List of dream experiences... anyone who can relate??

[Superbob]

Hello, I am pretty new here so I still have so many things I would like to share with all of you.

This post I want to talk about some very common experiences for me in dreams. Because I noticed nobody mentioned a lot of these yet
which I am really surprised of... because I thought these were really common concepts in dreams. So, now I am curious to read who can relate to any of these... feel free to let me know your thoughts...

1: not being able to comprehend or pinpoint a persons identity. Even while knowing you know this person, still being unable to identify him or her.

2: people you know changing into other people you know in the middle of an event as if they merge or blend over/into each other... while at the same time you don't even notice anything suspicious. As if it all makes sense.

3: people you know being split into multiple sides or versions, usually representing different perceptions of that person in very abstract and intuitive ways.

4: interacting with people that lack identity... as if they are just an abstract shell, a kind of empty template of a person, or just like very empty lifeless generic N PCs in games.

5: I almost never talk in my dreams. Nor does anyone else I interact with. It is almost always a silent movie in which everything is communicated by actions... or information is just spawning as "generally known" out of nowhere. As if nothing needs to be said, I just feel and know peoples intentions automatically as if it is the most normal thing ever.

6: The very unsettling feeling of slightly paralyzed legs, not being able to walk, run or even crawl in the controlled and easy way you're used to. very Frustrating and hard to define what it exactly is preventing you from moving forward.

7: Automatically recognizing patterns in your dreams and using this to become more and more lucid every time they reoccur.

8: Using a state of lucid awareness in your advantage by intentionally finding loopholes in patterns you don't like experiencing... for example: sliding sideways or running backwards instead of just normal running because it works better when you notice you have this paralyzed feelings again.

9: Dreaming so lucid that you want to keep controlling your dream... trying to force yourself to keep dreaming things you want to dream causing you to wake up all the way because you're triggering your consciousness too much to keep sleeping.

 

[unclesirbobbyrobson]

Well dreams use symbols such as feeling paralyzed to pinpoint key intuitions and feelings. Many dreams are in the here and now as we think through feelings about the day just passed and thoughts about the day to come. For instance the paralyzed dream could portray a thought such as "yesterday I just could not function. I had no control at all. " Try this page for paralyzed dreams PARALYZED DREAMS

1: not being able to comprehend or pinpoint a persons identity. Even while knowing you know this person, still being unable to identify him or her. Such a dream may be metaphor for a person you cannot understand properly. Try to se what such a dream could portray properly. When you have a dream try to write down in a diary the key feelings and intuitions that come to mind. A dream is a symbolic version of your thoughts. The message from any dream will be passed onto your conscious mind. It is just hidden in symbols and metaphors.

I do not have lucid dreams so I don't know about them too much. They are a very real thing though as studies have shown that different parts of the mind are lit up during lucid dreams.

 

[PaulKH]

Hello, Bob. I personally enjoy seeing commonalities and then analyzing how they differ from person to person (or instance), because the thrill of discovery also lies in the details, the nuance.

There could be plenty of reasons why people don't talk about some of your points, starting with the assumption that because they are "common" that they aren't noteworthy, which I think isn't true because evaluating differences is how you gain that level of insight unavailable to those who just dismiss things into boxes or categories without considering that insights lie in the small deviations, not in the common "type". I have personally witnessed *no end* to the amount of differences in dreams that are similar, nor have I seen any evidence that "categories" are finite (I thought in categories for a while until I kept having dreams that would upend my categorization system, heh, and only when I revise it to understand a more natural blending/mixing of elements (rather than broad categories) did I gain insights needed to improve my awareness of purpose. As you have done here, when you perceive a lack of discussion about a certain thing, then know it's up to you to bring it up, to put it into the public square, so to speak. Thanks for doing so.

If you ever check out my novel, Dream Knights, you will encounter some uncanny similarities to what you mention, while seeing that the environments and even the subtext (meaning) are completely different than your similar experiences. This nuance is what I was mentioning in the previous paragraph.

Points 1, 2, 3, 4: Consider that most dreams try to shake your assumptions, to widen your perspective more than it currently is. You cannot *assume* anything about what you see, only observe as accurately as possible and then analyze. For example, when I was having backstory fed to me, it occurred to me that it could be more of a speeding up mechanic because of the limit time to front-load so much supporting information, but also a possibility that I was *experiencing* memories from someone else. I think it's a common mistake for someone to automatically assume the dream is about them (and it might not even be *for* them); once you have opened your mind to these possibilities, those first four points will begin to make more sense to you as possible vicarious-learning opportunities.

5: It is my experience that as you open up to dreams, become more receptive/*attuned* to them, then you will begin to realize and trust in the fact that you will be given exactly as much information in a dream as you need to understand it, whether that be context or backstory or motivations. And consider this: often, speech is the slowest, most clunky way to convey these things. Dream-telling often has no use for speech or dialog. This is mindboggling to a lifelong student of our language, but it thrills me at the level of *communication* enhancement. Just remember that communication is not the same as speaking...

6: Oh how I know this experience! I have two amusing versions of this, where I am jogging (or trying to--I was a long distance runner) and the struggle to maintain balance to prevent tripping becomes an overwhelming feat! I have yet to regain balance and finish my race before waking up, heh. Or where I am in a vehicle, drifting toward danger, like in a parking lot or something, and though I can reach the acceleration pedal, I cannot--for the life of me--reach the brake pedal. I will stab at the floorboard, getting more and more anxious as I draw closer to running into something. Especially in winter, these dreams usually are interrupted by the arches or toes of my feet cramping or about to cramp (if I am lucky enough to catch them in time and stretch).

So, there is physical evidence that my body is fighting the noradrenaline in my brain, warring instincts between the safeguards of not being able to thrash/move in your sleep and your mind screaming that you *need* to. Completely fascinating, because often I feel like the dream itself set up the entire episode, and other times, I feel like the dream was merely responding to it (that my foot muscles were thinking of cramping and so the dream incorporated that sensation into its story).

7: Our brains, even without considering our mind overlay, are incredibly complex problem-solvers (which often involves pattern recognition)--and without these tools, we could never become higher than clever animals. So, is it any wonder that our dreams constantly look for ways to train and improve our pattern recognition? I caution you to keep this separate in subject from lucid dreaming, because there are many other ways to train the ability to steer and "be real" within dreams, just like there are many helpful patterns you could register without that leading to an enhanced lucidity (lucid moments would be *in addition to* the pattern recognition not because of it, pun intended).

8, 9: I think my studies/successes of this phenomenon will be controversial to many on this site who take a more mystical approach so I won't go into specifics/opinions, other than to say, how would steering work at all if you could not...you know, steer? It's a function that is included in the name/concept itself. So to most people, I think, it's a basic assumption that you can bend whatever rules you perceive, as a reward/consequence for having some measure of conscious control. Heh, and to your point number 9, I urge to stop being greedy. You will be able to control--and grow that control--through practice if only you work within the pace/abilities that you are afforded. There *is* no jumping in line or skipping steps (unless you are ready, which is then on-purpose/functional). Not to say that dreams don't want you to push their boundaries some, just don't be frustrated or disheartened or otherwise distracted from the lessons you *ought to* be learning in the meantime. As a wise mentor instructs a student in my novel, "If you push too hard, then you risk missing what it is you should be learning. Pushing narrows focus, and dreaming is on-purpose exploratory."

Happy dream-learning to you.

 

[Cypress]

Hello, Some of the OP comments I can relate to such as when I dream of my work it is mainly people I work with but in a different setting and just over night I had a dream about my work place, I work in a warehouse assembling structures and I recall one of my coworkers was there doing his usual job and I recall asking him a question by his real name about a part I misplaced there were two other coworkers there that I could not visualize. There was also two females there one I could not visualize and the other who works in the front office who I did recall mentioning her real name and she was working in our area but she was also kind of in the way. And I just want to state that I have no problems with a female in a senority position or working with a female. I've interacted with her in the past and never had any conflict with her she was always a very nice and personable person. Also I recall asking one of the coworker who I could not visulize about getting in contact with an ex-coworker by his real name, but I could not find this persons name in a company phone book because I was looking for a last name starting with an S but his last name starts with a D. and this same person was in another dream I had a couple weeks ago that I posted on here. It seems I can recall my dreams in more detail over the past several years, sometimes I wonder if it relates to that cup of Matcha tea I drink before bedtime.

 

[unclesirbobbyrobson]

Hello, Some of the OP comments I can relate to such as when I dream of my work it is mainly people I work with but in a different setting and just over night I had a dream about my work place, I work in a warehouse assembling structures and I recall one of my coworkers was there doing his usual job and I recall asking him a question by his real name about a part I misplaced there were two other coworkers there that I could not visualize. There was also two females there one I could not visualize and the other who works in the front office who I did recall mentioning her real name and she was working in our area but she was also kind of in the way. And I just want to state that I have no problems with a female in a senority position or working with a female. I've interacted with her in the past and never had any conflict with her she was always a very nice and personable person. Also I recall asking one of the coworker who I could not visulize about getting in contact with an ex-coworker by his real name, but I could not find this persons name in a company phone book because I was looking for a last name starting with an S but his last name starts with a D. and this same person was in another dream I had a couple weeks ago that I posted on here. It seems I can recall my dreams in more detail over the past several years, sometimes I wonder if it relates to that cup of Matcha tea I drink before bedtime.

Cypress

Dreams will link to key intuitions from the previous day. A dream about coworkers will often be about work but not in all cases.

Your dream about a misplaced part may be an example of the types of feelings you have been having. If you misplace a part it may link to a thought such as "It was my fault. I need admit it". The dream then could be about you thinking how you are relating to people at work when you have made a mistake. We constantly assess how we are behaving and try to think through how we can interact better with people.

When you get a work dream try to write down your key intuitions about work. Think about areas of tension and problems. It is likely that any thoughts you might down in a journal and it is likely that such thoughts link to your dream. The dream is merely a way in which we store key thoughts in our mind.