death dream. You know, where you fall and wake up just before hitting the ground? I used to get it a lot, especially when napping.

 

[Juno]

I feel like I dream whenever REM sleep occurs, which isn't as often as I'd like since I don't sleep for long periods of time. I'd say 99% of my dreams are me being chased; I've probably mentioned it before in other dream threads, but every single dream I remember, since I was a kid (my first recurring dream as a child was me being chased by the same person almost every night), had some sort of chase element to it - I'm usually agile af and I have great stamina in my dreams, so once I get over the terror of being chased by whatever/whoever it is, it's actually kind of fun to just be able to run and jump forever. I never actually get caught. Also my dreams are always in first-person.

The settings and characters of my dreams vary a lot and they can get pretty interesting. Sometimes it's some kind of monster chasing me, the setting is always something surreal (I remember one where the earth was just super bouncy so I'd get flung into the air every time I jumped and I could leap over things easily), the most recent dream I can remember, I had escaped from like space prison and I was avoiding galactic cops to get home or something? I think I had been watching too much Rick & Morty. But that was kind of a cool dream.

I never worry too much about what my dreams mean though. For the most part I don't really think they mean anything.

 

[Klippy]

I haven't had many dreams lately. I haven't slept much, which is probably why. I usually have vivid and memorable dreams, but of course they escape me now. I've had a few recurring ones and I wish I knew what they were. The only one I absolutely remember (and I think this is a common thing for people to have) is a dream of falling in love with a girl who was only from the dream, then waking up and feeling that sense of heartbreak. Kind of crazy, but I've had that type of dream a few times.

 

[Skip Class]

It's rare that I can remember my dreams and if I do remember they're either a nightmare or just plain weird (however none that I've actually go out too look what they meant. I don't think I can remember seeing anything other than seeing dreams in first person. Aside from that, guess the people I see in my dreams are more the people I see on a regular basis - friends and family.

 

[Hikamaru]

I have a higher chance of remembering my dream if it was a sad one, even moreso if it ended up translating into something that really happened (speaking of that, a dream I had last night about me failing did end up coming true). I do have nightmares a lot since I go through family conflict, have a huge fear of bullies and also living in an area where violence is a common sight.

Most of my dreams had no theme to it though.

 

[Bellsprout]

I at least vaguely remember something every time I wake up. Last dream I really remember though was about two nights ago. I lucid dream often, they usually take a terrifying twist though lol. I have nightmares often, but when I do they're more psychologically disturbing than scary. I tend to see my dreams from a combination of first person and spectator. my dreams are really varied, but they often involve people I know. I've tried looking up a lot of the messed up ones I've had, but I usually can't find an answer.

 

[moon]

I'm pretty sure I dream every night, but I don't always remember it. Best/weirdest dreams come when I snooze a bit too long in the morning.

I guess you dream of the stuff your mind feels like it needs to sort out and that you have been thinking about a lot lately? So when I dream of people I know, I always get paranoid haha, and wonder what I'm trying to tell myself.

Luckily, I hardly ever have nightmares these days. I used to have them sometimes, when I was a young teenager. Not sure why. Never recurring ones though. I really don't like nightmares, and I definitely need somebody to hold me if I'm going to be able to fall asleep again after one :c

 

[MiracleGhost47]

What does lucid mean?

 

[Ammako]

Lucid dreams are those where you are aware that you are in a dream and have the ability to fully control every single aspect of the dream.

 

[MiracleGhost47]

I remember two different dream skits I had just today, but I'll only say one.

I was strolling around at night to go visit my friends at a creepy mansion. I saw a lot of snakes on my way there. Once I got there, my friends informed me that a recent freak storm seemed to greatly enhance a local poisonous snake population. We went inside the mansion's garage where we played video games for a little while. When we were done, my friends went inside while I decided to get some fresh air outside. I saw many snakes again, but they never bothered me as long as I steered clear of them. I was starting to get surrounded, so I used this gadget that allowed me to hang onto it and fly away (this was when I started to realize that I was in a dream). After some looking around and I made it to the mansion's balcony which has a see-through window. I saw my friends playing pool and asked them to let me in, which they did. I don't actually like pool, but it was nice to be out of that hazard.

It's hard to say which perspective I see myself in the most. It changes a lot. Maybe in the third person? Regardless of my perspective, I never seem to blink.

 

[Ammako]

How often do you dream, and when was the last time?

I dream every night. I mean I know that everyone dreams multiple times per night, but I remember dreams every night, without fail.
Granted, sometimes I forget them during the day after I woke up, but still. I remember them for the most part after I wake up.

I only remember the last dream I've had before waking up. Like, the dream ends by me waking up, so it's still fresh in memory and it just happened.
Any other dream that ends and I just continue sleeping, likely I forget them instantly.

I don't sleep very well and I tend to wake up several times throughout the night. Sometimes it's better and I can sleep through most of the night, but I tend to wake up at the end of every sleep cycle (and sometimes I just can't get back to sleep at all until hours later, for various reasons. :/)
It's not all bad though, because at least I get to remember one dream every time before waking up, so there's a lot of fun adventures for me to just remember every time.

Ever had a lucid dream? What was it like?

I don't believe I have, or if I have then I don't remember it.
The closest I've had was realizing that I was in a dream, then attempting to control the dream and failing miserably, haha.

Nightmares. Do you have those? How often?

I actually don't! I never have actual nightmares anymore.
The closest I get is bad dreams where things happen that would be considered "scary", or just bad in general, and want to escape them. To do so all I have to do is close my eyes really hard in my dream and re-open them after a few seconds. Re-opening my eyes then makes me wake up and I escape the dream.

What perspective do you usually see your dreams from? (First, second, third, that one viewpoint where you're a spectator, etc.)

It differs, really. Most of the time though it is in in first person.

What do you normally dream about? Any repeating themes, objects, locations, people?

It's pretty much random every time.
There's been a re-occurring thing though but I'd rather not mention it nor talk about it.

Have you ever had a dream so bizarre you looked it up afterward to see if it meant something? What was that dream for you, if any?

Not really. When I have interesting things the most I do is tell people about my dream, because I found it interesting and these friends would as well.

 

[Spiff]

I had a pretty wild dream the other night and I think it mighta been borderline lucid or something. it started pretty much like most of my dream, just me chilling by myself doing boring stuff, I donnu my dreams are super literal. anyway I guess I realized I was dreaming and decided that it would be rad to visit this place I was at in other dream I had a few months back. so I start by walking to this place (I guess I didn't think of flying there or something??) and I end up getting jumped by two dudes, one from the front and one from the back. the dude up front had a shank and charged at me.

okay so this is where it gets crazy right. usually when I dream and get attacked/presented with danger, I'll try to fight back, but my body gets paralyzed and I'm not able to. that's usually when I wake up. pretty common stuff. but in this dream, for whatever reason, I threw a real punch at the guy. and I immediately wake up nearly falling off my bed because I ended up throwing a legit punch in my sleep. I know it's normal for the body to twitch/move slightly during the action phase of a dream, but I don't know what the hell throwing a straight punch in your sleep means.

 

[Nothing Is Real]

Whenever I remember my dreams, it's always the most mismatched collection of circumstances, occurring in bizarre tessellation

 

[NinjaRaichu]

How often do you dream, and when was the last time?

Maybe like 4/7 days but I tend to remember them better if i'm napping during the day

Ever had a lucid dream? What was it like?

Yeah, I dont remember exactly what as happening but I didnt like it and knew I was dreaming and kept trying to wake myself up but I couldn't.

Nightmares. Do you have those? How often?

Not really terrifying ones i'd wake up from but I occasionally have the "trying to run away bit cant" ones, I only used to get the ones that would wake me up when I was young and was ill, funnily enough none of the stuff that happened was actually scary IRL lol I remember one in which the queen took over the world lol and for some reason that scared me, also the film happy gilmore gave me terrible nightmares lol I was a weird kid.

What perspective do you usually see your dreams from? (First, second, third, that one viewpoint where you're a spectator, etc.)

Usually first person as myself but I occasionally have dreams where i'm a completely different person. Which is actually really cool because they all seems to be very action movie like, I wish I had more of them.

What do you normally dream about? Any repeating themes, objects, locations, people?

When i'm at work I dream about that a lot and and always have reoccurring dreams where i'm in some sort of high school. Used to have one that was like cop show too. Also people from TV show usually make guest appearances in everything.

Have you ever had a dream so bizarre you looked it up afterward to see if it meant something? What was that dream for you, if any?

Not really but ive had a few about random people I barely know or haven't seen in ages, to then see them the next day.

 

[pkmin3033]

How often do you dream, and when was the last time?

I dream most nights (or early morning, as the case may be; it's hard to tell) and the last time I dreamed was actually last night, haha.

Ever had a lucid dream? What was it like?

I have, and it saps the fun out of it a little bit sometimes. If it's a good dream and I'm aware it's just a dream, it spoils it, because part of the appeal of dreams is that they feel so damn real when you're having them, even if they're ridiculous. It doesn't do me much good to know it's a dream anyway, because usually when I try and exert some control over events they either get stuck on a loop or the whole thing fragments and I wake up.

Nightmares. Do you have those? How often?
Unfortunately, yes. Once or twice a week on average. I have a real problem with nightmares.

What perspective do you usually see your dreams from? (First, second, third, that one viewpoint where you're a spectator, etc.)

It depends...if I'm in the dream myself, I'll usually see it from first person, although I think once or twice I've been watching myself. If it's someone else who is the focal point, it's normally like I'm following over their shoulder, or looking down from above. It's bloody weird when that happens.

What do you normally dream about? Any repeating themes, objects, locations, people?

Usually I dream about what I've been thinking about before I go to sleep, mixed in with past memories. Like, I watched The Prince of Egypt a couple of years ago and went to bed with The Plagues song stuck in my head, I then had a dream that night that I was stuck in my old Primary School with fire raining from the sky whilst giant insects attacked the hall windows. I've had that one several times since. A lot of my dreams repeat themselves; it's like re-watching old episodes of TV series, and it's extremely irritating in the case of my nightmares, which also like to repeat themselves.

I also get weird senses of deja vu, as strong memories I have will play themselves over in my childhood with a slightly different tone to what I remember...or thought I remembered. I'm not sure if these memory dreams are more accurate than my actual memories.

I dream a lot about upcoming events if I'm worried about them, although I'd classify those as nightmares. I had this horrible one the night before my first GCSE exam that I'd slept in and missed the exam. I had a dream about my Taxation exam at University after I'd sat it, only this time I looked at the paper and I didn't understand any of it, and it took me a while to remember that my dream about the exam wasn't anything like how the actual exam went. I have frequent nightmares about being sectioned in hospital for various illogical reasons, too. If something is really bothering me, it usually crops up in my dreams in some format.

I'll also dream about the game I'm currently playing if I play it too much or too late in the day. If I've already played the game before it's infuriating, because I'll make progress on where I am in my dream, then when I go to play it the next day I'll find I haven't made the progress at all, and I'll wonder what the hell is going on for a few minutes before I remember I dreamed it all. This used to happen a lot when I was younger, and if I'm level grinding I'll usually dream about gaining a few levels.

Have you ever had a dream so bizarre you looked it up afterward to see if it meant something? What was that dream for you, if any?

All my dreams are bizarre, and I don't really think they mean anything, as I can usually tell where they've come from if I think about it for long enough, so no. All my dreams mean is that I have an overactive imagination, I worry too much, and that I really need to let a few things go.

 

[Ullion]

How often do you dream, and when was the last time?
I think it depends on what time/phase of my life we're talking about. Currently? I recall 1-3 dreams throughout a week, maybe? It's really hard to say, because after an amount of time, my memory of dreams gets all smeared together.

Ever had a lucid dream? What was it like?
So if I have an understand of what lucid dreaming is (when you're aware you're in a dream?), then my base instinct tells me that I am aware that I am dreaming in most of my dreams. It's hard to explain, it's not like I see something unfathomable and realize "Hey this is obviously a dream". It's just more like an innate feeling I get when I'm in a dream, I just... know
.
Nightmares. Do you have those? How often?
So nightmares do not happen very often. Although it might depend on who you ask? I still have dreams where I experience death and the such, but I don't really consider them nightmares? It's strange, but they don't scare me anymore. Mind you, I've long since passed the time where I considered death as something scary.
When I was really young though (10 and under, maybe?), I had nightmares very frequently. I was very easy to scare: Aliens, monsters, the crypt keepe- OMG PLEASE NO NEXT QUESTION

What perspective do you usually see your dreams from? (First, second, third, that one viewpoint where you're a spectator, etc.)
First person. I always experience my dream from within my own body. Usually I feel like I have control as well. In a limited sense though, as in I feel like I'm doing the motions myself - but I'm being guided by an unseen hand.

What do you normally dream about? Any repeating themes, objects, locations, people?
This goes back to the age/phase thing, I think. When I was really young, I had nightmares more often than anything. When I was a bit older, up until high school - I rarely recalled my dreams at all. And the ones I did recall, were ones of things that hadn't happened yet, but did end up happening within the next few days. Kind of creeped me out, but it only lasted a few years. For the last decade, I guess, my dreams have been fairly scattered. A particular theme I do remember dreaming about over the last few years would be ones including people I knew from high school, or me going back to attend high school, etc.

Have you ever had a dream so bizarre you looked it up afterward to see if it meant something? What was that dream for you, if any?
Nah, the only thing I looked up was what a 'lucid dream' was to be sure I answered the question properly. :3 I never really put too much stock into reading into my dreams. *shrugs*