Overwhelming Emotions

[NocensLupus]

Hello, I would like to open a discussion on the emotions of dreams. I believe that many of the emotions we feel in dreams can be related directly to the nature of the dream itself, to events and people in real-life, or to recent feelings of the dreamer. I would like you to share your dreams (Non-Lucid please, there is an identical thread in the General Lucid Discussion thread for Lucid dreams) in which you have experienced emotions so strong that they have affected you in a deeper and more meaningful way than other dreams, and have possibly affected you after you have awoken. I myself have experienced similiar non-lucid dreams where I have been hugging, kissing or just being with a woman that I do not know. Her physical features and other details are not important because, while in my dream, I realise that this woman is the epytamy of all that I desire in a woman and this makes me just want to be with her. It is extremely difficult to explain as most dreams are, but the emotions of love and longing (9/10 times not sexual in nature) that I experience in this dream are overwhelming and a couple of times in the past (2 or 3 years ago) I have woken up and cried. In contrast, I have had a semi-lucid nightmare where I have been walking on my street outside my house in the middle of the night, and I have been warned by a DC not to look at the moon. I always try as hard as I can not to do it, but eventually I look up at the moon. There's nothing special about the moon (aside from it being UBER-Huge and a really light blue colour) but all other objects in the dream disappear, fade to black, and I am left with this moon, still and watchful, and it fills me with a crushing feeling of dread and terror. I always used to wake up sweaty at this point. I have not had this dream for many years but I will always remember it because of the intense emotion. Feel free to post any accounts of your own dreams that have been emotional, whether it be Terror, Compassion, Joy, Sadness, Excitement, Awe or anything more that you have experienced. I also have a few questions to pose: 1) Are these emotions more common in Lucid or Non-Lucid dreams? 2) Do you think it is healthy for us to experience these emotions on a regular basis? 3) Can experiencing these emotions in dreams be used as a release for built-up tension in real-life? ...

[Judah]

I had some really intense emotions last night. I dreamed that my mother died but I never got a chance to say goodbye.

[abasza]

I had some really strong emotions after a dream a couple nights back. I'm not going to go explaining the whole story but it ended up in kissing some girl I had just met. There was some sort of connection between me and her. The problem was that I'm married and I told her that, which kind of upset both. Still, it seems we remained friends. What moved me was the next day I couldn't stop thinking about the dream. I'm not quite sure of the feeling I had, maybe a feeling of having a crush, but also shame. I had this stingin feeling in my chest, as if I my feelings had been hurt very deeply(I know from experience). This feeling haunted me the whole day and I had to discuss the dream and the feeling with my wife which helped me.

[Redhat]

Hello, I would like to open a discussion on the emotions of dreams. I believe that many of the emotions we feel in dreams can be related directly to the nature of the dream itself, to events and people in real-life, or to recent feelings of the dreamer. I would like you to share your dreams (Non-Lucid please, there is an identical thread in the General Lucid Discussion thread for Lucid dreams) in which you have experienced emotions so strong that they have affected you in a deeper and more meaningful way than other dreams, and have possibly affected you after you have awoken. I myself have experienced similiar non-lucid dreams where I have been hugging, kissing or just being with a woman that I do not know. Her physical features and other details are not important because, while in my dream, I realise that this woman is the epytamy of all that I desire in a woman and this makes me just want to be with her. It is extremely difficult to explain as most dreams are, but the emotions of love and longing (9/10 times not sexual in nature) that I experience in this dream are overwhelming and a couple of times in the past (2 or 3 years ago) I have woken up and cried. In contrast, I have had a semi-lucid nightmare where I have been walking on my street outside my house in the middle of the night, and I have been warned by a DC not to look at the moon. I always try as hard as I can not to do it, but eventually I look up at the moon. There's nothing special about the moon (aside from it being UBER-Huge and a really light blue colour) but all other objects in the dream disappear, fade to black, and I am left with this moon, still and watchful, and it fills me with a crushing feeling of dread and terror. I always used to wake up sweaty at this point. I have not had this dream for many years but I will always remember it because of the intense emotion. Feel free to post any accounts of your own dreams that have been emotional, whether it be Terror, Compassion, Joy, Sadness, Excitement, Awe or anything more that you have experienced. I also have a few questions to pose: 1) Are these emotions more common in Lucid or Non-Lucid dreams? 2) Do you think it is healthy for us to experience these emotions on a regular basis? 3) Can experiencing these emotions in dreams be used as a release for built-up tension in real-life? ... Totally agree (which is why I searched for this topic) and experience the same type of dreams quite often. Last night in one of my dreams I was going through a drive-through at some fast food place with a bunch of people in the car that I didn't know. A girl opened the window and we gave her the money. A topic came up (which I cant remember) and I said a joke and she just started to laugh, and as she was laughing we just looked at each other for a good 5-10 seconds and I got the same exact feeling as you described. I felt like she was absolutely perfect and that she was the love of my life and that I wanted to be with no one else except her. I can't really remember her face except for her eyes and smile. A few moments after our "connection" she asked me if I wanted to go out on a date in a few months (guess she was at some school or something) she wrote down her number and I was as happy as I could be. I love/hate waking up after dreams like this. I love the fact that I experienced such a wonderful dream but at the same time I feel a little let down that it's not real and that I wish I actually had some one that perfect in my life right now. I had a similar dream a few months ago as well. I was in the back of a car driving on the highway and this girl was next to me and we talked and talked and cuddled and what not. Had no idea who she was or where she came from but she was just next to me in the car and I felt like she was the "one." Both of these were non-lucid dreams. I'm not a dream expert or anything like that, but I would say that it is "normal" and healthy for these type of intense emotional dreams to occur AS LONG as they aren't on a regular basis. I would imagine it can be extremely debilitating to have these types of dreams every day or a few times a week. Probably would get depressed and have anxiety after awhile.

[Illusion]

I have had these types of dreams. Always because one of my family members has died, normally being killed. I even remember thinking in the dream that it wasnt a dream and my dad was really dead. I have woken up quite upset before. These dreams always feel more real for me. I agree with Redhat, that its best not to have them on a regular basis.

[Spamtek]

Overwhelmingly emotional dreams are the highlights of my dreaming career, and I'm incredibly interested in finding ways to encourage them happening more often... although I'm rather sure such a method doesn't actually exist, or if it does, lies deep in subconscious programming and lucid entrainment, two realms I'm not good at accessing. Unless we're speaking of the risk of upsetting neurotransmitter balances, I can't imagine why any of you would say that having them frequently could be a bad thing (unless they're not happy emotions, obviously). The strongest of those dreams I've had left me beamingly happy - perhaps happier than I've ever been before - for weeks on end, and still positively influences my actions to this day, near half a year after the fact. How can it be bad to experience that every night?

[KuRoSaKi]

Hello, I also have a few questions to pose: 1) Are these emotions more common in Lucid or Non-Lucid dreams? 2) Do you think it is healthy for us to experience these emotions on a regular basis? 3) Can experiencing these emotions in dreams be used as a release for built-up tension in real-life? ... 1) These emotions are by far more common in Non-Lucid Dreams as a matter a fact these emotions are all but seldom in Lucid Dreams or at least in my experience. 2) Well like they say anything can be bad in large doses. However I think expressing such deep emotions in a dream is the bodies way of letting out stress, or emotions that you have been bottling up or masking in real life. 3) My answer for 2 also answered 3.