Dream question

[all.of.me]

Did you ever dream that you knew you were dreaming? I have never had this happen in years of dream work.

Short version - I went into a building with someone else. It was his office, a huge building. He walked down the hall quickly, and I lost him. The whole dream (very long) is walking around this building, meeting people, looking for the stuff I had brought in with me, and looking for John. When I finally found him, I told him I was looking all over for him and that it was a dream. I told him that the entire time I was dreaming and looking, I had a question to ask him, but now could not remember it. As I sat with him, it was clear that I was remembering that part of the dream and recounting it to him. But I was still in the dream.

I do a lot of Jungian dream work. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[The Blue Flower]

1. A number of times

I have dreamed that I was dreaming, and while asleep have told myself in the primary dream that I was dreaming. Once I dreamed that I was dreaming that I found a bag of money. I "woke" from the money dream and told myself it was only a dream, then continued dreaming. Weird.

[all.of.me]

5. I've done that!

Wake up, know it's a dream, then go right back to it. It's so interesting that we can just pick up where we left off.

[hvn_nbr_2]

2. It's called "lucid dreaming"

Knowing, while you're dreaming, that you're dreaming. It's happened to me a couple times when I was doing a lot of dreamwork, but I never got good at it.

When I do dreamwork, I keep a little tape recorder beside the bed to record notes when I wake up during the night. That way, I don't get as wide awake as I would if I turned on a light and wrote notes.

One time, I dreamed that I woke up from a dream and recorded notes. Then I "really" woke up and recorded the notes about what had happened. But in the morning, the tape was blank. I guess this doesn't really count as lucid dreaming because I was only aware that I had just been dreaming, not that I was currently dreaming.

If you're interested in the phenomenon, Steven LaBerge at Stanford is probably the leading authority on it. He wrote several books that are widely available. He is also the person who proved that the phenomenon is real. Someone back in the early 1900s did it and reported it at some scientific conference, but they all thought he was lying. LaBerge developed some sort of sensors that he put on his eyes and learned to move his eyes in a different way than normal REM movements when he knew he was dreaming, and thereby proved that it was real.

There are a number of books that purport to teach you how to do it. I didn't have a lot of success with the ones I tried.

BTW, some people seem to use the term "lucid dreaming" as if it simply means very vivid dreaming. That results in some odd conversations between people using the term in two different ways.

[all.of.me]

6. Thanks!

I will look this guy up.

[Why Syzygy]

3. I do sometimes..

I don't have time to post right now. But, I kicked a thread about this subject you might find interesting >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x57724

[all.of.me]

7. Thanks! I will bookmark that thread and check it out tonight. nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I realized I was dreaming once

in a rather interesting way. I had been dreaming of an eerie place, and then I "stopped" the dream so I could decide whether to end the dream pleasantly or whether to scare myself so badly I'd wake up screaming. I chose the latter, and woke soon after--but remembering that I had chosen to make the dream a nightmare. I found that very interesting. I think since then I've been more aware that I was dreaming when I was dreaming.

[all.of.me]

8. I have never tried this!

I've heard of it, changing the dream, but have never been aware enough that I was in a dream to change it and keep dreaming. I usually wake up slowly with the residual feeling of the dream (happy, soft, sad, whatever), then go back to the dream to remember why I had that feeling. I either write it down with my eyes closed, or I make a huge effort to remember it, so I can write it down while I'm having coffee. Then, of course, while I'm writing, the rest of it comes back.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. The method that I was taught for dream analysis (even during the dream)

is to flatten the images, or to turn them black and white, so that the essence becomes revealed and not the symbolism. This can also work on photographs. This is also one way to deal with intrusive negativity while dreaming.

[all.of.me]

13. Wow, I am going to try this. It sounds interesting. Thanks! nt

[wickfordbard]

10. Knowing you're dreaming

When you know you're dreaming in a dream, it usually indicates that there's lots of unconscious stuff going on that you've become aware of. Dreams are one of our accesses to the unconscious. So when you 'wake up' in a dream it usually indicates that you've become consciously aware of something that you weren't aware of before. Who is this man, John? It would seem that he has keep his distance from you in some way and you've been 'searching' for a way to ask him a question. (this might be the psychological explanation - I'm a Jungian psychotherapist/dream interpreter and that's how I'd begin to work with it.)

then again, you might have met up with John in the dreamworld - that's something we can do as well. I wouldn't exactly call it lucid dreaming - that's more when you control your dreams and can make things happen the way you want them to.

Hope this helps as well as all the other great responses.

Wickfordbard

[all.of.me]

12. Hmmm.... Very interesting.

A friend who is a therapist said almost the same thing - lots of the unconscious coming up. I just can't see what I'm becoming aware of that was unconscious before. I'm having lots of dreams lately (winter usually does that to me), most with 2's and lots of change, new houses, old friends, food, water. I have just never dreamt of dreaming before!

John is a guy I am working with on a very difficult real estate deal. The part of the dream I posted is a very small piece of it. I will think on what he means to me, though. I appreciate your thoughts on that.

The last dream I had was of a round bowl with a grid design in it. Reading Jungian stuff, I came across the squaring of the circle - big change and more of the unconscious coming to the surface. I just don't see what, though. I'd love to talk more with you about this. I did some work with a Jungian analyst in 2000, but she moved back to Switzerland. It all hit home with me.

[Stevepol]

11. There's really a pretty long history to lucid dreaming as well

which LaBerge probably goes into in his book (Lucid Dreaming). His methodology is similar to that given in Gary Beck's post. Hervey de Saint-Denys, a French professor of Chinese literature, did a lot of experiments with lucid dreaming and with the effects of external stimuli on dreamers while they're asleep, etc. His book is called, Dreams and How to Guide Them and was published in 1867, well before Freud. It's a much less ideological and self-promoting book than Freud's as well and more insightful in many ways, especially in light of the modern understanding of dreaming as a natural physiological phenomenon, and not just a revelation of one's neuroses or whatnot.

I've known quite a few people who have developed the skill a good bit, but I have reservations about it since one reason for recording dreams is to discover things you didn't consciously know before. If you intrude too much with your own consciousness it's possible (I have thought, tho I may be wrong) to shor circuit that helpful feedback. And it also could alter another purpose of dreaming, which I think ideally can be a way of mirroring back to us the way we're moving in our daily lives from short-term memory to long-term memory storage and also the way we're rehearsing for the future. I think the last dream of the night, for example, can often be a kd of rehearsal for what is likely to occur the next day or soon anyway. This could explain I believe deja vu and a lot of precognitive dreams as well, tho dreaming is too big a subject to allow for any single rule to apply to all dreams.

There've been books that included sections about using lucid dreaming for self-healing. Jayne Gackenbach & Jane Bosveld wrote a book called CONTROL YOUR DREAMS which has a chapter about that. I just pulled it from my book shelf and it's the sixth chapter.

It's very likely that your great interest in dreaming has led to your opening up that avenue of awareness. If you continue to develop it you could begin getting advice about medicine or people to avoid and people to draw closer to, etc. etc.. It's an almost infinite storehouse really, like having a room in your house that you've never opened and yet it has all kinds of amazing things in it. I've led and been a member of dream groups for many years and it's amazing some of the things people can get from dreams to help them in their lives.

Good luck in your explorations.

[all.of.me]

16. Thanks!

I will have to research lucid dreaming more. I don't have the knowledge to have an opinion on whether or not changing a dream is good for you.

I do think we dream to know ourselves. I love to write them down, draw out the scenes (to make them clearer to myself), and pick them apart. Parts of them reiterate the previous day (I do my best dreaming right before I wake up), so I don't pay much attention to those pieces. I like to concentrate on the stuff that is really bizarre, because I think that is where the unknown is. Sometimes one scene will stick with me more than others, so I focus on that. My dreams are so long and complicated, it's almost impossible to record the whole thing! I lose parts while I'm trying to remember it all.

The messages I've gotten recently are to let go of the past, let go of the childhood trauma, forget about lost friends from high school, college and beyond. That is very clear. Lots of big change coming, too, but I don't know in what area of my life. I am actually feeling very stagnant, so this seems out of place!

I also have dreams about a man I used to be very close to. Our friendship ended a few years ago, but he is still in my dreams with sage advice. As friends, we don't work out, but we are karmically connected. He is a major player in my life, even in his absence (he lives here, and I see him now and then, but that's the extent of our earthly communication).

It's fascinating to bounce dreams off of other people. I'd love to be in a dream group.

[Stevepol]

22. If you're interestd in starting a dream group, let me suggest

you get hold of a Dream Network Journal or take a look at it online. They have some helpful stuff for people wanting to start a dream group, some of the protocol and eticquette during the meetings, etc. For example, you always deal with the dream by saying "If this were my dream, . . . " The point is to make sure to realize that the dream belongs to the dreamer and only he/she can come to a conclusion about it or use it for good or ill. But I'm always surprised and enlightened by the associations of other people to my own dreams and I'm sure it works for others as well. Often we tune into another person's dreams better than we do our own, because we often have a network of avoidances and blind spots etc. that can sometimes keep us from seeing the obvious.

Here's a place that talks about dream groups in the DNJ web site:

http://www.understandthemeaningofmydreams.com/cgi-bin/article/news.cgi?act=cat&cat=14&view=&page=&sort=date&fsort=dater

You might want to go back to the home page and navigate around on it a little bit. The journal comes out in a hard copy and online edition and has great articles I think and many helps for people wanting to get involved in dream study either in a group or just personally.

There are a lot of other places that purport to deal with dreams on the IT and many are good, some not so good, some just commercial or whatnot. There are only a few places you can't find some benefit from if you approach them with the right attitude. Good luck

[all.of.me]

23. Thank you! I'll look into this! nt

[rumpel]

19. "like having a room in your house that you've never opened"

now reminds me I literally dream of of being in "my house", which is always different, and certainly nothing like the one I am in...but the common thread of these dreams is that, the more I go, I discover more rooms, which leads to more rooms - and I always think Wow! How cool! Why did not see this room before, or how come I did not know about this "hidden" room in our house....

makes total sense now :)

[all.of.me]

24. I used to dream of a little cabin in the woods.

What a cliche, eh? When I was going through a lot of changes 10 years ago when the kids' dad left, that little cabin added on! It became a couple of rooms, then there was a second story, then it became a big lodge with retail shops and a restaurant and a huge parking lot! That was all in a span of about a year, maybe a little more. The houses lately are completely different all the time, but this 'cabin' did show up a couple weeks ago. Hmm, now that I think of it, the kids' dad was in it...

[rumpel]

27. funny

2 of my dreams, that I can distinctly remember that my ex was in,(saw him last 15 years ago) had different meanings and circumstances.

[hvn_nbr_2]

21. I too have reservations about "intruding" too much

I have reservations about it since one reason for recording dreams is to discover things you didn't consciously know before. If you intrude too much with your own consciousness it's possible (I have thought, tho I may be wrong) to shor circuit that helpful feedback.

That's a concern of mine too.

There are some cases when it could be useful to intrude though. For example, if you've been having some repetitive image or activity in dreams that you can't make any sense of. Say, you dream of being chased by a bear repeatedly but you can't interpret the imagery. If you can become aware that you're dreaming while the bear is chasing you, you can, for instance, stop running and confront the bear, or ask the bear who/what it is and what it wants with you, or other similar things.

[all.of.me]

26. That seems like it would be a productive way to intrude.

As long as you could alleviate fears, or speak with your unconscious, it could be a positive thing.

[elleng]

14. How's this????

When I was a kid, I dreamed I was at the zoo, and a bear started chasing me down a hill/slope. I tried to run away. Now I don't recall if the bear told me not to worry, or if I said to myself, 'What am I afraid of, this is only a dream!'

I've remembered this dream forever!

[all.of.me]

15. I love it!

[japple]

17. I've done this to a certain extent ever since I can remember.

If I am having a dream where things are starting to get scary, at some point I will say "well this is only a dream." I do remember having a frightening dream as a child about being all alone out the middle of an ocean, but since then (which must have been when I began lucid dreaming) I've never been frightened by anything that happens during dream time.

[Lindsey]

18. It happend to me twice. Once was about 25 years ago and then once

just within the past year. It's pretty cool. Both times I was being chased by "bad guys" and in the middle of the dream I said to whomever I was with, "this is a dream, we don't have to worry." I wish we could have that realization in real life and that it's really all just a dream and we really don't have to worry.

[all.of.me]

25. This morning I did it again!

The trunk of a big car was open, and I knew that someone would slam their fingers in it in the dream. I said, 'Later in this dream, someone will shut the trunk on their fingers.' It was futuristic, like I'd had it before and someone had slammed their fingers in the trunk, so I was expecting it again. A child, no doubt. I finally had to close the trunk, because we were leaving, and I was very careful, so that it was not me living out the dream. The trunk latched shut, though. I was surprised. Then we left. This stuff blows me away.

[rumpel]

20. Yes, I have

great insight in all previous posts. I never thought much of it before.

Thanks for posting.