Dreams

[Whitemithrandir]

I dream of forests

Full of trees and birds that sing

Birds are delicious.

[Laozi]

That's because the neurochemical that switches off your muscles (so that when you dream of running, your legs don't move) isn't conducive to long-term memory.

 

The way to remember dreams is to:

• Have writing implement and pad next to your bed. Within arm's reach.
   
  
• Don't move when you wake up; sloshing your head around mixes up the endocrimological soup that is your brain.
   
  
• Write down your recollections immediately; what you do remember is in short-term memory, and won't last more than a few minutes at best, no matter how clearly it seems at the time.
  

Dreams are a way for the mind to play out scenarios in your head, under full control. If you record your dreams, the images will mean something to you (you can use a book to lookup what a particular thing means, like water is emotion, but it will always relate back to something in your frame of reference).

 

It is also possible that dreams are a physical necessity for the normal functioning of the mind; a sort of garbage-collection routine, where all the recent experiences are either transliterated into "lessons" and usable memories, or discarded. A sort of filing/defrag system of mental hygiene.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I have to say I'm particuliarly interested in your opinion on this, so this is what you "believe"?

[Walsingham]

Steve's view is pretty close to my understanding. If you believe in a connectionist model of the brain (which, gven it's a load of connected neurons gets my vote) then dreams make sense as follows.

 

Waking experience zaps electrical charges into various parts of the brain, which the conscious and preconscious mind tries to organise. You are consciously aware of groupings, such as 'types of car' and 'things that made me sad'. One theory is that they are stored in literal proximity to each other.

 

Sleep is divided into roughly four hour chunks, each of which consisting of four stages. Stages one and two are just the brain relaxing. In stage three the lights go out, and the brain is almost completely at rest. You need this to happen to the synapses can clear out, and the neurons can re-stock on things like potassium and calcium.

 

In stage four you begin 'dreaming'. One theory is that the brain 'deliberately' allows neurons to fire on their own. And the theory continues by suggesting that neurons which have fired during the preceding period are more likely to fire, since they are sensitized.

 

More importantly, when the senstized nerves fire you get spreading activation, since the conscious mind is not regulating how the activation spreads. Things that are connected in dreams are thereby revealed as connected in your pre-conscious mind. This is why it can be useful to examine your dreams. If you are in an office and are attacked by velociraptors this may not be telling you you are scared of velociraptors, but are scared of offices.

 

I don't know if I explained that very well. I am rather knackered.

[metadigital]

Dreams are supposed to be connected to the learning process.  If you've been learning how to play the violin, for example, when you sleep your brain replays every moment of that again and again so that you absorb it and your skill level increases.  This is why teachers encourage their students to sleep well and discourage all-night study sessions - unless you sleep after learning, you won't get the full benefit.  You only remember a tiny fraction of the dreams you experience.

 

Recently, I hardly remember any of my dreams.  It's a shame, because I used to have some very vivid ones.  What do you think is the reason for this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is because of your sleeping pattern.

 

You are probably over-tired and not sleeping in aa environment conducive to sleep. (You have a lot of non-sleep furniture in your room, like computers and tv, etc.) Darkness is essential.

 

Try to write your dreams down, using the technique I posted above. They'll soon come back to you (well, the last ones of the night, you dream about four hours every night).

 

Physical health affects mental heath more than most people realise. Somatopsychic effects, where the cardiovascular fitness of an individual impinges on the mental acuity; the brain uses about 90% of the oxygen in the blood.

 

I remember one time I was taking a mid-term and I ahppened to be very fit at the time (running at least four miles, four times a week, going to the gym and swimming 1km three times a week); I looked around when I finished the (Psychology :D) test after about fifteen minutes and I tried to work out why no one else had. Then I noticed their concentration kept slipping every few seconds, as they tried to re-read the question and failed to keep the complex sentences in their head and connect them and then solve them.

 

It was just concentration, and it made a BIG difference.

 

Caffeine seems to grant some short-term concentration benefits.

[metadigital]

I have to say I'm particuliarly interested in your opinion on this, so this is what you "believe"?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sure. I actually taught myself to lucid dream, too.

 

I highly recommend it.

 

Yes, the first thing everyone does when they know they can dream (after having intercourse with a blue person, Kaftan) is to fly.

 

I regularly fly in my dreams, it is meant to be really good for the nerves.

[metadigital]

When I started smoking alot of pot I found that I almost never remembered my dreams, now that my pot use is pretty sporadic, I find most nights I remember atleast a piece of my dreams

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Drugs impair normal mental acuity. (Even and especially halucinogens, wrt sleeping.) Alcohol actually prevents REM sleep, for example, so that you will feel more tired when you wake up after a big drinking binge regardless of the sleep you seem to have had.

[metadigital]

Rosbjerg is back! \o/

 

 

\o/

[Laozi]

I had a roomate that taught himself to Lucid Dream, he was a bigtime freak though, smart as all hell

 

I might be having a lucid dream aright now, is that a Rosbjerg I see?

[metadigital]

I had a roomate that taught himself to Lucid Dream, he was a bigtime freak though, smart as all hell

 

I might be having a lucid dream aright now, is that a Rosbjerg I see?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yay!

 

\o/

[Weiser_Cain]

I learned to lucid dream as a kid as I would always dream about getting murdered, eaten, raped or something, I also sleep with a knife now.

[thepixiesrock]

I had a dream last night and some of you were in it. I didn't know what you guys looked like, but I knew who you were and your names. I don't remember what I was doing or what you guys were doing. It had something to do with starwars...

[Darth Launch]

Dream logic rocks :D

[Laozi]

Be more of a "spiritual" person I tend more to have beliefs more so.

 

I believe that during our sleep our subconscious either introverts or extroverts, giving vastly different experiences to the dreamer

[metadigital]

I learned to lucid dream as a kid as I would always dream about getting murdered, eaten, raped or something, I also sleep with a knife now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you dremt of being murdered, eaten and raped on purpose? Then you were doing whatever you wanted. All that means is you are an emotionally unbalanced individual.

[metadigital]

Be more of a "spiritual" person I tend more to have beliefs more so.

 

I believe that during our sleep our subconscious either introverts or extroverts, giving vastly different experiences to the dreamer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please epand upon your thoughts some more. What do you mean by introvert and extrovert, when referring to the mind of a dreamer?

[Laozi]

I guess I beleive that your subconscious either introverts and tries to reeexplore the life the conscious gets "first crack at". Where as I don't believe that our subconscious is "asleep" during our waking times, I do believe that only powerful or "important" things cause it to become proactive in the waking world. Things that might seem random to our conscious mind may fit together nicely to the other.

 

When our subconscious extroverts, thats when the really interesting things happen. I believe that our subconsiouses interact all the time, but its in the "dreamworld' that the wall of our conscious is erroded into a simple collection of feelings and memeories that our subconsious can draw upon.

 

I'm not sure if that makes much sense, I haven't really ever tried to share this, so I've never had to but words behind these things

[metadigital]

Interesting. The Australian Aborigines call their mythological history "The Dreamtime"; all their legends are passed down in pictures (those X-ray lateral images of men and beasts, with all the dots) as well as in song, so all the legends (of the surviving tribal people) survive to this day, possibly dating back as far as 30,000 years.

 

Who knows exactly what is going on; certainly I think there is a basis of necessary mental hygiene to keep the brain functional; what the mind does is anyone's guess ...

[Reveilled]

Dreams are a way for the mind to play out scenarios in your head, under full control. If you record your dreams, the images will mean something to you (you can use a book to lookup what a particular thing means, like water is emotion, but it will always relate back to something in your frame of reference).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I dunno. I have one of those books in my house, and I've never once found that the things described in the book as meanings having a relation to my life in some way that wasn't pretty vague. And the things connected to the meanings are pretty vague. Like, if water is an emotion, does that mean if I dream of an ocean, or if I happen to drink a glass of water in my dream?

 

Would dreaming of meeting Queen Victoria have a different meaning than dreaming of meeting Queen Elizabeth, other than indicating what period the Strategy game I'd played before going to sleep was set in?

[Laozi]

Who knows exactly what is going on; certainly I think there is a basis of necessary mental hygiene to keep the brain functional; what the mind does is anyone's guess ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Dammit, I started this thread for answers.......

[Weiser_Cain]

I learned to lucid dream as a kid as I would always dream about getting murdered, eaten, raped or something, I also sleep with a knife now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you dremt of being murdered, eaten and raped on purpose? Then you were doing whatever you wanted. All that means is you are an emotionally unbalanced individual.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If I were would it be wise to poke fun at me?

[E_Motion]

I guess I beleive that your subconscious either introverts and tries to reeexplore the life the conscious gets "first crack at". Where as I don't believe that our subconscious is "asleep" during our waking times, I do believe that only powerful or "important" things cause it to become proactive in the waking world. Things that might seem random to our conscious mind may fit together nicely to the other.

 

When our subconscious extroverts, thats when the really interesting things happen. I believe that our subconsiouses interact all the time, but its in the "dreamworld' that the wall of our conscious is erroded into a simple collection of feelings and memeories that our subconsious can draw upon.

 

I'm not sure if that makes much sense, I haven't really ever tried to share this, so I've never had to but words behind these things

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is no question that some sort of a beneficial subconscious analysis or reorganization takes place during sleep. One very effective technique for writing is to tackle part of a writing task and then sleep. Writers, both of fiction and nonfiction, agree that when they continue the task the next day, they seem to have somehow figured out where they need to go with their writing the next day.

 

Conventional wisdom reflects a similar understanding with the advice that, given a difficult problem a good way to reach the best solution is to "sleep on it".

[Darth Flatus]

I learned to lucid dream as a kid as I would always dream about getting murdered, eaten, raped or something, I also sleep with a knife now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you dremt of being murdered, eaten and raped on purpose? Then you were doing whatever you wanted. All that means is you are an emotionally unbalanced individual.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If I were would it be wise to poke fun at me?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not in real life maybe, but here there is no threat of repercussion no matter how inflammatory one's posting style.

[metadigital]

I learned to lucid dream as a kid as I would always dream about getting murdered, eaten, raped or something, I also sleep with a knife now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you dremt of being murdered, eaten and raped on purpose? Then you were doing whatever you wanted. All that means is you are an emotionally unbalanced individual.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If I were would it be wise to poke fun at me?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Over the internet, YES.

[metadigital]

Dreams are a way for the mind to play out scenarios in your head, under full control. If you record your dreams, the images will mean something to you (you can use a book to lookup what a particular thing means, like water is emotion, but it will always relate back to something in your frame of reference).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno. I have one of those books in my house, and I've never once found that the things described in the book as meanings having a relation to my life in some way that wasn't pretty vague. And the things connected to the meanings are pretty vague. Like, if water is an emotion, does that mean if I dream of an ocean, or if I happen to drink a glass of water in my dream?

 

Would dreaming of meeting Queen Victoria have a different meaning than dreaming of meeting Queen Elizabeth, other than indicating what period the Strategy game I'd played before going to sleep was set in?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The missing ingredient is always the dreamer.

 

I find the reference books are useful. Why? Probably because we all have some common archetypes (either group unconscious, as Jung hypothesized, a genetic race memory that is passed on like the BIOS of a new computer, and our lives are built with an OS and applications on top; or perhaps it is just the commonalities of our nurturing). These archetypes mean the same thing to all of us.

 

Water equals emotion. Yes, a glass, or an ocean. Drinking the water would connote some sort of swallowing of a reaction.

 

For example, I dreamt of flying over an ocean. It was difficult to leave the water once I was in it, but I could (as I was lucid dreaming). That tells me I was distancing myself from some large emotion. The specifics are up to me, the dreamer, to unwind, but I find that if you have a prompt (like: strong emotion) then you can make some sense of an otherwise random vision.

[Reveilled]

Dreams are a way for the mind to play out scenarios in your head, under full control. If you record your dreams, the images will mean something to you (you can use a book to lookup what a particular thing means, like water is emotion, but it will always relate back to something in your frame of reference).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno. I have one of those books in my house, and I've never once found that the things described in the book as meanings having a relation to my life in some way that wasn't pretty vague. And the things connected to the meanings are pretty vague. Like, if water is an emotion, does that mean if I dream of an ocean, or if I happen to drink a glass of water in my dream?

 

Would dreaming of meeting Queen Victoria have a different meaning than dreaming of meeting Queen Elizabeth, other than indicating what period the Strategy game I'd played before going to sleep was set in?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The missing ingredient is always the dreamer.

 

I find the reference books are useful. Why? Probably because we all have some common archetypes (either group unconscious, as Jung hypothesized, a genetic race memory that is passed on like the BIOS of a new computer, and our lives are built with an OS and applications on top; or perhaps it is just the commonalities of our nurturing). These archetypes mean the same thing to all of us.

 

Water equals emotion. Yes, a glass, or an ocean. Drinking the water would connote some sort of swallowing of a reaction.

 

For example, I dreamt of flying over an ocean. It was difficult to leave the water once I was in it, but I could (as I was lucid dreaming). That tells me I was distancing myself from some large emotion. The specifics are up to me, the dreamer, to unwind, but I find that if you have a prompt (like: strong emotion) then you can make some sense of an otherwise random vision.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That sounds suspiciously like Discordian theology's Law of Fives.