Dream patterns

[LucyA]

Hi everyone,
My friends often ask me to tell them my craziest dream for amusement. I've always had bizarre dreams, and I often have no idea that my head could produce such things! (e.g. last night I dreamt my cat broke both his back legs and had full-length platform stilleto's attatched to help them heal. That's a relatively normal dream).

Also, every night I get at least one case where I am faced with having to crawl through a tiny doorway or hole and it's horrible. I was just wondering if any of you ever get this and whether you know if reccuring dreams are linked with anxiety?

xx

[Gryphoenix]

I've had tornado dreams on and off for years and a dream dictionary told me that it is representive of problems and real-life upheval. I noticed that whenever I'm feeling stressed or have a major problem: here comes the tornadoes! It's always funny looking back on it because I have a LOT of storm dreams and most of the time I don't realize I'm dreaming so it's scary in a way, but it's not as bad as a nightmare.

I also have lots of chasing dreams/running away dreams. It's usually something random chasing me, like agents from the matrix. However sometimes if it's on a postive notes I end up having fun running away like it's a game. I also have lots of 'getting lost' dreams set in places from my childhood and high school, like the place is all twisted and distored or surreal and I can't find my way or get back to my class, or I'm late for an assignment I didn't do. I chalk those up to anxiety too.

One of my recent dreams was when I was in an airport-ish mall place and I was with this guy from a TV show I like and we were jumping around trying not to get eaten by the escelators and moving walkways which were sucking up people left and right. Later on in the dream we realized that we were immune and couldn't get sucked up and it was all an elaborite exercise. Yes, it was random.

I have nutty dreams. And I love them. It's always an adventure and especially if I manage to lucid dream (acknowledge I'm dreaming) I can get myself go on some crazy adventures.

[flinty90]

i always have dreams where i am running but my legs for some reason dont work, and my main dream is trying to ring someoen on an old fashion dial phone but i can never put all number in correctly and have to keep starting again. it frustration and anxiety rolled into one. i hate those dreams..

[Dying_Swan]

Hello.

I often get weird dreams and can't always link them to anything rational. At other times, they are reasonably logical and it's easy to see where they came from.

There are times when I get a run of nasty dreams. My dad died when I was 19 (5 years ago) and for a long time after that, I had very distressing dreams - always taking on the same theme...that my dad was back, but dying of cancer all over again.

Then my step-mum died, and I had dreams about her too. I didn't get on with her, and those dreams were always that she'd come back, and I'd said all this awful stuff about her and she was back, from the dead almost.

But yes, I do often get really random dreams and I have no idea why. I personally have never linked them to anxiety, but I will have to keep a lookout now. I find that I have periods where I dream a lot, and then I don't dream at all for a while (I probably do but don't remember).

There are also times when my dreams are so real I find it hard to distinguish what I've dreamt and what really happened!

I totally understand what you said about having to climb through a small gap. I've had a lot of those and they are horrid. Also the ones where you have to run away and you can't run. I get a lot of deja-vu in dreams, if you know what I mean?

Bizarre things really xxx

[LucyA]

Hey,
I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad and stepmum Swan, but try to consider that dreams are a way of your mind making sense of your thoughts by replaying you to them. Reccuring dreams of your Dad dying probably just means your mind is trying to help you accept what happened.
It's nice to know I'm not alone with dreams that seem closely linked to anxiety! It's interesting, I can also lucid dream but about 70% of the time a lucid dream will lead to sleep paralysis and this is apparently linked to anxiety as well. Gryphoenix do you get sleep paralysis too?
I actually had it today when I had a nap...that'll teach me to sleep in the day :P

xx

[PUGLETMUM]

okay guys,well i have lots of dreaming too,and the only recurring one i have is of falling? i can fall off bridges or from heights into water or just into the bed,and i get ones that involve stairs where they become high and tricky, like they start to fall away and im frightened? not sure wha tthis means if anything?

but recently ive read on uncommonknowledge (i dont know how to do th elink thing so youll just have to put itin to your search engine )that dreaming is a result of ruminating!!! and i beleive it as i only get this constant dreaming when im thinking too much about everything and nothing - you know when your just going over and over the same old stuff and not getting anywhere?

also then that is linked to depression because we dont get a proper nights sleep,we are having too much dream sleepand not enough sleep sleep, so we are waking tired and anxious. well this makes sense to me anyway

[joelhall]

just remember, simply put: dreams are not literal interpretations of events, rather they are alegories of feelings and emotions in response to things. as in parables, they are used to give a vivid representation which appeals more to the person having the dream, for example rather than thinking of falling asleep when we were younger, we would dream of actually falling, a dream which didnt end as it was metaphorical, and represented the transition between stages of sleep depth.

for instance i had a disturbing dream where we were moving and ange was moving out, but placed a weight on neil in his push-chair.matter how hard i tried i could not lift this off and i was all alone and panicking. and neil was struggling waving his arms under it but carrying on as normal.

this was a clear representation that i feel powerless to give help to him, and that he has been taken from me, and for all i try i cannot help my family when there is weight on them (not just neil).

as i say, its all alegory.

hope this helps though i doubt it haha

[Gryphoenix]

It's nice to know I'm not alone with dreams that seem closely linked to anxiety! It's interesting, I can also lucid dream but about 70% of the time a lucid dream will lead to sleep paralysis and this is apparently linked to anxiety as well. Gryphoenix do you get sleep paralysis too?
I actually had it today when I had a nap...that'll teach me to sleep in the day :P

xx

Hmm, I've never really had sleep paralysis at least that I can remember. Ah, I'm scared now, lol, knock on wood. My brother's had it though. I've fallen out of a dream before, if that's close to anything. I was dreaming slightly lucidly and wanted 'out' and I felt like I fell through the bottom of the dream like in a videogame once I accidentally glitched it and fell through the bottom of the game. And I literally felt like I fell into my bed and woke up with a start.

Sorry to hear about your loss Swan too. When my aunt's dog died I had the strangest reoccuring dreams about him (I was quite close to the pup) and in the dreams he would be fine and the I'd suddenly remember that he died and weird scary things would happen like the dog becoming a skeleton and walking around and stuff. But I too think it's more of a healing thing until I realized that he was really 'gone.' Now if he's in a dream I have I kind of just let it go and let the dog play around in the dream instead of balking, running away or getting scared, which kind of represents to me that I've accepted that he's gone. I know it's a tiny thing compared to what you've been through but I thought it interesting how dreams deal with this kind of thing.

[Bill]

I'm also very sorry to hear about your loss Swan. I lost my father the same way exactly 2 years ago. I supported my mother through his illness so I can understand what you must have gone through. I still miss him terribly and sometimes I have vivid dreams as if he's alive again then wake up in tears realising it was just a dream.

Dreams can be terrifying. I used to have being chased or falling dreams. The worst dreams I had were while I was on medication. I used to shout out in my sleep because I thought someone was about to harm me.

I think our dreams are always trying to tell us something about our state of mind. Sometimes it's just indigestion! Don't eat cheese before going to bed! The chasing, squeezing through gaps, are all to do with trapped feelings, trying to escape our stresses and fears. The falling I think is to do with a fear of losing control and everything crashing down around us. They're only my own personal thoughts on it because that's how I've interprested my own.

[Dying_Swan]

Oooh this thread is fascinating!

Gryphoenix - I was very interested (although sorry) to hear about your Aunt's Dog. I can relate to it so much....especially the bit about him turning into a skeleton etc. I've had dreams like that about my dad and they were very disturbing. Touch wood, I've not had one of those in a long while. I am sure you are right and it can be explained by your feelings regarding what has happened

Bill - I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your dad too. It must have been very painful for you, but I am certain he would be very proud of you I agree with what you say about Dreams telling us about how we are feeling - mostly. The 'trying to squeeze through gaps' types are most odd, and I am interested that you think it is related to trying to escape fears. I will bear that one in mind!

What I don't understand, at all, is the totally random, bizarre and illogical dreams....like Lucy's cat wearing stillettoes! Perhaps it's all just a mismatch of thoughts, emotions and nerve impulses. I have no idea!

xxx