Mothra Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 I recently started writing down dreams and trying to analyze them as best I can. One theme I've noticed so far is my dream identity is very fluid. Sometimes it's as if I am the main character in the dream - things are happening to me and I am making decisions about what to do. And then it shifts to where am a different character in the dream. And then other times I shift to a pure spectator, where I am not a character at all but am instead watching the dream like a movie. Sometimes I go back and forth between these. And still other times, the entire dream is me watching it like a movie. Does anybody else have dreams like this? Any thoughts? I'm still new to this whole dream analysis thing, but this seems important to me.
neeeel Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 have you ever noticed that real life is often the way you described dream life in the OP?
Mothra Posted January 25, 2015 Author Posted January 25, 2015 Not really. Obviously some situations require a filter, but in real life I always feel like me. I often get frustrated that I can't be all of me all the time, or at least more of me more of the time. But in the dream it's like I am suddenly someone else completely (although I have memory of the person I previously was), and no one else sees it. Or I get zoomed out of the character I currently am to be the spectator and no one notices. The character goes on doing whatever they're doing as if I were possessing them. It feels very different from the slight variations one makes in their behavior throughout the day to conform to the appropriateness of the situation. Perhaps I'm being to literal. I don't know. It's confusing. I didn't realize it was happening until I started writing down the dreams and trying to keep up with the crazy plots.
neeeel Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 quite often I feel like I am a character in a movie, in real life. Quite often I feel like I am spectating my life. Quite often I notice that my character changes depending on situation and who I am with, in real life, ie my identity seems very fluid.
villagewisdom Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 That kind of information becomes really useful when you can identify the surrounding circumstances when you are observing, when you are someone else (and who is that someone else? what are their qualities?) and when you are yourself. The dream can reflect back to you how you lived while awake. There is much more to the dreams than you have put in the post so I can't say much more about what it means. I am seconding neeel's comment and illustration that the dreams reflect how you are characterizing your life during the day. For instance, even though you may not see yourself as acting as a different person in real life, you actually do it all the time. When you come in contact with someone and you are talking, it is easy to slip into one of your "meco" personalities. So that is where it becomes important to know who you were in the dream, what triggered the switch, what else was going on in the dream. Was it something you wanted and therefore wish to continue, or is it one of those places where you are looking to improve or change. Each dream is a whole story and each one is unique to what you are currently experiencing with hours or days of having the dream. Also, Matt D, who is a member here, is hosting skype sessions where we talk about dreams. That post is here. There is a dream group on Facebook here. We are just getting started but would like to see the group grow. Please check it out.
neeeel Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 the important thing is that none of these personalities ( dream or real life ones) are you. That is, there isnt a true you in hiding, waiting for the right moment to pop out. ALL the personalities are "fake", built up out of needs and beliefs, things that were taught to you or you learned over your life.
Mothra Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 Here is an example I thought I'd share. This dream occurred about a month ago after a day of being emotional and frustrated with my relationship. It's the last one I remembered a good amount of detail about. I apologize if the sexual content is not appropriate. My dream character keeps switching back between someone named Ida and myself. It is a zombie apocalypse. At night strange hybrid or mutated creatures run around. I am aware that they are viscious creatures and am afraid of them. One of them is some sort of cheetah with a superlong black tail that is very snake-like. Probably at least 15 feet long. I have a boyfriend in the compound where I am living. I sleep outside on a cot with a bunch of people, also on cots near a large grassy area. I have the impression that most of the zombie apocalypse has been contained/dealt with and we are just living in a “reconstruction” type situation. I am getting ready to sleep in the early night and I see one of the cheetahs run by in the distance and the tail slithers behind it. At this point in the dream I have a boyfriend, so I’m guessing I am the character, Ida. There’s a group of people who freeze like statues during the night. My boyfriend is one of them. I am mad at him. Him and two other men were being assholes. A group of children were playing with 3 or 4 colored balloons, batting them back and forth. The men take the balloons and proceed to play volleyball with them, using barbed wire as a net. Some of them pop. The barbed wire runs across the grassy area behind the compound. It this point, he is no longer my boyfriend, but Ida’s. I am furious at him about the balloon thing, and possibly some other reason. I get the impression there is a history between us being some kind of enemies. I start trying to punch him. He just laughs at me. I keep punching him in the arm and torso and face, but it doesn’t have any affect. I am too weak. He continues to laugh at me and taunt me. I keep trying. Somehow the position we are in has his head beneath my waist and he starts performing oral sex on me. Immediately I stop punching him, enjoying it. We eventually start having sex. He is getting close to orgasm. He tells me “you know if I get you pregnant the baby will be a zombie.” I understand that this means it will kill me from the inside out. He says he is almost there. I tell him to pull out. He says he needs one more push. I say to do it. He thrusts in one more time then pulls out. I get the feeling that he at least partially came inside me. He then freezes with his pants unbuttoned, along with the other frozen ones. I walk along the courtyard and see dozens of statue-like people, all frozen. Ida comes walking along and sees the boyfriend, frozen. She comes up to him, hugs him. Eventually she notices his pants are unbuttoned. She realizes he cheated on her with somebody. I think she suspects it was me. She is mad and also doesn’t understand why enemies would have sex with one another. The next scene is me and Ida’s boyfriend inside a building talking about Ida’s birthday. He has gotten her a book – at least an inch thick – and has had everybody in the compound sign it. He wants me sign it for her. He shows me where he has left little notes for her along the margins of one of the chapters. He says “you can have the next chapter,” wanting me to do the same thing. I don’t know what to say. I feel guilty that I’ve slept with this woman’s boyfriend. I feel confused as to why he would want me to sign a book for her, knowing that I must feel awkward about the situation. I take the book and the pen to write something anyway and then wake up.
TheW_nderer Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 It's so interesting to read these posts about lucid dreams, because I can never remember my dreams except for the last two which involved my ex. Is there some connection in the brain which would explain I would only remember these types of dreams? Also, how do you tap deeper into yourself to reach the level where your dreams are lucid and memorable?
Mothra Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 Not sure, but I have some thoughts. For one thing, I was extremely emotional at the time I had this dream. I had been ruminating and probably crying about my relationship for a couple of days before this. I think it may also have been a Friday or Saturday night, where I was allowed to wake up naturally the next morning. This was the dream I had just before I woke up. I find that an alarm clock or having to jump out of bed and do stuff seems to kill any memory of the dream. If I lay in bed for a while and just reflect on the dream, and then write it down right away I can remember them better. But that's hard to do on a week day.
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