Dreams

ChastMastr

What dreams have you had recently? (The kind where you sleep and experience/see things happening, not hopes for the future.) This is a place to post that.

* Important--if someone believes their dreams are spiritually meaningful, or otherwise metaphysical, as this is Heaven, arguing about that would belong in Purgatory. Some people may think their dreams are just neurochemical brain movies, some may think they're foretelling, some may think they're going to other worlds, or meeting loved ones again who have passed, or in some other way metaphysical, or God nudging them, and some may think they're a mixture of all of the above, depending on the case. (I'm in this last category here--I think it depends on the dream...) Mentioning what one thinks of one's dream is fine, and some might ask what others think about their dreams, but please don't argue here.

So what are some recent dreams you've had?

LatchKeyKid

In many of my dreams I find myself e.g. turning a corner and finding myself somewhere else I know that is nowhere near where I was, perhaps in another country.

In some of my dreams I walk away from somewhere I know, but "can't find my way home" (to plagiarize a song title). In real life, I have a terrible sense of direction.

Diomedes

My most recurrent dreams involve classes I have either forgotten to teach, or have forgotten to attend, for a whole year and exams are imminent. Each time I wake up in a panic and am so relieved it was 'just' a dream!

LatchKeyKid

Diomedes wrote: »

My most recurrent dreams involve classes I have either forgotten to teach, or have forgotten to attend, for a whole year and exams are imminent. Each time I wake up in a panic and am so relieved it was 'just' a dream!

I also used to have the dream of realising an exam was coming up, and I hadn't started any study for it.

Enoch

I don't tend to remember dreams. However, at least three times in my life, I have dreamt that the house I was living in was bigger than it was, with more space, more interest and extra rooms. In one of the versions of the dream, there were extra little passages in the walls, sort of service passages, parallel to the rooms that were actually there.

ChastMastr

Diomedes wrote: »

My most recurrent dreams involve classes I have either forgotten to teach, or have forgotten to attend, for a whole year and exams are imminent. Each time I wake up in a panic and am so relieved it was 'just' a dream!

OMG I get those sometimes too, both teaching and attending. And often I’m lost trying to find the classroom or building…

Firenze

I have always been attentive to dreams, they can be very informative. And occasionally prophetic.

But mostly they are a fairly self-evident reflection of fears and anxieties. Current leitmotifs of the ones I can remember are hotels and journeys. I am forever in a hotel, sometimes looking for my room, sometimes vainly trying to find my way out. Journeys are invariably nightmarish, whether I am trying to go away or get home. Buses do not appear, or don't stop, the last train has gone, I don't have the right documents to board the plane, I can't find my location on my phone - which in any case has turned into a sandwich.

And of course the ones about taking an exam in a subject you haven't studied, or failing to go into the office. It can be a relief to wake up and realise you are long done with school and work.

Jengie Jon

My college/school dream is somewhat different. I am trying to get to a classroom, lecture room, meeting room at the other end of the building and the walls and corridors keep shifting so I cannot make it rather like in a computer game.

Caissa

The other night I had that dream where I had forgotten about an essay I had to write and it was too late. When I woke, I believed it to be true for about 10-15 minutes. Like Diomedes and Jengie Jon I also have dreams of forgetting that I am attending or teaching a course.

Heavenlyannie

I seldom remember any dreams. On one of the few occasions I had a clear dream it was based on a newspaper article I read the day before and turned into a real life delusion which lasted several days.
Consequently I am rather glad about my lack of dreaming!

Wanderer

The naked dream. Regularly, in various scenarios. I am at work, or in public somewhere when I look down and realise that I forgot to put any clothes on. Invariably there is nowhere for me to get clothes or anywhere to hide so I decide to just act as if everything is normal and just style it out even though I feel absolutely mortified. I believe it is supposed to signify " feeling fear of being seen as you really are" - which would fit as I still, in my 52nd year, feel that I am fraudulently posing as an adult.

HarryCH

When I am depressed, I sometimes have paranoid dreams by day or by night.

BroJames

I rarely remember my dreams, but as it happens, I dreamt last night that I was showing a friend from school (who I have not seen since I left school) with whom I share a Christian name, around a place which I now realise was largely modelled on the gardens of one of the Bailey colleges in Durham. I have no idea what, if anything, it might signify!

Graven Image

My late husband had very colorful dreams and often wanted to share them with me first thing in the morning. I am not a morning person, so I got to the point where I would say, Am I in this dream? If not, I don't want to hear it. I think he would just put me in some so he could tell me his dream. It became a joke between us. I may remember a dream for a short time, but it soon fades. I find it interesting that they have found that others like myself who have Aphantasia ( no mind's eye) still do dream in pictures.

Firenze

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

I find it disconcerting that at the moment of waking the busy dream world often vanishes so completely. You have maybe a word or an image which you think will recall it, but it's like trying to grab smoke.

Tree Bee

Firenze wrote: »

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

I find it disconcerting that at the moment of waking the busy dream world often vanishes so completely. You have maybe a word or an image which you think will recall it, but it's like trying to grab smoke.

But I sometimes find that as I settle to sleep I recall the previous night’s dream.

Puzzler

Sometimes I have had dreams which encompass all the people from the various situations I have been involved with: family, friends, colleagues - usually in pleasant if complicated scenarios, so I try to prolong these dreams.
Occasionally I have been really glad to wake up and realise I’ve been dreaming. I used to do voluntary work until Mr P died. Most recently in my dream I returned to the building, realised I hardly knew anybody, found the building had changed and was hard to negotiate, with many rickety stairs, low ceilings and other discomforts. That seems to confirm my decision not to go back!

NicoleMR

I frequently have dreams about my college. About going back as a returning student, not about being an undergrad. I enjoy these dreams a lot.

Aravis

I woke up this morning having just been dreaming that I was carrying my daughter on my hip - she would have been about 5 (she is actually 26) and trying to dissuade our vicar from buying her an overpriced cuddly toy which she didn’t need, from an expensive shop. No idea what was going on there.

Lamb Chopped

My ordinary dreams seem to include a heckuva lot of architecture, for some reason. You wouldn't expect that, given my life.

Eigon

I was wandering round a large, rambling building in my dream last night - there were lectures going on in some of the rooms, and occasional maps on the walls, with lights showing which rooms were being used.
In another part of my dream, I was being sent for auditions by a theatrical agent I'd just signed up with, and someone had sent me a bouquet!

ChastMastr

Conflicts with parents in mine last night, ugh.

Firenze

I had a tremendously literary dream in which I was trying to obtain a copy of Mrs Dalloway, which meant entering a complicated bookshop/library and obtaining a particular key to a reserved area. But the only copy - an illustrated one - was in very poor condition. However, I suborned a spare key that was lying about so that I could gain access when I wanted, while ostentatiously returning the bunch of keys to reception.

At least it made a change from strandings in strange cities, and morphing electronics.

Eigon

And last night I got a delivery of seven different sorts of gravel and pebbles for the garden, each with a different shape, that had to be put together like jigsaw pieces round the edge of each flower bed.

jedijudy

Over the last few months I had what I'm calling 'goodbye' dreams.

The first was about my late ex-husband. We were walking on a sidewalk along some storefronts. We were having such a nice conversation and I told him that was what I missed about him. Many years ago, I had forgiven him for the abuse I suffered from him, but the hurt feelings remained. After that dream, that hurt has been almost completely gone!

The other dream was just last week, and it was about my dad. I've had several dreams about him and my mom, which was actually comforting. In this dream, we were riding bicycles to the beach, and we stopped by an old poinciana or jacaranda tree that had a lot of limbs and branches on the ground. Mom and Dad started cleaning up the branches and Dad had a chainsaw that he used to cut some of the large broken limbs that were still on the tree. I was worried that we wouldn't make it to the beach before dark. Mom and I got on our bikes to leave and Dad said that he wouldn't be joining us. My heart hurt, but I knew it was the right thing for him to do. So, I'll see if he turns up in any of my dreams in the future!

fineline

I get dreams where I'm going back to somewhere I used to live, and there's an amazing second hand bookshop and I'm trying to find it, and I wake up before I find it. It is based on dreams rather than reality - this amazing bookshop has been part of past dreams, not reality. Or rather, it's an amalgamation of all the real life charity shops and second hand bookshops that I have been to and loved - something better and bigger than them all, and quite magical.

I also get a similar dream where I'm trying to find a really wonderful part of woodlands or gardens that I've been to in past dreams - again, based on an amalgamations of real life woodlands and gardens I've been to, but better and magical.

And then there is the dream that my Maths A level exam is approaching and I haven't been to the lessons, and the numbers mean nothing to me, just some strange confusing code, and I know it's too late and I'm going to fail. In reality, back when I did my A levels, I went to all the lessons and did well in the exams. I have a similar dream about writing my dissertation, where I realise I'll never be able to get it done and I will fail my degree. In reality, in the degrees I did, I did leave my dissertations to the last minute, but I still did well.

I also get a weird dream that I'm going back to school, and it's embarrassing, because I'm an adult, way older than the other pupils!

Graven Image

My son is an artist, and I had a dream that I was attending one of his shows, and a young man came up to me and said, "I see you like Image's art." He had a spiky, multi-colored hairdo, a plain white T-shirt, and a necktie . He said he was best friends with my son, which I found odd, as I had never heard of this person before. My son, on seeing me across the room, smiled, waved, and came over. The strange guy said,"Oh, is this your mother? I have been watching out for her. " My son said,"Who are you?" And I woke up. This is the strangest dream I have ever had, and I still remember it from last year.

Sparrow

Enoch wrote: »

I don't tend to remember dreams. However, at least three times in my life, I have dreamt that the house I was living in was bigger than it was, with more space, more interest and extra rooms. In one of the versions of the dream, there were extra little passages in the walls, sort of service passages, parallel to the rooms that were actually there.

I've had that sort of dream several times. I've been told that it's your subconscious telling you that you have unrecognised talents and potential you didn't know about.

Sandemaniac

I've never forgotten browsing a book on dreams my sister borrowed from the library.

One entry was "to dream of currying a horse". I immediately thought of the world's biggest Indian meal! (I assume they meant combing a horse with a curry comb)

I very, very rarely remember my dreams, I mostly just wake up and think "What the **** did I have to drink last night?" because they tend to be wildly surreal.

Firenze

Sparrow wrote: »

Enoch wrote: »

I don't tend to remember dreams. However, at least three times in my life, I have dreamt that the house I was living in was bigger than it was, with more space, more interest and extra rooms. In one of the versions of the dream, there were extra little passages in the walls, sort of service passages, parallel to the rooms that were actually there.

I've had that sort of dream several times. I've been told that it's your subconscious telling you that you have unrecognised talents and potential you didn't know about.

That's the standard interpretation- I could do with the Unconscious being a bit more obvious about what talents (I'm pretty sure I know mine by now).

@fineline your compilation dreams sound lovely.

Last night featured a tutor from university days, plus a neighbour from across the street - both now dead, and no connection- bar that - between them. Also a stone cliff faced with blue slabs that was in the process of collapsing.

fineline

Sparrow wrote: »

Enoch wrote: »

I don't tend to remember dreams. However, at least three times in my life, I have dreamt that the house I was living in was bigger than it was, with more space, more interest and extra rooms. In one of the versions of the dream, there were extra little passages in the walls, sort of service passages, parallel to the rooms that were actually there.

I've had that sort of dream several times. I've been told that it's your subconscious telling you that you have unrecognised talents and potential you didn't know about.

I've had that dream a lot too. It's always disappointing to wake up to my boring little home! But I think I already know I have unrealised potential - it seems quite common in autistic people, where organisational/processing/multitasking difficulties can make basic survival a challenge, taking all your energy, despite talent that could in theory have been used (if you had a personal organiser person who did all that other stuff for you!).

Though I wonder if the dream is also influenced by all those books one reads in childhood of kids exploring old houses and finding secret passageways and tunnels - all very exciting and magical to read as a kid, capturing the imagination. I tend to think my adult mind is remembering this and wondering why I haven't encountered it yet!

Firenze

I remember my first attempt at fiction began 'The children came to the gates of the old house'. It never got beyond that, but hey, I was five. Subsequent fiction writing has also tended to end up in a large, old and rambling house. One novel, it was the main character - it was a timeslip narrative in which the characters ended up in various configurations often related to different outcomes for the building.

Eigon

There's a manor house in South Wales, Llancaiach Fawr, that really does have a lot of interesting secret passages - when the new grand staircase was put in, they just blocked up the old narrow staircases at both ends!

Last night, part of my dream involved wading across a muddy meadow - but I know where that came from, because I was watching a video about Runnymede and Magna Carta, and they made the point about how squelchy the meadow was!

fineline

Eigon wrote: »

There's a manor house in South Wales, Llancaiach Fawr, that really does have a lot of interesting secret passages - when the new grand staircase was put in, they just blocked up the old narrow staircases at both ends!

Last night, part of my dream involved wading across a muddy meadow - but I know where that came from, because I was watching a video about Runnymede and Magna Carta, and they made the point about how squelchy the meadow was!

Ha, I've walked in that meadow and it can get very squelchy when there's lots of rain. I've never dreamed about it though. I find my dreams are often a very surreal combination of things I've encountered during the day, and ideas I've thought about.

Nenya

I dream every night although I don't always remember what. I have worry dreams about things going on in the family - if it's an upcoming event I will often dream about it and then wake up and realise it is all still to do... I was having that dream a lot about our son's recent wedding.

I have the usual recurring dreams about being about to take an exam and realising I haven't done any revision, or being in the wings of a stage about to go on and realising I haven't learnt any lines. I also have a recurring dream about having the care of a baby (not my own) or, more usually, a small animal - I know exactly what's needed to look after it properly but the people around me don't recognise that and won't give me what I need or, in some cases, hurt the animal because they don't even see it.

Another thread was talking about premonitions and many years ago my mum had one about her first husband. One night in a dream she went to the desert (and was surprised by the fact there was scrubby vegetation there and not just sand) and her husband was on the ground with blood coming from, she thought, his head. A few days later the telegram arrived to say he'd been killed in action.

A couple of nights ago I must have been dreaming about my mum; I can't remember the dream but when I woke up I had to remind myself that she's dead.

Diomedes

I find that kind of dream particulaly upsetting. In my dreams I can hear my parent's voices so clearly and they sound exactly right and familiar - but when I'm awake I struggle to re-call them.

Alan29

I am one of those strange people who never remember their dreams. My wife sometimes wakes me up because I have thrashing around and calling out during a nightmare and I have no knowledge of the dream.
Anyone else?

Boogie

I dream a lot and vividly. I always make sure I forget them as they invariably feature me lost in crazy situations I can't escape from. Very frustrating!

Eigon

I dream in full colour - and I've been making a conscious effort to remember my dreams because of this thread.
Last night was a fun one. There was a bright pink vintage car, open-top - the sort that would fit about 8 people in the back. It was miniaturised to about six inches long, and was trying to find a way across a very overgrown garden.

fineline

I went through a stage of writing/drawing my dreams when I woke up, which I found very interesting to look back on. Trouble is, the more I did this, the more I remembered when I woke up, so I would be filling pages and pages of one night of dreams. So I stopped, because it took a long time and felt like a chore.


I know that the dreams I had last night were interesting, and I have a vague sense of them, and the feelings and thoughts they elicited, but the details elude me - like when you forget a word, but it's on the tip of your tongue. If I'd written them down, though, I would still remember them, because I would also remember the act of writing them.

Puzzler

Last night I had the best quality sleep for a long time and I unaware if I had any dreams. I think my dreams sometimes wake me. I don’t remember most of my dreams, I think, unless they wake me up.

Lamb Chopped

fineline wrote: »

I went through a stage of writing/drawing my dreams when I woke up, which I found very interesting to look back on. Trouble is, the more I did this, the more I remembered when I woke up, so I would be filling pages and pages of one night of dreams. So I stopped, because it took a long time and felt like a chore.


I know that the dreams I had last night were interesting, and I have a vague sense of them, and the feelings and thoughts they elicited, but the details elude me - like when you forget a word, but it's on the tip of your tongue. If I'd written them down, though, I would still remember them, because I would also remember the act of writing them.

That's the kind of thing I'd use voice typing for, as long as I didn't mind a few typos.

Aravis

I can’t really get my head around anyone not dreaming in colour. What does it look like? Like a black and white film? Or just not very clear images?
Sometimes I dream in very clear and specific colour, which usually means I need to pay attention to something in the dream.

fineline

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

Lamb Chopped

That's fascinating--I envy you, sometimes!

fineline

Well, what happens when a song pops into my head is that I start singing it, with no conscious awareness of the fact I've started singing. I realise when I'm into the song and then I am surprised and wonder why I'm singing it, and I usually realise it has a theme that is related to whatever I was thinking about.

Though somehow my subconscious has the awareness to not do this as work or in a busy public place, but I do it at home and also when I'm walking along somewhere, or at the bus stop. Generally it happens when I think I'm alone, but sometimes I realise I'm not and people have heard me. So then I feel a bit self conscious and stop.

An interesting one lately was I found myself singing 'Love Changes Everything.' It was after I'd been listening to 'Non so più cosa son cosa faccio' on repeat the day before. I asked ChatGPT about it, and it told me ways in which these two songs are similar, and even made a diagram.

Nick Tamen

fineline wrote: »

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.

When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.

Still is, if I’m honest.

ChastMastr

Nick Tamen wrote: »

fineline wrote: »

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.

When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.

Still is, if I’m honest.

If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…

My parents have been showing up in my dreams a lot lately but that’s not abnormal for me. I will say that usually we’re on better terms than we were in real life. Here’s hoping that it’s showing some kind of positive development in the afterlife for them…

Nenya

ChastMastr wrote: »

Nick Tamen wrote: »

fineline wrote: »

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.

When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.

Still is, if I’m honest.

If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…

So would I.

When I had an extended period of counselling some years ago we did quite a lot of work on dreams. If one seems particularly significant (very detailed and brightly coloured) I write it down and it's often in the writing that I realise things I hadn't noticed before. I'm in a phase at the moment of having busy (and occasionally slightly disturbing) dreams which I forget as soon as I wake up.

Nick Tamen

ChastMastr wrote: »

Nick Tamen wrote: »

fineline wrote: »

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.

When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.

Still is, if I’m honest.

If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…

Nenya wrote: »

ChastMastr wrote: »

Nick Tamen wrote: »

fineline wrote: »

I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.

I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.

When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.

Still is, if I’m honest.

If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…

So would I.

It was Gott ist nur Liebe:

Gott ist nur Liebe.
Wagt, für die Liebe alles zu geben.
Gott ist nur Liebe.
Gebt euch ohne Furcht.

“God is only love.
Dare to give everything for love.
God is only love.
Give (or surrender) yourselves without fear.”


Suffice it to say that, particularly in the context of the dream as a whole, it resonated with me, and continues to resonate with me, as the answer I’d get if I were the one asking Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Still working on it.

Gamma Gamaliel

Last night I dreamt I was a TV presenter about to interview Sir Keir Starmer. In the dream he'd refused to see some protestors who were trying to remonstrate with him about something or other.

So we'd invited them into the studio so they could ambush him on live TV. They were in a phalanx against the wall hiding their faces behind placards and in some instances riot shields for some inexplicable or ominous reason so they could surprise him when he arrived.

At the end of the dream, Starmer ascended into the studio from below via a spiral staircase and as the TV show's theme music plated and the studio audience applauded, I stepped forward to greet him and to shake his hand, luring him into the trap ...

I had a sudden pang of remorse, realising that it was a set-up. Instead of going through with the staged ambush, I wanted to warn him off ...

At that point I woke up.

I often get dreams about my late wife. She appears calm and benign, discussing things over a cup of tea. Then I wake up and she isn't there.

Sometimes she wants a cwtch, as we'd say in South Wales and when I go to cuddle her she disappears.

The other night she complained that I don't visit her so much these days and why didn't I want to cuddle her?

'But you are not there ... and ... and I'm seeing someone else,' my dream-self said. Then I awoke. Then she was gone.

Those dreams are the hardest to bear.