Who here hates to dream?

[AtmaWeapon]

I didn't dream for something like the past 4 or 5 years. It's pretty easy to stop yourself from dreaming, though it wasn't through conscious effort on my part as you can guess from the methodology. Basically, the two paragraphs I just deleted pointed out that in college, I slept maybe 3 hours a night and didn't stay asleep long enough to have a dream. Now, I have a lovely partner keeping me fairly regular with respect to bedtime so I have an extra 3 or 4 hours of sleep, and the dreams have come.

My dreams are weird, illogical messes but disturbing as that is to me, it's not why I hate to dream. As disorenting as it is to travel distances of hundreds of miles, exiting doors and ending up in places that don't make sense, then going back into somewhere different entirely, I've grown used to that kind of dream. Lately my dreams have taken a turn for continuity, and it's not a good kind. There's two sets: the mansion and the chaser.

Some time ago, I had a dream about a mansion. People lived in it during the day, but never went to it at night because of strange noises and activity. Why did they live in two houses? Ask my subconscious. Anyway, of course I had to explore the mansion at night, and it was creepy. I cannot explain it except for it had everything common to creepy old houses in scary movies: huge rooms, aging furniture, wilted gardens, stained glass windows, gothic architecture both inside and out, etc. I don't remember many details anymore other than this one big room that was where the dream ended, but I do remember waking up at 2 AM alone and horrified. I laid there for an hour too afraid to move, and eventually fell back asleep. Since then, I dream about the same house probably once every other week. It's never the same dream exactly, but once I get to the house it's always horrifying. There was the time I was a courier to a man who lived there and I stumbled upon a room the ghosts did not want me to find. Oh God the basement one was accompanied by this awful scream that left me awake and afraid to get out of bed for an hour and a half; I still hear it and it didn't help that our guinea pigs made a racket halfway through. Most recently (in the dream... sorry but the context seemed lost here), I was exploring a town where my great-grandmother grew up (probably influenced by her recent passing) with my wife, when we stumbled upon the house. This dream has affected me so much that literally in the dream I said "Oh God it's this dream again!" but since I have rarely been able to control my dreams I was stuck for the ride. It ended abruptly as the ghost, pissed that I had actually managed to have someone else witness its presence, was chucking a rack of kitchen knives at me. I woke up at 2:22 (evoking weird memories of Eternal Darkness though that was 3:33) and didn't fall asleep again for an hour. What's odd is that the introduction to the house is different each time, and like Castlevania the innards of the house are generally appropriate for the introduction, but every time I reach it I am instantly alone and I remember each of the previous dreams.

The other one is less frequent but more common; it's only odd in that it always involves a mall and elevators. Something is chasing me; in early incarnations I was a secret agent or something and it was "bad guys", but lately my mind is not so creative and I don't even know what's chasing me other than that it is, and it's close. Generally I start out with a group of people in a mall or hotel; it's typically people I know as if it's the past and we're on a school field trip or something. At some point I board an elevator, and this is when the dream changes. I always board the elevator alone. The elevator always gets stuck. I always have to climb out of the elevator, at which point I find out I'm being chased. I tend to display superhuman powers such as ridiculous jumping ability and safe falls from heights, but I think this is because the part of my mind that dreams has very little respect for reality and it will put me where it wants me even if it has to perform a jarring teleport and restart the dream. Much like the mansion dream, once I realize I'm being chased I am completely alone in the dream. Don't believe what they say about if you are falling from a building in a dream and you hit the ground you die. I tried a GTA-esque ramp of a car from a parking garage to escape whatever was chasing me once and was thrown from the car 8 stories up. You hit the ground, it knocks the breath out of you, then you wake up and you're paralyzed with fear.

All of this seems to indicate sleep paralysis or night terrors, and I'm starting to pay more attention to the day to try and figure out if there's a trigger. Does anyone else have frequent nightmares or experiences like this?

This is part of the reason why I'm posting big internet threads at midnight. I do not want to know what sleep holds for me just yet.

[Shazza Dani]

I like to have good dreams, but mine are sometimes gorey and disturbing. I don't dream very often though, because I usually don't get enough sleep, or I wake up frequently.

[rock_nog]

Personally, I love my dreams and I don't know what I'd do without them. They're always so bizarre and vivid. It's the purest, most exciting form of escapism I know. Just a few nights ago, I dreamed that I was J.D. from "Scrubs" (really, aside from the whole doctor thing, I might as well be J.D.). And in THAT dream, I had a dream AS J.D. Then I went to work, and I swear, the whole thing easily could've been an episode of "Scrubs." I even had an audible internal monologue, which was pretty sweet.

Then there was the dream I had about giant marshmallows from outer space attacking the Earth and devouring everything in their path. It was so cool. Eventually they used a giant microwave beam to make the marshmallows explode. I really want to make that into a movie, eventually. It'd be awesome. I even came up with a freakin' awesome title: Mars-mallows. Then another time, I had a dream about a reality show called "Who wants to be a megalomaniac?" in which contestants competed in various challenges such as leading incompetent minions and building a doomsday weapon to determine who's the best supervillain. I'm always getting inspiration from dreams like that. Just have a dream and I wake up and I'm like "That would make an awesome movie. Or TV show. Or book."

Oh, and sometimes, they're just freaky, like the time I dreamed that I was in the Matrix, and a partner and I fought two Agents. I manage to take out one of the Agents with a submachine gun when he was distracted, then bashed his head in with a wrench, but the other one killed my partner. Then we fought, and eventually I knocked him into a deep pit that was nearby. Since my partner was dead, we had to abort the mission. So a nearby phone rang - I went and answered it, and the moment I did, I woke up.

Though I do understand what you mean. A couple of years back, I just kept having these horrible, disturbing, gory nightmares. Just absolutely horrible things that I've never even seen in a movie. There was one involving an old insane asylum. Turns out, the doctors had been performing sick, twisted experiments on the patients, revolving around mutual blood transfusion. There were dozens of tables, and a body on each one. Each patient was connected to a doctor with tubes. Something had gone wrong, though, and they were all dead. There was blood everywhere. I woke up just absolutely shaken. Then there was the one where I found myself in a room made of gore. Guts and bones actually formed the room. I was standing literally knee-deep in blood filled with guts and half-rotten bodies. Then suddenly, those bodies started coming back to life. I couldn't go back to sleep after that one.

[Shyvus]

There's something about dreams that I love. I have nightmares often, frequently to the point of waking up screaming (Yelping? Whatever. Making loud noises) but the ones that aren't that have a ethereal quality to them. The ones that are terrifying... I have to respect my head for coming up with that stuff. Jeebus, I can't believe half the stuff it comes up with. It's nuts.

I understand what you mean by continuity though. My dreams are usually a cracked-out reflection on my day/week/current events mixed in with some memories while tripping on the best stuff ever. I love the dreaming, not so much for the content.

[Dechipher]

I hate dreaming about peeing myself.
Because then I do it.

[Brasel]

Atma, I'm sorry to make light of your awful dream, but it sounds really cool. I love having dreams. My recurring dream is more of a recurring theme in my dreams...tornadoes. I always dream about having to run away from tornadoes. Another recurring theme is that in almost every dream I have, I am able to fly. Its so realistic to me that I almost take it for granted when I'm in my dreams. Its almost as natural to me as walking is, and I often do it just to show off.

[Shyvus]

I hate dreaming about peeing myself.
Because then I do it.

When I was little, my parents told me that sort of thing would happen.

I have since forced myself awake from every dream involving those matters.

[rock_nog]

Atma, I'm sorry to make light of your awful dream, but it sounds really cool. I love having dreams. My recurring dream is more of a recurring theme in my dreams...tornadoes. I always dream about having to run away from tornadoes. Another recurring theme is that in almost every dream I have, I am able to fly. Its so realistic to me that I almost take it for granted when I'm in my dreams. Its almost as natural to me as walking is, and I often do it just to show off.
Running from tornadoes is a recurring theme in my dreams, too. Weird. Though not as weird as when I was a very young kid, and had these recurring dreams involving tornadoes that would cause cats to explode. The tornado didn't even have to suck up the cat or anything - it was just, if the tornado was nearby, cats would explode.

As for peeing, that's weird. I sometimes have dreams involving me peeing myself, but nothing ever seems to come of it. Usually I'll have to pee really badly after waking up, but not once have my fears about those dreams proven founded.

[Grasshopper]

I had a tornado dream once, but the tornado was really a giant arabian monkey on a cloud spinning around really quickly. And I hopped on my tricycle and pedaled my way up to the monkey and started tossing toilet paper rolls at him to defeat him, but when he started throwing stuff back at me, I had to hide in an undground bunker which I was chased out of by my zombie aunt because I wouldn't bring her any coffee.

Or the time I found myself in a large garden with pink elephants, and purple pandas and other pastel colored animals singing songs and holding hands while dancing. The sun and flowers all had smiley faces and cheerful music played in the background as they all danced to the music.

Yup, I love my dreams.:googly:

[Aegix Drakan]

Wow Atma...sounds pretty rough...

I've had my fair share of nightmares. A lot of them involving me being accused of a crime I didn't commit and then being killed for it, or just being hunted down and killed for fun by some terribly evil person. Oh, and the occaisional demon/undead/shadow figure coming from a dark place in my house, and slowly walking towards me to kill me, while I end up not bein gable to run away (my feet won't grip the ground.) also happens, and scares the hebejeebies out of me.

...About your dreams...if you can't find the trigger for themm may I suggest you attempt lucid dreaming? (it's having the knowledge that you're dreaming, and bein gable to change the dream). It's easier than you think. Still requires a good deal of commitment, but it's not too hard. Simply perform "reality checks" on a regular basis during the day, especially when you see something unusual. Just stop, and ascertain whether you're dreaming or not. Look at a clock, look away, and then look at it again (look for a random change in the time), and look for other "Dream signs" lights not turning on, other technology acting weird, etc). This "habit" will eventually carry over into your sleep, and you'll be able to become lucid. I've tried this, and it works.

OH! And that reminds me. If you need a quick escape in a dream, there is a quick and easy way to completely randomise any dream. Simply spin around quickly several times, so that everything becomes blurred. When you stop spinning, everything should have randomised.

It saved me once. I was dreaming I was in my house at night alone, and I noticed that the lights in my room wouldn't turn on. Realizing I was dreaming, I quickly realized that that environment was a perfect place for a "creature walks out of a dark place and tries to murder me" dream. So, I tried that spinning trick, and I ended up in some weird basement with a bunch of people drinking champagne. I walked out the door, and then I ende dup in a dream of starcraft (which I hadn't played in YEARS).

...So, the spinning thing works.

[Master Ghaleon]

I love to dream. Some of them get a little bit weird but they are pretty cool. I had a dream about 5 years ago, after my step-dad died that was kinda strange.

I was at some hotel/casino playing the Roulette table with a few people and all the sudden some guy came up to me and said "There is someone that wants to speak to you in the room over there" So I leave the table and go in this office room. Sitting on the other side of the table was my step-dad. Now I was kinda shaken to see him since he just died and he is alive in my dream. He told me to sit down and explained to me that everything is going to be alright, to not worry about him. He said that he was doing good and that we will see each other again. When I woke up I had tears running down my face, like I was crying in my sleep.

So a few weeks go by, I didnt tell anyone about my dream. I goto my sister and tell her the dream that I had. She said that she had almost the exact same dream around the same time I had mine. As soon as I heard that I went to my other sister and she had the same dream too. Jen's dream took place at work, and Megan's at school.

[rock_nog]

Spinning around changes dreams? So weird that you should have a dream involving being in your house at night alone that involved spinning. I had a dream like that once - it was dark, and I was really unnerved, so I tried turning on the lights, but it didn't work. I freaked out, and ran back to my room. I looked out into my back yard, and standing outside my window was an alien. It was one of those grey, bug-eyed bastards. It had some sort of a wand in its hand, which it pointed at me. It made me fall down, and then, lying on the ground, I started spinning rapidly. As I was spinning, I started to rise into the air. Then I woke up.

Really, it was a lot like that battle between Saruman and Gandalf in "Fellowship." The weird part was, I had the dream years before "Fellowship" came out. When I first saw the movie, my immediate reaction at that scene was "Dear God, Peter Jackson is plagiarizing my dreams!"

[Aegix Drakan]

Uh...Rock nog...I spun around in the dream because I heard about that spinning trick. So, in order to escape a potential nightmare location, I spun around, and it worked.

I think the reason it works is because if you lose sight of something in a dream, it usually vanishes. So if you lose sight of EVERYTHING...the dream tries to resolve itself, and the dream is completely randomised.

[Blisspath]

I love to dream and since I take melatonin to sleep, I generally have very vivid dreams. My creative writing teacher made us keep a journal for a whole semester on our dreams and its something I have been doing off and on since high school. I'm starting to convert them to my online journal so that they will not get lost. I am a follower of Jungian psychology and believe that our dreams do tell us something about ourselves..many times it is something that we are unable to deal with in the waking hours.
http://www.netreach.net/~nhojem/dreamq.htm

[rock_nog]

No no, I got that - just thought it was funny, even though we were spinning for completely different reasons.

[Zelda_Warrior]

I dream a lot, and my dreams are usually pretty uneventful, its usually just me alone walking around looking around somewhere, of course with twists in the dream

This one time i had a dream of a hooded person with a scythe chasing me in my house and then it was coming for me, then i woke up and i was facing the closet in my bedroom and it was early morning, and when i woke up i knew i was woken up of course, but for a split second i thought that the closet door was the hooded person because i didnt quite come to my senses yet, it was really freaky

I sleep on my side and if i sleep with my head facing a closer wall then i have nightmares that night, and if i face the other way, i dont have nightmares. The closet door is on the closer wall, and whenever i wake up from a nightmare im facing that wall, and of course i dont want nightmares so i sleep facing the other way, but when i have nightmares is when i turn in my sleep to face the other wall, its like i never have them unless i face that wall

It's been like that in every house ive ever slept in, the closer wall gives me nightmares, it's been like that as long as i remember, and i figured it out when i was like 5 years old, and its still like that to this day for me

[bigjoe]

I once had a dream in which a hooded figure was looming over me and I was unable to move. He drew closer and closer and I knew his intentions weren't good. I eventually got so excited by it that I woke up, though. Just recently I had another dream in which there was a cloud of darkness swirling above me and diving at me, seeming to drain my life force each time it did it.That dream was the scariest. The thing reminded me of a dementor from Harry Potter but was much more scary. I tend to dislike my dreams lately. Although I've had dreams that made me feel as though I had them for a good reason. Like this one where I seemed to see blueprints of the entire universe in motion. Or this one where I witnessed a plant growing. Dreams can be eerie simulations.

[Aegix Drakan]

Bigjoe, those first two things you mentioned were probably a case of sleep paralysis. (your mind is awake, but your body is alseep. Most people have scary hallucinations in that state)

[The_Amaster]

About 30% of the dreams I have are what you could call nightmares, and they all follow the same formula.
I'm always in some big location like my school, or a mall, or some place from a video game. I'm always being pursued by one or more people trying to kill me, and I'm always accompanied by a mixture of my school friends and fictional characters.
It's like adrenaline, pulse pounding run and hide and seek type stuff, and I always wake up with my heart going crazy.
In some peverse way I enjoy them though. It's like living a good suspense movie.

[Mitsukara]

My dreams never make any sort of sense. Like, they aren't substantial enough to my comprehension and memory that they can be pieced together. They're just really fuzzy impressions of regurgitated memories with me. Like I'll remember something random during the day, or something that stresses me out, but that's it.

I think it has something to do with really piss poor sleep quality related to constant sinus blockage and bad habits/irregularity of sleep schedule.

On a very rare occasion I have a dream that has some kind of cohesiveness, but almost never are they recurring or connected, and they typically don't make a whole lot of sense anyway. I'll go somewhere, talk to someone, and that'll be about the gist of it. I remember having more complex and fantasy-based dreams as a child... like one where I was the girl hero from Dragon Quest IV, and I was fighting little green worms that kept splitting smaller and smaller, and I chased them through a hole in the living room wall (but for some reason I liked this dream, it was fun). Or the one where I was looking at my body from an outside perspective, and I could see inside there was this weird green soupy nasty stuff, and I touched it slightly and realized I'd just killed myself (???).

Or the one where I was really little and I saw an image of what I think was either my mind's representation of Einstein or possibly a leftover memory of the guy playing Mark Twain in the "Time's Arrow" episode of Star Trek TNG, sitting in the floor of a shuttlecraft (obviously also from Star Trek), with two guys (I think it was the doctor from Deep Space Nine and Miles O'Brian) standing beside him... but he (the Einstein/Twain guy) was sitting on the floor in this weird generic arms-straight-down, legs-straight-out position and had glowing red eyes. WTF. That wasn't the only dream about glowing red eyes, either, I remember another dream when I was really young where I was in the back seat of my grandma's car, looking out, and there was a guy- almost surely a cashier bringing groceries out to the car- who looked really menacing and his eyes glowed kinda orange/red, like redeye in a photograph. Then the little black lines on the back windshield started glowing orange too. Scared the crap out of me, of course (literally or not I don't recall, I was about the right age for that sort of thing though).

My dreams suck mostly.

On a rare occasion I'll have some kind of dream that makes sense. Like when I was staying in Kansas City during the summer one year, I kept having dreams where I was back in Texas, and I'd wake up relieved realizing I wasn't. I also had a couple dreams about Robert (balzac) that made sense... those were kind of nice in a sad way. Such dreams are extremely rare for me though.

[Feasul]

I've used the spinning thing to stay inside dreams I didn't want to wake up from. It's hard to do it, though, because I usually don't know that I'm dreaming, and once I figure it out I wake up before I can do it. I think it works because we basically lose our short term memory while in REM sleep, so as Aegix pointed out, when we lose sight of something we forget about it.

I usually like my dreams. Sometimes I'll get scary ones, but usually it's something cool, like I'll be able to fly or something. Flying works kinda differently in my dreams. I don't really fly so much as levitate when I jump. But, not really levitating, either. I can just postpone hitting the ground. It's weird. But it's cool. Then sometimes I hit the jackpot and have a sex dream. Those things are awesome. I am the greatest lover in the world in my dreams. Now if only I could figure out my technique. :tongue:

[Icey]

Supposedly we dream every night, right? But if we "didn't dream" it's just that we don't remember it?

I dunno, I've had about one dream I can remember in the last six years. It was boring and not really worth discussing. Sometimes I wish I could dream, others I don't. Then again, I usually wish I could sleep (I get like 3-4 hours a night, even when I go to bed early, I just stay up trying to sleep forever. -_-)

[Skulkraken]

Yeah, people dream almost every night, often multiple dreams in the same night. It's just that we generally don't remember what happens in the dream unless it gets interrupted somehow. You could go on an epic adventure or do something really amazing, and not remember a single bit of it if a new dream kicks in. It's why the dreams we do remember are the ones we have right before waking up.

Personally, I love my dreams. Most of the time, they're remixes of various video games that I've played before, like Castlevania, Metroid, and the Mario series, and sometimes ones my mind comes up with entirely on its own. I literally have dreams in 2D. It's like having a widescreen TV plugged directly into your brain. It's awesome, but it's also aggravating when I lose at my own game...

One non-2D dream I had felt like something out of X-Com. In my dream, I was part of a squad being sent to another planet to stop a group of aliens from taking over. The ship we were in got hit during the approach, so all of us had to bail and try to regroup on the surface. I got separated from my team, but came across another group of random people who also happened to be fighting the aliens. We teamed up, and took on our foes: the classic "greys" using their mind control to force a race of intelligent, car-driving dinosaurs into attacking us. It was awesome, and during the fight I found myself to be extremely skilled at dual-wielding pistols.