Do You Dream At Night? What's It All About?

[jyl]

Curious who here dreams at night, if there's any recurrent dreams you have, and if you think they mean anything.

I seldom dream (actually I should say I seldom wake up remembering having dreamed) but when I do, it seems correlated to overwork/stress.

Alas I almost never have luscious dreams involving curvaceous companions and glamourous lifestyles. Instead, I have a recurrent dream, which is that I'm wondering if I'll get my MBA degree given that I stopped attending half the classes midway through the semester and skipped the finals. I've dreamed this so many times that I'm half-convinced that I did blow off some B-school classes, even though AFAIK I never did. In my last year of college I did take an F in a class that I simply stopped attending.

Another interesting thing: I was a lawyer for 13 years, during which I often had 3 or 4 drop-dead deadlines per day (last day to file a motion, etc). During those years, whenever I dreamed at night, first thing in the morning I would immediately comb through all my files and invariably I would find a deadline that had been miscalendared and that my conscious memory had forgotten about. It worked 100% of the time, I am not kidding. I've wished that in my current profession my dreams would alert me to a stock that was about to blow up but no such luck.

How about you? Any interesting nighttime dreams?

[IROC]

I dream about all kinds of stuff. Every night. It's a lot of fun actually. I remember most of them. It's almost like having my own personal movie theater where I star in all the movies. I get to do some cool things...and don't ever face prosecution!

Mike

[Big Ed]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
I have that same one, only slightly different. Some others that I know that went to professional graduate schools have the same dream.

In mine, it's getting close to finals, when I realize there's a class or two that I never went to, but also never dropped. The deadline for dropping classes of course has long passed, so I can't just drop the class.

Most of my dreams take place in the time frame around graduate school for me, even though that was 15 years ago.

Holy crap, I have the same one. And it's always some class with an insane amount of reading, like history. I finished all my post-graduate stuff in 1993, and I still get this one from time to time. And I never blew off significant numbers of classes, so it is a weird one.

[nostatic]

I believe that dreams are the key to what's really going on inside of you...a window to your unconcious that knows and remembers *everything*. If you can understand your dreams, you can understand what drives you to behave certain ways and make certain decisions.

[dhoward]

Naked.
In graduate school.
With a motion to file.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by dhoward
Naked.
In graduate school.
With a motion to file.

motion to file...that what the kids are calling it these days?

[Mr_Wizard]

Most of my dreams are usually very fun. Im either a superhero (Superman/Batman) that is a common one, or in some sort of action scenario. It used to drive my ex crazy. She would ask me what I was dreaming bout because I would be talking or laughing, or running ect all night. I usually remember a good portion of my dreams and describe them in detail. Then she would get mad at me because she dreamed about work or doing dishes or normal boring crap.

[pmajka]

I either have the introspective nightmare of Highschool or college, late for class or failing exams, or Being taken by Aliens (non mexican or canadian)

Infact had an alien one last night. Too much steak with dinner i think.

[arcsine]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
In mine, it's getting close to finals, when I realize there's a class or two that I never went to, but also never dropped. The deadline for dropping classes of course has long passed, so I can't just drop the class.

Everyone I know that has been in grad school has this same dream, me included. I have the "pleasure" of going through it once a month although I have not been in school for a long time.

I also have a recurring dream as a prelude to an illness. In this dream , I have a seamless gray field of view that is incrementally obscured by black foot prints left behind by unseen persons. The dream is coupled with a physical sensation of immense weight in my body that makes me feel as I am sinking into the bed and movement while possible would be taxing. Next morning, guaranteed to have a cold/flu.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by jyl

Another interesting thing: I was a lawyer for 13 years, during which I often had 3 or 4 drop-dead deadlines per day (last day to file a motion, etc). During those years, whenever I dreamed at night, first thing in the morning I would immediately comb through all my files and invariably I would find a deadline that had been miscalendared and that my conscious memory had forgotten about. It worked 100% of the time, I am not kidding.

John, I shiit you not I used to have the same thing happen to me when I was in private practice except I would wake up in the middle of the night and would know I was close to missing a deadline. Yet another reason I got out of private practice.

[jyl]

So some of us seem to consistently have positive dreams (fun, exciting stuff, being Superman etc) while others seem to consistently have negative dreams (failing grad school etc).

Why do you think this is? How come we don't each have a mix of positive and negative dreams? Is there some distinguishing thing about personality or environment that makes me a negative dream guy and makes Bill a positive dream guy? Is it simply the curse of having gone to graduate school?

[jyl]

Originally posted by Kurt V
John, I shiit you not I used to have the same thing happen to me when I was in private practice except I would wake up in the middle of the night and would know I was close to missing a deadline. Yet another reason I got out of private practice.

It was very useful, actually, but I guess it shows how much stress there is in that work.

When I quit law Jan 1997 and went traveling, after two months I'd lost 20 pounds and my resting heart rate had dropped 20 points.

[nostatic]

you can't take a dream at face value. You have to look deeper...

[dhoward]

Originally posted by jyl
So some of us seem to consistently have positive dreams (fun, exciting stuff, being Superman etc) while others seem to consistently have negative dreams (failing grad school etc).

Why do you think this is? How come we don't each have a mix of positive and negative dreams? Is there some distinguishing thing about personality or environment that makes me a negative dream guy and makes Bill a positive dream guy? Is it simply the curse of having gone to graduate school?

It sounds like you have low self-esteem. I recommend breast implants.

[Tobra]

everyone dreams. If you wake up and don't think you did, you either forgot it, or are still tired becuase you did not get any REM sleep

[arcsine]

Originally posted by nostatic
you can't take a dream at face value. You have to look deeper...

forget that, all dreams are penis envy

[jyl]

Originally posted by dhoward
It sounds like you have low self-esteem. I recommend breast implants.

I never seem to dream about those.

[legion]

I have several recurring dreams and I always have new and exciting dreams. Almost all are positive.

I have a recurring dream that I can fly by swimming. I usually choose the sidestroke for some reason.

I have a recurring dream about boning a hot coworker.

Up until my father died, I had a recurring dream about him trying to kill me. (Really my only negative dream.)

I rarely/never dream about work.

I occasionally dream about buying/winning an expensive sports car, learning to fly a plane, or building a huge house.

Most of my dreams are almost devoid of people. There are only me and the principal players. Never crowds or groups. Usually most dreams have a part where all the people disappear and I am alone in the world. (I actually find this comforting.)

[silver912e]

I think I read somewhere that the "forgot to go to class" dream is the most common one that people have. Me too.

I have tornado dreams where the sky looks stormy & then I see one or more tornados headed my way. Usually I head for the nearest basement.

I also have "lucid" dreams, which means that you know in the dream that you are dreaming, and can sometimes take control of what's going on. Those are by far the most fun.

[svandamme]

i dream weird **** with people i know in it

it's almost like my brain is running possible scenarios , test runs of what i would do in certain situations, with one minor difference, in that the nastiest **** may happen, and for some reason i'm cool and unshaken by it, but also mostly passive througout the dream, i don't run to or from anything, and i tend to ride it out instead of trying to influence it....

when i wake up in the morning , they become lucid, i close my eyes again , and from then onwards i can control it , get rid of the weirdness and it be comes active, and fun


i don't always dream like that, but usually when i'm doing fine in real life, i'll dream like that